By Ali Batir
This paper by Ali Batir was submitted in fulfillment of an assignment for a course New Wine, New Wineskins Director Paul Louis Metzger, PhD, taught on the Trinity at Bushnell University in the autumn of 2025. The paper resonates with New Wine’s values, including cultivating diverse unity in and through the triune God’s church on a variety of important subjects.
Ali Batir is a Master’s candidate in Theology & Culture at Bushnell University. Her work focuses on the intersection of faith and contemporary culture with a commitment to exploring practical frameworks for Christian cultural engagement. She lives in Dallas, TX, with her husband and son.
She can be reached at this email address: abatir@bushnell.edu
America is facing a crisis. According to the Pew Research Center, “a large majority of Americans say there are strong political and strong racial and ethnic conflicts in the U.S. and that most people disagree on basic facts”.[1] Likewise, the American Church is facing its own crisis of unity where political homogeneity is expected and desired by the majority of churchgoers.[2] The Church has lost sight of the strength that comes from its differences and the vitalness of unity. Miroslav Volf argues that “the diversity of theological visions of flourishing life – even the existence of its rival versions – is in principle not a limitation but a strength”.[3] In our current social and cultural moment, how can the Church reclaim this vision of unified diversity? In Ephesians 2:11-22, Paul explains how the mutual indwelling of the Trinity breaks down the walls of hostility that separate us from the Father and from each other.[4] The social and psychological barriers that divide us as humans are destroyed by the embodiment of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Without a proper understanding of Trinitarian theology and the reconciliation made possible because of it, these barriers will continue to divide the Church, ultimately limiting its effectiveness. In this paper, I will argue that the workings of the Triune God expressed by Paul in Ephesians 2:11-22 have significant implications for the orthopraxy of the Church, enabling the political barriers to fellowship to be torn down. This subject is important to me because I have experienced firsthand the devastating consequences political homogeneity within the local church can have for the personal faith of church members. I have seen orthodoxy deprioritized in the name of partisan politics and have been ostracized for voting for a Democratic candidate.In what follows, I will explore the cultural and theological context of Ephesians 2:11-22, the importance of the Trinity in Church history, and what Trinitarian theology means for the role of the American Church amidst today’s divisive political climate.
The unified diversity of the three persons of the Trinity empower humans to see diversity as a strength and not a weakness. Nowhere else in the New Testament do we see the interworking of the diverse unity of the Trinity more clearly than in Ephesians 2:11-22. Ulrich Heckel explains that the book of Ephesians “is the first document to reflect on systematically […] the development of a hermeneutically reflected theology of unity for the worldwide church”.[5] Furthermore, Ephesians 2:11-22 is a snapshot into the inner workings of the Godhead, showing the church in Ephesus wrestling with division and the Trinity at work in resolving that division. In chapter 2, Paul is speaking to believing Jews and Gentiles who were dividing along cultural and religious lines. In verse 11, he asks the Gentile Christians to remember that they were once considered outsiders, excluded from the covenantal relationship between Israel and God.[6] Because of Jesus, they have been grafted into the covenant and are no longer outsiders. In verses 14-15, Paul explains that Jesus destroyed the barriers separating Gentiles and Jews, mainly “the Mosaic law […] which made it all but impossible for faithful Jews to live in close proximity with Gentiles”.[7] He urges the Ephesians to remember that they were all dead in their sins apart from Christ but because of Christ, they are reconciled to God. Paul builds on this theme of redemption and reconciliation, reminding his listeners that because of Christ’s redemptive work on the cross:
You are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit. (Eph 2:19–22)
Paul reminds the audience that unity is only possible due to the redemptive power of the Triune God. Because of the dynamic relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, believers are able to be reconciled to one another, “for he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility” (Eph 2:14). William R. Long explains:
Ephesians 2:11-22 speaks eloquently and powerfully about the rescue of no less than the whole of humanity. This rescue consists of a transformation of the human condition itself. Through Christ and his once-for-all deed accomplished on the cross, humanity is rescued from the pervasive alienation and hostility that contaminates not only relationships among persons but also relationships between persons and God. In Christ these relationships are now characterized by reconciliation and peace.[8]
Paul reminds the Ephesians that “the Church was formed as a result of God’s redemptive work through Christ. Therefore, the Church exists to fulfil [sic] a divine purpose, as opposed to being a congregation consisting of people who came together out of their own volition”.[9] Social and cultural walls are torn down and we are able to be reconciled to one another, not in spite of our differences but in light of them.
These themes of unity, diversity, and reconciliation were integral to the early Church as it began to organize itself amidst massive growth. Heresies were forming regarding the relations between the persons of the Godhead, making it vital for the Church to unify around sound doctrine amidst different expressions of faith. The Church created a comprehensive statement of faith and specifically outlined the Trinity in what is called the Nicene Creed (outlined by the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. and refined in 381 A.D.).[10] Thoroughly “shaped by the theology of Ephesians” and the invaluable contribution of the Cappadocian Fathers, the emphasis of this formal creed was to unify the Church under one Trinitarian doctrine.[11] In orthodox Trinitarian belief, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are unique “but in Them (sic) is seen a certain communion indissoluble and continuous.”[12] The Father is the creator of all things. The Son is begotten by God, consubstantial with the Father. He was made incarnate by the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son.[13] Yet all are one and all are equal. The diverse unity present in the three persons of the Godhead is called perichoresis meaning “an inseparable unity.”[14] Gregory of Nazianzus was first to use this term in regards to the relationship between the Father and the Son explaining that they are “mingled like the natures, and flowing [perichōréō] into one another, according to the law of their intimate union.”[15] This dynamic relationship has been referred to as a mutual indwelling or a dance, suggesting “the partnership of movement, symmetrical but not redundant, comprised of […] an eternal movement of reciprocal giving and receiving, giving again and receiving again”.[16] The Nicene Creed outlines how the unique persons of the Trinity interact with and within each other and portrays a vision of how Christians can live with one united purpose despite their many differences. Moreover, the divine community that exists in the Trinity empowers Christians to be coworkers with Christ and live out diverse unity. As Susanne Guenther Loewen explains, “human communities image the divine community when they reflect the same characteristics of the perichoretic dance: mutuality and reciprocity, relationship that celebrates diversity, anti-hierarchical equality, and radical hospitality”.[17] When Christians reflect the divine dance of the Triune God, they reflect to the world the powerful love of Christ. Walking in light of the Trinity, churches build bridges, unify diverse people groups, and act as conduits for God’s reconciling love.
On paper, the reconciling love of the Triune God sounds empowering and life changing. However, this radical love is impossible to live out on one’s own. It requires community and living in community is hard. The history of the Church is the history of wrestling with unified diversity and often failing to live out this vision. Origen of Alexandria, for example, was condemned as a heretic in his day but his “doctrine of God [is now considered] the most highly developed and complex in the history of Christian theology.”[18] Despite a desire to not split the Catholic Church, Martin Luther “insisted that people either side with him […] or else get away from him and become his enemies.”[19] The Great Schism was triggered by the addition of just three words to the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed of 381, famously splitting the Western and Eastern church for the unforeseeable future. Just as it was in Ephesus and throughout history, Christians still struggle with learning to live in community with those who think differently, seeing differences as a weakness and not a strength. Cyprian of Carthage reasoned “that without visible unity the church does not exist and salvation is not possible.”[20] In Treatise 1, he explains:
God is one, and Christ is one, and His Church is one, and the faith is one, and the people is [sic] joined into a substantial unity of body by the cement of concord. Unity cannot be severed; nor can one body be separated by a division of its structure, nor torn into pieces, with its entrails wrenched asunder by laceration. Whatever has proceeded from the womb cannot live and breathe in its detached condition, but loses the substance of health.[21]
The need for unity is the reason why the Nicene Creed is so vital for the Church. When united in orthodoxy, Christians are free to play in the playground of diversity.[22] When the Church begins to divide due to reasons outside of Christian orthodoxy, it cannot function and loses sight of its purpose. In his letter to the Philadelphians, St. Ignatius of Antioch urged the Church to “love unity; avoid divisions; be the followers of Jesus Christ, even as He is of His Father.”[23] The Christian irenics urged: “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.”[24] The early Church knew that living out diverse unity is hard and by reflecting on their warnings, the American church has an opportunity to learn from their failures.
In this particular moment in history, the American Church is in a crisis of unity specifically due to political differences. According to a 2022 Lifeway Research study, “half of U.S. Protestant churchgoers (50%) say they’d prefer to attend a church where people share their political views, and 55% believe that to be the case at their congregation already.”[25] This political divide affects personal relationships with 29% of White Protestants saying “they would be unhappy if their son or daughter married a Democrat.”[26] Psychologically speaking, “people generally prefer to be with people like themselves”, desiring homogeneity in their relationships.[27] Not only do we desire sameness but we may also see it as a sign of ‘good theology’. As Kaitlin Schiess explains:
We tend to look around at our churches, see harmony and peace within the relatively homogenous group, and think we’re doing all right when it comes to scriptural commands to seek unity and oppose discrimination. What we fail to recognize is that our churches are often the result of fragmentation, not at all the solution to it.[28]
More often than not, people seek to go to churches where everyone looks like, thinks like, and lives like everyone else. In our hyper-partisan society, political differences are seen as threats and humans “are wired to respond to [those] threats in self-protection.”[29] Not only is choosing to go to church with people who are politically different unnatural, it may even feel socially and psychologically threatening to disrupt the social dynamic of one’s church. The reconciling love of the Triune God is necessary to overcoming these social and psychological barriers. As Volf explains, “only a dynamic, unfolding understanding of its correspondence to the Trinity can [the Church] be meaningful and effective.”[30] The Trinity matters, not just because of our eternal salvation and reconciliation to God, but because of what it calls the Church, the bride of Christ, to be: ministers of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-21). In light of Trinitarian theology, “the role of the Church entails both preaching and practising the social aspects of the vertical (God’s reconciliation with humans) and the horizontal (human to human reconciliation) reconciliation that were accomplished by the redemptive work of Jesus Christ”.[31] Ultimately, “the relationships among the many in the church must reflect the mutual love of the divine persons”, pointing the outside world to the radical, reconciling love of God.[32] Christians are called to cultivate communities where this love is powerfully on display, even while knowing they will undoubtedly fail, since “ecclesial communion this side of God’s new creation can correspond only in a broken way to the perfect mutual love of the Trinitarian persons.”[33] The Church is called to take on the cross of Christ and actively work against the psychological forces of homogeneity. This is no small feat and is only possible through the authentic surrender that “comes only from the Spirit of God’s love”.[34] For the local church, this looks like intentionally building a community where differences are not cause for disfellowship, but rather jigsaw pieces in a puzzle showing the unified diversity of the kingdom of God.[35] As ministers of reconciliation, churches should desire for political diversity in their church membership, not for diversity’s sake and not to emphasize diversity over unity, but as a reflection of the unified diversity of the Trinitarian Godhead. Political diversity should not be viewed as something to simply coexist with, but rather as something to learn from and be sanctified through. Churches can do this by utilizing and incorporating the Nicene Creed into Sunday services, reminding members of the unity of the global church while also being transparent about the ways Christians can lovingly disagree with one another. Instead of hiding political differences, church leadership should highlight them and show how to faithfully differ on nonessential beliefs, modeling unified diversity in their own local contexts. Individual Christians can make conscious choices to combat the innate desire for homogeneity by choosing to participate in diverse ideological spaces and by building relationships with people with different political views.
The current crisis of unity facing the American Church would not surprise the early Church. As we see in Ephesians 2:11-22, Christians have wrestled with reconciling differences since the beginning and have always struggled against the psychological forces working against unity. Whether it was different cultures, different class systems, or another ideological stronghold, the early Church challenged Christians to live in light of the reconciling love of the Trinity. A proper understanding of Trinitarian theology and perichoresis empowers the Church with a vision of unified diversity as well as a responsibility to live this vision out in the world. Christians, walking in knowledge of and relationship with the Triune God, are empowered by the Holy Spirit to be ministers of reconciliation and instruments of peace. In the words of Colin Gunton, “those who live by the faith in Christ and hope in the resurrection that are given by the Spirit are shaped in the ways of love; trained to be like the God who gave his own Son so that their achieved reconciliation with God might finally be perfected.”[36] The Church, working through its salvation in fear and trembling, is a living symbol pointing to the perfect love of God (Philippians 2:12). At its best, it is a reflection of the diverse unity of the Godhead. At its worst, it is a reminder that we see in a mirror dimly and the perfect love of God is far greater than what we can comprehend. Our loyalty should not be to a political party but to “finding the sources of community, authority, and meaning in the Christian community that God has given to us and commanded that we participate in as a gift to the world.”[37] In light of this understanding, Christians should seek to view political differences as a strength, an indicator of a healthy church, and a glimpse into the unified diversity of the Triune God.
[1] Aidan Connaughton, “Americans See Stronger Societal Conflicts than People in Other Advanced Economies,” Pew Research Center, October 13, 2021.
[2] See Aaron Earls, “Churchgoers Increasingly Prefer a Congregation That Shares Their Politics,” Lifeway Research, November 1, 2022.
[3] Miroslav Volf and Matthew Croasmun, For the Life of the World: Theology That Makes a Difference. (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2019), 63.
[4] All Bible references will be from the Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020).
[5] Ulrich Heckel, “The Seven Marks of the Unity of the Church: Exegetical Impulses for an Ecumenical Theology of Unity According to Ephesians 4:1-6.” The Ecumenical Review 73, no. 4 (2021): 568.
[6] Max Turner, “Ephesians,” in New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, ed. D. A. Carson et al., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), 1230.
[7] Turner, “Ephesians,” 1231.
[8] William R. Long, “Ephesians 2:11-22.” Interpretation 45, no. 3 (1991): 281.
[9] Christopher Magezi, “The Church as God’s Agent in Uniting Immigrants and Natives: A Case from Ephesians 2:11-22.” Verbum et Ecclesia 43, no. 1 (2022): 4.
[10] All references from the Nicene Creed are cited from the following article unless otherwise mentioned: The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, “Nicene Creed,” in Encyclopædia Britannica, March 22, 2018.
[11] Ulrich Heckel, “The Seven Marks of the Unity of the Church,” 1.
[12] St. Basil of Caesarea, “Letter 38”, www.newadvent,org, Section 4.
[13] The author has chosen to go with the Western tradition concerning the filioque.
[14] Amos Sukamto, Rudy Pramono, and Chandra Han. “Perichoresis and the Theology of Solidarity: A Foundation of Social Cohesion for Christian Millennials in Indonesia.” Pharos Journal of Theology 105, no. 1 (2024): 4.
[15] Leonard Prestige, “Perichoreo and Perichoresis in the Fathers,” Journal of Theological Studies 29 (1928), 242. In Brian T. Scalise, “Perichoresis In Gregory Nazianzen and Maximus the Confessor.” Eleutheria: John W. Rawlings School of Divinity Academic Journal 2, no.1: 2012.
[16] Catherine Mowry LaCugna, cited in Malinda E. Berry, “A Theology of Wonder,” in The Conrad Grebel Review 23, no. 1 (Winter 2005). Cited in Susanne Guenther Loewen, “Living Out the Trinity: A Mennonite-Feminist Theology of Diversity and Community.” The Conrad Grebel Review 37, no. 2 (2019): 186.
[17] Loewen, “Living Out the Trinity,” 186.
[18] Roger E. Olson, The Story of Christian Theology (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 108.
[19] Olson, The Story of Christian Theology, 378.
[20] Ibid., 117.
[21] Cyprian of Carthage, “Treatise 1 (On the Unity of the Church),” www.newadvent.org, Section 23.
[22] “Chesterton’s Fence” is a concept developed by G.K. Chesterton. See Gilbert K. Chesterton. Orthodoxy (Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 1908).
[23] Ignatius of Antioch, “The Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians”, www.newadvent.org, Section 7.
[24] Though commonly attributed to Augustine, ‘the authorship has recently been traced to Rupertus Meldenius, an otherwise unknown divine, and author of a remarkable tract in which the sentence first occurs’: Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Volume VII. Modern Christianity. The German Reformation (Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 1882), 359.
[25] Earls, “Churchgoers Increasingly Prefer a Congregation That Shares Their Politics,” Lifeway Research, November 1, 2022.
[26] Robert P. Jones, “American Democracy in Crisis: The Fate of Pluralism in a Divided Nation,” PRRI, February 19, 2019.
[27] Michael O. Emerson, and Christian Smith. Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 145.
[28] Kaitlyn Schiess, The Liturgy of Politics: Spiritual Formation for the Sake of Our Neighbor, foreword by Michael Wear (Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2020), 80.
[29] Schiess, The Liturgy of Politics, 34.
[30] Miroslav Volf, “The Trinity and the Church,” in Trinitarian Soundings in Systematic Theology, edited by Paul Louis Metzger (London; New York: T and T Clark International, 2005): 160.
[31] Magezi, “The Church as God’s Agent in Uniting Immigrants and Natives,” 1.
[32] Volf, “The Trinity and the Church,” 156.
[33] Volf, “The Trinity and the Church,” 162.
[34] James M. Houston, “The Personal Spirit and Personal Appropriation of the Truth,” in Trinitarian Soundings in Systematic Theology, edited by Paul Louis Metzger (London; New York: T and T Clark International, 2005): 149.
[35] The Jigsaw Puzzle metaphor is developed in: Harls E.R. Siahaan and Johannis Siahaya, “The Dialectics between the Unity and Diversity of the Church: A Jigsaw Puzzle Metaphor.,” Verbum et Ecclesia 44, no. 1 (2023): 1–7.
[36] Colin E. Gunton, The Christian Faith: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine (Oxford, UK; Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2002), 151.
[37] Kaitlyn Schiess, The Liturgy of Politics, 30.
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Chesterton, Gilbert K. Orthodoxy. Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 1908. Accessed September 25, 2025. [www.ccel.org/ccel/c/chesterton/orthodoxy/cache/orthodoxy.pdf]
Christian Standard Bible. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020.
Connaughton, Aidan. “Americans See Stronger Societal Conflicts than People in Other Advanced Economies.” Pew Research Center, October 13, 2021. [https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/10/13/americans-see-stronger-societal-conflicts-than-people-in-other-advanced-economies/]
Cyprian of Carthage. “Treatise 1 (on the Unity of the Church).” www.newadvent.org, n.d. Accessed September 25, 2025. [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/050701.htm.]
Earls, Aaron. “Churchgoers Increasingly Prefer a Congregation That Shares Their Politics” Lifeway Research. November 1, 2022. https://research.lifeway.com/2022/11/01/churchgoers-increasingly-prefer-a-congregation-that-shares-their-politics/.
The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “Nicene Creed.” Encyclopædia Britannica, March 22, 2018. Accessed online on September 25, 2025. [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nicene-Creed].
Emerson, Michael O., and Christian Smith. Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Gunton, Colin E. The Christian Faith: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine. Oxford, UK; Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2002.
Heckel, Ulrich. “The Seven Marks of the Unity of the Church: Exegetical Impulses for an Ecumenical Theology of Unity According to Ephesians 4:1-6.” The Ecumenical Review 73, no. 4 (2021): 566–80.
Houston, James M. “The Personal Spirit and Personal Appropriation of the Truth.” In Trinitarian Soundings in Systematic Theology, edited by Paul Louis Metzger, 139-51. London; New York: T and T Clark International, 2005.
Ignatius of Antioch. “The Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians.” www.newadvent.org, n.d. Accessed online on October 1, 2025. [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0108.htm].
Jones, Robert P. “American Democracy in Crisis: The Fate of Pluralism in a Divided Nation.” PRRI, February 19, 2019. Accessed online on September 25, 2025. [https://prri.org/research/american-democracy-in-crisis-the-fate-of-pluralism-in-a-divided-nation/].
Loewen, Susanne Guenther. “Living Out the Trinity: A Mennonite-Feminist Theology of Diversity and Community.” The Conrad Grebel Review 37, no. 2 (2019): 180–89.
Long, William R. “Ephesians 2:11-22.” Interpretation 45, no. 3 (1991): 281–83.
Magezi, Christopher. “The Church as God’s Agent in Uniting Immigrants and Natives: A Case from Ephesians 2:11-22.” Verbum et Ecclesia 43, no. 1 (2022): 1–11.
Olson, Roger E. The Story of Christian Theology. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1999.
Scalise, Brian T. “Perichoresis In Gregory Nazianzen and Maximus the Confessor,” Eleutheria: John W. Rawlings School of Divinity Academic Journal 2, no 1 (2012).
Schaff, Philip. History of the Christian Church, Volume VII. Modern Christianity. The German Reformation. Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 1882. Accessed online on October 1, 2025 [https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc7/hcc7?queryID=55329561&resultID=1196].
Schiess, Kaitlyn. The Liturgy of Politics: Spiritual Formation for the Sake of Our Neighbor. With Michael Wear. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2020.
Shastri, Hermen P. “The Unity of the Church in a Changing World: An Asian Perspective.” The Ecumenical Review 66, no. 1 (2014): 25–31.
Siahaan, Harls E.R., and Johannis Siahaya. “The Dialectics between the Unity and Diversity of the Church: A Jigsaw Puzzle Metaphor.” Verbum et Ecclesia 44, no. 1 (2023): 1–7.
St. Basil of Caesarea, “Letter 38”, www.newadvent,org, Accessed online on October 1, 2025 [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3202038.htm].
Sukamto, Amos, Rudy Pramono, and Chandra Han. “Perichoresis and the Theology of Solidarity: A Foundation of Social Cohesion for Christian Millennials in Indonesia.” Pharos Journal of Theology 105, no. 1 (2024): 1–14.
Turner, Max. “Ephesians.” In New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, edited by D. A. Carson et al., 4th ed. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994.
Volf, Miroslav and Matthew Croasmun. For the Life of the World: Theology That Makes a Difference. Theology for the Life of the World Series. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2019.
Volf, Miroslav. “The Trinity and the Church.” In Trinitarian Soundings in Systematic Theology, edited by Paul Louis Metzger, 153-74. London; New York: T and T Clark International, 2005.
You may contact Ali Batir at abatir@bushnell.edu.