Mystery is a natural aspect of faith. There will always be parts of Christianity that we can't fully grasp. Some people have interpreted this to mean that seeking understanding is unnecessary. While this idea isn't new, it seems to have become more widespread in recent times, with many believing that faith and understanding are incompatible. A prime example of this is the perceived conflict between faith and science. However, anyone familiar with the history of Christianity or science would find this so-called conflict to be unfounded. Christians are called to seek understanding because faith is built on evidence. We are instructed to grow in our knowledge of God and His creation. As Christians, we are not called to blind faith but to faith grounded in evidence and reason. Scripture itself commands us to grow in our knowledge of God (2 Peter 3:18) and to seek wisdom and understanding (Proverbs 4:7). Still, we must acknowledge our limitations—we are finite beings trying to comprehend the infinite God. Today’s study will focus on one of the greatest mysteries of our faith: exploring the Trinity.
Question 9
For most of the questions of the Westminster Larger Catechism, we will look at the questions individually, but for questions 9 and 10, it is worth looking at them together. Question 9 asks:
How many persons are there in the Godhead?
Then answers:
There be three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one true, eternal God, the same is substance, equal in power and glory; although distinguished by their personal properties.
There are two parts to the answer. The first is to emphasize the three persons that exist within the Godhead. There is only one God, but that one God eternally exists as three persons. In scripture, perhaps the most clear place that we see this is in the great commission. We are commanded as disciples of Christ to make more disciples and to baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There is one name, with three persons. Our struggle to understand this fully should not be taken as a failure on our part. After all, the subject of the trinity was a subject of discussion and controversy throughout the first several centuries of the church. The language we use to talk about the trinity, including the word trinity, came out of those discussions. At the heart of the discussions is the understanding that all three persons of the Godhead are of the same substance. It would be impossible in such a short format to get a full understanding of this. It is our responsibility as Christians to dig into the Scripture and seek a deeper understanding.
Part Two
The second part of the answer is that the persons of the Godhead are distinguished in their personal properties. The two parts together highlight that the Godhead is one in one sense and three in another. The personal properties are discussed in the 10th question of the catechism.
What are the personal properties of the three persons in the Godhead?
It makes sense that this would be the follow-up question in the catechism. The unity of the Godhead is answered by saying that there is unity in one substance. But the personal properties are not. So we get the answer.
It is proper to the Father to beget the Son, and to the Son to be begotten of the Father, and to the Holy Ghost to proceed from the Father and the Son from all eternity.
The answer focuses on the relational nature of the Godhead. Father and Son are relational terms. From a human perspective, being a father or a son is not an all-encompassing descriptor. I am both a father and a son. But for the members of the Godhead, the terms are all-encompassing. The Father begot the Son before all ages. This describes the relationship and not creation since the Son is not created. The Son has always been the Son. He did not become the Son. We become sons or fathers, but the members of the Godhead do not become anything. They are unchanging.
Summary
The doctrine of the Trinity is among the most important for us to have a solid understanding of as Christians. There is a simple understanding that we must not go beyond. There is one God who eternally exists in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, and so on. All the errors come when these basic principles are ignored. For example, Arianism is the error of seeing the Son as a created being. It ignores the unity of the three persons. They are one in essence or substance. All of this discussion is but a primer. There is far more to dig into and understand and there are some great books that have been written on the subject. I would recommend Delighting in the Trinity by Michael Reeves and The Forgotten Trinity: Recovering the Heart of Christian Belief by James White. For an even deeper look at the subject, there is On The Trinity by Augustine.
Soli Deo Gloria
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