Post #43 The Doctrine of God: The Old Testament and Jesus' teaching on the Divine Person of the Holy Spirit

Introduction:

    In the last three posts, I've written about what the Old Testament and Jesus taught about God the Father, His relationship with the Son, and His works in creation and redemption. Interested readers may review those last two most here http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/04/post-40-doctrine-of-god-jesus-teaching.html here http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/04/post-41-doctrine-of-god-old-testament.html and here http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/04/post-42-doctrine-of-god-old-testament.html

    In those prior posts, we covered the following:

1. God the Father as truly God.

2. God the Father sharing the same equality of deity or Godhead with the Son.

3. God the Father being the Creator of the world.

4. God the Father being the Savior of His people.

    We discovered that Jesus was carrying forth the "Trinitarian consciousness" resident within the Old Testament Scriptures and in His own teaching. As the incarnate Son of God Himself, Jesus gave unique authority and personal experience in how He communicate the two truths that form the cornerstone of the doctrine of the Trinity:

1. The unity of the Godhead or Divine nature, revealing God as One True and Living God. 

2. The plurality of Persons within the Godhead, identified as "the Father", "the Son" (or "the Word" and "Angel of the Lord" in the Old Testament), and the Holy Spirit (or "Spirit of God", "Spirit of Holiness", "The Glory of Israel" in the Old Testament).

    We've seen thus far continuity from Old Testament implications about those two cornerstones of the doctrine of God to Jesus' explicit teachings about their meaning. In today's post we want to uncover what the Old Testament and Jesus had to teach about the Person and work of the Holy Spirit.

The Deity, Personhood, and work of the Holy Spirit and His relationship to the Father and Son in the Old Testament.

    As we've explored the Old Testament's teaching on the Godhead or Divine nature, we've discovered what it had to teach us about God's nature and attributes in regards to His unity of being, as well as His Personal identification thus far as the Father. Consideration of the Father gets us to the understanding of God as one true and living God, personally identified as "Father". 

    We've also seen too that mention is made of "the Son" (Psalm 110 and Proverbs 30:4), a.k.a. as "the Angel of the Lord" (Zechariah 3 for instance) and "the Word" (Psalm 33:6,9). Such pre-incarnate appearances of the Divine Son of God in the Old Testament are what we call "Christophanies", whether as one of the three mysterious visitors to Abraham in Genesis 21 or as the fire in the burning bush to Moses (Exodus 3). The Son is revealed as exhibiting the same Divine attributes, names, and actions as the Father, while distinct from Him in regards to identity. In future posts I plan to write about the useage of the term "begotten" to describe the Divine relationship between the Father and the Son, discussed in passages such as Psalm 2:7 and John 3:16).  

    As the student of the Bible explores the Biblical revelation of God, they find a consistency of presentation regarding Divine personhood and Divine nature or Godhead. We've already noticed these two trends in our studies thus far of how the Persons of the Father and Son progress from Old Testament implication to what Jesus Himself explicitly taught. So, do we see this same pattern of Divine Personhood and Godhead with respect to the Holy Spirit? 

    In Genesis 1:2 we see first mention of the Holy Spirit's activity as the Creator "hovering over the waters of the deep". The Spirit's work of infusing life into the otherwise inanimate creation demonstrates His creative capacity as we would expect of God (see Psalm 33:6; 104:29-30; Job 26:13; 33:4; 40:13). Author John Walvoord in his classic book "The Holy Spirit" noted the following about the Holy Spirit's creative activity,

"Creation is ordered by God in such a way as to be self-sustaining to some extent, the design of animal and plant life being such that species are self-perpetuating. Behind the outward phenomena, however, is the work of the Holy Spirit, sustaining, directing, renewing."

    As we understand the Holy Spirit's abilities in creation, we can also note His activity as the Redeemer. No doubt the Holy Spirit was at work in the Old Testament convicting people of their sin and working to change hearts and lives to turn to God in what the Old Testament called "the circumcision of the heart" (Deuteronomy 10:18; Psalm 51:11; Isaiah 63:10-11; Nehemiah 9:20; Psalm 143:10). 

    In as much as the Spirit's work of salvation was not as robust as we see in the New Testament, it nonetheless had the same principles - changing of the heart, saving faith, preservation of the believer in their salvation. Jesus makes note that the key differences of the Spirit's working of salvation in Old and New Testaments was in the former He worked "outward and upon", whereas in the latter He would come to work "inwardly and through" (see John 14:17; John 16:8-12). 

    By the Spirit's works of creation and redemption, we readily see proof of His deity. 

    Further, in those same works we see evidence that He indeed was a "He" and not an "it". The Spirit could be grieved (Isaiah 63:10-11); jealous for His glory (1 Samuel 15:25); exhibiting a will in terms of restraining sin or working forth holiness in the life of the Jewish people (see Genesis 6:1-9; Isaiah 32:15ff; 44:3-5; Ezekiel 36:26; Zech 12:10). The Spirit distributed gifts, another indication of His will or volition (Exodus 31:3; 35:30 for example). We know He spoke to the prophets in words (for instance Psalm 16:9-10; Acts 2:25-31; 2 Peter 1:10-12; 1:19-21). 

Closing out of today's post.

    In addition to the Holy Spirit's deity and personhood in the Old Testament, we finally see evidence of Him alongside the Father and the Son. Two prime examples of this is Isaiah 48:12-16, and even more explcitly, Isaiah 63. Isaiah 63:1-7 shows us God the Father, ever calling to His people. Then in Isaiah 63:8-9 we see the Angel of the Lord, corresponding to the Person of the Son. In Isaiah 63:10-14, we see mention of the Holy Spirit, performing the same acts of deity we mentioned above. Remarkably, the remainder of Isaiah 63 closes with focus upon God as the true and living God, giving us the two foundations necessary for the later New Testament's full revelation of the Trinity: Divine unity and plurality of Personhood. 

Post #42 The Doctrine of God: The Old Testament and Jesus' Teaching On God the Father as Creator And Redeemer

Introduction:

    In our last post http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/04/post-41-doctrine-of-god-old-testament.html, we began to look at what the Old Testament and Jesus had to say about the Deity of the Father and the Father's relationship to Him as the incarnate Son. We noted that the Old Testament reveals the Person of the Father under four major subjects:

1. God the Father as truly God.

2. God the Father sharing the same equality of deity or Godhead with the Son.

3. God the Father being the Creator of the world.

4. God the Father being the Savior of His people.

     We looked at the first two headings and will devote the remainder of this post to the final two subjects. The point of our current postings is to establish a Biblical theology of the doctrine of God with respect to the doctrine of the Trinity. One major point to make is that the New Testament's revelation of the doctrine of the Trinity did not come from left field. The testimony of Jesus and the Apostles reveal a full-realization and progressing revelation of the Old Testament foundational truths we already noted about the Father, the Son, and the Spirit in the Godhead. 

    Thus far then, we can say Jesus's teaching brought together the above  truths into a coherent picture of the Biblical doctrine of God. It is this coherent picture that springs forth the full robust doctrine of the Trinity in the New Testament.  

God the Father as the Creator of the world. 

    If we take into consideration everything I wrote above, we can understand why the Old Testament makes known the Father's work in creation. Passages such as Job 38:8; Psalm 33:6,9; and Malachi 2:10 indicate God the Father as having the capability to create. The Father, often called "the First Person of the Trinity", is assigned the title "from whom all things are made" (1 Corinthians 8:6).1 As to the work of creation, we must not forget that all three Persons inseperably worked as One God in creating all things. 

      This capability of the Father as the Creator, being God by nature, is also ascribed to the Divine Person of "the Word" or Son and the Person of the Holy Spirit in Psalm 33:6,9 and Psalm 104:30. Such Scriptural assigning of creative abilities to the Son and the Holy Spirit lead to the conclusion that they are wholly God by nature - with all three Divine Persons being God the Creator.

    Such ascription of Divine power to the pre-incarnate Word and the Spirit of God is the Old Testament's indirect way of pointing us to their equality with the Father in regards to deity. No doubt Jesus, in His many mentions of the Father throughout the Gospel, taught this very same truth (see Matthew 19:1-7; John 5:25-29). 

God The Father as the redeemer of His people. 

    We've noted how the Old Testament teaches us about the Father as He is as truly God, His relationship to the Son, and His work in creation. We've observed how Jesus taught those same truths. One final area we find the Hebrew Bible teaching about God the Father is in His role as the redeemer of His people. 

    It is in this work of redemption where the Old Testament shows us precursors of the doctrine of God the Father. Such "precursors" set the stage for Jesus' teaching and the underpinnings for a full New Testament revelation of the Trinity.2 

   So, we have seen four main ways the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament brings forth the revelation of God the Father, and how Jesus incorporated such truths into His teaching.

1. God the Father as truly God.

2. God the Father sharing the same equality of deity or Godhead with the Son.

3. God the Father being the Creator of the world.

4. God the Father being the Savior of His people. 

Jesus' teaching about the Father and the Godhead - what additional light He shed upon the Godhead.

    I have labored to show how much unity there is between the Old Testament's vision of God as one in being and plural in person and Jesus' reaffirmation of the same. We must equally grasp that the incarnate Christ furthered our understanding as to how those two major truths about the God of the Bible (His unity of being and plurality of Personhood) operated to set the ground for the doctrine of the Trinity.

    The 19 century theologian B.B. Warfield's essay on the Doctrine of the Trinity points out that what Jesus was setting forth was not new. The doctrine of the Trinity flowed naturally from the Old Testament through Jesus' teaching into its full-orbed revelation in Acts, the Epistles, and the Book of Revelation. 

    What was it then that Jesus brought to the table that propelled the understanding of the Godhead forward? 

    The unity of the Godhead and the plurality of the Persons find their clarity in Jesus' teachings, which interested readers may read more about in the footnotes following this post.3 

   Thus, in the Old Testament, the acts of creation and salvation are used as lenses to introduce us to the Father. What Jesus does is show how He Himself is that primary lens, explaining the Father and making Him known, since He Himself is truly God as the Father as God - He being the Revealer and the revealed (see John 1:18; John 14:8; 17:3). 

Closing thoughts

    Whenever we combine what Jesus says about the distinctions He and the Father have as Divine Persons along with the mutual indwelling language we devoted time to in the last post, what emerges is a firm foundation for the continuing, progressive revelation of the Trinity in the Bible.  

    This then demonstrates what I said at the beginning of today's post concerning what Jesus taught about the Godhead, and the agreement between Himself and the prior Old Testament revelation.

1. There is one, and only one true and living God that is one in nature or in His Godhead.

2. This Godhead (that is, deity, Divine nature, Divine essence, God's very substance and being) is equally and wholly in each of the Divine Persons - The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Endnotes:

1. In theology, we often refer to the Father as "the first Person of the Godhead". Why is that? The idea of "first" means "principle", which is to say the Father is unoriginated, the "unbegotten One", who makes common the Divine nature by His eternal act of "filiation" or "begetting" the Son (see Psalm 110; John 1:18; 3:16). 

    The ordering here is not an ordering of importance (all three Divine Persons are of equal importance). The ordering is also not that of power, being, or glory (all three Persons are one in nature, hence co-glorious, co-eternal, omnipotent). The ordering of "first person", "second person", and "third person" refers to how the undivided Godhead or nature is communicated among the three persons.  

    Thus, the Father, as I mentioned, is described in the Bible and in the doctrine of the Trinity as "begetting the Son", the fount that makes common the Divine nature. The Son, eternal and without beginning, ever receives or is "begotten" in an eternal, second act of sharing in the Divine nature with the Father. Then, the Father, with the Son, in what we could call a "third activity", makes common the Divine nature in what theologians refer to as "spiration" (that is, an outbreathing) of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is identified then as the third Person of the Trinity, proceeding eternally from the Father and the Son (John 15:26). 

    This "order of eternal relations" distinguishes the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit from one another in terms of identity, while at the same time affirming their equality and unity of being. 

2. It is in Deuteronomy 32:6 we find first clear mention of the Father's explicit involvement in the salvation of His people - 

“Do you thus repay the Lord, O foolish and unwise people? Is not He your Father who has bought you? He has made you and established you." 

    The remainder of Deuteronomy 32 is devoted to how the Father saved Israel from Egypt, carrying them along as a father would his son. 

    Isaiah 43:10-11 is another striking example of the Father being the Redeemer of His people, with the reminder that He is God by nature, and that there is no other God - asserting His nature of self-existence or what theologians call "Aseity" (from the Latin a se, meaning "from oneself"). 

    This same self-existent, exclusive Redeemer of God's people is expounded most clearly in the Old Testament in Isaiah 63:8, 15-19; 64:6-9). Jesus no doubt taught this truth in His expression of the Father sending Him, the Son, to be the Savior of the world (John 3:16).

3. The places Jesus teaches about the Father in Matthew 6:9-11; Mark 8:38; 11:25; 13:32; 14:36; Luke 10:21-23; 11:11-13; 15:11-32 sharpen the picture about the Father, with the additional, startling reality of the intimate awareness and uniqueness of relationship Jesus has with this Father that no other had. 

   We find Jesus revealing truths about Himself as He teaches the sharper picture of the Father. For example, as truly man, Jesus shows how much He is yielded in His human will to the Father's will, thus encouraging others to do the same (Matthew 6:10, 25-32; 11:25; 12:50; 21:31; 26:39,42; Luke 23:34; 6:36; 10:21-22; 11:2,13; 12:30). As truly God, the Son equates Himself with the Father, who being God by nature, means Christ Himself is truly God as well (John 5:17-18; 5:26-27; 8:58). 

    No doubt the "only-begotten" language I referred to earlier in Psalm 2:7 finds its way in Jesus teaching about Himself in His relationship with the Father (John 1:14-18; 3:35; 5:20; 10:17). To be "the only-begotten Son" refers to how the Father, as the unoriginate one, shares in common that same unoriginated nature through communication of it to the Son by the eternal act of begetting. 

Post #41 The Doctrine of God: The Old Testament and Jesus' Teaching On God the Father's Deity And His Relationship To The Son

 

Introduction:

    In the last post here http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/04/post-40-doctrine-of-god-jesus-teaching.html we focused upon Jesus' teaching about the unity He has with the Father and the Holy Spirit by way of their "mutual indwelling" with one another. We looked at key passages in the Gospels where Jesus used the "He-in-me, I-in-Him" language. Such phraseology indicated that Jesus had in mind two pillar doctrines that are essential for a Biblical understanding of the doctrine of God,

1. There is one, and only one true and living God that is one in nature or in His Godhead.

2. This Godhead (that is, "deity, Divine nature, Divine essence, God's very substance and being) is equally and wholly in each of the Divine Persons - The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit.

    We can summarize these twin pillars of Biblical theology proper (i.e. the Doctrine of God) as God's unity of being and plurality of identity. Both pillar truths provide the basis for articulating the Doctrine of the Trinity. 

    It may surprise readers to know that in most respects, what Jesus taught about the Godhead in its unity and plurality of identity was revealed throughout the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament (albeit in progressive fashion). In other words, much of what Jesus taught in His doctrine of God was not novel. He simply added further insight to an already established theology proper revealed in the Old Testament. The famed 19th century theologian B.B. Warfield in his essay "The Biblical Doctrine of the Trinity" in his "Biblical and Theological Studies", page 32, comments on how the New Testament authors handled the doctrine of God with respect to the Old Testament revelation

"The simplicity and assurance with which the New Testament writers speak of God as a Trinity have, however, a further implication. If they betray no sense of novelty in so speaking of Him, this is undoubtedly in part because it was no longer a novelty so to speak of Him. It is clear, in other words, that as we read the New Testament, we are not witnessing the birth of a new conception of God. What we meet with in its pages is a firmly established conception of God underlying and giving its tone to the whole fabric."

Jesus' teaching about Himself and God the Father

    As Jesus revealed Himself as the decisive revelation of God in human flesh, He always pointed to the Father.  Who exactly God the Father was in the Old Testament, as well as how Jesus conceived of Himself in relationship to the Father, will enable us to get more prepared for the New Testament's full revelation of the Trinity. 

    We can summarize the Old Testament revelation of God the Father under four headings. For this post, we will detail the first two of those headings, and deal with the remaining two in the next post. The four ways the Old Testament reveals the Father is as follows:

1. God the Father as truly God.

2. God the Father sharing the same equality of deity or Godhead with the Son.

3. God the Father being the Creator of the world.

4. God the Father being the Savior of His people.

    As I expound each heading, let the reader note how Jesus reiterates that truth in His own instructional ministry.

1. God the Father as truly God.

    He is the eternal one, being without origin by nature, expressing all the Divine attributes that we have looked at in previous posts. In the Old Testament, the Father is revealed as "God", "LORD", and other Divine names. Isaiah writes in Isaiah 63:15 "Look down from heaven and see from Your holy and glorious habitation....". Then Isaiah 63:16 "For You are our Father....". In Daniel 7:9, Daniel relays a vision of the Heavenly throneroom, speaking of the Father as "The Ancient of Days". In Malachi 1:6 and 2:10, we see reference to "The Father", the "LORD of Hosts", being His name. 

    In most of the 5766 places within the Hebrew Bible where we observe the personal name of God, Yahweh"/"LORD", as well as most of the 2706 places where we see the more general name "Elohim" mentioned, unless otherwise indicated, we can safely say the Old Testament is speaking of God the Father.  

    Jesus made a point to distinguish Himself in His humanity as submitted to the Father, to whom as truly man He regarded as the only true and living God by nature (Mark 10:18). He also made a point to show Himself, as truly God, being equal to the Father, with whom He said He was "One" (John 10:30). As truly God, the Son mutually indwelled with the Father, meaning they both shared the undivided nature or Godhead as One God (see the previous post in the this series). 

    The incarnate Son also claimed He could perform the same functions as the Father in forgiving sin (Mark 2:7), raising the dead (John 5:25-29; 11:25), and executing final judgment (Matthew 11:25-27; 25:31-46; 28:18).  

2. God the Father sharing the same equality of deity or Godhead with the Son.

    We've already noticed how the Father is called "Yahweh/LORD" throughout the Old Testament. In most cases, we can assume the Old Testament is speaking of Him. The only times where we find exception to this is when mention is made of another figure, "The Angel of the LORD" in passages such as Genesis 16:7-11; Exodus 3:6,14; 23:20-33; Joshua 5:13-15; Judges 2:1-5; 13:18; Malachi 3:1-4 and others. Or, where we see an occasional mention made of "two-Yahwehs" (a Yahweh in Heaven and a Yahweh on earth - Genesis 19:24; Job 19:25-28). 

    Biblical scholars refer to this Old Testament revelation of the Father and the Angel of the Lord or other designations of a second Divine Person as "the two-powers doctrine". It is well documented in the Jewish literature spanning between the 400 year gap of Malachi and Matthew the Jewish beliefs about a "Yahweh in Heaven" and a "Visible Yahweh".  

     Scholars such as Michael Heiser have noted that following the advent of Christianity and the Bar Kochba rebellion of 132 A.D., the Jewish Rabbis expunged any mention of such "two-powers teaching", thus eliminating their one-time held belief of the plurality of Divine Persons within the Godhead.                    

    As one studies the Old Testament revelation, as well as Jesus' own teachings, it is evident that within the Godhead there is a plurality of at least two, if not three Divine persons. Each Person is distinct, while equal in their possessing the entirety of the Godhead or Divine nature.  

    For instance, we find the Father "begetting" the Son in Psalm 2:7, a term Jesus used often in His teaching ministry about He and the Father's relationship (John 1:14, 18; 3:16). Proverbs 30:4 explicitly mentions the Persons of the Father and the Son. The Old Testament revelation gives us two general conclusions in regards to the Father's relationship to the Son. 

    First, the Father and the Son both share and reveal the totality of the Divine nature or Godhead. Then secondly, the two are to be distinguished from one another while exhibiting the same Divine perfections we would expect when talking about God. 

Conclusion for today

    In our next post we will continue noting how the Old Testament reveals God the Father as the Creator of the World and the Savior of His people. We will also draw conclusions as to how Jesus not only incorporated the revelation of the Old Testament's teaching of the Father into His own expositions, but also the additional light He shed upon the relationship shared between the Father and Himself. Such understanding will show the reader how the Old Testament and Jesus' teaching paved the way for the New Testament's full-orbed revelation on the Trinity. 

Post #40 The Doctrine of God: Jesus' Teaching On The Godhead And Mutual Indwelling Between The Three Persons Of The Godhead

Introduction:

    In our last post we began to pivot this entire series on "The Doctrine of God" from discussion of the unity of God's being expressed through His Attributes to how we plan to approach conversation of His Triune identity. I had pointed out three starting points for getting ourselves to the doctrine of the Trinity from considerations of the unity of His being.

1. The glory of God.

2. The Old Testament revelation of God and how it presupposed a plurality of personality within the Godhead.

3. Jesus' teaching on the mutual indwelling of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

    It is the third of these I want to draw out attention to in this post, since the entire Old Testament revelation of God finds it harbor in the teachings of Jesus' doctrine of God. 

    Anytime we talk of the unity of God's being and attributes, the term used is what we call "the Godhead". I'll elaborate on that below. Also too, how the unity of the Godhead relates to the Three Persons of the Trinity (The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit) in such unity is what we find in Jesus' teaching on the mutual indwelling of the Three Persons. 

    For now, let the reader know that the particular subject of the Godhead and the mutual indwelling of the Persons of the Trinity is spelled out by Jesus in His teachings, providing a launching point for the remaining revelation of God in the New Testament. 

    As I noted already, in today's post we'll define the term "Godhead" and understand how it is handled by Jesus in a sample of His teachings. We will then introduce the reader to Jesus' teaching on the mutual indwelling He, the Father, and the Spirit have among themselves. 

What is meant by the term "Godhead"

    The reader may had noticed I made mention of the term "Godhead". The idea of "Godhead" is synonymous with everything we've looked at concerning God's being and attributes - that is, the Divine nature itself. The KJV uses this term "Godhead" in three places. As I list the three places, I'll use the NASB as a comparison for readers to see how this term is understood in modern English.

1. First verse with the term "Godhead", translated as "Divine nature" in the NASB 1995

Acts 17:29 "Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device." (KJV)

Acts 17:29 "Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man." (NASB 1995)

2. Second verse using the term "Godhead", translated "Divine nature" in NASB 1995 

Romans 1:20 "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse." (KJV)

Romans 1:20 "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse."

3. Third passage with the term "Godhead", translated "Deity" in NASB 1995

Colossians 2:9 "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." (KJV)

Colossians 2:9 "For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form." (NASB 1995).

    Thus what we find then the term "Godhead" is synonymous with "deity" and "Divine nature". In Acts 17:29, we have then the term "Godhead" speaking of God's substance of deity, not being made of physical material, leading to the conclusion, as Jesus taught, that the Godhead is "spirit" in John 4:24. Jesus certainly taught what theologians speak of concerning the "substance" of the Godhead, otherwise known as the Divine attribute of spirituality.  

    In the Romans 1:20 passage, we see the Divine nature or "Godhead" listed alongside one of the attributes - Divine power or "omniscience". Jesus taught that for God, all things are possible, since He is omnipotent. One of things we will see in future posts is how the term "God" could either refer to the Godhead or was Jesus' way of talking about His Father (context of course being the final deciding factor). At anyrate, when we speak of the Godhead expressed through the attributes or perfections of deity, we find this theologically termed "the character of God". 

    Then we thirdly see in Colossians 2:9 how the Divine nature or Godhead is possessed by the Son. Jesus will unpack this point of the Godhead or Divine nature being an entire possession of not only Himself, but of the Father, who makes common to Him the Godhead or Divine nature by His act of begetting (John John 1:18; 5:26). This third use of the Godhead introduces us into discussion of the doctrine of the Trinity. 

    Thus far, we've noticed how the term "Godhead" contemplates God's Divine substance and character, and how both are possessed wholly by the Father, the Son, and as we shall see in later posts, the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus' teaching on the mutual indwelling between Himself and the Father and the Holy Spirit

    As we move on from having defined the term "Godhead", we can now pivot to starting to discuss how Jesus conceived of the "oneness" of the Godhead or Divine nature on the one hand, and then how He understood the Godhead functioned in, among, and through the Father, Himself, and the Holy Spirit. 

    Jesus often used what theologians call "mutual indwelling" language when highlighting both the union of deity and distinction between Himself and the Father, or between Himself, the Father, and the Spirit. This phenomena in Jesus' teaching on the Godhead would involve phrases such as "I in Him, and He in me". Take for instance John 10:38 "But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him." We see Jesus using similar phraseology in how He describes the unity between He and the Father in John 14:10,11 (2x He states "I am in the Father and the Father is in me). In Jesus' High-priestly prayer in John 17:21 He prays "that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You". This isn't a mere unity of activity, but of being. We similarly see how He, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit mutually indwell one another in how they work in and through believers (see John 14:23). 

    In the first four centuries of the church, certain theologians such as Gregory of Nyssa, Basil the Great, and others took notice of this descriptive terminology of Jesus. They grasped that what Jesus was teaching was nothing other than the two most fundamental tenets of Trinitarian theology,

*There is one, and only one true and living God.

*This one Godhead is in the Father, as well as in the Son, and equally in the Holy Spirit.

    Theologians came to use the term "perichoresis" (Latin "circumincession") to describe how the Persons of the Father, The Son, and Holy Spirit mutually indwelled or "co-inhered" within one another. Theologian Vern Poythress explains this idea in his book "The Mystery of the Trinity", page 91, 

"The coinherence of the persons means that each is completely present to the others. Each has complete knowledge of the others. Each acts with the others in the works of God in creation, redemption, and consummation."

    Poythress later adds,

"Coinherence (that is, the mutual indwelling of the The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit) presents us with a kind of harmonious bridge between the biblical teaching on the distinction of the persons. The persons are indeed distinct, but they are also profoundly one, through coinherence. Each person is fully God, the one God."

Conclusion for now

    In the next post I plan to pick up more on Jesus' teaching on this doctrine of mutual indwelling, and specifically what He had to say about the Person of the Father. For today at least I wanted to alert readers to some examples of Jesus' teaching on the Godhead, and the doctrine of mutual indwelling. As we shall see in forthcoming posts, Jesus brings together everything taught in the Old Testament on the doctrine of God, as well as setting the tone for how the New Testament would bring into full view the Triunity of God. 

More next time....