The Bridge in Plain Text
Issue To Be Used Any Time After
Jan. 1, 2007
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The Bridge
A monthly publication of the Southeastern Minnesota Synod, ELCA
Connecting the congregational, synodical, and churchwide expressions of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The Holy Trinity
From
www.ELCA.org/questions/Results.asp?recid=28
God’s three faces
While not a biblical term, The Trinity represents the crystallization of New
Testament teaching. In writing his first letter to the Corinthians in about
A.D. 55, just two decades after Christ’s death and resurrection, St. Paul
correlates Spirit, Lord and God (1 Corinthians 12:4-6). There is a similar
correlation in the benediction of 2 Corinthians 13:13 and in the trinitarian
baptismal formula of Matthew 28:19.
The church’s confession of
faith originated as a baptismal formula. "In the Name of the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit asserts that God reveals himself in a threefold manner
because he is a triune God. The doctrine is founded on the events of
revelation in which the living God has disclosed himself to the world and
manifested his determination to establish communion with humankind"
(Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church).
Creation, redemption,
reconciliation
"When the church, on the basis of the prophetic and apostolic witness,
confesses one God it confesses its faith that the creator at the beginning
of time and the re-creator at the end and the redeemer at the center of time
is one God. And again, when the church, in obedience to the same witness,
worships this one God by three distinct names, it recognizes and
acknowledges the difference between creation, reconciliation, and
redemption, and it confesses in the one God the three distinct persons,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit" (Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church).
God as God is
ELCA Lutherans believe that God reveals who God really is to us. Therefore
the Christian church must confess its faith in the essential Trinity. God is
one God, revealed in three persons.
Of the Godhead Article 1 of
the Augsburg Confession says, "We ‘unanimously hold and teach, in accordance
with the Council of Nicea, that there is one divine essence which is called
and which is God, eternal, incorporated, indivisible, of infinite power,
wisdom, and goodness, the maker and preserver of all things, visible and
invisible. Yet there are three persons, of the same essence and power, who
are also co-eternal: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit."
The ELCA, together with the
other 135 Lutheran World Federation* member churches, therefore, are
Trinitarian churches, understanding that God has chosen to reveal God's self
in triune fashion so that we might better know, understand and witness to
God’s activity in the world.
* Lutheran World Federation
Churches span 76 countries, with approximately 65,388,000 members
Featured References
-
Interpreter's Dictionary of
the Bible, Abinngdon, 1976
-
The Encyclopedia of The
Lutheran Church, Augsburg, 1965
Monthly Bible Verse
This Bible verse was selected by Harold Usgaard, bishop of the
Southeastern Minnesota Synod, for everyone in the synod to study.
“Go therefore and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew
28:19
About Our Synod
The Southeastern Minnesota Synod is a faith community of 130,000 baptized
people in 184 congregations as well as related institutions of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Its geographic area includes
15 counties in the southeastern corner of Minnesota.
The Bridge is a monthly
publication of the Southeastern Minnesota Synod, ELCA. For more information,
contact the synod office:
Southeastern Minnesota Synod,
ELCA
1001 14th St. NW, Suite 300
Rochester, MN 55901-2551
(507) 280-9457
www.semnsynod.org
This issue is designed to be
used any time after Jan. 1, 2007.
Graphics from this issue
Right-click the link and choose "save to disk" to save the
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are in high-resolution tiff format. If you require another format, please
call 507-280-9457.
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