JOHN STOTT ON THE TRINITY

John Stott is unrelentingly trinitarian in his understanding of God. Wherever he can, he describes God in trinitarian terms. His prayer on arising every morning was trinitarian.

Almighty and everlasting God,

Creator and Sustainer of the universe,

I worship you.

Lord Jesus Christ,

Savior and Lord of the world,

I worship you.

Holy Spirit,

Sanctifier of the people of God,

I worship you.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit

As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you.

Holy Spirit, I pray that this day your fruit will ripen my life:

Love, joy, peace, patience,

kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness and self-control.

Holy, blessed and glorious Trinity,

Three persons in one God,

have mercy upon me. Amen.

He cites scriptural authority for the Trinity in the baptism of Jesus and the Great Commission (Matt.3:17; 28:19). Also 1 Pet.1:2 “chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood.” 2 Cor.13:14 “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.”

He lists three approaches to the truth of the Trinity.

First, there is the approach of history. It was a gradual unfolding historical revelation. It was the facts of the observation of the apostles about Jesus, his teaching and miracles and his speaking of God as his Father, and the Comforter or Spirit of Truth who would take his place after he left them, which compelled them to believe in the Trinity.

Secondly, there is the approach of theology. The major problem felt by the early church fathers was how they could reconcile the unity of God with both the deity and the distinctness of Jesus, or how they could believe that Jesus was both divine and distinct from the Father without committing themselves to two Gods. All of them began with the unity of God. “The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deut.6:4). They failed to define the nature of God’s unity. There are two kinds of unity – ‘mathematical’ (which is simple and indivisible) and ‘organic’ (which is highly complex and may have many component parts, e.g. the basic unit of matter, the atom is itself a tiny universe). Similarly, the unity of God is not mathematical but organic. Within the complex mystery of the infinite God are three eternally distinct personal modes of being.

Thirdly, there is the approach of experience. There are many things in life which we cannot fully explain, but nevertheless experience e.g. electricity, barometric pressure, or love. Every time we pray we enjoy access to the Father through the Son by the Spirit (Eph.2:18 “For through Christ we … have access to the Father by one Spirit”).

In the Lord’s Prayer he saw a trinitarian exposition.

a trinitarian Christian is bound to see in these three petitions a veiled allusion to the three persons of the Trinity, since it is through the Father’s creation and providence that we receive our daily bread, through the Son’s atoning death that we receive the forgiveness of our sins, and through the Holy Spirit’s indwelling power that we can be rescued from the evil one.”

(Ted Schroder, John Stott: a Summary of his Teaching, pp.7-8)