The trinity isn't Father, Son and Holy Scripture.

In the limited bubble of people that I know and have met, there seems to be a large – indeed overwhelming number of evangelical Christians who seem to think that the Trinity consists of the Father, Son and Holy Bible. 

Now, I don’t mean this in a literal sense, they obviously profess that the Trinity is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but somehow in their walk with God it seems that they stifle the Spirit’s power.

Now, I acknowledge that I’m making grand generalizations when I say this, but as I try hard to think about the number of times I’ve heard the Holy Spirit preached on, the numbers are admittedly quite low and definitely disproportionate to the number of times I’ve heard sermons preached on the Father or Son. This is a strange phenomenon to me, and perhaps I’m thinking about this too plainly, but shouldn’t there be a consistent balance of our knowledge and experiences with all three persons if we confess that all three members make up the Holy Trinity? 

Furthermore, if we sincerely believe that we live in New Testament times, and that the Holy Spirit of God resides within us, and that this is the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead, then shouldn’t we be more celebratory and amazed by this fact? Indeed it is amazing that we are able to speak with the power of God, to cast out demons in His name, and also perform healing and miracles relying on His Spirit. Shouldn’t we be proud about this and boast in this? 

If so, why do I hear the Holy Spirit so rarely preached? 

From my observations (read: half-intuition, half-deduction), I believe that there may be several main reasons to the strange phenomenon that I’ve observed.

Ignorance & Fear

Firstly, I think there’s just a general lack of grounded understanding towards the Holy Spirit, and as a result, we are reluctant to approach the topic. We do not know what to say on things we do not fully understand. And as a result of being afraid of saying the wrong thing, we surmise that it is better to not say anything at all, lest we are wrong and mislead others. This creates a negative cycle in which there is very little talk at all about the Spirit, leading to even less chance of better understanding. 

Additionally, for some weird reason, I sense a strange mystical fear that seems to be involved in our talk about the Spirit. My guess is that it probably stems from our fear of the unknown or (dare I say it), what we have not yet encountered. I think there a lot of Christians (myself included) who have not had many experiences with the Holy Spirit enough to speak on the matter. Looking at this biblically however, if the early church was built so obviously on the reliance on the Spirit's guidance, shouldn't it seriously trouble us that our churches aren't talking about him? 

Can’t be Tamed 

Secondly, in the overall demographic of the Chinese evangelical church, I think we are a more logical, methodical bunch, needing a clear pattern of cause/consequence to understand and accept concepts and ideas. We really like (and are used to) certain boundaries and structured form of order to our worship and experience with God. Inevitably, our itinerary of ‘church’ will resultantly conflict or restrict how the Spirit intercedes or leads. Just like the wind (John 3), we do not know His coming or going – and that scares us a little. Perhaps there is a fear that we wouldn’t be able to control what would happen if we were more Spirit-filled.

I gotta feelin’

As a generalization (yes, I know there are a lot in this post), I think that many Chinese evangelicals are better at thinking and being logical in their relationship with God than feeling and sensing with their hearts. To me, the whole Holy Spirit issue is a heart matter as much as it is a mind matter because it challenges us to use a different part of our faith. We do not exercise the emotions and senses in our relationship with God nearly as much as we try to figure Him out with our minds and intellect. And though you can try to calculate the Holy Spirit and figure Him out that way, that's not the right way to go about it and what you get from that doesn't do Him justice. 

To use the really cheesy example of how math is to music, you require different parts of your brain to appreciate each one. You can find math in music, but the main focus is not on counting the rhythm or working out and calculating each bar, but on appreciating the melody that enters your ears which evokes emotions, thoughts and memories. Thus, no matter how much  music can be calculated and measured, it is something that needs to be felt with the heart to be truly appreciated and understood. 

In other words, we are more used to patterns and containing things in fixed places and concepts that are concrete and proven true. But God said to worship Him in Spirit and in truth because He is Spirit (John 4:24). Both need to work together to create a wholesome and complete understanding. 

Those People

Lastly, there is a stigma in the generally conservative evangelical Christian sphere about things that are more mystical. For fear that we become those (God forbid!) Pentecostal and charismatics brothers and sisters. I mean, c’mon. Really? Sure, I believe it is good to exercise caution, but certainly not fear and most certainly not disdain.

In writing all of this, it kind of makes me sad, like we are only willing to understand 2/3 of God’s identity. I feel like we are cheapening Him. Doesn’t He deserve to be fully understood?