The Deep Things of God

In chapter nine of The Deep Things of GOD – How the Trinity Changes Everything (2017), Fred Sanders explores a tension found in many Christian circles between a Jesus focused versus a Trinitarian focused gospel teaching and how a correct soteriology guards against falling for an ersatz Christology. The tension introduced with the Trinity, Sanders points out, comes from what evangelicals see as a distraction from the simple message of salvation found in Christ alone. Thus, the Trinity is often avoided. Sanders aim is to show us that when properly understood, the Trinity does not present an alternative gospel, but instead adds a unifying ingredient that allows us to experience the central reality of the gospel.

Sanders explains the reason there should be no tension between the gospel teaching of Christ and a gospel teaching of the Trinity because they are intertwined messages. Embracing salvation centered on Jesus Christ compels us to adopt the completeness of Jesus Christ and declared His entire essence as truth. As Sanders explains, many believers are deceived into a false perception which separates Jesus from the completeness of the Trinity even through Jesus unambiguously proclaimed his unity with the Trinity; as an example, in John 7:39 and John 8:27. As Sanders clearly points out, Jesus did not modulate focus from himself, rather as Heb. 12:2 clearly draws us towards his fullness in both the Father who sent him and the Spirit who goes to work from him.

Sanders provides to clear tendencies that lead to missing the nature of Jesus. First, figuratively misunderstanding Jesus in a fatherly sense which distances him from the Father who sent him and who through Jesus we are adopted by his Father. Second, misunderstanding that when we accept Jesus into our hearts he comes alone, rather than understanding that as we abide in Jesus, the full essence of the Trinity who abides in our hearts and specifically the Holy Spirit’s establishes our heart as a work center. Not recognizing the Trinitarian nature that Jesus belongs to leads to confusion and spiritual emptiness. Sanders points to historical evangelists like Billy Graham, Robert Munger presented messages that were firmly rooted in the Trinitarian message drawn as far back as John Flavel’s 1689 book Chris Knocking at the Door of Sinners’ Hearts, or, A Solemn Entirety to Receive the Savior and His Gospel. While the Trinitarian message was recognizable in their earlier evangelical messages of the gospel, today is often presented in a “Father-forgetful and Spirit-ignoring way.” As Sanders suggests, today we must vigilantly present the gospel to avoid missing the Trinitarian connection that Jesus is a part of.

From this foundation and historical setting, Sanders clarifies the salvation message as the union of the blessings from the Father, paid for by the Son and engrained within man through the Spirit. From a solid understanding, we see the Trinitarian redemptive nature of salvation provides a model of discernment to incorrect teachings. One misguided Christian teaching leads us to miss the depth that the union with Jesus entailed historically and puts focus primarily on the freedom experienced or felt when one liberates control to Jesus. Settling solely on the freedom of Jesus provides leaves us presently filled with hope, but not embracing the depth the salvation process God established through Christ. Our union with Christ ensures we not only die with Jesus, but we are resurrected with him.

A second misguided teaching of salvation leads one in search of the right recipe of sacraments. Having both a salvation now and right sacramental recipe view misses the truth of Christs saving life. Focusing on the right sacraments for salvation draws us away from the reality of Christ and can elevate the sacraments to meanings in and of themselves rather than drawing our focus back to Christ remembrance. As Sanders explains, salvation is found through awareness of the Trinitarian process while we abide in Christ.

Finally, Sanders takes us through the classical teaching of Francis Shaeffer, in his 1972 book True Spirituality, to tie together and demonstrate the experience of embracing the Trinitarian union of Christ. As the author points out from Shaefer’s work, the Triune nature of God takes God from a generalization to the personified Holy Trinity. It is the simplicity and depth of Shaefer’s teaching on the Trinity that Sanders draws us to, that addressed the loss of spiritual reality Shaefer saw among the young Christians of his day. As Shaefer found and Sanders highlights, our relationship with Christ initiates a substantive and accumulative relational process that draws us into the wholeness of the Trinity. In the simplicity of accepting Christ as our savior we are opening the doors to the fullness of Jesus Triune relationship as God the Son in which we are immediately adopted by God the Father and have God the Holy Spirit at work for our righteousness.