Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
Romans 5:1-5 (NRSVUE)
Though not all Christian denominations uphold it, for many, Christianity is a religion that centers its belief in a Trinitarian God, Christian theological debates often focused on articulating how God can be spoken of as having three internal relationships. And while this fact seems to have settled for many Christians, a question that ought to be probed further is, what relevance does belief in a triune God have to do with creation, especially as human beings understand themselves in the world? Failure to address this question means that the link between belief and actual expressions of human life in the concreteness of the realities defining that life in the social world is missing.
Sometimes, some Christians tend to miss the point about beliefs and doctrines. They tend to focus on the definition of doctrines and beliefs and never move beyond that level to a more relevant one, which is the social world where human life in relation to other lives plays out. Belief is never enough. An embrace of belief only without an appeal to praxis evokes a scarcity mindset. God is radically a God of surplus and never of scarcity. Consequently, God invites us to embody a holistic way of being in the world. An invitation to be intimate with God also exudes a summon by God for us to be agents of transformative change in the world. This is why what matters most is what believers do with what they believe. Their beliefs ought to help them see in the world God’s invitation to instantiate God’s saturated life that brings about the flourishing of all creatures.
In fact, one can make a categorical statement that all definitions of doctrines and beliefs begin first with the desire to improve the human condition and the social world where all creatures live out their lives. Thus, to speak of God as Trinity is to aspire to an attainment of improving the created world. This point is not lost to Alistair McFadyen when he highlights two points that currently shape theological interests in Trinitarian theology within the western church in his work, The Trinity and Human Individuality: The Conditions for Relevance. “The first is that the social understanding of the Trinity seems to offer a way of taking conventional Christian doctrine seriously whilst avoiding the obscurity and mystification of metaphysical conceptions. The second is that it provides an immediate and obvious connection with theological anthropology, and hence with practical theology in general and with political theology in particular” (10). In other words, belief in God as Trinity offers insights into understanding the human condition and creation in general within the context of their relational connectedness.
It is with the above understanding that one ought to reflect on the reading from Paul’s Letter to the Romans, especially for Triniarian Christians; even though Paul’s work predates the Trinitarian debates in early Christianity. Paul reminds his audience that his person and ministry are radically justified by faith (Romans 5:1). But what is the content of this faith that Paul is alluding to? Too often, faith is spoken of without an attempt to probe into its content or what it constitutes. For Trinitarian Christians, Faith in God means faith in a Trinitarian God. But what does it mean for God to be spoken of as Trinitarian? The Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed engages this question by affirming that the three distinct persons are co-equal, co-eternal, and consubstantial. While each of the persons are distinct, they are united in their one divine nature. Stated differently, the Father is not the Son. Neither is the Spirit the Father nor the Son. Yet, the Father, as Father, cannot be Father without the Son and the Spirit. In other words, perfect intimacy defines their distinct identities. For the Father to be Father, he must not be confused as the Son or the Spirit. In this way, difference is not seen as a conflict. Rather, it is the grounding for encounter that defines the Trinitarian relationships in the one God. The early church understood this grounding of connections and distinctness that define God as Trinity as perichoresis. Alister E. McGrath, in her work, Christian Theology: An Introduction explains this term as “all the three persons of the Trinity mutually share in the life of the others, so that none is isolated or detached from the actions of the others” (469).
When Paul speaks of the Christian community as justified in faith, he is grounding his belief in a God of intimacy and community (See also, Philippians 1: 21; 3: 7 – 8; 2 Corinthians 5: 9 – 10, 14 – 15). He is also holding in place the distinctness that constitutes this God as community. Or better stated, it is a God who in Its inner life is a God of perfect neighborliness (2 Corinthians 5: 11 – 21;Galatians 5: 14; and Romans 13: 9 – 10). To be a neighbor to another is to embody care, openness, trust, fidelity, friendship, and hospitality. In God as Trinity, all these qualities are in perfection. But what does this reveal about humans in a social world? Paul’s understanding of God is not about empty platitudes or a focus only on what is joyful. Hence, Paul draws attention to the unpleasant aspect of the collective human condition when he speaks of the afflictions that also define the Christian community. Because the Christian belief in God is grounded in enduring hope, Paul focuses on the transformative power of afflictions that leads to endurance (Romans 5:3). But endurance is not an end unto itself. Rather, it is oriented towards the production of character, one that is saturated with Christian hope (5:4). Rather than get lost in a superfluous understanding of hope, Paul reminds the Christian community in Rome that Christian hope is grounded in a surplus mindset that orients one to an openness to God’s love that is poured into the hearts of Christians in an abundant manner with the Holy Spirit being both a witness and the source that makes this possible (5:5).
As I noted earlier, beliefs and doctrines are of no value unless they serve as the grounding for understanding and bettering the human condition in the social world. In other words, they must be guides for addressing systems of oppression in the world. Even Paul’s embrace of belief in God must be critiqued for his failure to speak directly and forcefully to the social evil of slavery that was the cultural norm of his day. Katianna Strunk offers a more nuanced reading of Paul’s approach to slavery during his day in the following blog titled; Why Doesn’t the Apostle Paul Speak Against Slavery? With this in mind, one is drawn to ask the question, what relevance does Paul’s vision of faith, the content of grace, and the development of the virtue of endurance that leads to the building of one’s character that is grounded in hope in God have to do with how Christians are to understand their place in today’s world?
The contemporary world is radically defined by a scarcity mindset. Whether it is in the domain of understanding the human person or how to use the natural resources, contemporary society tends to look at things through the lens of scarcity which then justifies policies and social systems that are used to produce social hierarchies. In the global south, especially places like Africa, tribalism has most often been weaponized to erase groups of people from accessing social wealth. In the global north, especially in places like Europe and North America, racism continues to be used to prevent groups of people from embracing the fullness of their human dignities. Reflecting on racism in the United States, Robert P. Jones, in his work, Racism among White Christians is Higher than among the Nonreligious. That’s No Coincidence, calls attention to the fact that “white Christians are consistently more likely than whites who are religiously unaffiliated to deny the existence of structural racism.” As Jones also noted in another work of his titled, What White Christians Have Wrought, while studying closely the support for Donald Trump and his policies for his second term as president of the United States, “most disturbingly, this time, white Christians, who once proudly called themselves ‘value voters,’ knew exactly who and what they were voting for.” Since assuming office, Trump has abandoned the guiding principles protecting refugees and asylum-seekers that are defined by the United Nations 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees of which the United States is a signatory. Rather than address the unjust killing of Palestinians by the Israeli Army in the current Israel-Hamas war, Trump is advocating for the relocation of Palestinians from Gaza to allow for the United States’ to takeover and turn it into a resort. The Trump Administration has also abandoned the leading role of the United States in using its wealth to help impoverished countries and communities around the world to address hunger and diseases. All these are being done with an understanding of making America great again without centering a sense of connection or altruism.
If contemporary Christians are to take Paul’s wisdom seriously, the question of faith as it is being expressed and understood in contemporary times ought to be critiqued. Faith in Christ does not mean personal comfort at the expense of that of others. In fact, to be a Christian is to embrace a life of being one’s neighbor. These are not empty words. To be one’s neighbor in the contemporary world demands that Christians form bonds of solidarity with those who are vulnerable. In Africa, it is those who are reduced to living in the peripheries of society because of their tribal affiliations. In other parts of the global south, it is those who are marginalized and labeled as outcasts. In the global north, it is those who are racialized. It is also those who are migrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers. Their difference ought not be the condition for their alienation. Rather, it ought to be the grounds for Christian praxis of solidarity. Christian joy ought to be extended to those who experience afflictions. The afflictions of those who are at the margins of society ought to be the afflictions of Christians as well.
Solidarity, if it is to be the grounding for the ritualization of neighborliness, must be concretized. This means that it ought to be oriented towards actions that allow Christians to shed light on what is producing marginalizations and peripheral modes of being in the world. It must shed light on why millions of people around the world are seeking asylum and becoming refugees in other regions. It must seek to shed light on what is producing global poverty. It ought to also call attention to why tribalism and racism have held many captive in the world. It cannot even stop there. It ought also to foster the creation of a just world where authentic encounters and relationships are instantiated. This understanding of solidarity as an ethical praxis and a conscious effort to foster bonds of life with others who are different from one is at the heart of the Christian understanding of God as Trinity. In the Trinitarian life of God, the bond of solidarity is that of intimacy that exists among the three distinct persons. In their openness to each other, they discover themselves and identities as being different but also being closely connected. Their difference does not breed hate or produce a scarcity mindset. Rather, it orients them to a consciousness of surplus love and presence to each other. Similarly, Christian faith, if it is to produce the necessary character in Christians, ought to be oriented towards bonds of solidarity with others, especially those who are different. Such differences ought to instantiate a mindset of curiosity and desire to encounter others so that the common good, which leads to the flourishing of all, can be achieved.
Finally, Paul’s reminder to the Christian community in Rome that Christian hope does not put one to shame is itself a reminder to all Christians, not to give up in their prophetic embrace of solidarity with those who are vulnerable (5:5). This is because the Christian love of fostering the common good that brings about the flourishing of all persons is in fidelity to the promise of God through the workings of the Holy Spirit that makes real the vision of Christ for all. Faith in God must always be lived out through care and love for one’s neighbors. It is only through this way can the Christian character that Paul alludes to be realized. It is a character that produces hope not only for Christians but also for those who are their neighbors. Such hope ought to reassure those who are marginalized that their current condition is temporary. Without this approach, it cannot be said to be Christian hope. Christian hope is not selfish. It is altruistic, it evokes bridge building, care for others, friendship, hospitality, and solidarity as modes of being in the world.
