Equivocal terms are the enemy of clear thinking. It is common to hear that the Trinity is “a mystery.” But what does “mystery” mean here?
Sometimes all that is meant is that the triune God is a great, wonderful, and complicated reality. Call this the honorific sense of “mystery.” It’s not unlike calling a book or movie “profound” or “deep.” The non-trinitarian Christian will agree with the trinitarian that God is a “mystery” in this sense. Such statements usually occur in a context of worship or religious exhortation, not in theological controversy.
Second, sometimes “the Trinity is a mystery” means that the triune God can’t be fully understood. The non-trinitarian Christian will agree with the trinitarian that God is a “mystery” in this sense. To fully understand him would require knowing all the contents of his future plans, which none of us does.
Third, sometimes “the Trinity is a mystery” means that the triune God can’t be fully explained. The non-trinitarian Christian will agree with the trinitarian that God is a “mystery” in this sense. To fully explain God would be to explain the timing and method of all that he does, which none of us can.
Fourth, sometimes “the Trinity is a mystery” is a way of stopping the conversation. It’s being asserted that the difficulty at hand, whatever it is, is insurmoutable, something our best efforts right now can do nothing to resolve. This is both an understandable and a ridiculous claim. Of course, it is reasonable to bring any conversation to an end at some point, and often some issue will be left unresolved. And it is often reasonable and humble to simply admit that for now, one can’t resolve some difficulty in one’s own theory. But what’s ridiculous is to claim that no one else could – that the difficulty is unresolvable, something that the human race, or the Christian community, must just accept and learn to live with. From one’s own theoretical failure, one should be hesitant to infer that no living person could do better. This is to suppose that one is more competent and/or better informed and/or more diligent than all others. Are you really all that?
It doesn’t help to wave one’s arms and intone that some of humanity’s greatest minds have tried and failed to solve this difficulty. That may be so, but humanity’s greatest minds, and even Christianity’s greatest theologians, are mostly likely not in agreement when it comes to this difficulty of yours, and in general, about the Trinity (or the trinity). And one should reflect on the fact that some past and present Christians, who seem to be fully informed and generally intelligent, do not accept any Trinity theory, holding that the one God is the Father alone. Further, most likely some brilliant, trinitarian, present-day Christian philosophers, rightly or wrongly, think that your precious difficulty is solvable. While it has become familiar and comfortable to you, perhaps it is a price that a trinitarian need not and should not pay. Yes, maybe your difficulty has resulted from your flying too close to the sun, up to the point where human eyes simply give out. Or, it could be that it is a flashing red light, showing that you’ve driven up to theoretical dead end, and you need to turn around.
Next time: two more meanings of “The Trinity is a mystery.”
