Surpassing Human Understanding

Trinity Sunday. Not a day most preachers look forward to. That apprehension stems, for most of us I think, from some sense of obligation that at least on this one day we should attempt to explain the Trinity in a way that is understandable. It’s my job today to enable you to understand the Trinity… and to do so without falling into any of the many Trinitarian heresies that have abounded throughout the history of the church.

In an effort to aid your understanding, I want to share with you a bit of the Athanasian creed. In addition to the more familiar Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds, the so-called Creed of St. Athanasius has been a part of the church’s worship since probably the mid 5^th century. It was written specifically to offer clarity and understanding on the true nature of the person of Christ and the nature of the Trinity in the face of heresies of the day. It appears in our Prayer Book among the historical documents in the back, intended more for instruction than regular use. Some parishes, however, do have the habit of reciting it in worship on this one Sunday, Trinity Sunday.

"The faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one, the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal. And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal. As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible." Now do you understand? That’s just the beginning of the Athanasian Creed; there’s more if it would help.

Ultimately, the Trinity is not understandable. The Trinity cannot be encompassed by human understanding. Remember the language of the creed. It talks about God who exists, but is uncreated. God who is three, but not three. And right there in the creed, the word incomprehensible occurs frequently. The Trinity is incomprehensible. In fact, if you think you have a handle on the Trinity, some intellectual comprehension or understanding, then your understanding is almost certainly heretical. God, as Trinity, cannot be understood. But God as Trinity can be known. I’m not sure I have quite the best vocabulary to describe the point I am trying to make. But the point is important: Our rational, intellectual understanding cannot encompass the Trinity; but the full, faithful experience of human beings… the teaching of our own hearts and souls and minds… does enable us to know God as Trinity.

And this general point goes well beyond the doctrine of the Trinity. By God’s grace, through our experience of God in our lives, we are blessed to know things we cannot understand. By God’s grace, it is possible to know things even if we do not understand them.

The Trinity, for example. Throughout the centuries of Christian faith and experience, God’s people have known God as more than just one individual being sitting on a throne in some remote heaven. God is more than one. But we have also known and experienced God, not as the Greeks did, as a collection of independent gods—one in charge of love, one in charge of war, one in charge of frivolous pleasure. God is not a collection of separate individuals. As challenging as it is to our intellectual understanding, by God’s grace in our hearts and souls and minds, we know God as a coherent unity who also somehow embodies… is… community. God is unity and community. The doctrine of the Trinity. We may not understand the doctrine of the Trinity, but by God’s grace, we may know God as three in one and one in three.

Beyond the fact that today is Trinity Sunday, today’s readings are full of descriptions of situations that are beyond human understanding. Today’s Scriptures tell of people, human beings like you and I, who find themselves confronting things they cannot understand. But it is important to recognize that the failure or limitation of human understanding is not the end of these stories.

Moses facing the burning bush. He cannot understand how a bush can burn, but not be consumed. He cannot understand how this can happen, but by God’s grace he knows that he is in the presence of God. He knows he stand on holy ground and God is with him.

Then there is Nicodemus, who cannot understand how anyone can be born again after having grown old. Nicodemus does not understand, but Jesus says to him, we speak of what we know. We know, from our own experience, that the Spirit can bring wondrous new life, new life that transcends all of the limitations of human flesh. We may not understand in any physical or biochemical way how a person’s soul receives new life. But we can still know it to be true. By God’s grace we can know things we do not understand.

Ultimately, it is God we are talking about. God is beyond our understanding, but not beyond our knowing. Both parts of that affirmation are very important. God is beyond our understanding, but not beyond our knowing. We acknowledge both parts—that God is beyond our understanding, but not beyond our knowing—every Sunday as we gather to share the Eucharist. A variety of theories have sought to explain, in a way that human beings can understand, how Christ is actually present in the bread and wine. In the end, all the theories fall short. We cannot understand how the living Christ comes to be in the bread and wine. But, by God’s grace, we can know Christ there. We can meet the living Christ in our lives as we share Holy Communion.

I like to quote Queen Elizabeth I on the subject of Holy Communion.

He was the Word that spake it,
He took the bread and brake it;
And what that Word did make it,
I do believe and take it.

Whether or not our intellectual understanding finds any of the theories of transubstantiation or transessentiation or memorialism satisfying… in the breaking and taking of the bread, we know Christ with us. By God’s grace, we are given to know things we cannot understand.

In this morning’s passage from Romans, Paul talks about being children of God, heirs of God. Can you understand how that can be? I cannot. I cannot begin to understand how or why God would look upon me, come to me, love and cherish me as a child. Me… I cannot understand it. But I know that I am God’s child, God’s own. I know it in my own life. I know that I am loved as God’s own child.

By God’s grace, we may know things we do not understand. One cautionary note. This does not mean that ignorance or confusion are virtues or that an immature faith is something to be proud of. It does not mean that we should deny the challenges of faith or back away from seeking deeper understanding of God and God’s Word and God’s will. It does mean that we should not hold our own understanding as the only test for what is real or true in the world. Rather, we should acknowledge and celebrate the grace of God that enables us to know things we may not understand. And let us pray that we may have the faith to trust the profound truth and reality of what God’s grace teaches us to know in the world.

Every Sunday we close our worship with a blessing. The words are familiar; they are St. Paul’s in his letter to the Philippians. He assures the Christians in Philippi: The peace of God that surpasses human understanding will guard your hearts. It’s an assurance. The peace of God that surpasses human understanding will guard your hearts. I read some guidance to preachers once: the people don’t want to hear about some vague peace "that passeth understanding." That’s the kind of peace God gives. Yes, it is beyond human understanding, but not beyond human knowing. And that is worth preaching.

By God’s grace, we may come to know things in our lives even if we do not understand them.

I pray that you will know that you are God’s beloved children.

And may we who are God’s children know the living Christ present with us as we gather to break bread at God’s Holy Table.

And may the peace of God, that surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and bring you to know God’s blessing this day and always.