The self-revelation of the Triune God in baptism

Grace and peace in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Every Sunday we worship the Holy Trinity. We begin the liturgy in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. I announce the absolution in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We sing to the three persons of the Trinity in the Gloria Patri, the Kirie Eleison, the Gloria in Excelsis and many hymns. However, today is the special Sunday dedicated to reflecting on the Holy Trinity.

The Book of Concord, the declaration of the beliefs of our church, includes the three creeds, the Apostolic, the Nicene and the Athanasian. Each deals with the doctrine of the Trinity, but today is the Sunday when we confess our faith in the words of the Athanasian Creed, the longest and most detailed of the creeds.

Why three creeds that deal with the same theme? Why is each one longer than the others? Our faith is in the Triune God. According to the command of the Lord in our text for today, we baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This doctrine is key to understanding baptism, in addition to the person and work of Jesus Christ.

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