An Overview Of The Doctrine Of The Trinity P5: Concluding Truth Pair: The Trinity in unity and the unity in Trinity.

Introduction:

    We've spent the last several posts exploring what I have called "an overview of the doctrine of the Trinity". In these posts I have proposed four pairs of truths about the God of the Bible that can help us summarize this teaching.

1. Truth Pair #1 God's oneness of being and plurality of Personhood. 

2. Truth Pair #2 God the Father's eternal act of begetting and God the Son being eternally begotten.

3. Truth Pair #3 God the Father and the Son's eternal out-breathing of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit's procession from the Father and the Son.

4. Truth Pair #4 The Trinity in unity and the unity in Trinity.   

Truth Pair #4 The Trinity in unity and the unity in Trinity. 

    We arrive today at the series conclusion by what will be a focus on that final truth pair. I have decided to call this final pairing of truths by this title by what we read in the Athanasian Creed, dating back to at least the sixth century. Here is how the opening portion of the Creed begins:

"Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith. Which faith unless every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the catholic faith is this: that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Essence. For there is one Person of the Father; another of the Son; and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one; the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal. Such as the Father is; such is the Son; and such is the Holy Ghost."

    The reader may notice that this final truth pair sounds somewhat similar to the first truth pair we observed at the beginning of this series. God's oneness of being and plurality of Personhood states the twin pillars upon which the doctrine of the Trinity is built. How these two pillars of the Biblical revelation of God relate and unite is a matter of mystery on the one hand and one of utmost priority to embrace by the Christian on the other hand. 

    When we then look at the second and third truth pairings, we see an attempt to expound the fact of the Three Persons of the Trinity relating to one another eternally in their continual origination from the one Divine essence which they all share. To clarify: the Father begets the Son as the unoriginated Father, with the Son being eternal and without beginning from Him; then the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son, equal to them and being the bond between them. 

    We see the terms "beget" (John 3:16 for example) and "proceed" (John 15:26) in the Biblical text that tell us "that" the Father, Son, and Spirit are distinct from one another as otherwise co-equal Persons while note revealing "how" exactly the undivided oneness of being is shared between them. The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 states in its opening paragraph of its article on God:

"The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being."

    It is upon reflecting on the relating activities of the Father, Son, and Spirit that we arrive at our fourth true pairing, noting how we observe a "Trinity in unity" on the one hand, while observing at the same time we are witnessing a "Unity in Trinity". This final truth pairing is an attempt to give us the clearest summary of the total witness of Scripture on the revelation of the Triune God. Three passages of Scripture, each dealing with the practical ramifications of the doctrine, will help us see this final point. 

The Triune God in our evangelism

Matthew 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." Here we see Jesus expressing the making of disciples and believer's baptism in "the name", signifying the One Divine nature or essence, then the three Persons of the Trinity "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit". The entirety of the Christian life centers on the God who is Trinity in unity and Unity in Trinity. 

The Triune God in our prayer life.

Ephesians 2:18 "for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father." Paul here writes of the order by which we proceed in prayer. We aim or direct our prayers to God the Father how? "Through Him", that is, the Son, who is the mediator between God and men (1 Timothy 2:5) and most certainly the one way of access to the Father in prayer (Hebrews 10:19-25). 

    But then, how are we assured that our prayers make it to the Father? By having "our access in (or by) one Spirit". Paul echoes this in passages such as Romans 8:26-27, where even there we see the mediation of the Son who "searches the hearts and knows the mind of the Spirit" and of course the Spirit Himself who "intercedes with groanings to deep for words". 

    In prayer, our requests go along the circuit of the Spirit bring the request to the Son, who in turn intercedes with the Father on our behalf in Heaven, and then the answer comes back down to us by the Spirit. This is where we see the doctrine of the Trinity increasing confidence in prayer. 

The Trinity in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

    As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:20ff, "unless Christ be raised from the dead, we are of most men miserable". All Three Persons were involved in the resurrection of the incarnate Son in an inseparable way from one another. For sure, it was the Son who died on the cross, experiencing death through His humanity. Jesus proclaimed in John 10:17 that the Father loves Him due to His ability to lay down His life and to take it up again. 

    This "inseparable operating" work of the Trinity in the resurrection gives us the basis for the whole Christian faith. The Spirit of God is the One who worked to bring forth the Son in His humanity from the dead by way of raising His body from death to glory and immortality (see Romans 8:9-11). The Father is the Person in the Trinity who validated the Son's once and for all work by raising Him from the dead (Romans 6:3-6). 

    In short: The Father authorized the resurrection, the Son acted forth by His humanity in His own resurrection, then the Spirit applied the same power of God as God to the animating and transformation of Christ's humanity to a physical resurrection from the dead. All three Persons were a Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity, preserving their distinct roles in the resurrection on the one hand (the Son was raised from the dead, not the Spirit nor the Father); while on the other hand the resurrection was an act of God, by God, for God. 

Closing thoughts:

    It is really my hope these last several posts have caused the reader to see the doctrine of the Trinity in a clearer light. May we see the doctrine of the Trinity as so central to Christian thinking that we can scarcely imagine living for Jesus Christ without it. 

An Overview Of The Doctrine Of The Trinity P4: The Holy Spirit as the ambassador of the Trinity

Introduction:

    In our last three posts we have looked at what I am calling "four pairs of truths" that we can use to summarize the Biblical doctrine of the Trinity.

1. Truth Pair #1 God's oneness of being and plurality of Personhood. 

2. Truth Pair #2 God the Father's eternal act of begetting and God the Son being eternally begotten.

3. Truth Pair #3 God the Father and the Son's eternal out-breathing of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit's procession from the Father and the Son.

4. Truth Pair #4 The Trinity in unity and the unity in Trinity.   

    We have so far looked at the first two pairs of truths and intend to explore the third pair in this post. 

The doctrine of the Trinity is a compound doctrine

    The doctrine of the Trinity is what I sometimes call a "compound doctrine", meaning it is arrived at by careful considerations stemming from other areas of Biblical doctrine. Let me lay out three other key doctrines which the Bible links together to form the doctrine of the Trinity.

Theology proper or the doctrine of God

      We have found that when we look at the doctrine of God or theology proper, we conclude from Scripture the teaching of monotheism or the oneness of God's being and attributes. But then, we also see the Bible emphasizing the revelation of God as Personal by firstly identifying Him as the Father. We can note three senses of what is meant by God as the Father. To begin, God is the Father to the people He chose to redeem, adopting them as His own (Exodus 4:22; Romans 8:14-16). That is, He is Father to saved sinners as their Adoptive Father, and they as His adopted sons and daughters. He is the source of their salvation.

    Second, God the Father is the source of all things as the Creator of all things (see Deuteronomy 32:6 and Acts 17:25-26). Now why does this matter? Biblical monotheism reveals God as not only transcendent and infinite in His perfections, but also immanent or deeply in contact with every point in creation and more importantly - a Personal God.

    Then thirdly, God as the Father is eternally the Father who begets the Son. This final designation was covered in the last post. To say God the Father begets the Son is not a relation of Creator to creature, but instead an eternal relation of origin wherein the Father and Son have co-eternally, co-equally related to one another in the Godhead, with the Father viewed as the source of the relation and the Son the eternal recipient thereof. In this understanding, the Father cannot be "the Father" apart from the Son. Furthermore, the Father's communication of His own essence to the Son is what ensures the eternal co-equality of the Son while distinguishing the Son from the Father in regards to the Son being the only-begotten Son of the Father. 

     Thus, the doctrine of God is the first major doctrine that is used in bringing us to the doctrine of the Trinity.

The doctrine of Christology or the doctrine of Christ. 

   We also observe the revelation of a second personage connected to the Father, which the Old Testament reveals indirectly through the theophanies of the Angel of the Lord, the pillar of fire and cloud, and through visions such as Isaiah's heavenly king vision in Isaiah 6. Once we arrive in the New Testament, this second personage is revealed as the Word (John 1:1) or the Son (Hebrews 1:5-11), co-equal and as much God as the Father, incarnating Himself to be also truly man at the same time (John 1:14). 

    Not only in the Person of the Son do you have another acting subject within the Godhead (i.e. the Divine essence or nature) that is the same in power, authority, and perfections as the Father, but One who is distinct from the Father in regards to His identity. 

    To put it another way, the Son is God as much as the Father is God, yet Scripture reveals the Father is not the Son nor the Son the Father. I've already spelled out in the last point what is entailed when the Scripture reveals the Son as "only-begotten". It is these revelations of the power of the Father and the deity of the Son that point us to the need for the doctrine of the Trinity.

The Person and work of the Holy Spirit

    It is in the Bible's revelation of the Holy Spirit that we see the full circle of God's revelation completed. The Holy Spirit brings to us the inner-life of God, the relating of the Father and the Son, and Himself is united to them as One God. The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 confesses the Holy Spirit in its opening sentences on its article about the Holy Spirit:

"The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ." 1

    The way the Holy Spirit is related to by the Father and the Son and in how He goes forth from them as the totality of the revelation of God will comprise our focus in this post. 

Truth Pair #3 God the Father and the Son's eternal out-breathing of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit's procession from the Father and the Son.

    As we've observed the three main doctrines that comprise the doctrine of the Trinity terminating upon the Person of the Holy Spirit Himself, we can now see why our third main truth pair is important for our overall study. 

    Let me bring our discussion into clearer view by nicknaming this point as "The Holy Spirit as the Ambassador of the Trinity". Why? When I was a boy growing up, my father had ordered a weekly subscription to Schwan's ice cream delivery. Every Friday the Schwan's truck would pull into our driveway to bring us a 3-gallon tub of ice cream and frozen novelties. The tag-line that advertised the Schwan's deliver person was this: "The Schwan's man is the ambassador of goodness". When he came, he would open up the truck and pull out the goodies, so to speak. We got to sample all that was inside the truck.

    When I think of the Person of the Holy Spirit, He brings to us the inner life of God, since He Himself is truly God by nature as much as the Father and the Son are truly God by nature. John 16:13-15 is where I base this analogy:

"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you."

    The Holy Spirit as the "Ambassador of the Trinity" does what He does because He comes forth from the Father and the Son or "Proceeds" forth from them as breath from a person's mouth. The combined testimonies of John 14:26-27 and John 15:26-27 are taught by Jesus to reveal the Holy Spirit's procession from the Father through the Son. In Romans 8:9 the Holy Spirit is called "the Spirit of God" (referring to His relating to the Father) and in the same verse, along with Philippians 1:19; and 1 Peter 1:11 He is called "The Spirit of Christ" (referring to His relating to the Son). 2

    This procession or "coming forth" of the Holy Spirit from the Father and Son keeps in mind two important truths about all three Persons. 

    First, the Father and the Son being the relational source of the Holy Spirit shows their equality of power and glory to one another - a point we've noted already in our last two posts. Then second, the Holy Spirit's divine nature is upheld, since He as "the breath" of deity means He is as much God as the Father as God and as the Son is God, with all three being One God. 

    We will end there for now. My hope is the reader is beginning to gain a sense of the wonder, the splendor, and the awe the doctrine of the Trinity evokes. The Triune God of the Bible is certainly knowable as it pertains to His revealing of Himself in the Bible. Nevertheless, as we trace the contours of this precious doctrine, we find there are points and places within it that evade full comprehension. We can never cram God into a box that comprehends Him, since He exceeds the bounds of the human mind. We can though know Him since He has revealed Himself by the Spirit's by-product of the Divinely revealed Scriptures and the incarnation of the Son in Jesus Christ. 

Endnotes:

1. Baptist Faith and Message 2000 - The Baptist Faith and Message

2. I've laid out in simple form the historic doctrine known as "the filoque", which stands for in Latin "and the Son". It was a phrase added to the Nicene Creed by the Council of Toledo in 589 A.D. to specify the equality of the Father and the Son in their relating to the Holy Spirit, and He with them. This move was rejected by the Eastern Orthodox Church and consequently would lead to an eventual schism reaching its full head in 1054 A.D. between Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Church bodies. 

An Overview Of The Doctrine Of The Trinity P3: God the Father's eternal act of begetting and God the Son being eternally begotten.

Introduction:

    To review, we covered the first pair of truths that help us in beginning a study of the doctrine of the Trinity: God is one in being and a plurality in Personhood. Readers who want to review the last post may click on the link here Growing Christian Resources: An Overview Of The Doctrine Of The Trinity P2: God's Oneness of Being and Plurality of Personhood. I referred to this pairing as two pillars upon which we begin to understand the Biblical revelation of the Triune God. In this post we will introduce a second pair of truths that focus attention upon the Person of the Father and the Person of the Son. 

    In the Triune God we often see several pairs of truths associated with the four main ones we're focusing upon in these posts. One important pairing to keep in mind is how the Father and Son are united in essence while distinguished from one another. Another important pairing of truths aside from the four main ones involves the Holy Spirit's union to the Father and the Son while He relates to them and they to Him.1 I mention these two other pairings of truths so that we can keep in mind that first major pairing we looked at last post (God is one in being and plural in Person). 

The main passages used to support the Father begetting the Son and the Son being begotten of the Father.

   To remind ourselves again, those who argue for the eternal generation (i.e. "begottenness" of the Son) teach that the Son of God is "eternally generated", meaning that that Father eternally communicates to Him the entire Divine nature, point for point, with all perfections. For example, John MacArthur in his book "Essential Christian Doctrine", lists Scriptural verses that feature some main Divine attributes shared between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 

           Father           Son     Holy Spirit

Eternal: Deut 33:27            Jn 1:1       Heb 9:14

Omnipotent: Mt 19:26         Re 1:8       Lk 1:35

Omniscient: Lk 16:15          Jn 16:30   1 Cor 2:10-11

Omnipresent: 1 kgs 8:27      Mt 28:20   Ps 139:7

Immutable:   Mal 3:6           Heb 1:10-12  Heb 9:14

Loving:        1 John 4:8       Eph 5:2      Rom 15:30

Holy:           Lev 11:45        Heb 7:26-27  Ro 1:4

Truth:          Jn 3:33           Jn 14:6         Jn 15:26

    What this list shows us is, for example, that God is not three eternals, three omnipotents, three omnisciences, and so forth; rather He is One in each of these Perfections as expressed in the Three Persons. Jesus spoke of He and the Father as "One" in John 10:30 in reference to "being"; yet clearly distinguishing between Himself and the Father (i.e. "I and the Father"). The Athanasian Creed summarizes this point as follows:

"What quality the Father has, the Son has, and the Holy Spirit has. The Father is uncreated, the Son is uncreated,         the Holy Spirit is uncreated. The Father is immeasurable, the Son is immeasurable, the Holy Spirit is immeasurable. The Father is eternal,       the Son is eternal, the Holy Spirit is eternal. And yet there are not three eternal beings; there is but one eternal being. So too there are not three uncreated or immeasurable beings; there is but one uncreated and immeasurable being."

     Also, the distinguishing characteristic of the Son, "begottenness", is conveyed by the Father to Him, with the Father Himself being the unbegotten Person, hence distinguishing Him in identity from the co-equal and co-eternal Son. 

    There are proof texts that theologians in favor of this doctrine appeal as direct evidence for the doctrine, and then a handful of passages that theologians would say are indirect proof-texts.

Direct proof-texts for the eternal generation of the Son from the Father

John 1:14 "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth."

John 1:18 "No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him."

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

John 3:18 "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

1 John 4:19 "By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him."

    In addition to these five Johannine proof texts, a few others that convey the teaching of the eternal generation of the Son are used. In Proverbs 8:24-25, Wisdom is personified and described as "brought forth" from God before creation of anything else: 

“When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. 25 “Before the mountains were settled, Before the hills I was brought forth." 3

Indirect Proof Texts

    Although the following other passages do not use the term "only-begotten", the idea of the Son being eternally generated by the Father is resident in their various phrases. Colossians 1:16-17 "For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything." I've highlighted four phrases in Paul's words here in Colossians. 

    The first three bolded phrases portray the Son as responsible for creation, rather than being created, as some groups like the Jehovah Witnesses would advocate. The term "firstborn" is a Greek noun that refers to inheritance more so than just mere birth-order. The Son of God was promised in eternity, by the Father, that He would inherit all of creation before it was made (compare Psalm 2:8; 82:8).

    There are other indirect proof texts we could offer, but for sake of space let me submit Psalm 2:7 "I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You." The word "today" in context is not referring to there at that moment. Sometimes in the Bible, the term "day" can refer to an indeterminate period of time, or even eternity itself.

The importance of the Son being begotten of the Father

    I'll lay out three major points about the Son being begotten of the Father as a way to arrive at its meaning as found in the Bible.

1. Eternal generation (and thus "begotten") explains why the Son is eternal. 

    First, those who argue for the eternal generation (or begottennness) of the Son teach that Father eternally communicates to Him the entire Divine nature (or at least His identity as the Son). According to theologian Matthew Barrett, the Divine essence is shared without division from The Father to The Son: 

"The concept takes us to the very heart of what it means for the Son to be a Son. He is eternally from the Father, which is why He is called Son. To be more specific, from all eternity, the Father communicates the one, simple, undivided divine essence to the Son."2

    The eighteenth century Baptist Theologian John Gill explains eternal generation a little differently as the Father communicating the Son's identity, whilst both share in the common essence:

"It is better to say, that they are self
existent, and exist together in the same undivided essence; and jointly, equally, and as early one as the other, possess the same nature’. Thus, there is not one person who, in the personal ordering of the Trinity, communicates the essence to the others. There are simply three, who relate personally to one another in the essence, with each person possessing the essence of himself." 3

 

   Both explanations of eternal generation fall within the pale of Bible-believing orthodoxy and views that draw from the Nicene Creed's confession of the Son being "begotten, not made". Eternal generation or begetting of the Son firstly explains why the Son is eternal. Notice a second general observation.

2. Eternal generation explains why the Son is the Son, and why the Father is the Father. 

    Then secondly, the distinguishing characteristic that defines the Son as "the Son" is in how the Father begets Him or what theologians call "filiates". Filiation conveys to the Son His identity as the Son, as noted already in my quotation of John Gill.

3. The Son being begotten has relevance in modern evangelism

    I recall years ago a group of Jehovah Witnesses handing out pamphlets advertising a local conference at their "Kingdom Hall" meeting place: 

"Come hear about how Jesus Christ is the Savior of the World".

    I pointed out to them that according to their theology, there is no way Jesus Christ could be Savior of the World. I took them to the above passages I cited. I concluded that they either had to admit their theology was in error, or stop proclaiming that Jesus Christ is Savior of the World. They of course would not do either. 

    Nevertheless, the phrase "begotten, not made" safeguards the central affirmation of the Gospel that the Apostle Peter affirms in Acts 10:38 "Jesus Christ is LORD". Or again, Paul writes in Romans 10:9 "If you will confess with your mouth Jesus is LORD, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

    Both Scriptures cited above use the Divine title "LORD" or "Jehovah/Yahweh" to show the Son's equality with the Father, as well as to demonstrate that He is able to save sinners just as much as the Father, since He Himself is God. 

Endnotes:

1. Theologians call the relations between the Father, Son, and Spirit "eternal relations of origin." 

2. John Gill. Body of Divinity. Pages 98-99, Book 2. Consulted from the Digital Version available on Internet Archive here Gill's complete body of practical and doctrinal divinity: : being a system of evangelical truths, deduced from the Sacred Scriptures. : Gill, John, 1697-1771 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

3. True God from True God - Credo Magazine

An Overview Of The Doctrine Of The Trinity P2: God's Oneness of Being and Plurality of Personhood.

Introduction:

    In our last post we began a series I'm calling "An Overview Of The Doctrine Of The Trinity" here Growing Christian Resources: An Overview Of The Doctrine Of The Trinity P1: Four Pairs Of Truths That Comprise The Doctrine Of The Trinity. Today is the first pair of four pairs of truths which comprise the teaching. Let me list the four headings as I laid them out in the last post and then expound some on the first one.

1. Truth Pair #1 God's oneness of being and plurality of Personhood. 

2. Truth Pair #2 God the Father's eternal act of begetting and God the Son being eternally begotten.

3. Truth Pair #3 God the Father and the Son's eternal out-breathing of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit's procession from the Father and the Son.

4. Truth Pair #4 The Trinity in unity and the unity in Trinity.   

    With those four pairs of truth in mind, let's expound briefly on the first one.  

Truth Pair #1 God's oneness of being and plurality of Personhood. 

    When we study the Bible to understand what God is and who He is, we come away with two broad clusters of truth: 

A. God is one in being and three in Personhood. God being one God is affirmed throughout Scripture (Deut. 4:35; 6:4-5; 32:39; Ps 18:31; Isaiah 40:18; 43:10-11; 44:6; 45:5; Mark 12:29). The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 begins its article on God with this sentence: "There is one and only one living and true God." God is one in being. 

B. We then understand the second important pillar of the doctrine of the Trinity - He is a plurality of Persons. He being a plurality of three Persons is also affirmed, whether it be by use of Divine titles that show Yahweh and the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament, or in passages that show two of the three Persons (Genesis 1:2; Proverbs 30:4; 1 Corinthians 8:6) or all three (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14) in the New Testament. The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 asserts:

"The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being."

What is meant by "Person" and "Being" when discussing the Trinity?

Two terms must be defined before going further into our study. 

A. What is meant by a Divine Person?

    First, what is meant by "person" when studying the Trinity? When we refer to the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit as "Persons", we refer to how they are active, eternal subjects within the Divine nature or Godhead.1 All three share in the Divine nature in such a way as to each be truly God in the fullest sense. In sharing the one, undivided Divine essence or nature, there is one will and one mind among the three Persons. This observation is demonstrated in how God at times will use plural pronouns to describe how He is acting in creation (Genesis 1:26) and in salvation (John 14:23).

    We must remind ourselves that as we meditate on the Trinity, we are entering into the realm of mystery, meaning unless God has revealed the details of truth to us from Scripture, we can only respond in worship, rather than full analysis. 

    There will be aspects of the doctrine of the Trinity that are clear from Scripture, others which we can draw conclusions from indirect connections in the Bible, and still others that evade our comprehension. 

B. What is God's being? 

   The second term we need to define is "being", or what is also called "essence" or "nature". When we talk of God's being, nature, or essence, we refer to what God is in His existence and attributes. 

       God's existence and attributes are unique from all other things, since God is eternal and without beginning, existing before everything else. God's attributes are each an excellency, a perfection, and total revelation of God's being. In other words, we don't have God's being on one side and His attributes stacked off in a corner on the other side. Rather, God's being is His attributes and vice-versa declaring to us that when you focus on one attribute, you have all that God is in that perfection along with all the others!3 

    When we talk of God's being or nature, we also will use the related term "character" which covers consideration of His being and attributes. The Bible will make reference to "the Divine nature" (Romans 1:18-20) for example, with older translations using the term "Godhead", to point out God's essence, nature, and thus His deity. 2

    With those two terms defined, we now can move forward by considering this question: how does Scripture help us bridge these two general truths of unity in being and plurality in personhood? 

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

    The Biblical teaching on the glory of God is the first way the Bible bridges the revelation of God being one in being and a plurality of three persons. 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. This intriguing point of Hebrew grammar gestures toward our main thesis in this first truth pairing: One God in being and plural in Personhood. 

      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.    

Endnotes:

1. The term "Person" has quite a history in the historical development of the doctrine of the Trinity. I used the phrase "eternal, acting, subject" as a summary of the more technical term used by systematic theologians: "subsistence" or "hypostasis". Both terms are respectively of Latin and Greek origin, and refer to how the Father, Son, and Spirit are concrete, eternal subjects that eternally have ever acted within the Divine nature. The closest example of where we find the Greek word "hypostasis" in the New Testament used in this way is where the Son of God is deemed "the exact representation of His being" in Hebrews 1:2-3. The Son's co-equality and co-eternality of nature shared with the Father is such that the Son is Himself truly God just as much as the Father Himself is truly God. In the early third century, the Latin Church Father Tertullian began to use the Latin term "persona", with later writers using the Latin term "subsist" to refer to how the Persons of the Trinity act and relate to one another in their sharing of the One Divine nature. 

2. There is overlap in meaning when it comes to the terms "nature", "being", and "essence". 

3. This particular quality of God's being is called "Divine Simplicity", meaning God has no parts. We don't have a part of God's being in His love, another part in His holiness, and so forth. Rather, God is all holy, all loving, and so forth. He doesn't merely have love, He is love by nature  - i.e. the loving God (1 John 4:8). He doesn't merely have holiness, He is holy (Psalm 99:1). This is what we mean by God being His attributes.

An Overview Of The Doctrine Of The Trinity P1: Four Pairs Of Truths That Comprise The Doctrine Of The Trinity

Introduction:

    The Biblical revelation of Trinity is glorious, enriching, and captivating. The nineteenth century Baptist preacher C.H. Spurgeon once noted this about the study of God:

"No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God. We shall be obliged to feel— 

'Great God, how infinite art thou, 

What worthless worms are we!'

But while the subject humbles the mind it also expands it. He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe."

Spurgeon later then states:

"I dare say it does, but after all, the most excellent study for expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity." 

    What I want to do is to offer a brief, simple outline for starting to think about the Biblical doctrine of the Trinity. In the next several weeks I'll be leading a Wednesday night study on this subject. I intend to do this study of the Trinity in four sessions. As I have prayed and contemplated this important truth throughout the years on this blogsite, in our recent Nicene Creed blog series, and in sermons, I find I can never exhaust it. With that said, my intent in today's post and the next several is to give four pairs of truths whereby the reader can at least begin to consider this core truth of the Christian faith. 

Truth Pair #1 God's oneness of being and plurality of Personhood. 

    Scripture reveals that God is one God or what is referred to as "monotheism" (for instance, Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Matthew 22:37-39). Yet we also see at the same time reference to a plurality of personhood that gradually is revealed more and more as one goes from Old Testament to New Testament (for example, Proverbs 30:4; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Acts 5:3-4). 

Truth Pair #2 God the Father's eternal act of begetting and God the Son being eternally begotten.

    Not only do we see that first pair of truths concerning God's oneness of being and plurality of personhood revealed, but we also see the Scriptures saying quite a bit about the eternal relationship of the Father and the Son. Their co-equality and sharing of the Divine nature is stressed again and again (for example, Psalm 2:7; John 1:1-3; John 10:30; 1 Corinthians 8:6). 

     What the Bible does is help us to know how we can distinguish between the Father and the Son, since they are co-equal, co-eternal, and are truly God in unity and as Divine Persons. The term the Bible uses to describe the relationship of the Father and the Son is that the Son is "begotten" and the Father "begets" (for example Psalm 2:7; John 3:16). Historic Christian creeds such as the Apostle's Creed, Nicene Creed, and Athanasian Creed give summaries of what the Bible means by the Son being the only begotten and the Father's eternal act of begetting Him. 

    Confession of Christ's deity is an on-ramp to the doctrine of the Trinity, since on the one hand the Bible asserts the deity of the Father as the One God of Israel in the Old Testament (see Deuteronomy 32:6) and reveals the deity of Jesus Christ in the New Testament (for instance, John 1:1-2, 8:58). 

Truth Pair #3 God the Father and the Son's eternal out-breathing of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit's procession from the Father and the Son.

    In this third pair of truths, we come to another on-ramp into the discussion of the Trinity, namely how the Holy Spirit is a Person (the "He" pronouns used by Jesus to describe Him in John 16:8-12), as much God as the Father and the Son (Genesis 1:2), and how He relates to them and they to Him ("Spirit of Christ", Galatians 4:6; "Spirit of God", Ephesians 4:30). 

    Scripture tells us that the eternal relationship of the Father and the Son to the Holy Spirit is described in terms of the Spirit "proceeding" from the Father and the Son (see for example John 14:26-27; John 15:26-27). His very name "Spirit" also reveals that He is eternally "breathed out" by the Father and the Son (for example Psalm 104:30; John 20:22).

Truth Pair #4 The Trinity in unity and the unity in Trinity.     

    This final pair of truths will aim to bring the study back around to what we affirmed in the first point. I borrow this phrasing from the Athanasian Creed, which near its beginning and its middle says the following:

"And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity,"

That's how the Creed starts, noting that the term "Catholic" is not referring to the Roman Catholic Church but rather as a Greek word ("kathilikos"), Catholic means "universal" or "the church every place, everywhere". Then, the Athanasian Creed has a its central affirmation:

"So that in all things, as aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped."

    When our Lord Jesus Christ was preparing to ascend into Heaven, He gave His disciples final instructions. In Matthew 28:18-19 we see the famous "Great Commission" passage:

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit."

    The reader will notice Jesus' use of the term "name" signifying the unity of God's essence or nature as "One God" (hence "one God in unity"). Then Jesus mentions of course the Three Persons of the Trinity, of which He as the incarnate Son is a member as it pertains to His deity (hence "unity in Trinity"). 

Closing thoughts for today    

    As we work our way through each of the above pairs of truths, I'll utilize the Baptist Faith and Message's second article on the doctrine of God which readers can find here Baptist Faith and Message 2000 - The Baptist Faith and Message. As we work through these next four posts, I'll offer applications for the reader so that they can see how practical, as well as worshipful a study of the doctrine of the Trinity can be. 

P7 Christian Sanctification's Final Stage: Perfect Sanctification

Introduction:

    In this series of posts I have attempted to introduce the reader to the Biblical doctrine of Christian sanctification. We've noted how it begins, how it progresses, and in today's post how it will end and continue on into eternity. 

      Initial sanctification is what we have noted as "positional" or "definitive" sanctification. The Christian life that proceeds from that beginning point at regeneration/justification by faith is the second stage of sanctification known as "progressive sanctification". We now turn to the third and final phase, or what we're calling "perfect sanctification".     

Perfect sanctification.  1 Peter 1:8,13

    When I say “perfect sanctification”, I mean that final aspect of our sanctification where the presence of sin is no more and we are finally pure. Sanctification’s overall progression throughout the Christian life finds its lion’s share in that progressive phase we just observed. 

    Half of all the New Testament letters spend time giving exhortations on how to grow onward and upward in progressive sanctification. As such, the Christian life doesn’t cease at death. Peter notes in 1 Peter 1:7-8 “so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.”

     The Apostle Peter details the trials and testings of progressive sanctification in 1 Peter 1:7. Why do we undergo such things? For the sake of what we will experience once we’re perfected either at Christ’s coming or when we pass on from this life to the one to come. Peter  about perfect sanctification in 1 Peter 1:13 “Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

      Elsewhere in the New Testament we read about this perfect sanctification or what is also called “glorification” – the final phase of our salvation’s completion after death or at Christ’s second coming. Romans 8:30 guarantees the Christian’s arrival at sinless perfection at death or at the Lord’s return: “and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”  

    Jude describes perfect sanctification or glorification in Jude 1:24-25 “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” In heaven right now, the saints of God who have went on before us are “perfected” in Hebrews 12:23 “to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect.”

      It has been well said by theologians that at regeneration/justification I am set free from sin’s penalty. We saw already how at saving faith, the Spirit of God begins the work of sanctification by it being a definitive work of positioning us in Jesus Christ. So, it is at regeneration/justification I am set free from sin’s penalty. 

    Then, in progressive sanctification I am being set free from sin’s power. It will be at the moment of death or the Lord’s return at the rapture that I am set free from sin’s presence! 1 Thessalonians 5:23 “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

    It will be then that the perfect soul of every Christian will be reunited with a glorified resurrected body, wherein we could say that at resurrection I am set free from sin’s putrefaction. You know putrefaction? It's what happens to vegetables in so many people’s refrigerators as they lay at the bottom of our produce drawers. Our bodies decay in the grave, awaiting the time when Jesus returns and raises them to reunite with the soul (John 5:24-29).

Closing thoughts:

      Well, there is more I could say (that’s what the preacher says when he has ran out of time!) Let’s review. In our overview of Christian sanctification, we noted first how God ordained the sanctification of those sinners whom He chose in Christ as spelled out by Peter in 1 Peter 1:1-4. 

      The Holy Spirit then calls such sinners to exercise saving faith in Jesus Christ, installing them positionally to begin their Christian life in positional sanctification. What follows is a progressive onward and upward growth in Jesus Christ in progressive sanctification (1 Peter 1:5-2:3). 

      Then finally, the goal is perfect sanctification or glorification, where the Christian has a perfected soul at death or rapture, with the latter being a time when the perfected soul is united with a glorified resurrected body. Remember: Sanctification speaks of the Christian life lived from its beginnings in regeneration until the believer’s homegoing at death or the rapture of the church. May God be glorified!

P6 Christian Sanctification's Second Stage: Progressive Sanctification

Introduction:

    In the last post I spent time explaining what theologians refer to as the initial stage of Christian sanctification - "definitive" or what is sometimes called "positional sanctification". Readers may review the last post to get a sense of what I meant in the unpacking of that truth here Growing Christian Resources: P5 Christian Sanctification's First Stage: Definitive / Positional Sanctification. 

    In today's post I want to continue in our series on the Biblical doctrine of sanctification. Admittedly I had meant this to only be a short series, however, in my current preaching series on Sunday evenings, wherein we are working our way through Christian sanctification, I wanted to have a chance to flesh out further observations. With that noted, we move today to the second main phase of Christian sanctification, namely "progressive sanctification". 

Progressive sanctification.  1 Peter 1:5-7, 9-12, 1:14-2:3

    I spent the last post on "positional sanctification" due to what is often it's neglect in conversations about the Christian life. It is this second sense of "progressive sanctification" that is most often discussed and which is the focus of this post. 

    Positional or definitive sanctification is the Holy Spirit’s uniting me to Christ and beginning the cleansing work in my heart at regeneration. Not only does the Holy Spirit unite me to Jesus Christ in that first phase of sanctification, but He also breaks the dominion of sin's power (not presence!) in the moment of regeneration. It is from thereon that sanctification continues. 

    We call this second phase of Christian sanctification “progressive” because it is a continual, ongoing process whereby the Holy Spirit is making me more like Jesus in thought, word, and deed. Furthermore, my participation and cooperation with the Holy Spirit is necessary for progressive sanctification. The “sanctification” part speaks of what we’ve already noted, namely the cleansing work of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God in my life along with my needed compliance to His work. Philippians 2:12-13 “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Let’s note some features of progressive sanctification.

A. Sanctification is a refining work.

      Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:5-7 “who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”  I’ve underlined three verbs in these verses that in the original language speak of an ongoing experience in the Christian’s life. The ESV renders that first verb as “being protected” – an ongoing work of God shielding us in our Christian growth. The second verb refers to rejoicing throughout our Christian walk in a growing and increasing way. We come to see more the need for our Savior and our desire for Him as we live through this life. Then that third verb, “tested”, conveys that tests are never done. The process of sanctification is a refining work of God in our lives. Sanctification as a process is a refining work. Second…..

B. Sanctification is a reaffirming work.

1 Peter 1:9-12 “obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. 10 As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, 11 seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look.”  

As we grow in progressive sanctification, the Holy Spirit reminds us again and again that we are children of God, destined for glory. 1 John 3:2-3 “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”  As we progress in sanctification, it is refining and reaffirming. Thirdly, 

C. Sanctification is a responsible work.

1 Peter 1:14-16 “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”  Then skip down to 1 Peter 1:22-23 “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, 23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.” 

Peter then issues this exhortation in 1 Peter 2:1-3 “Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, 2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, 3 if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.”

Progressive sanctification isn’t a “let go and let God” nor is it “do better, try harder”. Instead, it is He working in me and I working with Him. We must not think of it as me giving my 50% and God doing the other 50%. Such a view of sanctification would render me in dire straits if I fail to do my part. Rather, think of sanctification as God upholding us all the way (1 Thessalonians 2:13-14) and us working with Him as evidence of His cleansing work in our hearts (1 Thessalonians 2:11-12). 

To illustrate, when I was learning how to drive from my father, he would drive us out from our house to an old back road. We would pull over and then he would let me drive a short distance. I can remember him sometimes having to nudge the steering wheel for me, since the car would tend to drift into the side of the road as I drove. Then, we would pull over again and my dad would turn the car around and we would head home. Now, when we got into the house, my mother would ask: “how did driving go?” My dad would say: “he is getting better and he did good”. By that illustration, it is plain that we’re it not for my dad, there is no way we could had gotten out to that old country road nor gotten back home. Yet, my participation was needed to demonstrate that I had taken in what my dad was teaching me.

Final thoughts:

 That’s progressive sanctification. We’ve noted how it begins with positional or definitive sanctification at saving faith. Keep those two distinctions in mind will help you as you study God’s Word on the Christian life. Next time we will look at the final phase of Christian sanctification, what I'm calling "perfect sanctification".