This is a great little book, only about one hundred and sixty pages, but engagingly written and ideal for someone who has not been trained theologically. I do not like to use the word ‘layman’ but for anyone seeking some understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity, and more than that, to know the God Who is Three Persons in One Being, this book should be obtained and carefully read several times. The subtitle is ‘Relationships, Roles and Relevance.’ Ware does a good job, not only considering the Trinitarian Being but in applying the Life of God in Trinity to human relationships such has husband and wife, leadership in the churches and parents and children. The chapter titles are indicative of the tone of the book. “Beholding the Wonder of Our Triune God,” each chapter has the word ‘wonder’ in it relating to Father, Son and Spirit and the final chapter beholds the wonder in the relational community of the Triune Persons. There is a chapter devoted to an historical overview of how the doctrine of the Trinity came to be understood, this too will be instructive as it touches on some of the confused errors that led to the examination and statement of God in Three Persons in the first few hundred years of church history. That each Person is fully God (‘They are not one pie cut up into three pieces’ is a remark the author makes) yet different in role and relationship to the other is developed in ways that help our understanding of authority and submission. This book clearly shows that egalitarianism is not in the Trinitarian Life, but rather the authority and submission of love, the interdependence mutually enjoyed whereby the Father though in priority in the Godhead yet works through His Son and by the Spirit and so the themes are developed. Consideration of these things is vital to true understanding of family and of church life. There is no doubt that in our basic human relationships the image of God’s Trinitarian life should be plainly seen. Many of the problems of church and congregation would be solved overnight were believers to embrace deeply the doctrine of God in Three Persons. The same is true of marriage relationships and life between children and parents and parents and children.
