Incisive, cogent and edifying, “Connected” by Sam Allberry is the best Christian book on the Trinity that I’ve read this year, though the year is admittedly in its infancy.
“Connected” by Sam Allberry is a book on the familiar topic of wrapping our heads around the Trinity, but I found his chapter on on “The Trinity and Humanity” most insightful and current.
“The Trinity is not just key for understanding God; it is vital for understanding ourselves.”
“Sex is for marriage. Jesus makes this clear when he lists among other sins that of ‘sexual immorality’. It is a catch-all term for any sexual activity outside of marriage: pre-marital sex, extra-marital sex and all same-sex sexual activity. To suggest that Jesus did not teach on these matters, as some claim today, is simply untrue. Jesus upholds the biblical ethic that the only moral context for sexual activity is marriage.”
“The persons of the Trinity are alike in substance, but have eternally been distinct and different. God intends that this kind of unity be echoed in human marriage.”
“Oneness is not found in sameness but in complementary difference. Two men or two women cannot become cannot become one flesh. Only heterosexual intercourse is designed to produce such a union. Homosexual sex may be a means of gratification for each party, but it is not union – two are not becoming one.”
I found this powerful because Sam Allberry is widely known as a faithful biblical Christian pastor and apologist, who experiences same-sex attraction. Also the author of “Is God Anti-Gay?” and “Why does God care who I sleep with?” Sam speaks from a point of deep empathy and cogent biblical knowledge.
In the chapter “The Trinity and Gender”:
“So be honest: which of those two things matters more to you? Who would you rather end up clashing with: the culture that surrounds you, or the God who made you?”
“It is only the Trinity that can give us a true framework of difference and equality going together, of the unity that comes from diversity being prized and cherished, and therefore people being encouraged to fulfil their vocation as men and women.”
“But the Bible sounds neither the air-horn blast of uniformity nor the white noise of utter diversity. Instead we hear music. The harmony of unity-in-diversity. The divine orchestra of the Trinity itself, and the echo played bak by men and women made in their image.”
And in “The Trinity and the Church”:
“You may be theologically sharp as a pin. You may be very disciplined in your devotional life. But if you are not interested in your church family, then your relationship with Jesus is very poor indeed. Your attitude to them is the true guide to your attitude to him. Ignore the church by all means, but please don’t pretend you love Jesus.”
Ooh, burn. And rightfully so.
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