Why Belief in the Trinity Matters for the Classroom

As a child I sometimes wondered, “Do fish know that they are living in water?” Now that I think about it as an adult, I think, “Perhaps as much as we know we are ‘living in air.’” These questions and related thoughts reveal how we are often unaware of the most fundamental aspects of our existence. This state of unawareness is not necessarily because of neglect. Instead, it seems to be the very nature of things that are essential that our ability to perceive and contemplate them is often limited. Unless there is a disruption, we may never think about them. Interestingly, it was a disruption that caused the early church to think about God as Trinitarian after the people of God for centuries learned and believed that “The LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4).[1] The first disruption was Jesus clearly stating that “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). The second disruption was the undeniable outpouring of the promised Holy Spirit in Acts 2.

These “disruptions” led to the church taking pains to formalize the doctrine of the Trinity very early in its life. Various informal creeds pronouncing the Tri-unity of God as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were formalized in the Nicene Creed in AD 325 (with its final form in AD 381). However, even centuries since the formulation of Nicene Creed and centuries of the church reciting and teaching the doctrine of the Trinity, we still find that it is something that does not immediately feature in most of our thoughts when we think about God, our relationship to him, and the world. This is perhaps because it is the water we swim in; the air that we breathe. Our faith hinges on the fact that all that exists has been created by God and this God is Trinitarian. Thus, we ought to find “fingerprints” of the Trinity in all of our existence.

If God’s “fingerprints” are there in all of creation, then what does it mean for me when I teach in the classroom as a child of this Trinitarian God?

It would be impossible to exhaust the answers to these questions within a brief article like this. Further, it would be almost impossible to not end up getting twisted in knots trying to explain the doctrine. Greater minds than mine continue to contemplate and write about this even after all these centuries and still have not reached a conclusion. However, what I hope to do is to emphasize two crucial ways in which the Trinity matters to us as teachers in the classroom.

Relationality as Essential to our Being
Genesis narrates the creation of humankind with the words – “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness’” (Genesis 1:26a). These are the first moments of humans coming into existence and they give us a glimpse into the very essence of our being. The God who creates us and in whose image we are created is essentially relational and not an isolated individual. To create, He says, “Let us.”

As a result, we who are created in His image are essentially relational. We, the teachers and our students, are essentially relational beings. Thus, to say that the teacher must not just be a deliverer of information but relate to the students holistically is not just sound pedagogy but is in fact rooted in our very being. Relational beings cannot just act unilaterally. Instead, by their very essence, they must act cooperatively. Thus, the Father, Son, and Spirit together created humankind in their image and likeness. In the classroom, this would mean that creating cooperative learning environments resonates with the most essential part of us, the teachers and our students, as humans.

Caring for our students beyond the confines of the subjects we teach becomes essential. Again, this is not just sound pedagogy, but part of our essence as relational beings created by a relational God. Anyone who has ever been in a true human relationship might immediately realize the truth of this idea. Relationships are impossible to contain within neat boxes. Our work relationships cannot but change us in deeply personal ways, which in turn impact our “personal relationships.” Thus, for the teacher to care about the student beyond the subjects taught is in fact a reflection of the essentially relational being of the Trinitarian God in whose image we are created. To deny this would be to deny our very being.

Mutuality as Essential to our Doing
“Again Jesus said, ‘…As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ … ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (John 20:21-22). These verses are part of what is often referred to as John’s version of the Great Commission. The disciples (and we) through these words of Jesus become not just recipients of the image of the Trinitarian God but were called as participants into the life and mission of this God. Just as Jesus had been sent, he was sending them, and he was not sending them by themselves, but with the Holy Spirit.

These verses bring an essential sense of mutuality to our doing – our calling, mission, and all our activities. We are not just recipients of God’s image and likeness, but we are brought into the very life and activity of this God.

This reality we are invited to – joining in God’s mission through his sending and his continued presence with us – means that in the classroom we are not just teaching students. Neither are we just sharing the good news, hoping that our students will someday come to a saving faith in Jesus.

Within all these actions and desires is the call to bring others into the life of the Trinitarian God, just as we have been brought into it through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. When we as teachers teach and deeply impact the lives of our students and hopefully someday bring them to Christ, we are in fact leading them to truly awe-inspiring mutuality with the God who is in mission, who sends us into mission, and who indwells us in mission.

The Trinity’s Fingerprints in the Classroom
While the Trinity is affirmed as an essential doctrine for the Christian faith, it is often seen as not immediately relevant to everyday life. However, we see that the fingerprints of the Trinity are everywhere. The Trinity informs the very essence of who we are, as well as undergirding some of the best pedagogical practices for the classroom. I hope, even as we continue with our everyday roles and responsibilities as teachers, we may take time to pause and appreciate the air that we breathe; the water that we swim in – the Trinity that brings relationality and mutuality as core to our being and the classroom.

 

Sonam
Sonam has family ties across India’s Himalayas and friendships across the region. Called to leave a career in engineering and IT to serve the Church directly, he completed his PhD from Asbury Theological Seminary in Intercultural Studies in 2024. Through his research, he hopes to help the North India Church understand its identity in Christ despite increasing political, social, and ethnic tensions. Sonam currently serves with TeachBeyond’s Higher Education Services and teaches at the Asia Graduate School of Theology (IGSL) in the Philippines and at New Theological College in India. He works as an editor for Asia Theological Association and the Center for Theological Inquiry in Asia. Outside of education, he loves motorcycles, hiking, and badminton (Asian style).