The Trinity in Practice: What It Actually Changes for You (John 17)

Knowing that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one thing, but what does that actually change in your life? That's the question Jesus answers in the longest prayer in the Bible, John 17. Before going to the cross, he gives a real lesson in theology about who he is, but more importantly about what his triune nature produces for you. This is going to be dense, but it's going to be beautiful.

Article outline

A basic refresher: what is the Trinity?
The Son satisfies the Father's wrath: you can be saved
Eternal life is knowing God
The Son prays for you right now: protection from the evil one
The Holy Spirit calls you to a unity like the one in the Trinity
Four enemies of unity to watch for
Jesus' desire: to see you face to face

1. A basic refresher: what is the Trinity?

The Trinity is probably the most complex thing you could ever try to wrap your mind around in all of Christian theology. It's normal not to understand everything: we're talking here about the very nature of God.

Hold on to this simple distinction. If you ask "what is God?", the answer is one. There is one God, one essence, one nature. But if you ask "who is God?", the answer is three: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God the Father, God above us. God the Son, God who became like us. God the Holy Spirit, God who lives in us. That's who God is.

Jesus has come to the point where he doesn't have much left to say, so he prays. And in this prayer, he uses the word glory twice, with two different meanings. The first meaning, the one you know: recognition, admiration given to someone great. The second meaning: what radiates from God, the way heat radiates from fire. That's why in the Bible, when people encounter God, they rarely see a face, they see a blinding light. That's the glory of God.

2. The Son satisfies the Father's wrath: you can be saved

Look at how Jesus begins his prayer: "Father... glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you, even as you gave him authority over all flesh, so he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him" (John 17:1-2). He asks God to glorify him, but for a specific purpose: to die on the cross so that all could be saved.

You need to understand something. God's justice works a lot like a courtroom. If you get a speeding ticket, you can plead your case to the judge all you want, it doesn't change the fact that you got caught. Justice isn't a balance between the good and the bad you do. The question is whether you did wrong. And unfortunately, we all have.

Our debt runs into the billions upon billions. The only one who can truly pay it off is the one who holds the keys to heaven's treasury. That's why Jesus came to die in your place. And look at the beauty of what he does with the authority God gave him: he doesn't use it to elevate himself or to build his own little kingdom. He uses it to die in your place so he can save you.

God doesn't save you only because he loves you. Given all the wrong you've done, if God looked only to his love to save you, there would be a problem with his justice. God saves you for his own sake: it's a glorious act by which God the Son brings glory to God the Father. Without the Trinity, this couldn't happen. It's because God the Son dies to satisfy the wrath of God the Father that you can be saved.

3. Eternal life is knowing God

Look at the definition Jesus gives of eternal life: "This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ" (John 17:3). Eternity isn't little clouds and white robes, or "well, now I do whatever I want." It's knowing God as a person, an intimate knowledge of his character, of who he is.

That changes something for those who struggle with the doctrine of hell. God won't force you into his presence. If you don't want God, that's your choice. But don't claim you're rejecting God for the few years you have to live on this earth while also wanting to spend eternity getting to know him. That doesn't make sense. A Christian is simply someone who wants to know God more and more, and who will know him for eternity.

At the very end of the Bible, John describes what that looks like: "Behold, God's dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more" (Revelation 21:3-4). Eternity in the arms of the God we long to see, the one who runs his thumb under your eyes and wipes away every one of your tears.

4. The Son prays for you right now: protection from the evil one

Jesus died once for all. But what is he doing today in the heavens? The letter to the Hebrews answers: "Therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing that he lives forever to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25). Jesus Christ is praying for you at this very moment. And that's only possible because God is triune: it's God the Son speaking to God the Father.

What does he pray for? Your protection. But not in the way you might imagine. Look at verse 15: "I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one" (John 17:15). Jesus is echoing what he already taught in the Lord's Prayer: "bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one" (Matthew 6:13).

Jesus isn't praying for society to leave you alone, or for you to have your own little peaceful haven in the mountains surrounded by goats and ibex. That's not the Christian life. Jesus prays for you to be delivered from the power of Satan. He's not trying to get you out of hard situations, but to deliver you from the grip of the evil one within those hard situations.

That puts a lot of things back in place. How often do we ask for God's protection by asking for the exact opposite of what Jesus says? We ask to be removed from the trial, to know only comfort. We're not called to hide, nor to be comfortable with this world. We're called to transform it (John 17:18).

God wants to give you armor to face evil, not a fortress to hide in. If all you ever do is pray for God to remove you from difficulties, you're going to be disappointed. That's what some call the prosperity gospel, and it's detestable in his eyes. Instead, go to Jesus seeking the faithfulness you need to face your problems, not your comfort. The Christian doesn't give up, precisely because Jesus is praying for him.

5. The Holy Spirit calls you to a unity like the one in the Trinity

Jesus doesn't pray only for his twelve disciples. Look: "Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who will believe in me through their word" (John 17:20). That's you. And he prays for one single thing: "that they may all be one, even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me" (John 17:21).

This is where the third person of the Trinity enters the picture. If the Son saved you at the cross, if the Father answers the Son's prayers, the Holy Spirit came to change you according to a pattern: the pattern of the Trinity itself. A unity in the image of the one that unites the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Quite the program.

Personally, we might have preferred Jesus to pray for us to all agree doctrinally, or to love each other perfectly, or to all be generous. But no. The one thing he asks for is unity. Why? Because that unity is your most powerful tool for making Jesus known. It's not the best worship team, or the best preacher, or the ability to answer every objection about God. It's Christians who love each other and who are united (John 17:23).

Everything in this world pits people against each other: it's a constant war, cancel culture every single day. So when people who have nothing in common are able to have real relationships, welcome each other, pray for one another, the world catches a glimpse of something different: the work of God's Spirit.

6. Four enemies of unity to watch for

Jesus created this unity by dying for us, but it's fragile. We have to fight to preserve it. The Bible names thousands of things that destroy it, here are four you need to stay alert to.

Gossip. Named by the Lord as one of the things he hates, detestable in his eyes (Proverbs 6:16-19). When you talk about your brother or sister, is it really to pray, or is it gossip dressed up as prayer?

Divisions and cliques. Small groups are wonderful; cliques within the church are not okay. If you sit with the same people every Sunday, if you say hello to the same three people, you're not walking in unity.

Selfishness. This might be the most destructive one. Scripture says, in a passage specifically about unity, that "each of you, not looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others" and considers others as more important than himself (Philippians 2:3-4). That's the opposite of human nature. But in Jesus' kingdom, we want to love others more than our own comfort or our own rights.

Unforgiveness. This is the one thing that can keep you from taking Communion. It starts subtly: "he hurt me, but I'm going to move on." Except you don't. It turns into bitterness, then into hostility, and how you see the person changes without you even realizing it. Let's be a church where we ask each other for forgiveness, because we know we're all sinners. We don't preserve unity by trying to be perfect, but by learning to ask each other for forgiveness.

7. Jesus' desire: to see you face to face

At the end of his prayer, Jesus reveals one last deep desire: "Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me" (John 17:24). Remember when you were a kid with a new toy you couldn't wait to show everyone? Jesus is a bit like that. He can't wait for the day you'll see him face to face.

The one who will be happiest on the day we get to heaven isn't us, it's him. The end of verse 26 confirms it: "I made known to them your name, and will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them" (John 17:26). The holy love that flows between the Father and the Son is placed in you by the Spirit. That's what Paul reminds us of in Romans 8:15: it's the Holy Spirit in you crying out "Abba, Father." Whatever the failures of your earthly family, there is someone who loves you unconditionally.

That's what the Trinity changes. The Son satisfies the Father's wrath and saves you. The Father answers the prayers of the Son who prays for you. And the Holy Spirit in you brings this pattern of the Trinity to life, in unity and in love.

Key takeaways

One God (essence), three persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), each acting for you in a distinct and complementary way.
You're saved because the Son satisfies the Father's wrath, not just because God loves you: without the Trinity, the cross makes no sense.
Eternal life is knowing God intimately, not a landscape of clouds or a free pass to do whatever you want.
Jesus is praying for you right now, to deliver you from the evil one in your trials, not to get you out of them.
Unity among Christians is your most powerful tool for making Jesus known, more than a worship team or a great preacher.
Four enemies to watch for: gossip, cliques, selfishness, unforgiveness.

Personal application

When you pray for protection, are you asking to be removed from the trial, or to be faithful in the middle of it?
Are you living out eternity already begun (this intimate knowledge of God), or just a waiting-room kind of religion?
On Sundays, do you go to the same three people, or do you look for those you haven't welcomed yet?
Is there someone in your life you need to ask forgiveness from this week, before coming to the Lord's Table?
Do you realize that Jesus Christ himself is praying for you right now, in the moments you feel alone?

Verses cited

John 17 · the High Priestly Prayer, main text
John 17:3 · the definition of eternal life
John 17:15 · "keep them from the evil one"
John 17:21 · unity so the world may believe
John 17:24 · "I desire that they see my glory"
Hebrews 7:25 · Jesus intercedes for you
Revelation 21:3-4 · God will wipe away every tear
Matthew 6:13 · "deliver us from the evil one"
Romans 8:15 · the Spirit crying "Abba, Father"
Philippians 2:3-4 · considering others more important
Proverbs 6:16-19 · things detestable in God's eyes

FAQ

Isn't the Trinity just intellectual gymnastics that doesn't actually change anything in my life?

Quite the opposite. Without the Trinity, your salvation couldn't happen: it's because God the Son dies to satisfy the wrath of God the Father that you can be saved. Without the Trinity, no one is praying for you right now in heaven. Without the Trinity, the Spirit couldn't place in you the very love the Father has for the Son. Three divine persons, three concrete ways God is acting for you today.

If Jesus is praying for my protection, why do I still go through trials?

Because Jesus isn't praying for you to be taken out of the world, but for you to be kept from the evil one within the world. He doesn't promise you comfort (that's what the prosperity gospel promises, and it's detestable in his eyes). He promises you the faithfulness you need to face your problems. The Christian doesn't give up, because Jesus is praying for him.

How do we actually preserve unity in the church?

Watch out for the four enemies: gossip (talking about others under the guise of prayer), cliques (always sitting with the same three people), selfishness (preferring your own comfort or your own rights over the other person), and unforgiveness (bitterness that turns into hostility). No church is perfect: it's not perfection that keeps unity, it's the willingness to ask each other for forgiveness.

All articles on “Relations”

to take notes and ask questions.