New book by CBMW council member shows deeply practical nature of doctrine of the Trinity

Do Christians really need to understand the doctrine of the Trinity to better know God?

Or is this often little-understood doctrine better left for the wrangling of theologians in the Bible colleges and seminaries?

In his new book, Father, Son & Holy Spirit: Relationships, Roles, & Relevance (Crossway Books), Bruce A. Ware argues that the Trinity is a doctrine that demands careful study by all Christians--from those with the seminary Ph.D. to the layperson--in order that they might better know and reverence the one true God.

After building a biblical case for the Trinity and showing how the church has grappled with and articulated the doctrine throughout her history, Ware demonstrates the practical necessity of knowing God according to His triune nature.

Ware is professor of Christian theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a council member of The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. In the opening chapter, Ware sets forth 10 reasons why Christians will be deepened in their relationship with God by studying and biblically reflecting on the doctrine of the Trinity.

"God cares that we know who he is, and he longs for us to understand him rightly, according to what he has revealed in his Word," Ware writes. "And not only must we seek to know God from Scripture, we should also seek to understand how the doctrine of the Trinity was formulated by early Christians--and how it has endured as generation after generation has reaffirmed his understanding of God.

"If we fail to understand rightly what the church has held in this crucial doctrine, we run the risk of having misconceptions of God and even of promoting heresy. On the other hand, to understand rightly just how God is both one and three is to enter into some of Scripture’s most glorious truths and to share with Christians through the ages the joy of beholding the wonder of our triune God."

In separate chapters, Ware examines each member of the Godhead and His role in redemption and the distinctive roles of each within the intra-trinitarian relationship. In the closing chapter, Ware offers 10 points of application for the significance of the Trinity in understanding roles, authority, and relationships.

As the book’s subtitle suggests, one area of profound significance for the doctrine of the Trinity is the way in which the members of the Godhead are unified, yet exhibit distinct roles in relation to each another.

The triune relationship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit also reflect an authority-submission structure within the Godhead, Ware points out. Though all three members of the Godhead are co-eternal, the Son submits to the will of the Father, and the Spirit submits to both the Father and Son in carrying out the work of redemption.

These intra-trinitarian relationships demonstrate a clear pattern for the complementary way in which God has ordained human relationships to function, Ware says. Subordination and a "division of labor" within the Trinity, holds clear implications for gender roles in both the home and church, he asserts.

"If we are thus to represent God and reflect who he is in our relationships and activities, part of this involves reflecting the ways in which the triune persons relate to one another," Ware writes.

"As we see the love relationship among the Trinitarian persons, we should seek the same kind of love to be expressed among us, God’s people. And as we see harmony expressed amidst differing roles and responsibilities among the members of the Trinity, we should seek this kind of harmony as we acknowledge varying gifting and activities within the body of Christ.

"And as we see thoughtful, judicious authority exercised along with joyful, glad-hearted submission within the very Trinity itself, we should seek to exemplify these same kinds of qualities on our relationships of authority and submission."

In the end, knowing the triune God of Scripture provides the irreducible framework for the believer’s prayer and meaningful, biblical worship, Ware points out.

"Christian worship must be worship of the Son, by the power of the Spirit, to the ultimate glory of the Father," he writes. "Worship is deeply satisfying and correctly expressed to the glory of this triune God only as it is exercised within this Trinitarian framework."

Ware’s book is available through the CBMW webstore at http://www.cbmw.org/store/.