SECOND LONDON BAPTIST CONFESSION 2.3
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-A Christian businessman had family friends from India spend some time with them in their home in California. The Indian family had to do some travelling for business so they left their 11 year old daughter with the businessman and his family for a time. As Sunday came, they took her to church. Being Hindu she was very curious about the church and the Christian faith. After the service and returning home for lunch, the businessman asked the 11 year old what she thought of the service. She replied, “I don’t understand why the West Coast wasn’t included in the service.” The businessman had no idea what she was talking about, so he inquired what she meant. She said, “You know, they said in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the WHOLE EAST COAST.”
-It’s easy to see why an outsider could get a bit confused over the notion of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost/Spirit. Let’s face it, us Christians who believe in the Trinity can get a little confused over the Trinity. Yes, we understand that it describes the fact that there is One God in Nature, but there are Three Persons within the Godhead who are separate and distinct and yet are One God in Essence. But, let’s face it, we understand the words but the concept is still clear as mud to our finite minds.
-And so, when we talk about God being a Trinity we have to tread very carefully with what we say and how we say it because it would be easy to twist words into meaning something heretical without intending it, especially considering that human words fail at describing eternal truths. As one of the theologians of yesteryear says:
No language is rich enough, no words are significant enough to declare this profound mystery, which the understanding of men and angels cannot comprehend, nor the tongue of men and angels express. If all the saints and angels in heaven and earth should sit in council and communicate their notions to one another about this argument, they would acknowledge this mystery to be not only inexplicable and unspeakable, but inconceivable and incomprehensible.
-And yet we have to try to attempt to describe the mystery because it is biblical truth. We can look at the Bible and find there that there is one God and that there are three persons and each person shares the essence, but we might not get it. And we walk a very fine line in how we describe the mystery of the Trinity because we could unknowingly go into error. So, as one author states, we have to carefully abstain from Terms of
1. Diversity and Difference. Which take away the Unity of the Essence.
2. Separation and Division. Which take away the Simplicity of the Essence.
3. Disparity. Which take away the Equality of the persons.
4. Discrepancy. Which take away the Similitude of the divine nature or the persons.
5. Singularity. Which take away the Commonness of the divine nature to the persons.
6. Unity, if we may so speak. Which take away the Number of the persons.
7. Confusion. Which take away the Order of the persons.
8. Solitariness. Which take away the Communion of the Persons.
-This is why I must warn against using any sort of analogy to try to explain the Trinity, because each analogy falls short and accidentally describes heresies from years ago. As one author noted about common analogies:
The first popular analogy describes the Trinity to be like H20, one substance that takes three different forms–ice, water, steam. The strength of this analogy is that it highlights that all three members of the Trinity share one essence. However, it fails to show three distinct parts existing at the same time as water cannot exist in all three states at the same time. This analogy illustrates the heresy of modalism which argued that there was one God who revealed himself in different modes. But God could only take one form at a time. The baptism of Jesus (Matt. 3) clearly describes all three distinct members of the Trinity–Father, Son, and Spirit–existing at the same time in the same place.
The second popular analogy depicts the Trinity as like a man who is at once a son, husband, and father. One man with three different aspects of himself based on who he is relating to (dad, wife, or son). Though better than the illustration of H20, it also fails to show the distinctness of the Trinity as each aspect cannot exist independently.
The third common analogy, attributed to St. Patrick of Ireland (5th century), states that the Trinity is like a three leaf clover with three separate leafs connected by one stem. The strength of this analogy is that it highlights the separateness of the three parts, while still remaining a unified whole. However, it fails to show three truly distinct parts capable of functioning independently of one another. In essence, it illustrates that each member of the Trinity is partially God, but not fully God. And they cannot act independently of one another. This analogy illustrates the heresies of Arianism and polytheism.
-The creeds and confessions of the church might define the mystery, but they in no way explain the mystery. I have been studying various creeds and confessions, lately using the Second London Baptist Confession as a springboard to highlight important doctrines. This part highly uses the Nicene Creed for what it says...
Confessing the Faith: The 1689 Baptist Confession for the 21st Century (II. God and the Holy Trinity)
This divine and infinite Being consists of three real persons, the Father, the Word or Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three have the same substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence without this essence being divided. The Father is not derived from anyone, neither begotten nor proceeding. The Son is eternally begotten of the Father. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. All three are infinite and without beginning and are therefore only one God, who is not to be divided in nature and being. Yet these three are distinguished by several distinctive characteristics and personal relations. This truth of the Trinity is the foundation of all of our fellowship with God and of our comforting dependence on Him.
-The Bible is clear that there is one God.
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!
-And yet, the Bible also testifies that there are three persons that share the divine nature when it makes references such as:
13 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
-We see the three members of the Trinity on display in passages such as
16 After Jesus was baptized, just as he was coming up out of the water, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him.
17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my one dear Son; in him I take great delight.”
-The confession states that the three have the same substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence without this essence being divided. That means that the characteristics that we have before mentioned are true of the Godhead are true of every person within the Godhead, and each has it in its fullness. It’s not like an attribute is split up between the three. We wouldn’t say that regarding the love of God, 1/3 of that love is found in the Father, 1/3 is found in the Son, and 1/3 is found in the Holy Spirit, or that each holds 1/3 of the eternality of God. When we say God is eternal, we are saying that each member of the Godhead is completely and utterly eternal. The Father is 100% eternal as is the Son and Holy Spirit, because each member fully shares in the divine nature.
-The Bible testifies that each person is divine. Obviously, the Father is divine. But then the Son is divine as well, as John testifies:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God.
2 The Word was with God in the beginning.
We see Paul testify of the Son
9 For in him all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form,
-Jesus was accused of blasphemy, as his detractors said:
33 The Jewish leaders replied, “We are not going to stone you for a good deed but for blasphemy, because you, a man, are claiming to be God.”
-That the Son is God is the testimony of Scripture. But it also testifies that the Holy Spirit is God. When Ananias lied to the apostles, we see this testimony of Peter
3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back for yourself part of the proceeds from the sale of the land?
4 Before it was sold, did it not belong to you? And when it was sold, was the money not at your disposal? How have you thought up this deed in your heart? You have not lied to people but to God!”
-Lying to the Holy Spirit is lying to God. But if the three persons all have the same attributes, how is there a distinction of persons. The church fathers of old have held that the Father is ingenerate, the Son is eternally begotten, and the Spirit proceeds from both Father and Son. When it says that the Son is eternally begotten it means that both Father and Son are eternal, both share the same divine nature, and they have for eternity been in the Father and Son relationship. This is confirmed in Scripture:
1 After God spoke long ago in various portions and in various ways to our ancestors through the prophets,
2 in these last days he has spoken to us in a son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world.
3 The Son is the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
4 Thus he became so far better than the angels as he has inherited a name superior to theirs.
5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my son! Today I have fathered you”? And in another place he says, “I will be his father and he will be my son.”
-But just because the Christ is the Son does not mean that He is in any way inferior to the Father or that He lacks divine attributes that the Father holds—we’ve already determined that He is fully God. And yet there is a willing subordination of the Son to the Father even though both are equal in power and nature and character. Unlike what the Arians taught, Christ was not a created being and was not an inferior divine being.
-The creeds and confessions also state that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is sent by the Father and Son for specific purposes. That the Holy Spirit is sent is found:
26 When the Advocate comes, whom I will send you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me,
7 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I am going away. For if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you.
-Does any of this matter? It most certainly does because if you are not able to at least grasp a general concept of the Trinity you are not able to fully enjoy God as He has revealed Himself. We also have a misunderstanding of God’s works amongst humanity. Genesis 1:1-3 and many other verses make it clear that all members of the Trinity had their part in creation. And Scripture testifies that all three members have their part in salvation. We might say that the Father chose the way of salvation, the Son provided salvation, and the Holy Spirit applies salvation to those who believe.
-Although this might be clear as mud, it causes us to praise Him and sit in awe of how great our God truly is.