Genesis 1:1; The Festival of the Holy Trinity; May 31, 2026

In the Beginning God...

Genesis 1:1; The Festival of the Holy Trinity; May 31, 2026
Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN

In the beginning God… (Genesis 1:1a)

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

He was there at the beginning. Not just there, but active. The next word in the English text is created. The first thing that happened… God created.

The Hebrew puts it just a bit differently.

בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים

In the beginning, at first, to start with, created God…

That’s the normal way to say things in that language. The verb, create (בָּרָ֣א) comes before God (אֱלֹהִ֑ים). The action comes first then the actor. It means the same thing.

But there is a small problem. בָּרָ֣א — create — is singular. He created. And אֱלֹהִ֑ים, God, is plural. Gods? And yet, it has never been translated that way. God, אֱלֹהִ֑ים, in the Bible uses singular verbs. Is it just a matter of the plural of majesty? When kings and such were used in the plural as a matter of importance. Well, maybe. But I think Genesis is telling us something else.

In some sense, God (אֱלֹהִ֑ים) is plural, used with singular verbs, like בָּרָ֣א, and therefore also… singular.

To our New Testament ears, and on Trinity Sunday, we automatically, and quickly, jump to the Trinity. Three in One, One in Three. We just confessed the Athanasian Creed. It lays out the Trinity very clearly. Problem solved… well not quite.

As the Jehovah’s Witnesses are sure to point out, “The word Trinity is not in the Bible.” And they are right. The word Trinity is a doctrinal word that comes in the 5th or 6th Century. And to be sure it describes what is found in the Bible. The word itself isn’t in there.

Now, when you have your meeting with President Finnern in a couple of weeks, that’s not the time to tell him, “Pastor denies the Trinity.” I confessed the Trinity right along with you. I believe in the Trinity. But, I have to acknowledge that the word itself isn’t there.

And I think it’s good to try to hear it with Old Testament ears. Especially this, the very first chapter, and very first verse of the Bible.

In the beginning God created…

בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים

In the Old Testament Church, God (אֱלֹהִ֑ים) was confessed as One.

שְׁמַ֖ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ יְהוָ֥ה׀ אֶחָֽד

Hear, O Israel, YHWH our God, YHWH is One. (Deuteronomy 6:4)

And One (אֶחָֽד) means one. They were not polytheists. There aren’t competing gods, there are not tribal deities battling each other. There is one Creator over all things. Uniquely singular.

But… this is the key. There is a complex unity in God. And the text backs that up. Right here in our text it says,

The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (Genesis 1:2)

The Spirit of God, in Scripture, is not an impersonal force, ala Jehovah’s Witnesses. He speaks. He grieves. He leads. He empowers. The Spirit, the Holy Spirit, as we say, is divine. He is God.

And right here in the first chapter of Genesis we encounter another odd thing.

“And God said…”

God creates by His Word. Again and again the pattern is repeated:

“And God said… and it was so.”

The Word of God creates. The New Testament later connects this Word directly to the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son. St. John writes:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

God creates by speaking. Yet this Word is more than mere sound waves passing through the air. More than an abstract command.

The Word is with God, and the Word is God. (John 1:1)

Genesis leaves the mystery largely unexplained. Moses simply records,

And God said.

But John pulls back the curtain. The Word through whom all things were made is the eternal Son of God.

Where Genesis hints, John speaks plainly. Where Genesis gives us shadows, John gives us the name. The Word through whom creation came into being is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.

But the Hebrew Scriptures are far from done with this point. All throughout we see the person called “The Angel of the Lord” (מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה, mal’akh YHWH).

His first appearance is in Genesis Chapter 16.

The angel of the LORD found Hagar by a spring of water in the wilderness… (Genesis 16:7)

The word angel in Hebrew means messenger. Angels are messengers. But the unique thing about the Angel of YHWH is that He doesn’t only bring a message. He makes a promise.

I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude. (Genesis 16:10)

This Angel is different from the rest. This One speaks with the authority to do what He says. They say, “Thus says YHWH.” This One says, “I will…”

So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing.” (Genesis 16:13)

Notice what has happened. The text calls Him the Angel of YHWH. Yet Hagar identifies the One speaking to her as YHWH Himself.

As the Old Testament unfolds, the picture becomes clearer. The Angel of YHWH is distinct from YHWH, and yet He is called YHWH. He speaks as God. He receives worship as God. He exercises divine authority. He forgives sins. He does the things that belong to God alone.

The mystery is growing. The Old Testament Church still confesses that God is one. Yet within that oneness there is a distinction. There is someone who is with God, and yet is God.

In Genesis, the Trinity is not fully explained. Moses does not interrupt his writing to confess the Athanasian Creed. Israel confessed God truly, but they did not yet see Him clearly.

The Old Testament Church truly knew God. But they knew Him in promise, shadow, and anticipation. They saw hints and glimpses. They heard the promises. They encountered the Spirit of God, the Word of God, and the Angel of YHWH. Yet the mystery remained.

The full unveiling, the resolution of the shadows, does not come in the text of Genesis. It does not come through grammatical clues or theological deduction. It comes in a person.

It comes in Jesus Christ.

The Apostle John takes us back to the very beginning:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Suddenly the shadows begin to lift. The Word who created all things is revealed as the Son. The Spirit who hovered over the waters is revealed as the Holy Spirit. The God whom Israel confessed as One is revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

But even here the revelation is not yet complete. The clearest revelation of the Trinity does not come at Bethlehem, nor at the Jordan River, nor on the Mount of Transfiguration.

It comes at the cross.

The full unveiling comes in Jesus. It wasn’t a “The Trinity Exists” moment. It was, “Now we finally see who God truly is.”

To be sure, the veil has already begun to lift at Jesus’ Baptism. There we see the Son standing in the water. We see the Spirit descending as a dove. We hear the voice of the Father from heaven. The mystery is becoming clear. The God confessed by Israel as One is revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

But it is at the cross that all the shadows of the Old Testament finally converge.

The Father sends the Son:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

The Son willingly obeys the Father’s will:

Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done. (Luke 22:42)

He suffers. He dies. He bears the sins of the world.

And the Spirit is no less active:

…how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Hebrews 9:14)

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all active in the salvation of the world.

And here is the great revelation. The Trinity is not merely a doctrine to be confessed. The Trinity is the God who saves. The Father gives. The Son is given. The Spirit delivers the benefits of Christ’s sacrifice. The God who created the world in Genesis is the God who redeems the world at Calvary.

Here we see how God is love.

Before creation, God was already relational. The Father loved the Son. The Son loved the Father. The Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son. Before there was a world to create, before there were sinners to redeem, before there was anything at all except God, there was love.

Without the Trinity, God’s love becomes merely something God does.

With the Trinity, love belongs to who God eternally is.

And that is what the cross reveals.

The cross reveals not only what God does. The cross reveals who God is.

The Father gives His Son.

The Son gives Himself.

The Spirit delivers the fruits of that sacrifice.

The God who created the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1 is not distant, cold, or detached. He is love. And at the cross, that eternal love is revealed for all the world to see.

If you want to know what the Trinity looks like, do not begin with diagrams or mathematical formulas. Look to the cross. There the Father gives His Son. There the Son lays down His life. There the Spirit accomplishes and delivers salvation. There, at last, we see clearly who God truly is: the Father giving His Son, the Son giving Himself, and the Spirit delivering that salvation to sinners. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

John 8:48-59; Festival of the Holy Trinity; June 12, 2022;

Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN;

The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.” (John 8:48–59, ESV)

Grace and peace to you from Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

What Jesus says is unacceptable. Not only does he say he's greater than Abraham, not only did he say he saw Abraham, but he also says "before Abraham was, I Am." In other words, Jesus claims to be God himself. He uses the very name God gave to Moses at the burning bush. When Moses was kneeling on the holy ground, he asks who shall I say has sent me to Pharaoh? And God answers, "I am that I am." (אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֶֽהְיֶ֑ה) And so, these men of God in the temple pick up stones to throw them a Jesus and kill him. Chrysostom the great fourth century preacher asked the question, when Jesus makes himself equal to God

"Would they have ever stopped throwing stones at him?" (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, IV a, page 318)

Get out of your mind once and for all the picture of gentle Jesus. Jesus doesn't speak Facebook platitudes, pithy sayings with cute kitten pictures. Jesus confronts sin and unbelief. This is what the Word, in the Word Made Flesh, has come to do. He confronts sin, and its effects in human beings. He confronts death, and all that it means for human beings. He will not let sin have its way. He does the father's will, even if it means the cross. And that's exactly what it means.

What we have in this text today is a full-blown argument. Jesus doesn't tell the Jews what they want to hear. He tells them their relationship to God is directly connected to him. So, the religious leaders argue with Jesus about their relationship with God through their birthright as the children of Abraham. Jesus flat-out tells them they are the children of the devil because they don't listen to God's voice through him. They have already lost the argument and so they do what people do, they attacked Jesus' person. They called him the lowest thing they could think of a demon possessed Samaritan. And Jesus turns the tables on them. He says, "you dishonor me." And the implication is clear. Jesus is sent by God, if you dishonor Jesus, you dishonor God. And then Jesus pushes the argument further.

"If you listen to me and keep my word, you won't die." And the Jews think they had him.

"Abraham kept God's word, all the prophets kept God's word, but they are all dead and buried. You are mad. Who do you think you are?"

And Jesus lowers the boom. He disconnects them from Abraham. "You say Abraham's God is your God. But you don't know him. I do. I'm not a liar like you. I'm here to do what he has commanded. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad."

Now they're really angry.

"You're not old enough to have seen Abraham." He says that they wouldn't know Abraham's God if he was standing in front of them.

"Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I Am."

In other words, he is standing in front of them. It's more than they can bear. Their anger boils over into action. They reached down and pick up stones to kill him. But they can't. Through a miracle, Jesus protects himself and leaves the temple.

Nothing is changed. We pretend everything is different. Jesus is fine when we hear him tell us what we want to hear. When we hear him tell us he has a great purpose for our lives. When we hear him tell us he wants us to be rich and powerful. When we hear him tell us that being a Christian is easy. But these are things that Jesus would never say. Instead, Jesus attacks our sinfulness. He tells us obeying his word is more important than our family relationships. He tells us it does make a difference which church you (and your children) belong to. He tells us we are no better than the open adulterer. He tells us we have no excuse for selfishness. He tells us when we follow him the world will hate us. When we do these things we dishonor Jesus, and when we dishonor Jesus, we dishonor The Father. So, there we stand in our sin convicted by the Word of God, in the flesh.

Now, we confess that we are sinful people in need of a Savior. But what Jesus tells us is hard to swallow. We do not see ourselves as sinful, but rather imperfect. We don't see ourselves as deserving eternal punishment but rather minor correction. We don't see ourselves as deserving death but rather rehabilitation. Jesus tells us the only way to escape, the only way to not see death, to not taste death, is to keep his word. He tells the truth. He is God himself standing before the sinner as unrelenting judge. And even though he tells you the truth, it is impossible for you to believe it. And we stand convicted of our sin, falling well short of God's perfect expectation. And so, we want him dead. That is the only place that this confrontation with Jesus can lead to death.

God requires eternal death for sin, in fact, it is either you or him. This is the day that Abraham saw. This is the day of Jesus. Abraham saw what the Jews could not see. Abraham saw our hopeless situation. And Abraham saw God, I am that I am, reconciling the world to himself through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And he rejoiced. You see, despite your sin, Jesus stands before you in the flesh offering death, but not yours. Jesus Christ, true God, and true man, offers himself on the cross to satisfy God's punishment. Jesus is the substitute sinner. Jesus is God in human flesh dying on the cross for the sins of all people. This is how he confronts sin and death. His death on the cross is the perfect death and perfect and complete sacrifice for sin. There is no other that can be offered. There is no other that you need. The death of I Am on the cross is enough to satisfy the punishment for all sin for all time for all people. And this is all that Jesus claims when he claims that "before Abraham was, I Am." He is God come to reconcile the world to himself.

And so, he reconciles you. You and your sin. You and your lies. You and your selfishness. You and your misplaced priorities. You and your sinful nature are taken to the cross with Jesus. And there in Jesus, death receive forgiveness. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen