Ruminating on the Trinity

I have been thinking about the role of the Trinity in the atonement. Part of it is from listening to Mission Accomplished and High Priest by Shai Linne. Part of it is reading Leviticus and Hebrews with the parallel of the high priest and Jesus, our Great High Priest. Part of it is the whole Shack craze which appears to be muddying the doctrine of the Trinity, promoting Patripassianism, and denying substitutionary atonement. Interestingly, Patripassianism and Sabellianism/Modalism were brought up in a recent Sunday school class on early heresies in church history. So nothing is really new under the sun.

I was always taught the Trinity but I feel very ignorant about the implications of the doctrine to the rest of Christianity. For example, if you believe that the Father suffered on the cross, than who was atonement being made to? This confuses what the atonement really is. So having an accurate Biblical view of the Trinity can be a safeguard against other errors.

A mental picture I have is likening Christianity to a tapestry. The Biblical doctrines are like the threads of the woof and the warp that form the fabric. If you miss one or weaken one, there is danger of unraveling part, if not the whole.

For my brothers and sisters in the blogsphere, do you have any recommendations for good books on the Trinity? Thanks.

Now for your edification: