LIFE IN THE TRINITY

The world was made through the Word, yet when he entered that world as Jesus, those he created did not recognise him. They preferred darkness, resisting the One who had given them life. He came to what was his own—Israel—but his own did not receive him. He is Yahweh, the God of Israel, the One who formed them, treasured them, dwelt among them, and bound himself to them in covenant love. And now, in a staggering mystery, the God of Israel became an Israelite, stepping fully into human history. Yet even with such nearness, his own people turned away.

Still, his love remained steadfast. His desire has always been relationship—first with Israel, and through Israel, with the world. So he entered the world not from a distance but right into its darkness. He came not to condemn but to restore, fulfilling the purpose of the Triune God for Israel and for all nations. The Light stepped into the darkness to bring life.

Yet some did receive him. To them he gave the right to become children of God: people not defined by ancestry, effort, or human will, but born of God himself. At the centre of all reality is a circle of love: Father, Son, and Spirit delighting in one another. The Father’s love for the Son is so abundant, so overflowing, that he wills to share it widely. So, through Jesus, the Son, he forms a family in the likeness of this unique Son.  Now we can say, through Jesus and the Spirit, we have become the dearly loved children of God who are born of God to live in communion with God.

Jesus, the true Light, shines into the darkness of the world. The world, often described as being under “the god of this age.” The world that is under the whole dominion of darkness. 

John declares, “The darkness has not overcome the light.” The word “overcome” carries double meaning: it can also be translated as “understand.” This layered meaning is characteristic of John’s Gospel. On one hand, the darkness has not defeated the Light; on the other, it has not comprehended it. Both ideas deepen the message.

Light and darkness are not merely contrasting realities; they are locked in conflict. Darkness actively resists the Light, seeking to extinguish it. Yet it has never succeeded. The Light continues to shine, unstoppable in its purpose.

At the same time, the darkness fails to understand the Light. Though the Light shines openly for all to see, those who dwell in darkness remain blind to Jesus, the Light. As John writes, the world that came into being through him did not recognise him, and even his own people did not receive him. This rejection of the Light is rooted in misplaced love. People turn away not because the Light is unclear, but because they love the darkness and hate the light that exposes what they would rather keep hidden.

Those in the darkness even tried to extinguish the light by putting Jesus, the light, to death.  For a moment, darkness seemed to prevail. It seemed like he was totally swallowed up by the darkness. Yet the resurrection reveals the truth—darkness cannot conquer the Light.

This is our hope: no matter how deep the darkness appears, the Light still shines, and it will never be overcome.

ohn describes the Word as Light shining in the darkness. It is of the very nature of light to shine.  We see this every morning. The night is dark, but when the sun rises, light shines all around.  

Beauty and wonder surround us every day, but without light, they remain unseen. To live in darkness would be to miss what creation has to offer to us.  Imagine what it would be like to live in the darkness! 

In the same way, Jesus is the light of the world, shining into spiritual darkness with a brilliance far greater than the dawn. His light reveals what would otherwise remain hidden. There is even greater beauty and wonder to see in God, but we must also have His light to see. Left to ourselves, we misunderstand who God is and what He is like. Yet a light has come for all people. Through it, we begin to see clearly: the character of God, the truth of His love, and the meaning of all things.

Significantly, when John tells us “the light shines in the darkness”, he uses the present tense. So, the light shining in the darkness is not just a past event but a continuing reality. The light has not faded or withdrawn; it shines still. Jesus is the Living Light—present and active now and forever.

C. S. Lewis observed, “I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” Likewise, as God’s light shines into our dark hearts, we see the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus,  and by that light we see all things as God wants us to see.

In him (The Word) was life, and that life was the light of humanity (John 1:4). 

The Word did not remain distant; he became flesh and made his dwelling among us. While walking in the world, he declared, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” Notice what he did not say: “I have the light and I will hand it to you in a book.” No—he says, “I am the light.” Life is in him, and that life shines outward as light. Those who receive him do not merely gain information; they step out of darkness and into the light of life.

Without Jesus, we remain in darkness. In darkness, we misunderstand God and easily believe false stories about him. We imagine a distant judge, an indifferent creator, or a God who must be appeased. Darkness also distorts our understanding of ourselves. We measure our worth by failure, shame, success, or comparison, and we accept lies about who we are. But when Jesus, the light of the world, enters our lives, truth begins to break through. His light exposes the lies and leads us into reality.

For John, light is not merely an idea or doctrine; light is a person who lives in relationship with the Father and invites us into that relationship. This challenges the way people think about enlightenment. Some “religious” people seem to suggest that enlightenment comes through mastering ideas or accepting propositions. Yet it is possible to agree with “truths” and still live in darkness. Illumination comes as we walk with Jesus. As we follow him, the Spirit shines light into our dark hearts, revealing who God is and who we are.

Life is at the very heart of the Gospel of John. Near the end of the book, John explicitly states that life is the purpose for which the Gospel was written: “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30–31). From beginning to end, John presents life as the great gift that Jesus brings, as the Way, the Truth, and the LIFE.  

In John’s Gospel, life refers above all to eternal life. This eternal life is not merely endless existence. Jesus himself defines it in his prayer to the Father: “This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). Eternal life is relational knowledge of the Father and the Son.

The Father fully knows the Son, and the Son fully knows the Father, dwelling forever in perfect communion. Astonishingly, Jesus invites us to share in this divine fellowship. Through him, we are brought into the relationship that the Father and the Son have always enjoyed. This is why Jesus declares, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Abundant life is participation in the living relationship of God.

We enter this life through the Spirit. Jesus speaks of the Spirit as “living water” (John 4:10–14), a free gift that becomes within believers “a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Through the Spirit dwelling within us, we are drawn into the communal knowing of the Father and the Son. In this way, eternal life is truly Trinitarian. 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being (John 1:1-3).

As John contemplates the whole universe, visible and invisible, he traces its origin to this Word, the Son. Reaching back before creation itself, John sees two persons: the Word and the Father. He sees them turned toward one another, face-to-face, sharing life, delight, and love before anything else existed. He sees not only companionship but shared action: both are active in the making of everything that is. They love to be together and to work together; their shared joy overflows into creation.

When John gazes at the world, he does not see a solitary deity producing creation alone, but all things coming from the Father through the Son, in perfect fellowship. Later, he will declare something even more astonishing: this same Word through whom all things were made became flesh and dwelt among us as one of us. And as the story unfolds, we witness Father, Son, and Spirit working in harmony again, this time to bring forth a new creation.

We often think of Jesus only in personal terms, and he really is very personal. Yet we must not stop there. The one we know personally is also cosmic. To see this, we must take the phrase “all things” seriously.  John insists on the sweep of that phrase: all things. Not some, not most, but emphatically ALL things.  In the rest of the New Testament, we learn that all things came into being through him, are held together in him, and were made for him, and in him.  At last, all things will reach their glorious climax in him (Colossians 1: 15-17; Ephesians 1:9-11).  

The prologue of John’s Gospel serves as an overture to the entire narrative, much like a musical prelude that introduces themes which later unfold in full. It opens by directing our attention to the one John calls “the Word”: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.”

The word translated “with” is strikingly intimate. It can mean “toward,” even suggesting two persons face-to-face. Eugene Peterson paraphrases, “The Word present to God, God present to the Word.” Before anything existed, the Word was turned toward God, in living communion.

So, as our minds are taken back before anything existed, we see two persons in a relationship. One is called the Word, the other God. Later, John names them more fully: the Word is the Son, and God is the Father. He pictures them in deep closeness: the Son “in the bosom of the Father,” or, as another translation renders it, “close to the Father’s heart.” So even before God made the world, relationship was at the very centre of who God is.  God himself is persons in communion.  That’s who he is.  

Here John turns us toward the eternal relation between Father and Son. Love is not yet named, but the unfolding gospel story makes clear that love is the beating heart of this fellowship. The story John tells flows from that eternal communion of love. 

The story unfolds in time when the Word became flesh and entered history. He came as one of us to draw us into the communion that is God’s own life—the communion we now share through the Spirit, the third divine person, who descended upon Jesus like a dove and whom he later promises to us.

God is made known to us in the face of his Son, through the Spirit. We rejoice in what we now know, confident that this knowledge is truly of God himself. For God has not remained hidden or distant; he has revealed himself freely and graciously through his own Son and Spirit. Our knowledge of God could not be more trustworthy, because it comes from God, is shaped by God, and leads us into God. And yet, even as we affirm the truth of what we know, we recognise that we are gazing into mystery.

Mystery is often understood as something unknowable or unsolvable, as though it marks the limits of understanding. Richard Rohr helpfully reframes mystery as “endless knowability.” Mystery is not the absence of truth, but the abundance of it—a depth that continually opens before us, revealing ever richer layers of meaning without ever being exhausted. It is not simply that God cannot be understood, but that God is always being known more deeply.

The apostle Paul speaks in this way when he prays that, through the Spirit, we might grasp the height, length, depth, and breadth of Christ’s love. Yet in the same breath, he acknowledges that this love surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3: 19). This is love as endless knowability: a love that continually unfolds, drawing us further in. Even beyond this life, the love of Christ will always exceed our grasp, as we go on and on discovering the fullness of his love for us.

Therefore, we set our minds and hearts on God as he is revealed in Jesus, trusting the Spirit to lead us ever deeper into the love that forever surpasses our knowing.

Our knowledge of the Triune God does not begin with abstract speculation or carefully defined concepts, but with personal encounter. God meets us before we ever attempt to explain him. Jesus Christ, the living Word, comes to us in the power of the Spirit, and in making himself known, he also makes the Father known. To see Jesus is to see the Father revealed in him. From this living encounter, faith is awakened, and that faith is given concrete expression as we are baptised into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

As the Spirit enlightens the eyes of our hearts, we begin to perceive a distinctly Trinitarian pattern in God’s saving work. In the unfolding drama of the gospel, we learn to recognise that everything God does for our salvation is from the Father, through the Son, and in the Holy Spirit. This is not merely a theological formula but the living shape of God’s gracious action toward us. Over time, this pattern shapes our understanding of who God truly is and draws us into a life of worshipping the Father through the Son and in the Spirit.

Such worship is not confined to moments of prayer or gathered devotion. It extends into the ordinary rhythms of daily life, shaping how we live, love, and hope. In this sense, we are Trinitarian long before we have studied the doctrine of the Trinity. We may lack precise definitions or technical language, yet the reality of the Trinity is already present to us.

The Triune God stands before us in the story of salvation and dwells within us through the indwelling Spirit. The Father and the Son make their home in us by the Spirit, and God’s Triune love continues to meet us, drawing forth our response of wonder, love, and praise.

I once read a book titled The Pursuit of God. It challenged me to “follow hard after God” The book also provided me with ways to channel my serious pursuit. I do think we should take our pursuit of God seriously.  Yet, as I have reflected more deeply on Scripture, I have come to see that the biblical story places even greater emphasis on God’s pursuit of us.

The whole drama of the Bible is the story of a God who moves toward humanity. The Father pursues us in his Son and by his Spirit, drawing us back home to himself. In this gracious movement, God reveals not only who he is toward us, but who he eternally is within himself—a God of love, communion, and self-giving.

Our journey of faith does not begin with our searching, but with God’s seeking. The Father encounters us through Jesus and in the Spirit. And our ongoing communion with God continues in the same way: the Father continually comes to us so that we might share in the Son’s own relationship with him in the Spirit.

By the Spirit, God personally encounters us, enabling us to participate in all that he has accomplished in Christ. As we share in the Son’s life, we come to know the love of God in the communion of the Spirit. 

So, when we speak of pursuing God, we must begin by recognising that God has first pursued us. Only in light of His constant pursuit of us can our own pursuit of Him be rightly understood. A serious pursuit of God is always born from an awareness of His prior and gracious pursuit of us.