I realize that the Trinity is difficult—arguably impossible—to comprehend from the standpoint of our temporal, finite frame of reference. So being confounded by the complexity of it is understandable.
Also, during that time, I started reading some of the Nicene and Post-Nicene theologians, just to see what their takes were. What was really poignant: many of the arguments that the Arians made at the time—and the responses of the Nicene crowd—sounded eerily similar to the ESS debate today. I also noticed some pastors in local churches advancing ESS. Ministers barely get it, if at all. And most laypersons are totally clueless. Fact is, if I started talking about ESS to the average guy in my church experiences, they would look at me like a deer in the headlights.
That has left a Church situation that is very susceptible to neo-Trinitarian heresy. Barrett, who was once a student of Bruce Ware during his student days at SBTS, began to pick up on some of the neo-Trinitarian ideas coming from Ware and his camp. As a theology professor, he did his homework. The fruit of that labor— Simply Trinity —is both an excellent primer on Trinitarian theology, and a theological and exegetical case against ESS.
In ST, Barrett does an excellent job highlighting some key concepts that form the bedrock for understanding the Trinity:. Throughout the book, Barrett brings the discussion back to these fundamental concepts. A very key point, that Barrett brings home, is the historical understanding that the only distinguishing characteristic among the members of the Trinity are their eternal relations of origin : The Father is eternally unbegotten, the Son is eternally begotten, and the Holy Spirit is eternally spirated; i.
There was never a time when the Father was not; there was never a time when the Son or Holy Spirit were not. One of the most damaging factors in Trinity Drift was the rise of a social understanding of the Trinity, also known as Social Trinity: that the Godhead is a society of persons. This became the theological basis for the egalitarian movement, as well as all variations of Liberation Theology, including sexual liberation. I can affirm what Barrett says, because I have gone toe-to-toe with sexual liberationists and socialists for whom the Social Trinity of Liberation Theology is a foundational truth.
