The Trinity & Ministry

3 John 9-10
I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.

I am working with the argument provided by Herman Bavinck, viz. that “…every error results from, or upon deeper reflection is traceable to, a departure in the doctrine of the Trinity” (Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 2, God and Creation, 2:288), to show that the Trinity is the axiom for every belief and practice in life. And any false belief, practice, and sin can ultimately be traced back in some way to a denial of the Biblical understanding of the Triune God.

In the opening post, we explored how complementarianism is not only Biblical but also whole-heartedly Trinitarian, because of the authority-submission structure that exists between the persons and their respective relationships within the Trinity. We saw that the egalitarian quest for equal ultimacy in roles and relationships is not only radically unbiblical with regards to men and women; it is blatantly anti-Trinitarian for ultimately denying the subordination of the Son to the Father within their relationship.

We now turn to see the Trinity worked out and applied within the context of ministry. As we look at the text from 3 John, we see that the church leader Diotrephes is a lover of first place, hoarding all the glory and fame for himself. He refuses to acknowledge others in authority. He refuses to welcome others. He is driven by the inward impulse for personal glory and recognition. Do we not see this same kind of attitude in our churches today? A senior pastor refuses to allow his assistant pastor start a Sunday evening service for fear that the congregation will like the assistant pastor’s preaching more than the senior pastor’s preaching on Sunday mornings. Adult Sunday school teachers feel threatened by one another, and therefore, competition begins to see who has more attendees in his class. Those older in ministry feel threatened by the young and upcoming ministers. Others observe another’s gifts and becomes envious and jealous, or become insecure about one’s job security. Honor is hoarded and consumed, and stolen from others.

These few examples are all symptoms of a radically unbiblical understanding of the Trinity. For, we see the exact opposite between the persons in the Godhead. There is no hoarding of honor and glory between the persons. Rather, there is an eternal and perpetual deflection of glory back and forth between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Let me see if I can illustrate this concept. If you have ever worked out at a gym or tried on a suit or dress in dressing room in a department store, you may have come across a phenomenon when you stand with a mirror in front of you and a mirror behind you. If you look at the mirror in front of you, you will see the mirror behind you. And if you look at this reflection of the mirror behind you, you will notice that the mirror in the reflection reflects back and allows you to see the mirror in front you. And so the two mirrors reflect one another back and forth, and it looks like you are looking down an infinite corridor of mirrors reflecting one another. This is how it is within the Trinity. The Father points us to the Son and says, “Look at my Son! My beloved Son! He is Lord!” And yet the Son points us back to the Father, exclaiming, “Give glory to my Father! My beloved Father who is Lord over all things!” Jesus sends us the Spirit. The Spirit who is our Comforter and the Author of the Scriptures, opens our eyes and minds, pointing us to Jesus, saying, “Look at Jesus! Isn’t He glorious?! Worship Him!”

We see this reality in the following Scriptures:

Philippians 2:5-11
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

In this passage, Christ humbles Himself, deflecting glory from Himself. The Father then raises and exalts Christ, glorifying Him. Yet at the conclusion of this passage, we see that Jesus, who is confessed as Lord, deflects and directs glory back to the Father.

We see this same reciprocal glorification in John’s Gospel:

John 8:50, 54
Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge…Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me…

John 11:4
But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

John 12:23, 28
And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified…Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

John 16:14-15
He [the Holy Spirit] will glorify me [Jesus], for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

John 17:1, 4-5
Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you…I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

Imagine what ministry would look like today if our understanding of honor was deeply entrenched in how the Trinity honors and glorifies one another!