Can a child appreciate the Trinity?

In a sense, this is an impossible question to answer with one word because the obvious answer is yes and no. The same answer would be given if we reworded the question and asked, ‘Can an adult appreciate the Trinity?’ What would happen if we replaced the word ‘appreciate’ with ‘understand’? Again, I would say that the answer for both children and adults is yes and no. If we replaced ‘understand’ with ‘fully explain’, the answer for both children and adults would be no, but if we had ‘partially explain’ instead of ‘fully explain’, the answer would be yes. So it is possible for children and adults to appreciate and partially explain the Trinity.

The limits of creation

One of the obvious ways by which we can know some things about God is by considering the creation or the universe. Paul says in Romans 1 that all people recognise this to some degree. Creation tells us that God is powerful, that he is able to control it, and within it he expresses his goodness by giving us temporal blessings and expresses his anger by engaging in temporal judgements. Those features were deduced from creation by all types of people, but sadly they tried to work out who God is and ended up with idols. We need more than the voice of creation to understand who the true God is.

The necessity of special revelation

We can appreciate the Trinity in this way because the Bible reveals that God is triune, that he exists in three persons. Without biblical revelation, no one will ever discover that this is the case. Of course, this is not limited to the doctrine of the Trinity. Anything to do with the doctrine of salvation has to be revealed to us because all of it is beyond human understanding.

Some people who believe the biblical revelation then try and illustrate the Trinity by referring to things that contain three features, such as time (past, present and future) or a man who is a son, brother and spouse at the same time. With regard to them, all we are doing is suggesting that those things are like God, but all we are doing is describing the thing we have in mind. As far as time is concerned, part of it is gone and part does not exist yet, which is a strange way to illustrate God. As far as the man is concerned, he can have a lot more than three roles – for example, he can also be a grandfather and a grandson. So the way to understand the Trinity is by paying attention to what the Bible says about the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit rather than trying to think up illustrations that will fall short.

Revealed in the New Testament

Since we are dependent on the Bible for any information about the Trinity, a question that will arise is, ‘Which parts of the Bible describe the Trinity?’ The answer to that question is that the existence of the Trinity is clearly revealed in the New Testament, and because that is the case it is possible to see the Trinity in Old Testament passages as well. Two clear examples of the Trinity in the New Testament are the baptismal formula in the Great Commission and the benediction mentioned by Paul at the close of 2 Corinthians.

As we think of those two statements, we can see that the Christian church is the place where the Trinity is experienced. Baptism is the entrance to the visible church and the initial activity connected to this entrance is that the name of the triune God is given to each person coming in. This is a reminder that the purpose of the Trinity is to have a community in which each of the divine persons will be at work.

What does the Pauline benediction say? It tells the recipients of the blessing that each of the three persons will be at work within this new community. That benediction states that the Son will provide grace, the Father will show love, and the Spirit will have fellowship with all who experience the benediction. This is not to suggest a superstitious fulfilment of what God is promising or that it does not matter what our spiritual state is. Yet we are reminded that all persons in the new community can experience this divine activity.

Can a child appreciate those two realities that the triune God brought him or her into the new community and that within the new community he and she can interact in different ways with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit? Yes. Can a child explain how all this happens? No. Can an adult appreciate those two realities that the triune God brought him or her into the new community and that within the new community he and she can interact in different ways with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit? Yes. Can an adult fully explain how all this happens? No, although they should have a greater grasp than a child.

Alluded to in the Old Testament

How about the Old Testament? Does the Trinity appear within its pages? It is possible that the Trinity appears on the first page when the writer refers to the divine activity of the sixth day. We hear a divine intention exclaimed: ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ Why does God use plural pronouns in this statement of intent? Some people suggest that he is referring to angels, but angels don’t have the power to create. Others suggest that he is using a form of speech called plural of majesty to stress his dignity, but if that was the case, why does he not use it every time he speaks to his subjects.

The obvious deduction that can be made from this divine statement is that God had a special place and a special plan for humans because they were given a wonderful status of being like God. God wanted them to be like him and to rule on behalf of him over the creation. This was not just to be the privilege of Adam and Eve, but also of all humans. Sadly, we know that Adam and Eve, and all descended from them, chose another path. Still we can see from the plural pronouns that the triune God originated this plan for the human race and revealed it at the beginning.

A second Old Testament passage that we can consider is Isaiah 61:1: ‘​ The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.’ Jesus quoted this verse when he returned to Nazareth after his baptism and explained his mission to those gathered in the synagogue. One of the striking details of this verse is that it refers to three persons. There is Jesus the Messiah, and there is the Spirit of the Lord God, and there is the Lord who anointed him with the Spirit. This is an obvious Old Testament reference to the Trinity, whether people reading the Old Testament before the coming of Jesus recognised this or not. And we can see from the context that the purpose of the Trinity was to bring spiritual blessings to sinners through the work of the Messiah.

Can a child appreciate those two realities that the triune God created the human race at the beginning and that later the Trinity engaged in a work of salvation through what Jesus would do? Yes. Can a child explain how all this happens? No. Can an adult appreciate that the triune God created the human race at the beginning and that later the Trinity engaged in a work of salvation through what Jesus would do? Yes. Can an adult fully explain how all this happens? No, although they should have a greater grasp than a child.

Attending a church service in Ephesus

Imagine going to church in Ephesus. What questions would people have asked one another or the elders each Sunday? One probably question would be, ‘Any word how Paul is getting on?’ After all, he had founded the church there and spent a lot of time getting it going. Later on, he had summoned the elders of that church to meet him at Miletus as he made his way to Jerusalem on one of his journeys. Maybe they knew he had been arrested, but whether they did or not, surely they would have wanted to hear from him.

Then, when people gathered together on one Sunday, there was a note of excitement in the air. People were saying to one another that a letter had come from Paul and it was going to be read out during the service. Gathered in that service were different kinds of people – there were husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and slaves – and Paul knew that they would be there because he addresses those groups in his letter.

What would be an appropriate topic to begin his letter with? Remember Paul knows who is going to be there. He can probably picture their eager faces. We can turn to Ephesians 1 and see what he began with. He referred to the Trinity and the different activities of each divine person, how the Father chose and adopted them, how the Son redeemed them and provided them with an inheritance, and how the Spirit indwells them and guards them (Eph. 1:3-14). His words in that passage are a statement of praise to the triune God of salvation. We would not be surprised if the leaders of the church asked the reader to repeat what Paul had said about their great God.

Would a child in the church in Ephesus have appreciated what Paul had said to them about the Trinity in this letter, and how the Father chooses and adopts, the Son redeems and provides an inheritance, and that the Spirit could indwell them? Yes. Could those children in the church in Ephesus have explained how all this happens? No. Could an adult in the church at Ephesus have appreciated what Paul had said to them about the Trinity in this letter, and how the Father chooses and adopts, the Son redeems and provides an inheritance, and that the Spirit could indwell them? Yes. Could those adults fully explain how all this happens? No, although they should have a greater grasp than a child.

The fact is, we are all in the heavenly classroom. Each subject contains great depth, and each of us are at different levels. But with regard to the Trinity we all can say that God has a great plan of salvation in which each divine Person is fully involved, that God has formed a new community, put the divine name on each member, and delights to fulfil the contents of the benediction.