The Trinity and the Outworking of Love

The Trinity has always been a complicated subject. After all, it is about God, who is himself complicated, as Paul exclaimed "who has known the mind of the Lord" (Romans 11:34).

If we look past the complicated nature of the trinity then we can see the beautiful truth that at the centre of all reality is a community: Three persons in one being, who exist in perfect love and communion. It is from out of this community of love that all creation comes into being. God did not create humans out of a need to be loved, as he is already loved; and God does not create us in order to have something to love, as God already has that within the Trinity. Rather creation exists as the overflow and outpouring of God’s love.

A couple that chooses to have a child does not do so because the love that exists between them is deficient or insufficient, but rather they do so as the overflow and outcome of the love that exists between them (at least in an idealised sense). So too does God create all things from out of this overflow. Therefore, God’s invitation to us is to become part of His community that already exists.

When we respond to God’s invitation, we become those who share in this love that exists between the members of the Trinity. Just as God’s love flows outwards to His creation so we are then called to share this love that we have received with those around us.

Rublev’s icon of the Trinity (below) has often been a comforting reminder of this reality. The image evokes an invitation to sit down with the three persons. Throughout our day we will hopefully feel this invitation being renewed, the call reissued to come and sit with God. Here we are reminded that our value does not come from doing or from our busyness but rather from our being. We exist from the overflow of God’s love and we are loved for who we are and not what we do.


Throughout this month may you know God’s presence and his invitation to be with him in this joyful community of mutual love and fellowship.

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