Some thoughts on the Gospel and Epistle for Trinity Sunday

John 16.12-15 (NRSV)

12 ‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. ¹⁴He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.¹⁵All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

It is interesting to note that the compilers of the Lectionary have chosen this passage for Trinity Sunday, as its focus is still on the Holy Spirit – referred to here as ‘... the Spirit of truth .. (vs 13). It is by the Spirit that God’s truth is revealed to us – it is not discovered, or figured out, it is made known to us.

I begin my reflection with help from William Barclay.

This wonderful truth is revealed in a progressive way – bit by bit - as we enabled to grasp it. I deliberately do not use the word ‘understand’ because it is more than a mere cerebral experience; it is something that we grasp with our whole being. Jesus explained that there were some things that the disciples at the time could not deal with then (vs 12); he could not tell them important things because they were unable to grasp the truth. The progressive nature of things has been applied to a number of areas of human experience. Jean Piaget spoke of levels of cognitive development which has been invaluable for those concerned with the education of children. People lean by building on earlier knowledge and skill e.g. one needs to be able to do basic arithmetic before one can move on the calculus. Lawrence Kohlberg discovered that there are discernible levels of moral development where it is important to lay good foundations early on in life and build on them until a person reaches maturity where they try to be good people, not only to avoid unpleasant consequences, but just because it is the right thing to do. Here Jesus is speaking of levels of spiritual development, where important foundations lead to growth into spiritual maturity.

It is also important to realise that the Bible is not the only source of revelation. God’s Spirit is always at work deep within his people and working through the Church. It is important to grasp this important truth; Jesus is the Word of God – he is not just a figure of history of which we read in the Gospels – he is a living person and through him God’s revelation continues.

It is also true that it is not only ministers and theologians who are inspired by the Spirit; there are also hymn writers and composers of music amongst others. Handel’s Messiah is for me one of them, as is Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater. But this is also true of great scientific discoveries and medical advances. This is because all truth is God’s truth, and the work of revelation is the work of the Holy Spirit.

Revelation is also the continued revelation of the truth of who Jesus is. Barclay points out that

‘… revelation comes to us, not from any book or creed, but from a living person. The nearer we live to Jesus, the better we will know him. The more we become like him, the more he will be able to tell us. To enjoy his revelation, we must accept his mastery.’ (p. 196)

John Marsh adds wonderful additional insights from this passage. He reminds us that the Spirit does not bring us any new truth; it might seem new to us, but it has been eternally thus. But importantly, it is the revelation of the truth of Jesus that is of great significance as we progress on our spiritual journey. If one places this passage in his historical context, this utterance was before the crucifixion and so the reference to the ‘things to come’ would be a reference to the Cross and its meaning and significance. With all the tragedy lying ahead in the future, Jesus is in effect saying to the disciples that they will be led by the Spirit to understand what it all means. Marsh explains: ‘Without the Spirit’s illumination Christ’s death would be a complete tragedy; under his instruction it will be the great victory of the Lord over the adversary, the decisive moment in the salvation of the world ...’ (p. 538) Marsh suggests that this is confirmed by verse 14 where Jesus speaks about being glorified. To be glorified  is to make it clear that what seems like a humiliation of apparent defeat ‘… is nothing else but the real triumph of victory.’

And this is more than the simple fact of crucifixion, because this could be understood by mere observation of the event or hearsay. By the Spirit, the disciples would learn that the Cross revealed the ‘… depths of the relationship between the Father and the Son in the Godhead …’ (p. 539). This is why the passage is so full of the close relationship, Father, Son and Spirit – a graphic explanation of the Trinity and its oneness.

A M Hunter  adds another interesting dimension: The paraclete does more than reveal or expose, he will also teach and will guide all believers of all time into all the truth of the Gospel. It is an individual journey as well as a communal journey. We will be enlightened on our personal journey of faith, but we will also be guided by the confirmation of our experience through the testimony of the Spirit to the Church.

This leads us into the contribution of the Epistle for Trinity Sunday.

Romans 5:1-5 (NRSV)

Results of Justification

5Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. ³And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

When one has received the gift of faith, everything makes sense, even difficult times. Paul makes the point that times of suffering are character building and links them to producing hope. It is interesting that he uses the word ‘boast’ as the preface to dealing with this, because in 3:27, he writes of boasting being excluded from the Christian experience; boasting in what we do. Here we have seen that we boast in our hope of sharing in God’s glory, and we boast in our sufferings. Here we boast in God’s character and achievements, not those of our own. Our justification is God’s doing and not our own. It is because of this that we hope, because God’s love is poured into our hearts and fills us with hope. Barclay explains: “The Christian hope never proves an illusion for it is founded on the love of God.”

It is true that when we confront the problems of our lives, we grow, our character is built up, and our trust in God is deepened and our confidence in the future is assured, because even though we are free, God is always there for us to make positive things come out of the negative. All this is possible because it is not up to us to face life’s challenges alone. In the Gospel we are reminded that we are given the Holy Spirit and the word used was parakletos the ‘parallel’ counsellor to enable us to do what we cannot achieve in our own strength.

All this is possible because ‘... God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.’