Question:  Dear Greg,

            I read with interest some of your answers on the Trinity.  I suppose this is not so much a question as some thoughts on your answers.  For decades I tried to believe what my church told me.  Now I only believe what I can see in Scripture.  I honestly don’t know whether God is triune or not; I don’t see it taught in Scripture.  But I believe in God the Father, in the Lord Jesus Christ as his beloved Son, My Savior, and in the Holy Spirit of God.  I don’t see that it matters whether I believe in something just because it is a tradition.  You claim that one has to believe something to be a true Christian.  In doing that you diminish grace.  God’s gift of salvation is entirely free, dependent only on God’s choice.  You cannot attach conditions or it no longer is of grace, it is of works.  Of course being saved will produce fruit.  However, “the Lord knows those who are his”.  I think we will be surprised at some who are his saints— his mercy is great.

            In Christian love,

            Dave

Answer:  Dear Dave,

            Thank God that he has enabled you to mature beyond a blind acceptance of what your church tells you to believe to what you can clearly understand in Holy Scripture.  That is a maturation process many Christians go through—painful, but it is, I am convinced, where God wants us to be.  He wants us to be in possession of our critical thinking faculties because much of Christianity is rational and logical, certainly that part that he clearly reveals to us in natural (creation) and special (biblical) revelation.

            May I never diminish God’s grace, though it may seem that I have done so to you.  God’s grace is absolutely critical to the gospel, and if you follow the ministry of PTM—our booklets, our radio messages, the Plain Truth, our monthly ministry letter, and the resources on our website, grace is our emphasis, with legalism and religion-ism its mortal enemy.  In terms of the Trinity, I do not believe that the simple recitation of a creed is salvific.  I don’t believe that those who say/mumble/memorize the “right words” are given God’s grace, while those poor unfortunates who do not are damned.

            I agree completely with you that simply believing in a tradition does not make one a true Christian.  I believe that the only Something that one must accept in order to be a Christian is Jesus Christ, but that belief is absolutely unconditional and without reservation.  It isn’t Jesus plus things we need to do, believe, recite, memorize, etc.  It is Jesus alone.

            In addition, I believe that there are cognitive, theological and biblical constructs that a person will believe once and when they accept Jesus alone, faith alone and grace alone.  One of those constructs is the Trinity.  Before going on, the belief you express is evidence of that.  You believe in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  How they are Father, Son and Holy Spirit is now something you can further discuss/study/pray about, or you may leave it alone.  I believe that many do not have the interest, capacity, or environment to study the Trinity, and that they are saved by God’s grace.  No essay test about the nature of God is administered outside of the gates of God’s kingdom of heaven, nor are we denied entrance until we achieve a high enough score, repeating just the right words of the Nicene and Apostle’s Creed.

            I emphatically do not believe that there are any conditions to grace.  We are saved by grace alone.  Period.  Having said all of that, and being in agreement with the direction of your thoughts, we must not then conclude that everyone who says “Lord, Lord” will be saved either.  There were those who “went out from us because they really didn’t belong to us” (1 John 2:19).  It is possible to ascertain, by a careful study of the history of the Christian faith, the central attributes of authentic Christianity over the centuries.  There are hallmarks of the workmanship that God has called us to (Ephesians 2:10)—the produce or fruit that he produces in the lives of Christians.

            Belief in some formulation of one God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is always a central issue.  Put it another way—forget the study of Christianity.  Study cults-- those considered to be outside of Christianity (not merely by Christians today, but by the past 2000 years of Christian history).  One constant, always present, is the denial of the God of the Bible as one God who is three in Person—distinct and separate yet one and co-essential.  Always.

            So what do I conclude?  That Christians make up their mind about what they believe about God?  No.  I conclude that those who receive God’s grace and who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are given insight and understanding by God.  He reveals himself to them, perhaps in slightly differing ways, but never in conflicting ways.  Perhaps some have a little better comprehension, perhaps some a little less, but God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit is the same yesterday, today and forever, and he will always reveal himself as he is.

            Hope that helps Dave.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht