Why is the doctrine of Tri-Unity of God so important?

Historically, God’s Tri-Unity is one of the most important distinguishing doctrines of the Christian religion, setting Christianity apart from all non-Christian theistic religions, both monotheistic and polytheistic, and also from liberalism.

Without God’s Tri-Unity, essential doctrines such as incarnation and atonement collapse. See, e.g., Ephesians 1:3–14.

Without God’s Tri-Unity the richness and specificity of Christian worship and prayer are diminished.

            2 Corinthians 13:14—May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

            Ephesians 2:18, 22—Through [Christ] we both have access to the Father by one Spirit…and in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Without God’s Tri-Unity the patterns of Christian fellowship and sanctification are lost.

            John 17:20–23—My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

            2 Corinthians 3:18—We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Without God’s Tri-Unity, ecclesiastical and familial social structuring has no basis and is subject to neglect and abuse.

            1 Corinthians 11:3ff—I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

The Tri-Unity of God is currently in a state of neglect.

      a.   Biblical Theology cannot adequately address the topic.

      b.   Current trends in philosophy away from metaphysics render it a moot idea.

      c.   The practical values of God’s Tri-Unity are not easily discerned and must be explicitly taught.

      d.   New challenges to Trinitarian theology (e.g., oneness Pentecostalism; social Trinitarianism) are going largely unchallenged.