The Trinitarian View

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law” (Galatians 4:4 ESV).

Remember Highlights?

Did you ever read or play with the Magazine Highlights when you were a kid? There was always a page that had things hidden in a picture. It would take me a little while to find the first one, but then it seemed to get easier. It was almost like my eyes adjusted to the pictures themselves, and it revealed the hidden objects to me, a candle stick, shoe, and umbrella; it seemed to pop off the page. Until the end then, it was almost impossible to find the last one.

Seeing the Trinity within the New Testament is a little like those objects in Highlights. Part of the problem is I think we don’t look for it. Some of us are so content or regimented in our reading of the New Testament that all we see is Jesus, it’s about Him, and we don’t look for God at all. Sure, there is the occasional voice from heaven, but are we looking for the Godhead, the Trinity?

Who's Number One?

In Galatians, we read 4:4 (above) and find God the Father sending God the Son to us. It’s the coming of the Christ. While this is known as a Christmas text, it is about the Father. Paul continues in Galatians and tells us when we are adopted through Christ; the Spirit is manifested in our hearts. The Spirit edifies us. From inside us, He cries Abba! Father! He is saying we are to be mindful of what it means to have God as our Father through Christ.

Paul is not the only one who teaches us about the Trinity. In 1 Peter, Cephas writes, “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood.” It is not shocking that he adds, “May grace and peace be multiplied to you,” because the Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are engaged together for your salvation. The result is grace and peace multiplied to you.

Edwards Knew

“In an unpublished essay on the Trinity by Jonathan Edwards, written before he died in 1758, he wrote, The Godhead being thus begotten by God’s loving an idea of Himself and shewing forth in a distinct subsistence or person in that idea, there proceeds a most pure act, and an infinitely holy and sacred energy arises between the Father and Son in mutually loving and delighting in each other, for their love and joy is mutual, (Prov. 8:30) “I was daily His delight rejoicing always before Him.” This is the eternal and most perfect and essential act of the Divine nature, wherein the Godhead acts to an infinite degree and in the most perfect manner possible. The Deity becomes all act, the Divine essence itself flows out and is as it were breathed forth in love and joy. So that the Godhead therein stands forth in yet another manner of subsistence, and there proceeds the third Person in the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, viz., the Deity in act, for there is no other act but the act of the will.” This powerful writing by Edwards beautifully describes the effortless flow of the Trinity, almost kin to a paradigm of dance.

Dance, Dance, Dance

What is essential in dance is that it takes two to tango. Likewise, the Trinity takes three to make up our God. Each has His specific purpose. We don’t thank the Father for dying on the cross; that is Patripassianism. However, we do thank Him for sending Jesus to die for us. When we contemplate the working of the Spirit and the way He operates within us, we fully understand the magnificence of the conspiracy of the Trinity to execute a plan of redemption for all Humans. This magnificent act can only fill your heart with joy, love, and reverence for our three-in-one God.

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, One in Three, and Three in One, As by the celestial host, Let Thy will on earth be done; Praise by all to Thee be giv’n, Glorious Lord of earth and heav’n

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

Hymn by Charles Wesley (1707-1788)