The Scripture reading for tomorrow is John 16:5-16.

This Sunday, “Trinity Sunday,” is being celebrated in many churches throughout the world. In some of these churches a Biblical explanation of the Trinity will be given. In others the mystery of the Trinity will be highlighted, giving opportunity to praise God in his surpassing greatness. For us, by looking at John 16:5-16 we will look at what Jesus meant by calling the Holy Spirit the “Spirit of truth” and how the Spirit works in relation to Jesus (God the Son) and God the Father.

However, here I want to give us the opportunity to think about “Trinity” before we gather to worship tomorrow. How much of our thinking about God is shaped by the fact that God is Trinity – three distinct persons (God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) all of the same essence? The Athanasian Creed states it this way:

“Now this is the catholic faith (that is the faith of the true Christian church of all times and places): that we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity, neither blending the persons nor dividing their essence. For the person of the Father is a distinct person, the person of the Son is another, and that of the Holy Spirit still another. But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal.”

The other day, two Jehovah’s witnesses stopped by my house and they called themselves now, “Christian Volunteers.” I didn’t question them on that claim, but I found it odd that people who refuse to affirm that Jesus is the Son of God (part of the Trinity) would find much purpose in calling themselves Christian. As we read through John 16:5-16, any Jehovah’s witness would readily say that nowhere in this text, and in the entire Bible, is the word “Trinity” used. However, we cannot deny that in this passage Jesus is talking about three distinct persons who are perfectly united – Father, Son (Himself), and Spirit. Jesus instructs his disciples that the Father sent him and he will send the Spirit of truth; the Spirit of truth will glorify him just as he has glorified the Father. The Spirit’s role is explained as one where it will constantly point to the revelation of Jesus Christ as the Son of God in any time and any circumstance.

It’s the gift of the Spirit of truth, promised by Jesus, given at Pentecost upon the church, that guided the disciples in their ministry as they spread the Gospel around the Roman empire of their day. It’s the Spirit of truth – the Holy Spirit – that guided the Apostles as they gathered in Jerusalem to decide that Gentile converts to Christianity did not have to be circumcised because grace (through Jesus Christ) overcame the outward expressions of the law.

Similarly – and this is where we get in trouble with Jehovah’s Witnesses – the Spirit of truth guided the church fathers in the fourth and fifth centuries to study Scripture diligently and come to a written agreement on the person of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit as they relate to God. After many church councils, disagreements, and much study, they came to an understanding, guided by the Holy Spirit, of God as Trinity as expressed in the Athanasian Creed above. (You can read the full Athanasian Creed in the back of the hymnal)

And it’s the same Spirit that works in us and with us today, constantly re-proclaiming the revelation of Jesus to us in our situation. As we, the church, struggle against abortion, wonder about the ethics of stem cell research, concern ourselves with social justice and the cause of the oppressed, we do so through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit leads us in all truth, helps us understand what Jesus means for us in our present context, and guides the church as we bring the message of the Gospel to those who haven’t accepted it and to those who haven’t heard it.

However, it’s that very message that the very presence of God is with us that makes this text so fitting for Trinity Sunday. Our God who, by His nature is a relational God, draws us into relationship with Him through the Holy Spirit (by the grace of Jesus’ sacrifice) and guides us into all truth. We see each person of the Trinity at work in this passage as God pursues those who belong to him. He brings us back into relationship with Him. He restores his presence with us. And through the ongoing presence of the Holy Spirit, He guides us in all truth so that we can better model God’s love, and grace, and peace and bring Glory to God who created us, redeems us, and restores us.