11.17.06
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: A Study on Relationships, Roles, and Relevance
I have begin to develop a curicullium for Dr. Bruce Ware’s book Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to be used in a bible study format. I have so far written out the introduction and the section on the deity, roles, and relationships of the Father. I am posting the introduction now and the rest will be posted when it is completed.
Outline
Thesis: There is one and only one God, eternally existing and fully expressed in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each member of the Godhead is fully God, each is eternally God, and each is fully God – not three gods but three Persons of the one Godhead. Each person is equal in essence as each possesses fully the identically same, eternal divine nature, yet each is also an eternal and distinct personal expression of the one undivided divine nature.
I. Introduction
A. Purpose of Study
B. Scriptural Support for Monotheism
1. Old Testament Support
2. New Testament Support
C. Scriptural Support for a Triune God
1. Father as God
2. Son as God
3. Holy Spirit as God
D. History of the Doctrine
II. The Father as God
A. The Unique Roles of the Father
1. Supreme among the Persons of the Godhead
2. The Father as Architect of Creation, Redemption, and Consummation
3. The Giver of Every Good and Perfect Gift
4. Provides and Works Through Son and Spirit
“… in progress”
Introduction
Purpose of the Study
The theological doctrine of the trinity is of great importance to the Christian faith. In fact, belief in a Triune God distinguishes Christianity from all other world religions and is a defining doctrine for our faith. Many cults are defined on their lack of recognition for the deity of the Father, Son or Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, there exists hesitancy for theological discussions as they are often seen as being out of touch with the daily practical needs of the average believer. It is the hope of the leaders of this study that it would be both meaningful and practical to faith, love, and trust in the one and only true and living God.
Dr. Ware gives a great analogy for the importance of this doctrine:
Image that a husband comes to his wife and says that he has something integrally important about himself that he wants to disclose to his partner and that by doing so their relationship would be forever changed for the better but that previous attempts to disclose this information had been met with apprehension and lack on interest. One would expect that the wife, wed to her husband for life, would seek to understand what the husband is trying to tell her.
Imagine now that God is offering us knowledge about Himself that, once known, forever changes who we are and how we relate to Him. Should we listen? Should we seek to know Him more fully? Or should we be content to know him as we currently do because what is telling us is not easy to understand or decipher?
The underlying purpose of this study is to equip believers with a better understanding of God existing in a Triune form so that we can better enjoy Him and find joy in His revealed glory, to gain a better understanding of the roles of the three Persons within the Godhead, and the relevance this has for our lives. Ultimately, the goal is to gain a better understanding of the three Persons of the Trinity as they relate to One Another, us personally, and our lives.
Definition
To begin to gain a proper understanding of God in a triune nature it is important to review a basic definition of the trinity.
Dr. Ware proposes the following definition combining elements of Augustine’s early work on the trinity:
The doctrine of the trinity affirms that God’s whole and undivided essence belongs equally, eternally, simultaneously, and fully to each of the three distinct Persons of the Godhead.
Including equally in the definition ensures the understanding that all three Persons are equal in divinity, eternally to note God’s eternal presence before time, simultaneously to combat ideas of modalism, and fully to make clear that each Person is fully God, not one-third of the whole of God.
Let’s look at one more passage from Dr. Ware that further defines the doctrine of the trinity and provides greater insight into the specifics mentioned in the previous definition:
There is one and only one God, eternally existing and fully expressed in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each member of the Godhead is fully God, each is eternally God, and each is fully God – not three gods but three Persons of the one Godhead. Each person is equal in essence as each possesses fully the identically same, eternal divine nature, yet each is also an eternal and distinct personal expression of the one undivided divine nature.
The key to our study is a healthy tension generated between equality and distinction. As the diagram on the cover page illustrates, the three Persons of the Triune Godhead are all fully God but are distinct in their roles and relationships. We worship one God equal in essence and divinity and distinct in roles; it is not an easy doctrine to understand but it is the hope of this study to shed a greater light on the true identity of our God from the light of scripture.
Old Testament Scriptural Support for Monotheism
The Old Testament clearly teaches that there is only one True and Living God. Let’s look at a few brief passages from the Old Testament which support this teaching4:
Deuteronomy 4:33-35
Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have, and still live? Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides Him5.
Deuteronomy 6:4
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one.
Isaiah 45:5-6
I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me.
Isaiah 46:8-9
Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God and there is none like me.
New Testament Scriptural Support for Monotheism
Our understanding of the God from Scripture as one God is not limited to the teachings of the Old Testament. Both Jesus and the New Testament writers understood and taught this same truth:
1 Timothy 2:5
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
John 17:3
And this is eternal life, that that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ who you have sent.
Romans 3:29-30
Or is God the God of the Jews only? Is He not the God of the Gentiles also? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since God is one.
James 2:19
You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe-and shudder.
Scriptural Support for a Triune God
So we can say definitively that there is but one true and living God and that there is none who came before or none who will come after who can ever measure up to Him. But what does this mean for our study of God as one God expressed as three Persons equal is essence? It is important to understand that as we begin to delve into scriptural teachings of the roles, relationships, and relevance of the Trinity that there is one God expressed as three Persons, not three Gods different in essence and identity. The following verses provide a brief support and overview of scriptural teachings on the deity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This section is intentionally short as future segments of the study will delve more deeply into the specifics:
Teaching of the Father as God
1 Corinthians 8:6
Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for who we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
John 6:27
“Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”
1 Peter 1:1-2
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.
Philippians 2:9-11
For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Teachings of the Son as God
John 20:28
Thomas answered him [Jesus Christ], “My Lord and my God!”
John 8:58-59 (C.R.-Exodus 3:14)
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple
John 1:1-2, 14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God … 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.
Mark 2:5-11
And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?” Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?”Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”–He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.”
Teaching of the Holy Spirit as God
Acts 5:3-4
But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”
1 Corinthians 2:10-11
For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.
1 Corinthians 3:16
Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
History and Development of the Doctrine
Historically, it is important to remember that most early Christians were Jewish converts who had been raised in the Judaic faith which strictly emphasized that there is one God. Judaism was unique in that many of the surrounding cultures worshiped many gods and believed that there were gods loyal to specific groups of people, pieces of property, or areas of creation (e.g. sun, moon, stars…). Early converts to Christianity from the Jewish faith believed that the God they sacrificed to prior to the coming of Christ is the same one whom they embrace with Christ as the fulfillment of all the promises previously made by the God of the Old Testament; essentially, they saw no dichotomy between the God of the Old Testament and the God whom Jesus testified of. These converts, though, did face many struggles in reconciling various passages of scripture from the gospels and the epistles of the apostles with their monotheistic faith such as the ones mentioned above that spoke of the deity of the Son and Holy Spirit alongside the Father.
How did these early believers come to understand God as triune? How did they reconcile these seemingly conflicting understandings of God? The deity of Christ was at the forefront of the church’s mind and came to a head with three opposing views on the deity of Christ. One early view was proposed by Sabellius who proposed that the Christian faith recognizes only one God who is the Father but that the Father enabled Himself to take on various modes throughout redemptive history. The view claimed that God was once the Father who took on the mode of the Son who is Christ Jesus and ceased to be the Father who then took on the mode of the Holy Spirit after the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. This understanding of God came to be known as modalism and never took root as many verses in scripture show the interaction of the Persons of the trinity simultaneously such as Christ’s baptism recorded in Matthew 3:16-17 and Jesus’ prayer at Gethsemane in Matthew 26:36-46.
Another teaching, though, arose trying to deal with this issue that denied the deity of Christ Jesus that took on such a following that it took a major church council to decide the issue. A man named Arius claimed that while Jesus was our savior and worthy of accolade that He was simply the first created being, not eternally existing and equal with the Father as fully God.
To address this issue, a church council was held in Nicea in the year 325 A.D. where two main groups of theologians argued the deity of Christ. Arius and his followers, known as Arians, argued for Christ place in redemptive history as a created being, important but not equal with God. Athanasius opposed this idea claiming that Jesus Christ was and truly is fully God based on the New Testament account and fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Athanasius argued that Christ is in fact of the same nature as God using the word homoousious (“homoo”-same, “usious”-nature) and not that Christ was simply homoiousious (“homoi”-similar, “usious”-nature), of the similar nature of God. The church bishops, with the aid of the Spirit of God and the truth of scriptures, created the Nicene Creed that insisted that Christ Jesus is equal with God of the very same nature7.
Once the church laid the doctrinal foundation of Christ’s deity the issue of the Holy Spirit’s relation to God became an issue of debate. Following the Council of Nicea by 56 years, a council at Constantinople was held in 381 A.D. where the Nicene Creed was expanded to include the deity of the Holy Spirit in equality with that of the Father and Son.
A common argument against Christianity is made that early Christians invented the idea of a triune God at these two councils. A clear understanding of history and the truth of scripture though shows that there is only one God expressed in three Persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Not three gods or God split three ways but one God manifested in three Persons equal in essence and unique in roles and relationship to one another and to us as believers. The church fathers knew that all scripture is inspired by God and not in contradiction with itself in any way. With that understanding, an exercise in scriptural interpretation allowed them to see that while the scriptures speak of only one God they also speak of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three unique Persons, being fully God. The understanding is that when scripture is allowed to interpret scripture the truth is illuminated that there is but one God expressed in the three Persons of the Trinity.