"– baptizing – in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit –" (v. 19)

For Reading and Meditation:     Matthew 28:1-20

We ended yesterday with the words of Augustine that if we want to see the Trinity in action then all we have to do is to go to the River Jordan. It was Augustine who pointed out also that the Trinity can be seen in the verse that is before us today, which we call "the baptismal formula." Note that we are bidden to baptize in the Name (not "names") of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, indicating their essential unity and oneness. I know there are many in the Christian Church who do not accept the doctrine of the Trinity and this makes me very sad. I just wish they would look at the matter again, for I have found it to be one of the most satisfying of doctrines as it meets the greatest needs of my soul. George Matheson spoke for me and millions of other Christians when he said: Some seek a Father in the heavens above, Some ask a human figure to adore, Some crave a Spirit vast as life and love, Within thy mansions we have all and more. Alfred Tennyson, a man with an incisive mind who saw deep into the creation, put it like this: "Though nothing is such a distress of soul to me as to hear the divinity of Christ assailed, yet I feel I must never lose the unity of the Godhead, the three persons being like three candles giving together one light." Note his words: "I must never lose the unity of the Godhead." I would simply add: neither must we. Neither must we.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I freely confess my mind finds it difficult to comprehend how You can be Three in One, and One in Three. Yet this is the teaching of Scripture. So I believe; help Thou mine unbelief. In Jesus' Name. Amen.