The Trinity
What is included in the veracity of God? What distinction do we apply to the will of God? Is His will free or necessary? Does God's decree make Him the author of sin? Do the secret and revealed will of God conflict? Does God's omnipotence imply that He can do everything?
References for Further Study:
Berkhof, Reformed Dogmatics, I, pp. 35–61; McPherson, Christian Dogmatics, pp. 123–139; Hodge, Outlines of Theology, pp. 135–163;
Orr, Side-Lights on Christian Doctrine, pp. 21–34; Clarke, The Christian Doctrine of God.
THE TRINITY
A. The Trinity in General. The Bible teaches us that the one God consists in three persons. This is decidedly a doctrine of special revelation, a doctrine that is not revealed in nature, and that could not be discovered by human reason.
1. STATEMENT OF THE DOCTRINE. God is one in His essential being, but in this one being there are three persons, called, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. These persons are not, however, like so many persons among men three entirely separate and distinct individuals.
They are rather three modes or forms in which the divine essence exists. At the same time it should be borne in mind that these selfdistinctions in the divine being are of such a nature that they can enter into personal relations. The Father can speak to the Son and can send forth the Holy Spirit. The real mystery of the Trinity consists in this that the three persons are one in their essential being.
And this does not mean that the divine essence is divided among the three persons. It is wholly, with all its perfections, in each one of the
persons, and has no existence outside of and apart from the persons.
Moreover, the persons are not subordinate the one to the other in their essential being. It may be said, however, that in order of existence the Father is first, the Son second, and the Holy Spirit third, and this order also reflects itself in the work of creation and redemption. The three persons are distinguished by certain personal distinctions: the Father generates the Son, the Son is generated by the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from both Father and Son.
This doctrine is one of the great mysteries of faith, and as such is far beyond our human comprehension.
2. SCRIPTURE PROOF FOR THE TRINITY.
a. In the Old Testament. Some are of the opinion that the Old Testament contains no indications of the Trinity, but this is not correct. There are passages which indicate that there is more than one person in God, as for instance, where God speaks of Himself in the plural, Gen. 1:26; 11:7, when the angel of Jehovah is represented as a divine person, Gen. 16:7–13; 18:1–21; 19:1–22, and where the Spirit is spoken of as a distinct person, Isa. 48:16; 63:10. In addition to these there are some in which three persons are more or less clearly indicated, Isa. 48:16; 61:1; 63:9, 10. b. In the New Testament. It is perfectly natural that the New
Testament proofs should be clearer than those of the Old, since it records the incarnation of the Son of God and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. There are several passages in which the three persons are expressly mentioned, as in connection with the baptism of Jesus,
Luke 3:21, 22, in the farewell discourses of Jesus, John 14–16, in the great commission, Matt. 28:19, in the apostolic blessing, 2 Cor. 13:13, and also in such passages as Luke 1:35; 1 Cor. 12:4–6, and 1 Peter 1:2.
3. ERRONEOUS REPRESENTATIONS OF THE TRINITY. In the
early Christian Church some represented the three persons in the Trinity as three divine beings, virtually three gods. The Sabellians regarded the three persons merely as so many modes of divine action or manifestation, which God successively assumes, revealing Himself as Father in creation and in the giving of the law, as Son in the incarnation, and as Holy Spirit in regeneration and sanctification.
Thus the three persons were reduced to one. Paul of Samosata, the Socinians of the days of the Reformation, and the Unitarians and Modernists of the present day, all represent the Trinity as consisting of God the Father, the man Jesus Christ, and a divine influence which is called the Spirit of God. This view also represents God as one, not only in being, but also in person, and therefore virtually destroys the Trinity.
B. The Three Persons Considered Separately.
1. THE FATHER. The name "Father," as applied to God, is not always used in the same sense in Scripture. It may denote the triune God (a) as the origin of all created things, 1 Cor. 8:6; Eph. 3:14, 15; Heb. 12:9;
Jas. 1:17; (b) as the Father of the chosen nation of Israel, Deut. 32:6; Isa. 63:16; 64:8; Jer. 3:4; Mal. 1:6; 2:10; and (c) as the Father of believers as His spiritual children, Matt. 5:45; 6:6–15; Rom. 8:15; 1
John 1:3. In a far more fundamental sense, however, the name is applied to the first person in the Trinity in His relation to the second person, John 1:14, 18; 5:17–26; 8:54; 14:12, 13. This is the original
Fatherhood of God, of which all earthly fatherhood is but a faint reflection. The distinctive property of the Father is that He generates the Son from all eternity. Certain works are ascribed particularly to the Father, though the other persons also participate in them, such as planning the work of redemption, the works of creation and
providence, and the work of representing the Trinity in the Counsel of Redemption.
2. THE SON. The second person of the Trinity is called "Son" or "Son of God." This name is not always applied to Him in the same sense, however. Considered purely as the second person in the Trinity, He is called "the Son" because of His eternal generation by the Father,
John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; Gal. 4:4. He also bears that name as the incarnate Son of God in an official sense, to designate Him as the Messiah chosen of God, Matt. 8:29; 27:40; 26:63; John 1:49; 11:27.
And, finally, He is called "the Son of God," at least in one passage, in virtue of the fact, that at His birth He was begotten by the special operation of the Holy Spirit, Luke 1:32, 35. In connection with the Son the following points deserve particular attention: a. His Eternal Generation. The personal property of the Son is that He is eternally begotten of the Father. The doctrine of the generation of the Son is naturally suggested by the Biblical representation of the first and the second person in the Trinity as standing in the relation of Father and Son to each other, and is further based on Ps. 2:7; Acts
13:33; Heb. 1:5. By means of this generation the Father does not call the essential nature of the Son into being, but becomes the cause of the personal subsistence of the Son—a second mode of existence— within the divine being. This generation of the Son should not be regarded as an act completed in the past, but as a necessary and therefore eternal act of the Father. It is timeless, always continuing, and yet ever completed. b. The Divinity of the Son. The divinity of the Son is denied by several sects in the early Christian Church, by a host of liberal scholars during the last two centuries, and by the Unitarians and the real Modernists and Humanists of the present day. It can only be
denied, however, by setting aside the explicit testimony of the Word of God. There are passages which expressly assert the divinity of the Son, such as John 1:1; 20:28; Rom. 9:5; Phil. 2:6; Tit. 2:13; 1 John
5:20. Moreover, divine names are applied to Him, Jer. 23:5, 6; Joel 2:32 (comp. Acts 2:21); Isa. 9:6; 1 Tim. 3:16; divine attributes are ascribed to Him, Isa. 9:6; Rev. 1:8; Matt. 18:20; 28:20; John 2:24,
25; 21:17; Phil. 3:21; Rev. 1:8; divine works are done by Him, Matt.
9:2–7; Luke 10:22; John 1:3, 10; 3:35; Eph. 1:22; Col. 1:17; Heb.
1:10–12; Phil. 3:21; John 5:22, 25–30; and divine honour is accorded Him, John 5:22, 23; 14:1; 1 Cor. 15:19; 2 Cor. 13:13; Heb. 1:6. c. The Works More Particularly Ascribed to the Son. The order of the existence of the persons in the Trinity is reflected in the order of their works. If all things are out of the Father, they are through the Son. If the former is the final, the latter is the mediating cause of all both in creation and in redemption. All things are created and maintained through the Son, John 1:3, 10; Heb. 1:2, 3. He is the light which lighteth every man coming into the world, John 1:9. More particularly the work of redemption is carried out by the Son in His incarnation, sufferings, and death, Eph. 1:3–14.
3. THE HOLY SPIRIT. With reference to the Holy Spirit the following points demand special consideration: a. The Personality of the Holy Spirit. It is not so much the divinity as the personality of the Holy Spirit that is called in question by many.
It is denied by several sectarians in the early Church, by the Socinians in the days of the Reformation, and by the Unitarians, the Modernists, and all kinds of Sabellians in the present time. They prefer to regard the Holy Spirit merely as a power or influence of God. Yet He is clearly designated as a person, John 14:16, 17, 26;
15:26; 16:7–15; Rom. 8:26. Personal characteristics are ascribed to
Him, such as intelligence, John 14:26; 15:26; Rom. 8:16, affections, Isa. 63:10; Eph. 4:30, and will, Acts 16:7; 1 Cor. 12:11. Moreover, He performs acts proper to personality, such as speaking, searching, testifying, commanding, revealing, striving, making intercession,
Gen. 1:2; 6:3; Luke 12:12; John 14:26; 15:26; 16:8; Acts 8:29; 13:2; Rom. 8:11; 1 Cor. 2:10, 11. Finally, there are passages in which the Holy Spirit is distinguished from His own power, Luke 1:35; 4:14;
Acts 10:38; Rom. 15:13; 1 Cor. 2:4. b. The Relation of the Holy Spirit to the Other Persons in the Trinity.
While it was asserted from the beginning on the basis of John 15:26 that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, it was not until the year 589 A. D. that the western Church officially took the position that He also proceeds from the Son. This doctrine is based on the fact that the Spirit is also called the Spirit of Christ and of the Son, Rom.
8:9; Gal. 4:6, and is said to be sent by Christ, John 15:26; 16:7. In virtue of this procession from the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit stands in the closest possible relationship to the other persons. He searches the deep things of God, 1 Cor. 2:10, 11, and is to a certain extent identified with Christ, 2 Cor. 3:17. In the Spirit Christ Himself returns to His disciples, John 15:16–18. Moreover, in the Epistles of Paul it is sometimes Christ, and sometimes the Spirit of God who is said to dwell in believers, Rom. 8:9, 10; Gal. 2:20; 1 Cor. 3:16. c. The Divinity of the Holy Spirit. The divinity of the Holy Spirit may be established from Scripture by a line of proof quite similar to that employed in connection with the Son. Divine names are given to Him, Acts 5:3, 4; 1 Cor. 3:16; 2 Tim. 3:16; divine perfections are ascribed to Him, Ps. 139:7–10; Isa. 40:13, 15; 1 Cor. 2:10, 11; 12:11;
Rom. 15:19; Heb. 9:14; divine works are performed by Him, Gen. 1:2; Job 26:13; 33:4; Ps. 104:30; John 3:5, 6; Tit. 3:5; Rom. 8:11; and divine honour is accorded Him, Matt. 28:19; Rom. 9:1; 2 Cor. 13:14.
d. The works More Particularly Ascribed to the Holy Spirit. There are certain works which, while works of the triune God, are more particularly ascribed to the Holy Spirit. In general it may be said that it is His special task to bring the work of God to completion both in creation and redemption. In the natural sphere He generates life and thus puts the finishing touch to the work of creation, Gen. 1:3; Job
26:13; Ps. 33:6; Ps. 104:30; and He inspires and qualifies men for special tasks, Ex. 28:3; 31:2, 3, 6; 35:35; 1 Sam. 11:6; 16:13, 14. And in the sphere of redemption He prepares and qualifies Christ for His redemptive work, Luke 1:35; 3:22; John 3:34; Heb. 10:5–7; He inspires Scripture, 1 Cor. 2:13; 2 Pet. 1:21; He forms and augments the Church and dwells in it as the principle of a new life, Eph. 1:22,
23; 2:22; 1 Cor. 3:16; 12:4 ff.; and He teaches and guides the Church, leading it in all the truth, John 14:26; 15:26; 16:13, 14; Acts 5:32;
Heb. 10:15; 1 John 2:27.
Questions for Review:
Can we discover the doctrine of the Trinity from nature? How do the persons in God differ from three persons among men? Is there any subordination of the persons in God? How can we prove the Trinity from the Old Testament? From the New? Against what errors should we guard in this doctrine? In how many different senses is the name
"Father" applied to God? What works are especially ascribed to the Father? In how many different senses is the name "Son" applied to Christ? Is the generation of the Son a past act? What works are especially ascribed to the Son? How can you prove the divinity of the Son and of the Holy Spirit? How can you prove that the Holy Spirit is a person, and not merely a power or influence? How is the Spirit related to the other persons? What works are especially ascribed to the Holy Spirit? What is the characteristic property of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit?