Why Love the Trinity? Part 2

John 17:9-26
“I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

These words of Jesus, spoken thousands of years ago as he interceded and mediated on our behalf between himself and the Father, underscore why we should love the Trinity. Our salvation flows from the inter-Trinitarian relationship—that is the well from which we draw salvation, because of the relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

From John 17, we see divine attributes shared by Father and Son, yet distinct actions in salvation. The Father and Son operate in the plan of salvation requiring distinct personhood, yet attributes refer only to God himself. The death of Jesus on the cross is the clearest example—not the death of the Father or Holy Spirit, but of the Son who took on flesh. Contrary to misconceptions like those in The Shack, the Father and Spirit did not die on the cross.

Other examples include Jesus praying to the Father from earth while the Father is in heaven. If they were the same person, their revelation would be indistinguishable, with no spatial or economic differences in salvation. The very designation of Father and Son is distinguishable. John 17 would be useless if Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were the same person or if the Son were not fully divine.

John 17 establishes both distinguishability and unity of Father and Son, sharing fully divine concepts. Understanding the Trinity brings sweetness and glorious intimacy to Christian worship and living. We participate in the Trinity—Christ in us, us in Christ, even in them. This is explicit in 2 Peter 1:3-4:

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desires.

These precious promises create overwhelming appreciation for the promise-giver, resulting in fellowship (koinōnia) in the divine nature with the persons of the Trinity through Jesus Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit. Such promises vanish without the Trinity.

1. The Son Prays for Us to the Father

This is Jesus' high priestly prayer, part of his priestly office—prophet, priest, and king. As our great high priest (Hebrews), he is eternal, divine, tempted yet sinless, merciful and faithful. He mediates between us and God, the exact representation of God's nature (Hebrews 1), effective as God and as man.

He prays from earth to the Father in heaven, indicating spatial distinction, then resumes his heavenly location at the Father's right hand—establishing equality yet distinguishability.

In John 6:38:

For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.

Jesus accomplishes the Father's will, not his own—coming down from heaven in loving agreement. The Father gives a particular people to the Son for salvation (John 6:39-40):

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

Trinitarianism establishes salvation: the Father plans and gives, the Son is sent and purchases. To deny the Trinity is to deny salvation. In John 6, a crowd pursues Jesus, he heals and feeds them miraculously, yet they abandon him because he won't be their earthly king (Deuteronomy 18:18). They deny his deity: “Is this not Jesus the son of Joseph?” (John 6:42). Peter confesses: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68), linked to knowing Christ as the Holy One of God sent by the Father.

2. The Son Possesses Us from and with the Father

You belong to Jesus—he possesses you from and with the Father (Colossians 3:3). John 17:10: “All mine are yours, and yours are mine.” Everything belongs mutually, including people given to the Son. In pre-existence, Father and Son possessed God's people; incarnation particularizes the Son's mission, like the high priest's breastplate.

John 17:11: “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.” We are united with Christ, linked to Father-Son unity—requiring distinct persons. This unity is prophesied in Psalm 22:22 (cited in John 17 and Hebrews 2:12):

I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.

And Isaiah 8:18:

Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.

Jesus receives the Father's name, making us family—sons of God. As J. Adams notes, God disciplines his children (Hebrews 12:5-11), securing them inseparably in Trinitarian union. Salvation cannot be forfeited without disrupting the Trinity.

3. The Son Purifies Us in the Father's Truth

Salvation's security ties to lifestyle: not owed, not earned, not licentious. Losing salvation disrupts the Trinity—Jesus failing, disobeying, or unwilling to fulfill the Father's will (John 6:39; 17:12). He kept all except Judas, fulfilling Scripture.

His prayer applies to apostles and us (John 17:20). He protected disciples earthly (John 18:6-9), fulfilling “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.” This is preservation of saints, not mere “once saved always saved”—true saints persevere, sealed by the Spirit.

Jesus prays for sanctification: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17). If he effectively prayed for Peter (Luke 22:32), his sanctification prayer succeeds. Sanctification is positional (Hebrews 10:10,14) and progressive—conforming to Christ (“little Christs”).

John 17:19: “For their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.” Jesus' consecration ensures our ongoing purification. Without Trinitarianism, no giving, no consecration, no sanctification—enabling false “Christianity” without change.

If Trinitarianism is hard to grasp, that's not the issue—denial is. Grow in Scripture; none have perfect knowledge. We are united in inter-Trinitarian fellowship. John 17:13: Jesus speaks “that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.” The Trinity fills us with Christ's joy.