Post #48 Doctrine of God - Observing the Triune God At Work In The Book Of Hebrews

Introduction:

    In the last post I introduced readers to the doctrine of "eternal relations of origin" (eroo) and did a review of the doctrine of the Trinity in terms of our working definition here Growing Christian Resources: Post #47 Doctrine of God - An Introduction To Eternal Relations of Origin In The Trinity. 

What I want to do in today's post is continue our survey of the Bible with how it develops the doctrine of the Trinity. Understanding important doctrine like "eroo" (eternal relations of origin) can help us navigate the revelation of God in His Word. I thought today we would focus on the Book of Hebrews and see how the Triune God works in creation, redemption, and the Christian life. 

The Trinity’s work in creation, redemption, and the Christian life in Hebrews

    Hebrews 1:1-4 shows how The Father speaks and the Son shows. The Father was not incarnated, yet the Son became incarnated.  This gives us an example of appropriations, namely, how fitting it is that the Son become man, to reveal, make plain, and manifest the character of the Father in the work of salvation. The Son is begotten eternally of the Father, thus He is the Second person of the Trinity, revealed secondly, while revealing the One from whom He ever receives His identity as the “only begotten God” (John 1:18). 

    Hebrews 1:5-9 reveals The Father unbegotten, The Son begotten. The Father and the Son are distinguished by their eternal relations of origin as to the Father’s paternity or being “unbegotten, not made”, and the Son’s filiation or being “begotten, not made”. Here we see illustrated the inseparable operations of the Father and Son in the work of creation, both being One God (Hebrews 1:8-9). 

    Hebrews 1:10-13 reveals how The Father started creation and the Son situated it. Yet, both Persons are one Creator God (1 Corinthians 8:6). 

    In Hebrews 2:1-4, The Father bore witness by signs and wonders. The Son witnessed by His earthly ministry. The Spirit testified by gifts and miracles. Yet all three inseparably revealed salvation by the One shared will of God. 

    In Hebrews 2:5-18, The Father subjected all things under the Son. Note: “It was fitting for Him” in Hebrews 2:10. This is the language of appropriations, namely, it was fitting or appropriate for the Son to become incarnate, since He reveals the Father and with the Father, sends the Spirit. In His incarnation, the Son subjected His human will under the Father’s will, while still sharing that One will with the Father as truly God. 

    In Hebrews 2:5-18, The Father royally adopts the Christian as a son or daughter by faith (Hebrews 2:8). Meanwhile the Son represents Christians by His intercession and help as “man for us” and God with us” (Hebrews 2:14-18). 

In Hebrews 3:1-19, The Father is the builder of the house (all true Christians), whereas the Son is over the house (all true Christians), i.e. “The Church”. The Spirit draws sinners to become part of the household of faith. This is the Trinity’s inseparable work in our salvation. 

       In Hebrews 4, The Father is the source of spiritual rest. The Son is the Savior of spiritual rest. The Holy Spirit, by the scriptures, sustains spiritual rest. All three as One God grants spiritual rest. Here we see the doctrines of appropriations and inseparable operations together. 

In Hebrews 5:1-6, The Father eternally begets the Son His eternal identity. The Son is begotten of the Father, equally God with Him. This illustrates the eternal relations of origin between the Father and the Son.

        In Hebrews 5:7-11, The Son became man, praying to the Father, while ever the eternal Son, equal to the Father. As man, the Son as incarnate Christ learned things (such as obedience). As truly God at the same time, the Son knew all things. 

In Hebrews 6:1-8, The Holy Spirit illuminates truth. The Father judges by the truth. The Son is the truth. Yet all three Persons are the One true and living God. Here again we see the doctrine of appropriations and inseparable operations working hand-in-glove.

         In Hebrews 6:13-19, The Father swore the covenant to Abraham. The Son, in His redemptive work, would secure the covenant, a covenant of grace whose spiritual promises to Abraham are applied by the Holy Spirit to all who trust in Christ by faith.

 In Hebrews 7, The Father appointed the Mediator for the Christian – the Son. The Son became incarnate to be our Mediator. This eternal covenant is called “the covenant of redemption” (see Titus 1:2). The Holy Spirit affirms this “Covenant of Redemption” in Hebrews 8. 

         In Hebrews 9:14, the Son became man to offer His life to the Father. The Father sent the Son to be the offering whom He would receive. The Holy Spirit made possible the offering by the Son of Himself as the incarnated Jesus on the cross. Yet One God is the source of our salvation. 

In Hebrews 10:1-18, The Son, becoming also man, expressed in His human will the desire to perform the Father’s will. The Father had sent the Son, with whom He shared One Divine will. The Holy Spirit confirms this united will with the Father and Son in making possible the Son’s incarnation. 

        In Hebrews 10:19-39, The way of salvation is planned by the Father. The way of salvation is provided for by the Son in His incarnated flesh. The way to salvation is persuaded by the Holy Spirit. 

In Hebrews 11:1 - 12:11, The Father is the aim of faith (see Hebrews 11:6). The Holy Spirit is the Agent of faith (see Ephesians 2:8-9; Hebrews 11:1). The Son is the Author and Finisher of faith (Hebrews 12:1-2).

        In Hebrews 12:12-29, The Father is the Voice thundering from Heaven (see Hebrews 12:19,25-27). The Son is the Theme of Heaven (Hebrews 12:24). 

In Hebrews 13:5, the writer quotes Deuteronomy 31:6-8, which spoke of Yahweh, The LORD, going ahead of the Israelites to lead the way, not forsaking them. Isaiah 63:9-14 indicates all three Persons of the Godhead were inseparably involved. When I feel alone, afraid, and not knowing what to do, I have the entire Trinity to Whom I can call for help at anytime. 

        Then finally, In Hebrews 13:8, The immutability of the Son and the enduring work of the Father. Note: This is how One Book of the Bible shows the inseparable operations and appropriated working of the Father, Son, and Spirit in creation, redemption, and the Christian life. The richness of the Trinity is seen somewhat similarly in every New Testament book!

Post #39 The Doctrine of God - Bridging How To Discuss God As One God To His Triune Identity

Introduction:

    In the last post I gave readers links to all 37 posts that detailed God's being and attributes here http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/03/post-38-doctrine-of-god-gods-glory-in.html. The point of the last post was to bring together this series for readers to grasp the "big-picture" of what we mean when we study theology proper or the doctrine of God in regards to His being and attributes. In my very first post of this series I noted how there are five ways to begin one's study of theology proper here http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/07/post-1-doctrine-of-god-map-to-explore.html. The series up until this point has focused on the first major area of the doctrine of God, namely the oneness of God in His being. 

    In any work of systematic theology, we constantly bump up against that perfection of God which is identified as God's "incomprehensibility". This means God is by no means comprehensively exhausted or mastered by the human intellect. We can truly know God because of Divine revelation (Job 42:1-5; Philippians 3:7-10), yet we can never comprehend Him. This is proved by such Biblical phrases as God "dwelling in unapproachable light, which no man has seen nor can see" (1 Timothy 6;16). 

    As we push on ahead, I want to use all the prior posts as our launching point for the next leg of our study of the doctrine of God - the doctrine of the Trinity. Much like we did in the very first post, where we enumerated various starting points for studying the doctrine of God as a whole, I want to lay out ways we may begin to bridge our conversation and study between God's Divine nature (also called His "Godhead", the subject of the last 38 posts in this series) to that of His Triune identity.

1. The glory of God as a bridge between discussion of the Divine nature and the Trinity. 

    I hinted at this in the last post and will continue to draw on this throughout the remaining posts. Scripture certainly points us in this direction. 

    For example, Psalm 19:1 tells us how "the heavens declare the glory of God", with "glory of God" gesturing toward contemplation of God in all that He is as revealed through the general revelation of creation. We then see God's glory as a theme in a key Trinitarian passage, reminding us in Hebrews 1:3 of how the Son is "the radiance of God's glory, and the exact representation of His being". The term "God" in Hebrews 1:3 refers to the Person of the Father, of whom the Son discloses in His effulgence as the Divine Son. God's glory bridges any discussion of the Divine Godhead to the Persons in the Godhead. 

2. The Old Testament's preparation for the full revelation of the Trinity in the New Testament. 

    Not only does God's glory help us bridge between discussion of God's oneness of being and Triune identity, but also the Old Testament revelation of God. Genesis 1 reveals what we could call the "twin pillars" of any Biblical doctrine of God - God's oneness of being and plurality of personhood. 

    Genesis 1:1 squarely tells us that God created the heavens and the earth. The Hebrew text utilizes a singular masculine verb in the third person to tell us of a singular God verbalizing everything into existence. Yet, the subject of the sentence, "God", is the Hebrew name for God "Elohim", which is a plural masculine noun. We see this same sort of phenomenon in Genesis 1:26, with the third masculine singular verb for "make" in reference to the making of man as male and female. Yet, the subject of that verb in the sentence is the Hebrew name of God "Elohim". 

    Furthermore, Genesis 1:26 also includes pronoun "our" in reference to the image He would stamp into the moral and spiritual make-up of the man and woman. God is no doubt a singular entity, Creator of all things. At the same time, this one God is a plural personality. 

    Throughout the Old Testament revelation we see references hinting at the personages in the Godhead. For instance, we see "The Spirit" (Genesis 1:2) and "The Son" in Psalm 110:4 and Proverbs 30:4. 

    The Old Testament doesn't get to the level of detail we find in the New Testament revelation to how it ties together the oneness of God with the plurality of personality. Nonetheless, The Old Testament sets up for what would be that eventual bringing together of the complete picture of "One God in Three Persons" observed in the New Testament.  

3. The mutual indwelling of Father, Son, and Spirit as One God by nature.  

     Jesus' teaching on the doctrine of God is a quantum leap forward in the progressive revelation of Scripture in bridging God's oneness of nature and plurality of personality. As only Jesus could do, He utilizes the language of what theologians call "mutual indwelling", which is to say the "Father is in me and I in the Father" type of expressions. For instance, we read Jesus' words in John 14:10-11

"Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves."

    What Jesus taught in John 13-17 about Himself, the Father, and Holy Spirit being One in unity and distinct in identity moves our understanding forward in formulating a Biblical doctrine of God that affirms a oneness in being and three in identity.  

Closing thoughts for today

    As I have read various theologians and studied God's Word over the years, it appears there are at least three ways of bridging our discussion of God's oneness of being to His Triune identity. Such bridging is comprised of three conceptual truths.

    First, God's glory, revealing the inner reality of His nature, attributes, and relationships between the Father, Son, and Spirit. Secondly, grasping how the Old Testament introduces to the main points of the doctrine of the Trinity, followed by how the New Testament draws those points together into a coherent picture of the Triune God. Then thirdly, studying the words of Jesus as He taught the doctrine of God, especially in His final teaching before His crucifixion in John 13-17. The posts that will follow will attempt to map out the main contours of the Biblical doctrine of the Trinity, and how that brings a complete picture of our overall understanding of God in His oneness of being and threeness of identity. 

More next time....

Post #33 The Doctrine of God: P1 Divine Omnipresence and Immensity Within the Trinity.

Introduction: 

    In today's post I want to begin by quoting a prayer from the early church father, Gregory of Nazianzus (329-390 A.D.) that I heard Dr. Carl Trueman mention in the closing of his recent lecture "Classical Theology and the Modern Mind", 

“Oh all-transcendent God, what words can sing your praises? No word does you justice. What mind can probe your secret? No mind can encompass you. You are alone, beyond the power of speech, yet all that we speak stems from you. You are alone beyond the power of thought, yet all that we can seek conceive springs from you. All things proclaim you, those endowed with reason and those bereft of it. All the expectation and pain of the world coalesces in you. All things utter a prayer to you a silent hymn, composed by you. You sustain everything that exists and all things that move together. You are the goal of all that exists. You are the one and you are the all, yet you are none of the things that exist - neither apart nor the whole. You can avail yourself of any name. How shall I call you, the only unnamable, all transcendent God?” 

    That prayer touches upon the two attributes of God that are of interest in today's post - omnipresence and immensity. To say God is "omni-present" means He is everywhere ("omni") present at every point in all of creation, wholly and completely. To say God is "immense" describes His relationship to all of creation, whether visible or invisible, in how nothing can contain God. Together, the attributes of immensity and omnipresence confront us with the very nature of God Himself who is Father, Son, and Spirit. What I want to specifically consider today is how we can speak of God's omnipresence and immensity within His own nature as He is as Father, Son, and Spirit. In other words, how do we talk of God as omnipresent and immense before there was a creation? These explorations will serve to show that these attributes are intregal to our overall understanding of the doctrine of God.

A word on how God's Divine nature and attributes work in relationship to the Persons of the Trinity

    In our continuing study of "Theology Proper" or the doctrine of God, we once again remind ourselves that the goal of this overall study is to understand what the Bible teaches about the being, attributes, and identity of God. As we will focus today upon God's omnipresence and immensity in more detail, I felt it necessary to remind us of how the Divine nature operates within and among the three persons of the Godhead. 

    God's being and attributes summarize His nature, essence, or being. I often use the phrase "what God is" to refer to His essence; and the phrase "how God is" to talk about the attributes or perfections of God. As for God's identity, I use the phrase "who God is" to point us to the Biblical truth of the Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

    We can never make God's being and attributes something like a "fourth" piece of God on the one side, and the Triune persons as somehow "parts" of God on another side. Rather, the Biblical and historical doctrine of the Trinity asserts that God's being is equivalent to His attributes (what theologians call "Divine simplicity"). The term "simplicity" derives from the Latin "simplex", meaning "unmixed, uncompounded, and uncomposed". 

    Thus, God's attributes aren't like a cake recipe that has eggs, flour, salt, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and water to make a cake. Those said ingredients are not cake, but instead their own respective substances, composing together the said cake. When we say "God, by nature, is His attributes", we're meaning that all that is in God is God. In reference to the "stuff" or substance of Divine being (eternal, unchangeable, omnipresent, omniscient, and all the rest), each perfection is an active expression of the Divine nature. In this classical, historical understanding of Theology proper, each attribute operates as an action of the Divine nature. 

    Consequently, the Divine nature or essence of God resides entirely and wholly in each of the Divine persons, with each distinguished only by their eternal relationship to one another - what theologians call "eternal relations of origin". How is this spelled out historically and Biblically? 

    The Father begets or communicates the Divine nature to the Son. In a portion of the historic Athanasian creed we are reminded, "The Father was neither made nor created nor begotten".  Sometimes early theologians, such as Gregory Nazianzus (cited above) and later John Calvin called the Father "the fountain of the Divine nature within the Trinity". The Father and Son's co-equality, co-eternality are affirmed in these statements, with the idea of designating the Father as "unbegotten, not made" for the purpose of distinguishing Him from the person of the Son. 

    The Son is defined historically and Scripturally as "the only-begotten" from the Father (John 1:14,18; 3:16; 1 John 4:19). What this means is that the Son is truly God by nature. All the divine attributes of the Divine essence which the Father has maps point-by-point, quality-by-quality in the Son. Biblically, the entire Divine nature resides in the Son as much as it resides entirely within the Father (see Colossians 2:9). Both Father and Son share the undivided, simple, Divine essense (John 10:30; 1 Corinthians 8:6-7). 

    The Holy Spirit, in His co-equality and co-eternality with Father and Son, is said to "proceed" from them both. In other words, the same divine essence is communicated to the Spirit by way of "spiration" or breathing forth from the Father through the Son (see John 15:26). To quote the Athanasian Creed once more, 

"Now this is the catholic (i.e. 'universal') faith: We worship one God in Trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the divine being."

The nature of God, the Trinity, and the Divine attributes of omnipresence and immensity

    Again, the whole divine nature resides in the Spirit as much as it does in the Son and the Father. The Three Persons, in turn, mutually indwell one another, thus enabling us to say that the one undivided essence of God truly is in the Three Persons (see John 14:21-23). When we consider the Divine nature in the Trinity, we include of course the attributes of omnipresence and immensity. Since the eternal relations between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit constitutes their sharing of the Divine nature, the nature itself necessarily includes omnipresence and immensity. 

    God cannot be contained by any created thing. Before there was a creation, God as a Trinity was self-sufficiently existing. With no such things as time and space coordinate with God's existence, we can say that God has existed from all eternity without boundaries, "inhabiting eternity" and persisting, world without end, from eternity to eternity (Psalm 90:1-2; Isaiah 57:15; Hebrews 1:10-12). 

    These truths are at the very heart of what we talk about when referring to God's "immensity".

    On the same token, the Divine nature is wholly and completely in the Divine persons of the Trinity. The nature and attributes of the Divine essence, being forever truly in the Father without beginning, is communicated by the Father's eternal begetting of the Son. Within the Trinity itself, the whole eternal essence truly and wholly fills each person - as one author notes, "three times over". 

    Jesus Himself affirms this point of the "Father indwelling Him and He indwelling the Father" (John 10:38; John 14:10-11). Thus, before God created the heavens and the earth, the attributes of Divine omnipresence and immensity were being expressed by His very nature among the Father, Son, and Spirit.

    In our next post we will continue discovering further truths about God's omnipresence and immensity, noting how they work in relationship to all that God has made.

Post #21 - The Doctrine of God - P1 The Attribute of the Love of God - Seeing His Love Within The Trinity

 

Introduction:

        As we continue in our expanding study of the doctrine of God, we come today to what many may think is the most familiar of God's attributes - God's love. I say "may think is most familiar" due to assumptions surrounding the concept of love and applying those assumptions to God's being and expression as "The God who is love" (1 John 4:8). 

    Whenever we begin to study the various words for love in the Hebrew Old Testament and Greek New Testament, the overwhelming conclusion to draw is that love is firstly a self-sacrificial action, followed by emotional motivation driving such actions. We today have reduced love only to a sentimental emotion, often neglecting the idea of self-sacrifice of the lover for the object of love. 

    Theologian Wayne Grudem defines God's love in the following way,

"God's love means He eternally gives of Himself to others". 

    As we reflect on this attribute, it is appropriate to begin with God's love as it is to His nature internal to Himself as the Trinity. In today's post we will trace the outlines of God's love within the Trinity, followed by how He expresses His love in other ways in creation and redemption in the next post. 

God's love within the Trinity

    In this post we will begin our exploration of God's love by understanding how His love operates within and between the members of the Trinity. Such intra-Trinitarian fellowship showcases this Divine attribute. What follows below is an attempted exposition of God's love as shared between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

The Father eternally begetting the Son is His relationship of love to the Son.

    The Father eternally initiates such love toward the Son in what theologians refer to as "eternal begottenness". Such an act by the Father means that for all eternity, without beginning, the Father has ever shared with the Son the undivided, eternal Divine nature. This "self-giving" by the Father to the Son is alluded by Jesus (John 17:1-3). 

    The Son, as the New Testament reveals, is the only-begotten Son of the Father (John 3:16). The Son in turn reciprocates this eternal love back to the Father. Indeed, the Father could not be the Father without the Son, nor could the Son be the Son without the Father. The love reciprocated between them functions as one beginningless and endless loop of the Divine nature. 

The love of the Father to the Holy Spirit through the Son, and the Holy Spirit's love for the Son and the Father.

    We then see the Holy Spirit in His role as the observer and participator in the love of the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit ever proceeds from the Father through the Son (John 14:26). 

    Theologians often refer to this active relationship (as if viewing it from the Father's vantage point) as that of the Father with the Holy Spirit through the Son as eternal "spiration". "Spiration" uses the metaphorical language of the Father "outbreathing" the Holy Spirit through the Son. This "spiration" by the Father, of the Spirit, through the Son, gives us a sound exposition on what the Bible talks about when it describes God as "The Living God". 

    In viewing this relationship from the vantage point of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit's relationship to the Father through the Son is described as that of being a "procession".  

    As I said already, the relational activity of the Father and Spirit is called "spiration" due to how what is portrayed is the very life of God Himself expressed by the Holy Spirit as the Eternal Spirit (Hebrews 9:14). 

    As the Spirit relates to the Father through the Son, and the Father to Him, The Holy Spirit ever makes plain the Son, whom the Father has begotten. The Holy Spirit then reflects back to the Father and Son His joyous, eternal love (John 14:16-17, 23, 26; 15:26). The beginningless and endless loop of the Divine nature I mentioned a moment ago is shared equally by the Spirit.  

God as the Trinue God is the loving God by nature.

    When John writes "God is love" in 1 John 4:8 and 4:16, He is affirming what God is by nature and in His being as the God who acts out of what He is by nature - namely the loving God. A.W. Tozer remarks in his chapter on the love of God in his classic work, "Knowledge of the Holy",

"From God’s other known attributes we may learn much about His love. We can know, for instance, that because God is self-existent, His love had no beginning; because He is eternal, His love can have no end; because He is infinite, it has no limit; because He is holy, it is the quintessence of all spotless purity; because He is immense."

Tozer continues,

"His love is an incomprehensibly vast, bottomless, shoreless sea before which we kneel in joyful silence and from which the loftiest eloquence retreats confused and abashed. Yet if we would know God and for other’s sake tell what we know, we must try to speak of His love."

How the attribute of God's love flows from who God is as the Trinity.

   God's love, we could say, flows from "what He is" by nature and "who He is" as the Three persons of the Trinity. We can never separate God's nature and Trinitarian fellowship, since each of the Persons truly are God, expressing and fully sharing in the Divine nature.

    When we talk of "God's love", we are taken to the very heart of God's Trinitarian life. The great 17th and into the 18th century Baptist theologian John Gill explains, 

"The three divine Persons in the Godhead mutually love each other; the Father loves the Son and the Spirit, the Son loves the Father and the Spirit, and the Spirit loves the Father and the Son." 

    We find that as the Father loves the Son, and the Son loves the Father, there is the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. The Spirit eternally  participates in the giving and receiving of such love from the other two. 

    John Gill writes again, commenting on the Holy Spirit's sharing in this intra-Trinitarian love. Gill notes first of the Father's loving of the Spirit,

"The Father loves the Spirit; being the very breath of him, from whence he has his name, and proceeding from him, and possessing the same nature and essence with him (Job 33:4; Psalm 33:6; John 15:26; 1 John 5:7)."

    Gill then draws attention to the eternal reciprocation of love between the Son and the Spirit,

"The Son also loves the Spirit, since he proceeds from him, as from the Father, and is called the Spirit of the Son, (Galatians 4:6) and Christ often speaks of him with pleasure and delight, (Isaiah 48:16, 61:1; John 14:16, 17, 26, 15:26, 16:7, 13)." 

God's love is the gateway into observing the activity of the Three Persons of the Trinity. 

    We had noted in one of our earlier posts how Divine aseity (God's self-existence, self-sufficiency) is the gateway into exploring the other attributes here http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-9-doctrine-of-god-gods-attribute.html. It might be said that God's love gives us a similar gateway into seeing the Persons of the Trinity in self-giving activity toward one another in their common sharing of the Divine nature. In the next post we will look at the others ways the Bible expresses God's love. 

Post #3 The Doctrine Of God - How The Names Of God Point To His Triune Nature

 

Introduction:

    In our last post http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-2-doctrine-of-god-gods-existence.html, we considered how the two main names referencing God in the Bible reveal His nature and power. Names in the Bible often speak to the nature of someone or particular acts or situations associated with their identity. 

    In the Old Testament, the general name "Elohim" (and its New Testament counterpart "Theos") give us access to God's power and introduction to His attributes such as "omnipotence". These names are translated by the general term "God". 

    The other set of names, translated "LORD", derive from the Hebrew name "Yahweh" in the Old Testament and its New Testament counterpart "Kurios". This set of names spoke of God's self-existence, transcendance, and thus His nature as the only being without need nor dependance. In today's post we will once again take a closer look at these two categories of God's names, noting how they point us to the doctrine of the Trinity. 

How the New Testament authors came to use the Old Testament names for God "Elohim" and "Yahweh".

    The underlying Greek word for "God" in the New Testament is "theos" (whence we get our word "theology" - i.e. "the study of God"). According to the Liddle and Scott Greek Dictionary, the noun "theos" derives from the Greek verb "tithemi" which means "to put, place, assign". Thus, God ("theos") speaks in similar terms of the Hebrew name "Elohim" to God's power establish creation, life, and salvation. 

    Here again we see reference to God's existence in how He uniquely can do things by His power that no other being could ever accomplish. Theologians refer to this contrast between God and everything else as the "Creator/creature divide", meaning there are things that only God can do and ways that only God can be in contrast to everything else. So much like what we saw with "Elohim", the Greek equivalent of "theos" speaks to us of God's unique power.

    Then of course we arrive at the second consideration of God's nature, already explored in the Old Testament Hebrew name "Yahweh" and found similarly in the New Testament name "Kurios"- i.e "LORD". This other common New Testament name for God, "Kurios", is a translation of the Old Testament name for God we've already considered - "Yahweh". The term "Kurios" was used to translate the Hebrew "Yahweh" in the Greek translation of the Old Testament - The Septuagint. Further, the New Testament authors would have had familiarity with the Septuagint, and thus when composing the inspired New Testament books, utilized this title as referring to the Divine nature of God Himself.

How the New Testament authors used "Kurios" and "Theos" to develop the doctrine of the Trinity

    As to the Triune identity of the Biblical God, it is interesting to note that these titles "God"(Theos) and "LORD" (Kurios) came to distinguish the Divine Persons of the Godhead, respectively the Father and the Son. The doctrine of the Trinity asserts three main ideas.

1. First, there is one God by nature.

2. Second, this One God exists as three interrelated Persons that are each truly God by nature, equal in glory, power, and attributes.

3. Thirdly, these three persons are distinguished by their personal properties that makes the Father "Father", the Son "Son", and the Holy Spirit "The Holy Spirit", all the while never eliminating the fact that all three in identity are One true God in being.

    As we consider the Trinity, the relationship between the Father and the Son is the starting point, and where these two names "theos"(God) and "kurios" (LORD) become relevant.

    We find this title "LORD", kurios, used some 400 times. It is the New Testament's way of distinguishing between Jesus and the Father in terms of their identity, while at the same time expressing their unity in nature and equality of glory within the Godhead. 1 Corinthians 8:6 is a prime example,

"yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him."

    As a final note, we must not neglect the the Person of the Holy Spirit. He is also designated in the Old Testament by the terms "Elohim", God (Genesis 1:2) and Yahweh "LORD" (Isaiah 63:11), along with the New Testament terms "Theos", God (Acts 5:4-5) and "Kurios", LORD, (2 Corinthians 3:16-17). These observations serve to show the equality of the Holy Spirit to the Father and the Son in regards to His being, while distinguishing Him as a Divine Person in His own right from the Father and the Son.

    In our next post, we will consider further God's existence by how human beings possess an inner awareness of His existence.

Part Five: The Compatibility Of The Doctrines Of Divine Simplicity And The Trinity

2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

Introduction:

We have taken the time to journey our way through a doctrine that has been in use by Christians since the early days of the church: the doctrine of Divine Simplicity. For readers that are interested in links to previous posts in this series, please click on the link to the last post, which contains links to the other parts of this series here: 

http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2018/08/part-four-doctrine-of-divine-simplicity.html

This doctrine asserts that everything in God is God and that His very essence contains no "parts" that would somehow compose Him. Scripture's way of describing God as Divinely simple is seen in those texts which equate His attributes with Himself. For example, we see that God "is" light (1 John 1:5-7); God "is" love (1 John 4:8); God "is" holy (Isaiah 6:3; Psalm 99:1); God "is" all-knowing (1 John 3:20) as language describing God's simplicity of being. God's attributes are not just descriptions that we "predicate" to Him. As a human being, I can be loving, which predicates the act or attribute of love. However, to say I "am" love is blasphemous, since I am but a creature. For God, we don't merely "predicate" to Him the attributes we find of Him in scripture. Instead, Scripture identifies God with His attributes, which means He is not lacking in any property necessary for Him being God.   

God is not some sort of Divine being assembled from a collection of eternal properties and attributes that resulted in He being God. This mistaken notion of God is referred to as "complexity". Complexity (that is, composed of parts and things which go from a state of potentially being what they "could be" to becoming "what they are") is a trait shared by all created things. If God were "complex" (such as all created beings) rather than simple, then whatever properties we speak of, those properties would somehow either pre-exist prior to God or God would had picked them up along the way. Rather, what we have discussed in these last series of posts is how Divine Simplicity attempts to explain how God is God and why God is totally different from everything else. 

The Doctrine of Divine Simplicity (DDS), in concert with the Doctrine of the Trinity, expresses the first plank of the Trinity doctrine: monotheism. We mentioned in the last post how the doctrine of the Trinity, along with the doctrine of Divine simplicity, works in tandem to express the Biblical revelation of God that is Personally involved in His creation (such as in answering prayers, guiding people in history and working in the salvation of sinners). In today's post, we continue on with our discussion of how Divine Simplicity and the Trinity are compatible doctrines that work together to expound on the God of the Bible. 

Plank #2 of the Trinity: there are a plurality of Persons sharing the Divine nature - Father, Son and Holy Spirit

The doctrine of the Trinity not only asserts monotheism, but secondly, it affirms that this monotheistic nature is undividedly shared by Three co-eternal, co-equal persons (compare Matthew 28:19; 1 Corinthians 8:6; 2 Corinthians 13:14). Within the shared relationship of the members of the Trinity, each member (Father, Son and Spirit) is an "instance" or a true possessor of the Divine nature. The doctrine of the Trinity affirms that each member of the Trinity is a true Personal, eternal  instance or "subsistence" of the Divine nature. (Note: if readers feel the need to skip the following discussion on the meaning of the term "subsistence", they may do so and move onto the next heading of the post, otherwise, dive in!) Put another way, its not like the Father is 1/3 God, the Son is 1/3 God and the Holy Spirit is 1/3 God. Recall, the Divine being of God is simple - incapable of division and not composed of parts. Each Person of the Trinity bears forth the essence of Deity. It is within and through the Trinitarian relationship between Father, Son and Spirit that the undivided essence of Deity resides and is expressed. Again, readers can explore the next two paragraphs which attempt to trace this thought out or simply move onto the next heading in this post, wherein I discuss what I call "compound unity".

What do we mean by "subsistence" with reference to the Trinity (optional reading section)

A "subsistence" is a bearer of properties or characteristics that indicate the sort of substance we are talking about. Subsistences can be non-living things (such as rocks) or living things (such as my cat). Subsistences can also lack a will or include a will, dependent upon whether we speak of the given substance being a mind (immaterial and endowed with volition), or rocks. The 1689 Baptist Confession explains this idea in the following sense as pertaining to God:

"In this divine and infinite Being there are three subsistences, the Father, the Word or Son, and Holy Spirit, of one substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided."

Again, when we speak of "properties", we mean all of the attributes that describe or indicate what a given entity is. The essence or "substance" of a given thing is that to which the various properties are assigned. When we speak of God, we have not one, not two but three, Divinely Personalized "subsistences" or property bearers. The question is: what sort of property is it that the Triune Persons are bearing? If we say a Divinely Simple nature, then each "subsistence" or "Person" can with the other two make a unified decision to create or not to create. Also too, the Triune Persons, each carrying the unified essence of Deity with the other two Persons, can answer prayers and legitimately interact with the world without undergoing internal changes to what it means to be God. 

The Doctrine Of The Trinity and the Doctrine of Divine Simplicity present a God that is a "compound unity"

One question that was asked of me in in this series of posts had to do with a term I used: "compound unity". When I use the term "compound", I speak to the discrete identities of the Father, Son and Spirit. The London Baptist Confession of 1689, Article 2, has the following final statement in its section on the Persons of the Trinity:

"but distinguished by several peculiar relative properties and personal relations; which doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God, and comfortable dependence on him."

Though the essence of God is without parts and devoid of literal distinctions among the Divine attributes, this does not apply to the three "subsistences" or Persons which bear the essence. In other words, it is appropriate to make necessary identity distinctions between the members of the Trinity. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Father and the Spirit is neither the other two. 

We do differentiate between the Persons by their identities. When I use the term "unity", that term speaks to the simple essence which is borne truly and completely by each Person. Since the Divine Essence is "Simple", this means that the Trinity is not "three deities", but Three Persons (or subsistences) within and through whom consists the one essence of Divine being. The Athanasian Creed has the following thoughts within its rich contents:

"The Father eternal; the Son eternal; and the Holy Ghost eternal. And yet they are not three eternals; but one eternal. As also there are not three uncreated; nor three infinites, but one uncreated; and one infinite. So likewise the Father is Almighty; the Son Almighty; and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not three Almighties; but one Almighty."

Ending on a practical note for today

I know these last several posts have taken us into deep waters. However, using our minds to think hard about God is a form of worship (see Matthew 22:37; Romans 12:1-2) that cultivates the appetite of the heart for the Lord (Psalm 34:8; 2 Peter 3:18). Where does all the above, admittedly technical sort of discussion, lead us? I come back to the issue of prayer. When we pray, we pray to the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit (see Ephesians 2:18). When we address one of the Persons, we are also including the other two, since, after all, we are praying to God (John 14:8,23; Romans 11:34-35; Hebrews 1:1-2). Such a Divine nature as that of the Biblical God, incapable of division, is expressed truly and totally by each member of the Trinity, which together constitute the identity of God. It is important what we think about God. It is vital how we talk about God, since the Bible reveals a God that is very Personal and worthy of worship.

More next time....

Part Four - The Doctrine Of Divine Simplicity: Noting Some Objections And Some Practical Points

Ephesians 2:18 "For through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father."


Introduction:

We are currently in a series of posts that aim to introduce and expound upon the doctrine of Divine Simplicity (DDS). For those interested in wanting to explore previous installments of this series, please click on the links below:

http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2018/07/part-one-introducing-doctrine-of-divine.html


http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2018/07/part-two-biblical-support-and.html

http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2018/08/part-three-doctrine-of-divine.html

When we speak of God's essence as "simple", we refer to how God is not composed of parts - that is - God's attributes or properties are not set off to the one side and His being on the other side. Everything that is in God is God. God is eternal, unchanging and cannot be added to nor improved. The Doctrine of Divine Simplicity attempts to give an account of God's oneness of being - a truth that is foundational to the Biblical concept of God, and more specifically, the doctrine of the Trinity.

A Practical Set Of Points: Does Divine Simplicity Rule Out God's Ability To Answer Prayers, Interact With Our World Or Make Choices, Such As To Create The World

It is important to pause here for a set of practical reflections in our journey through the doctrine of Divine Simplicity (DDS). We've been starting to look at how the doctrine works together with the doctrine of the Trinity. At this juncture, we need to consider objections to the DDS to assess just how Biblical and philosophically sound the doctrine truly is. Besides, if any doctrine, no matter how compelling, is not in lines with the Biblical revelation of God - then the said doctrine (Divine Simplicity included) is not useful for Christian growth nor communicating the God of the Bible. Two great issues are in view when discussing this particular teaching. 

First, some critics, whom I greatly admire, have charged that the Doctrine of Divine Simplicity (DDS) conflicts with the Biblical doctrine of the Trinity. The critics claim that if there are no distinctions within God's essence in regard to His attributes and very existence, then how can one hold to the Trinity? The Trinity asserts distinctions between the Father, Son and Spirit. This first sort of object deserves an attempted response. We will offer a response to this first objection by considering the compatibility of the DDS and the Trinity in the next post.

The second "big" issue when discussing Divine Simplicity deals with whether or not the Doctrine of Divine Simplicity severely limits God with respect to His creation. This objection will be handled in today's post. Thinkers who reject Divine Simplicity believe that if God is literally without parts and has no distinction in His attributes, essence and existence, then we end up having a God that must act in a certain way and think in a certain way. On their view, this renders the act of creation as something God "had to do", rather than Him "choosing to do". Furthermore, if God's essence is simple ("without parts or distinctions"), then this could lead one to conclude that God has no ability to make choices, answer prayers or interact with our world (called by the technical term "the modal collapse problem", meaning there are no free-will decisions possible by creatures, or God, and that He "had" to create by necessity). 

On a practical level, if this is an outcome of the doctrine of Divine Simplicity, then our choices, prayers and the doctrine of creation itself are delusions. At worse, if the criticisms of Simplicity hold true, then our world is governed by fatalism (the idea that all things in history, even God Himself, is governed by a determined set of forces, eliminating true expressions of freedom of the will). This possible scenario is why some oppose the Doctrine of Divine Simplicity, since the concern is that God ends up as a remote Deity, incapable of interaction. On a practical, doctrinal and philosophical level, these possible implications of the Doctrine, if true, leave us in a disastrous situation in how we communicate the Gospel, the Biblical conception of God and everyday living.

The technical discussion that ensues between devotees and opponents of Divine simplicity can get quite technical. We won't dive into the nuances of such discussions in this post. Instead, we will only offer a response to these particular objections to see if they hold. Whenever we look at the doctrine of the Divine Simplicity, we find that the doctrine by itself delivers to us a God that is One God. What is needed is a second doctrine conjoined along with Simplicity that overcomes the objections. Unless this writer is missing something brought out by such objections, it would seem that the Biblical doctrine of the Trinity can come alongside the DDS to adequately handle such concerns.  

It seems to this writer that once we apprehend (note: not comprehend) how the Trinity and the Doctrine of Simplicity function together, we have the God of scripture that is more than capable of answering prayers, interacting with our world and choosing to create it without adding nor subtracting anything from Himself. The Persons of the Trinity, bearing forth in their identities the Divine essence which comprises their function as the Triune God, exercise the requisite will to determine when the world would exist, to answer prayers and to interact with the creation. It would seem that if the Divine essence of the doctrine of Divine simplicity did not include the Biblical revelation of the Trinity - then the above objections would hold. However, whenever we conjoin the DDS to the doctrine of the Trinity, we have a God who is extremely personal and yet is undivided in His very essence and unchanged.

A Little Bit Of What I Mean When I Say God Is A Compound Unity

For sake of completion for today, I want to answer a question raised to me about a particular phrase I used in my last post. I noted in the last post that when talking to people for the first time about the Trinity, I use the term "compound unity". I plan on expounding further on this designation in the next post. For now, let me comment that when I say "compound", I'm referring to the identity of the Three Person, who together comprise the identification of the God of the Bible, or, answer the question: "who is God?" When I say "unity". I'm referring to the one, undivided and thus simple essence truly born and expressed by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Again, I'll develop this more fully when we look at how the doctrines of Divine simplicity and the Trinity can work together. 

Closing thoughts for today

These practical points flow out from carefully considering why it seems that the doctrines of Divine Simplicity and the Trinity do fit together. We as finite people, I think, can know "that" such doctrines fit together, even though we may not full comprehend "how" they fit (which leads to the whole debate over the legitimacy of the doctrine of Divine Simplicity as useful in studying the Biblical revelation of God).

More next time.... 

An Introductory Set Of Meditations and Applications On The Doctrine Of The Trinity

Matthew 6:9 “Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven,
your name be honored as holy."

Introduction:

Whenever we begin to think about God, we can three fundamental concepts: God's being, God's person hood and God's identity. These three inter-related ideas comprise an introductory reflection on the doctrine of the Trinity. In the opening text of today's post, we find Jesus instructing us on the proper way to pray. The appropriate beginning point for prayer and thought about the Christian God is God as Father. If we can grasp how God the Father gives us access to the being, personhood and identity of God - then the doctrine of the Trinity will follow.

A suggested way of beginning to think about the Trinity by starting with the Father

Richard Swinburne, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford, has written quite a bit on the doctrine of God and reflection on the doctrine of the Trinity. For Swinburne, beginning with God the Father helps in tracing out one's meditation and think on the Trinity. What are his practical suggestions?

First, we begin by observing the various properties assigned to the being of God (omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, omnibenevolence, holiness, love and so forth). Next, we note that the Father is endowed with properties associated with personhood (intellect, emotions and will). Then finally, we have the proper identity of God as Father. 

The identity of this Person as "Father" entails a relationship with another Divine Person sharing the same properties of being while have His own distinct identity. This second Person in relationship with the Father is deemed by scripture as "the Son". According to Swinburne, in order for God to be the greatest conceivable being, He as Father would need to give of Himself to another (the Son) and be willing to have the Son be loved equally and maximally by another Divine Person that shares in the same properties of Deity - namely the Holy Spirit. 

In describing the Trinity, Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias notes how Christianity is the only movement that has love coming before life. That is to say, before there was a universe populated by created life, there was the One God existing as the three Persons of the Trinity expressing eternal love to one another.  

Scripture and the historic Nicene Creed begin reflection upon the being, personhood and identity of God by way of the Father

As I think upon God's being, Personality and Identity - I find the Father, in eternal relationship to the Son, eternally pleased in the Holy Spirit's adoration of the Son. Such Divine pleasure spills over into God's call to sinners in the Gospel. Such a thought inclines me to embrace how the Bible talks of God as One in being and three in identity. A few New Testament passages and the opening of the ancient Nicene Creed confirm these observations.

The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 8:6 writes: 

"Yet for us there is one God, the Father. All things are from him, and we exist for him. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things are through him, and we exist through him." 

Paul is stating two foundational doctrines that comprise the doctrine of the trinity: monotheism (belief in one God) and the deity of the Son. Clearly the Deity, Personhood and identity of the Father is unquestioned. Attributing the same properties of being to the Son while distinguishing the Son's Personhood and identity from that of the Father gets us a step closer to a full-orbed Trinitarian concept of God.

The Apostle Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:3 

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." 

Here we see the Father in relationship to the Son as it pertains to the Son in His total humanity. If we take into account how both apostles begin with God the Father, we can also trace out the Son's dual nature as sharing in the Divine nature with the Father while having uniquely assumed unto His own Person total humanity in His incarnation. It must be recalled that the Son, not the Father, was incarnated in becoming the man Jesus of Nazareth. The Son ever remained God - since as God He cannot cease being such. By way of His incarnation as the man Jesus Christ, we see in history and scripture God incarnate, Immanuel, the Word made flesh (Matthew 1:21-23; John 1:1,14; 1 Timothy 3:16). 

The Nicene Creed begins its beautiful affirmation of the Trinity with the following statement:


"I believe in one God,

the Father almighty,

maker of heaven and earth,

of all things visible and invisible."

By starting with the Father, we have the being of God, personhood (the Father) and thus identity. Unlike Western Christendom, which begins with the unity of God and branches out to consider each person of the Trinity; the Eastern Orthodox Christian model of the Trinity prefers starting with the Father. This approach gets us more quickly to the notions we asserted at the beginning of this post: God's being, personhood and identity as introductory avenues into meditating on the Trinity.

Applications

As we close out this post today, it is so vital to correctly understand what we mean when we talk about God. God is Perfect in His being. God's perfection of being means He is, in the words of Anselm of Canterbury of the 11th century, the "Greatest Conceivable Being, apart from which none greater can be conceived". By establishing the fact that God is at least One, true personality, we avoid pagan concepts of deity as impersonal. 21st century secular forms of spirituality either conceive of spirituality as collapsed into the human psyche or portray a universal force devoid of personality. A robust Trinitarian Christian concept of God can ably handle the aggressive atheism and secularism of our day.

As we come to terms with God as Father, we next arrive at thinking of God as a being in a loving, eternally trusting community of Persons (Father, Son, Spirit). This can aid Christians in becoming more God-focused.  The Father urges us to consider His Son, since the Spirit, sent to the church in the Son's name, points believers to focus their worship on the Son (John 14:16-17,23; 16:12-15). These practical considerations can result whenever we give our minds and hearts in more consistent devotion to the Trinity.