Crowe, Brandon D., and Carl R. Truman, eds. The Essential Trinity: New Testament Foundations and Practical Relevance. Phillipsburg: P & R Publishing, 2017. $19.13.
This collection of essays on the doctrine of the Trinity comes in two parts. The first part contains essays which demonstrate that the material of the doctrine is present in each Gospel, in Paul, in Hebrews, in the General Epistles, and in the Old Testament. The second part contains essays, which work out the relevance of the doctrine, theologically and praxeologically in mystery, in revelation, in prayer, in worship, and in preaching. This movement from the Biblical foundations to the implications as well as the deploying of some great scholars is the special contribution of this work.
Notable Quotables“What is striking about the Gospel of Mark, however, is Jesus’ requirement of such loyalty to his own person: Jesus demands undivided attention to his word (4:1-20; 7:1-23) and the kingdom of God (9:43-48); the disciples should be ready to suffer and die for the sake of him and the gospel (8:34-35); the disciples have left everything to follow Jesus (10:28-30). Mark apparently includes Jesus in the devotion that, according to the Shema, should be offered to God alone” (p. 56).
“Sin against the Holy Spirit is deemed unforgivable by Jesus. Important to note about this passage is not only that Jesus can define what is forgivable, but that sin or blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the accusation that Jesus is demon possessed and his activities are of Satan. That is, total opposition to Jesus is also at the same time committing of the unforgivable sin against the Holy Spirit” (p. 60).
“The ‘I am he’ declarations [of Isaiah 40-55] are among the most emphatically monotheistic assertions of the Hebrew Bible, and if Jesus in John’s Gospel repeats them he is unambiguously identifying himself with the one and only God, YHWH, the God of Israel” (p. 107).(p. 209).
“At the same time, the verbal character of the Old Testament itself is fertile soil for a trinitarian hermeneutic where the unity of the divine essence and diversity of the divine personae are affirmed, as Genesis 32:22-32 and Hosea 12:1-6 attest. In fact, the Old Testament’s own self-presentation regarding YHWH’s singularity and diversity of personae constrain the faithful reader towards this interpretive conclusion” (p. 209).
“Communication is not alien to God’s nature but integral to it. Christian trinitarian theism is, to borrow Kevin Vanhoozer’s phrase, communicative theism” (p 252).
“Worship and reconciliation go together. Christian worship focused on the holy Trinity and controlled by the Trinity, on the undivided Trinity in which three indwell each other in love, seeking the interests of the other cannot but promote the unity of the body of Christ. Worship entails the whole person submitting to, becoming formed to, the one worshipped (Pss 115; 135; 2 Cor. 3:18). This is the one exception- the one thing to which worship is, in the short term, to be subordinate. If reconciliation is needed, that must come first (Matt. 5:24)” (p. 287).
ReviewThis book is a great resource of essays. I would recommend referencing it as you begin teaching or preaching any NT book. From part one, I particularly enjoyed ch. 2, “The Trinity and the Gospel of Mark” by Daniel Johansson, ch. 4, “The Trinity in the Gospel of John” by Richard Bauckham, and ch. 9, “The Trinity and the Old Testament,” by Mark S. Gignilliat. From part two, I especially enjoyed: Ch. 11, “The Trinity and Worship” by Robert Letham.
PurchaseYou can purchase this book here at Amazon for $19.13.
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