The Life of the Trinity: the “Back-Story” to the Gospel

I was recently listening to a lecture on the Trinitarian relationship between Father, Son and Spirit which was illustrated as the “Back-Story” necessary for an accurate comprehension of the events of the Gospel. It was stated that without the understanding of this eternal relationship of family love we cannot properly interpret what we have called the Gospel–the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ for the sin of the world.

The speaker relayed the story about his brother who one summer was feverishly working to update and restore a dilapidated farmhouse, remodeling and repairing both the house and the animal dwellings. Working every day and late into the nights it took him several weeks to complete the job.

As onlookers of this man, who appeared to be undoubtedly dedicated to this project, what might we conclude about his mission? Perhaps that he was “into” remodeling and restoring old broken down farmhouses? Maybe he was getting paid a lot of money for the work and overtime. Or perhaps he was excited to raise livestock and was remodeling it because of his passion for animals.

The truth was, he was in love with a woman. She was on an extended trip and he was working to get his “extreme makeover” finished before she returned. He was preparing a place in hopes of wooing and romancing her to himself in marriage. That’s the backstory. And that puts a different spin on how you interpret all the blood, sweat and tears. It gives you a very different vision on account of all his efforts and activity.

Similarly if you look before the cross…before creation…before the angels…indeed before sin even entered into the cosmos …you find a “Back-Story” as well. It is the relationship of a Father, Son and Spirit that has existed from all eternity. This is the romantic prologue to the story we call “The Gospel.” It is The Love Story that began before time, before sin. This is the essential element of the Story of God we need to have in our vision in order to place the historical events of the Gospel in their proper context. The Gospel is not just a Story about how God came down and fixed humanity’s problems. The love that Jesus displayed on the cross was in motion long before the human race fell in Adam. In fact, Adam “fell” into the greatest romance Story ever told!

It is not unlike Samwise Gamgee’s question of “I wonder what sort of tale have we fallen into?” It was the best question he could ask, for it assumed there was a Story. A story of joy and love and purpose going on long before any of us were even born! And the context of the Story is everything. Scriptures tell us it is nothing less than the eternal fellowship of love between the Father, the Son and the Spirit and their unified desire and planned mission to share that love (John 1; 17; Eph 1). It was the nature of that love to give itself away that brought about mankind in the first place. God is an eternal community of love and the incarnation of the Son of God means that we have been included in that fellowship of love from before the foundation (lit. the ‘fall’) of the world!

Evangelicals are invariably quick to defend the “Doctrine of the Trinity” but most are hard pressed to explain why. Some say it is necessary for the atonement to “work” as it is only the incarnate Son who can save us. But we have come to believe, and hope you can see a bit clearer, how it is immensely more than that.

The ministry of Perichoresis is dedicated to the renewal of the centrality of the Trinity in the Gospel Story. Please visit their websites and check out their extensive articles on the Trinitarian life as it relates to the Gospel and the Story we find ourselves in. They highlight and expound the thinking of Trinitarian theologians such as Athanasius (296-373AD) and J. B.  Torrance (1923-2003). The following is an excerpt by Perichoresis founder Dr. C. Baxter Kruger from his new book, The Shack Revisited:

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