The Deep Things of God and bridge-building

There is not a shortage of voices lamenting evangelicalism’s biblical and theological atrophy. This doctrinal deficit is not due to a lack of resources. Consider the most recent academic catalogs put out by publishers like Baker, B&H, Eerdmans, and IVP; these publishers churn out a steady flow of worthy books every year. The Internet also offers a myriad of worthwhile theological materials and helps that were previously inaccessible (although these must be sought out with a more discerning eye).

No, evangelicalism’s biblical and theological shortcomings are not so much due to a dearth of resources rather the problem lies in a lack of “bridgers,” that is, those that are able to connect two fairly disconnected worlds within evangelicalism. In one world reside the evangelical academics or elites. These pastors and scholars spend much of their lives reflecting on every pocket of the Christian faith and tradition. The residents of this world attend conferences, read journals, and present papers discussing the fine points of the Christian faith. Rarely do these thoughts make it to the other, larger world within the evangelical galaxy. Those inhabiting this larger evangelical world are ordinary evangelicals. In part, what the Church needs are pastors and teachers capable of bridging these two worlds.

Fred Sanders, associate professor of theology at Biola’s Torrey Honors Institute, provides an engaging model of how this might play out in his look at the Trinity. In The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything (Crossway, 2010), Sanders claims that “the gospel is Trinitarian, and the Trinity is the gospel.” In other words, being gospel people means, by necessity, being Trinity people. And yet for evangelicals who derive their name from the gospel (evangel), the Trinity tends “to be treated as an awkward guest in the evangelical household.” According to Sanders, evangelicals, while giving the Trinity “polite hospitality,” do “not welcome it with any special warmth.”

Sanders’s book seeks to make the Trinity more “at home” in the evangelical abode. And the way he goes about this is instructive. For example, when one thinks of the Trinity it is easy to think of it as an abstraction, the kind of brainy material that is batted around in the halls of seminaries. So when Sanders introduces Nicky Cruz as having an exemplary Trinitarian theology the effect is jolting. After all, Cruz was the former gang member popularized in David Wilkerson’s The Cross and the Switchblade. Rather than developing his Trinitarian outlook in the pristine halls of academia, Cruz learned about the Trinity amidst the grime and grit of New York’s streets.

In his book that focuses on the Trinity, The Magnificent Three, Cruz says:

Something has emerged in my walk with God that has become the most important element of my discipleship. It has become the thing that sustains me, that feeds me, that keeps me steady when I am shaky. I have come to see God, to know Him, to relate to Him as Three-in-One, God as Trinity, God as Father, Saviour, and Holy Spirit. God has given to me over the years a vision of Himself as Three-in-One, and the ability to relate to God in that way is the single most important fact of my Christian growth.

Not only does Sanders’s use of this quote by Cruz aptly demonstrate the importance of the Trinity for Christian growth, but the selection of Cruz himself packs a pedagogical punch. With this move, Sanders is implying that the Trinity is not an abstract concept remote from the concerns of ordinary Christians.

Alongside strategically chosen guides like Cruz, Sanders’s writing is gripping. The reader gets the sense that Sanders is a teacher at heart, patiently helping readers along what can be rough theological terrain. The writing seems like an act of service to the reader. The prose is both palatable and easy to digest.

The Deep Things of God communicates on a number of levels. The subject matter, the Trinity, is dealt with persuasively. Sanders emphasizes the centrality of the Trinity to the evangelical worldview. He says regarding evangelicalism, “Dig anywhere and you will hit Trinitarian gold.” Whether it is getting saved, cultivating a relationship with Jesus, Bible reading, or prayer, Sanders unearths the “Trinitarian gold” that lay under these decidedly evangelical emphases.

But alongside subject matter, the way Sanders’s treatise unfolds is instructive as it provides a model of the type of bridge-building evangelical education needs. In the book insights from both evangelical worlds meet and, thanks to Sanders’s writing, the ordinary evangelical is warmly invited to sit and listen in on the conversation. Sanders’s demonstration of how the Trinity changes everything hits evangelicals, who tend to prefer activity (especially soul-saving) over sustained reflection, in the right spot. In this way, The Deep Things of God provides not only a helpful examination of the Trinity but also offers the reader an example of the kind of teaching that evangelicalism could use more of.