Part 51

“If this mystery be unknown or disbelieved, there can be no faith in Christ as the Mediator between God and men. For he who believes not that the Son is in the Father, and the Father in the Son, as to identity of essence, while at the same time there is a distinction of persons, denies the voluntary subjection of the Son to the Father in the eternal covenant, and thus the whole foundation of his merit and of our salvation. In relation to the work of our redemption, and in the history given of it, are revealed various internal actings of the divine persons towards each other, as well as those of an external nature. The Father appoints, gives, sends, prepares a human nature for his Son; the Son undertakes, gives himself, comes, assumes this nature.

“From the history given of the conception of Christ, we find that three divine persons were engaged in the creation of this ‘new thing in the earth.’ The Father appears in the character of ‘the Highest;’ the Third Person, as ‘the Holy Ghost,’ and ‘the Power of the Highest;’ and the Second, as ‘the Son of God.’ When this wonderful Person, the incarnate Word, was to be manifested to Israel at his baptism, each divine Person concurred in the work. The Father testified his presence and approbation by a voice from the excellent glory, announcing Jesus as his beloved Son; and the Holy Ghost descended like a dove, and rested on him. The history of his death, viewed in its connexion, affords a proof of a similar kind. As ‘it pleased JEHOVAH,’ in the person of the Father, sustaining the character of Judge, to bruise the Son as our Surety; and as he, having power over his own life, commended his spirit into the hands of his Father, thus presenting unto him a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour; he did so ‘through the Eternal Spirit.’ The same thing appears from the resurrection of Jesus. He was ‘powerfully declared to be the Son of God in his resurrection from the dead;’ for he had ‘power to take again’ that which no one could take from him. This work is frequently ascribed to God, where the term evidently denotes the First Person. ‘God hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.’ As he was ‘put to death in the flesh, he was quickened by the Spirit,’ by that Spirit of holiness, ‘by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison.’ Nor is this less evident from the account given of the effusion of the Spirit. This is undoubtedly a divine work; and it is described as belonging to each adorable Person. Jesus had foretold that the Comforter should come, that himself should send him, and that he should at the same time be sent by the Father. Accordingly, from the account given of this wonderful event by the apostle Peter, which is left on record for the instruction of the Church, we find that each divine Person was engaged in accomplishing it: ‘Jesus, having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear.’

“It is undeniable, that one special end, which Christ had in view in his miraculous works, was to confirm his doctrine with respect to his equality with the Father. When he gave thanks at the tomb of Lazarus, before raising him from the dead, it was because of the people who stood by, that they might believe that the Father had sent him; and sent him as a Messenger invested with divine power, because essentially possessing divine perfection. For he had previously said to his disciples: ‘This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby;’ and taught Martha, that if she ‘would believe, she would see the glory of God,’ in seeing the manifestation of that power which essentially belonged to himself, as ‘the Resurrection and the Life.’ When he cured the man sick of the palsy, it was in order to prove that he had ‘power on earth to forgive sin;’ while he admitted the principle held by the scribes, that no one could forgive sins but God only. On different occasions he refers to his miraculous works, as irrefragable evidences of his having the same essence with the Father; and of the mutual inexistence, as some have expressed it, of the Father in the Son, and of the Son in the Father, in respect of this essential unity, while there is at the same time a real distinction of persons. When his enemies accused him of blasphemy, because he said, ‘I am the Son of God,’ ‘making himself God;’ he replied, ‘If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works; that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him.’ To Philip, when desiring to see the Father, he said, ‘Believe me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very work’s sake.’ The Evangelist John, when referring to the signs recorded in the preceding history, subjoins this declaration; ‘These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Son of God.’ That he appropriates this character to Jesus, as expressive of supreme deity, is evident from the uniform tenor of the gospel which bears his name.

“The doctrine of the Trinity is peculiarly elucidated by the history of redemption; as it does not merely exhibit all the adorable Persons as engaged in this work, but ascribes a peculiar operation to each Person. The contrivance of our redemption is ascribed to the Father; the purchase of it to the Son; and the effectual application of this purchased redemption to the Holy Spirit. The Father sends his Son as our Surety; the Son cheerfully comes in this character; and the Holy Spirit is sent by both. The purpose of election is more immediately ascribed to the Father; the objects of his love are all chosen in Christ; and they, who were thus chosen from eternity, are in time chosen out of the world, and separated for himself, by the renewing and sanctifying work of the Spirit.

“Nor is this all. The peculiar operation of each Person, in the work of our salvation, is perfectly analagous to the order of subsistence in the Holy Trinity; and thus beautifully illustrates the mutual relations of the divine Persons. All the external works of God, indeed, are common to each Person; as the divine nature is the same indivisible principle of operation. Yet these works are distinctly ascribed to the three Persons, because each Person operates according to the order of subsistence. In the old creation, the Father called all things into being by his co-essential Word, communicating life immediately by the Spirit, as exercising a generating power on the unformed mass. When God created man, the First Person formed him by the Second, as his essential Image, giving him life, both natural and moral, by the Third, as ‘the Spirit of life.’ Yet this implies no inferiority, or mere instrumentality, in any of the adorable Persons; but only the most perfect order and harmony. The case is the same in the new creation. It seems most consistent with divine wisdom, that he who is first in the order of subsistence should rather _send_ than be _sent_; that the Son, who is ‘the image of the invisible God,’ should procure the restoration of that blessed image lost by sin; and that he, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, should be sent by both, to quicken those who are spiritually dead. This distinct operation indeed, as it corresponds with the order of subsistence, beautifully harmonizes with the distinguishing character belonging to each Person. He, who is essentially the Father, assumes the character of paternity, in a federal respect, towards those who are orphans and aliens. The only begotten Son of God is sent forth, made under the law, that they may ‘receive the adoption of sons,’ and appears as ‘the first-born among many brethren.’ The adorable Spirit, ‘the breath of JEHOVAH,’ breathes on the slain, that they may live; giving them a new heart and a right spirit. He, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, unites the sinner to both.

“Is it ‘life eternal to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent?’ Hath no one the Father, who ‘denieth the Son?’ Can no one honour the Father, ‘who honoureth not the Son?’ Is it the Spirit alone who quickeneth, and who teacheth us to ‘know the things that are freely given us of God?’ Can no man ‘say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost?’ Is it through Christ that ‘we have access by one Spirit unto the Father?’ Let us bless God for the revelation of the mystery of a Trinity in unity; and especially because he hath revealed it so clearly in the history of our redemption, in relation to that work in which a peculiar operation belongs to each adorable Person, in which the love of a three-one God is so wonderfully displayed, in which we discern so blessed a harmony, not only of divine perfections, but of divine Persons! In all our worship, let us view God according to this revelation, ascribing glory to him ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come, and to the Seven Spirits which are before his throne, and to Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first-begotten from the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth.’ Let us earnestly desire communion with this three-one God; with the Father, in his love as the spring of our salvation; with the Son, in all that grace which he hath purchased by his blood; and with the Holy Ghost, in the whole extent of his efficacious operation. In order to this, let us press after union with Christ, that in him we may be united to the Father by that one Spirit who proceeds from both, and who is conferred by both as the Spirit of adoption. Let us cultivate love to the brethren, as members of the same mystical body, desiring to be ‘one heart and one soul;’ that although many, we may be one, and thus be assimilated, in our weak measure, to the blessed Trinity in respect of unity; as Jesus prays in behalf of his Church;—‘That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us.—I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.’”

JAMIESON.

Footnote 90:

_See Le Clerc’s Supplement to Dr. Hammond on the New Testament, preface to John i._

Footnote 91:

_See Biddle’s Confession of Faith, touching the holy Trinity, Article VI._

Footnote 92:

_Some have thought, that_ εκεινος _being of the masculine gender, because it refers immediately to_ πνευμα, _which is of the neuter, implies, that the Spirit is taken personally, which is the reason of this grammatical construction; but if it be said that the reason why it is masculine is, because it agrees with_ παρακλητος, _it, notwithstanding, proves the Personality of the Holy Ghost, since a Comforter is a personal character. The same thing is observed in the grammatical construction of that scripture, Eph. i. 13, 14. speaking concerning the Holy Spirit of promise_, το πνευμα της επαγγελιας; _it is said_, ὁς εστιν αρῥαβων, _which denotes the personal character of the Spirit, otherwise it would have been_ ὁ εστιν αρῥαβων, _unless you suppose_ ὁς _agrees with_ αρῥαβων, _which seems to be a more strained sense of the grammatical construction than the other, which proves his personality._

Footnote 93:

“THAT the Holy Scriptures make mention of _Three_ by way of great _eminence_ and _distinction_ may appear from many passages, out of which I shall only produce some. At the Prediction of the blessed Virgin’s conception, which was to be without the concurrence of a man, the divine message is delivered in these words: _The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; Therefore, also that Holy Thing, that shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God_. Here are plainly distinguished from each other, the _Holy Ghost_, or _Power_ overshadowing; the _Highest_, whose Power that Spirit is; and the _Holy Thing_, or _Person_, who is _called the Son of God_, because born of a mother, impregnated by that Divine Power. At our Blessed Lord’s Baptism, _the Spirit of God_, we read, _descended like a dove and rested upon him, and a voice from Heaven_ declared him to _be the Son of God_: Nothing can be plainer than three _Personalities_ in this transaction; the _Father_ speaking from Heaven, the _Son_ coming out of _Jordan_, and the _Spirit_ descending from above. In the Promise, which our blessed Saviour makes his disciples, to comfort their hearts against what was coming upon them, _I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of Truth_; and _when the comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me_, there are manifestly Acts, and Persons, and capacities, different. The _Father_, from whom the Spirit _proceeds_, whom the Son _prays_, and by whom, at the Son’s Request, the _Comforter was given_: The _Son, praying_ the Father; _sending_ the Comforter from the Father, and _testified_ of by the _Spirit_ so sent: And the _Spirit, given_ by the Father, _sent_ by the Son, _testifying_ of the Son, and, upon the Son’s Departure, _abiding_ for ever with the Disciples.

“The great Apostle of the Gentiles, to enforce the Doctrine of the resurrection, tells the _Romans, that if the Spirit of him, who raised Jesus from the dead, dwelt in them, he that raised Christ from the dead would also quicken their mortal bodies by his Spirit, that dwelled in them_; where he evidently refers to _Jesus_, the Son of God; raised from the Dead; to the _Spirit_ of God, by which he was raised; and to _him_ that raised _Jesus_, and at the last great day shall raise all others, in whom his Spirit dwells. The same apostle, to satisfy the _Corinthians_ of the benefits of their _conversion_, after having enumerated several ranks of sinners, _and_ such _were some of you_, says he, _but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God_, _i. e._ God the Father. It cannot be denied that _Sanctification_ and _Justification_ are the gifts of God alone; for none can absolve us from the Guilt and pollution of sin, but he only: But then the Apostle tells the _Corinthians_, that this benefit they received not only from God the _Father_, but from the _Lord Jesus_ likewise, and from the Holy Spirit: Analogous to which is that other Passage in the same epistle; _There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit_, (there is the _third_ Person in the Trinity) _there are differences of Administration, but the same Lord_, (there is the _second_ Person) _and there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God_, (or _first_ person in the _Trinity_) _that worketh all in all_. Once more, the same Apostle, in his prayer for the _Thessalonians_, directs his devotion to the ever blessed Trinity: _Now God himself, even our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you, and the Lord_, (_i. e._ the Holy Ghost) _make you to increase and abound in love one towards another_: For that by the _Lord_ we are here to understand the Holy Ghost, I think is very plain from the next verse; ‘_to the end, that he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints_;’ since he is the _Sanctifier_, and to _establish our hearts in holiness_ is his proper work and office: And if so, then is there a plain _enumeration_ of the three Persons of the _Trinity_ in this passage.

“The great Apostle of the _Jews_ begins his first Epistle _general_ to his _dispersed_ Brethren with a declaration of the same article, when he calls them _elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through Sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus_; for there we may observe, that the three _Persons_ are not only expressly _named_, but their distinct _employments_, with reference to man’s salvation, are particularly _specified_, while the Father is said to _elect_, the Spirit to _sanctify_, and the holy Jesus to _shed his blood_. The beloved Apostle _St. John_, in his _Salutation_ to the Churches, _Grace, and Peace from him, which is, and which was, and which is to come, and from the seven spirits which are before his Throne, and from Jesus Christ_ has given us a distinct enumeration of the three Persons in the Deity, if we will but admit, (as most interpreters have done) that by the _Seven Spirits_, which was a _sacred_ number among the _Jews_, that _one_ Person (_viz._ the Holy Ghost) is to be understood, from whom all that variety of gifts and operations, which were then conspicuous in the Christian Church, did proceed. But however this be, ’tis certain, that the passage in his Epistle of the _Three which bear record in Heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost_, are as full and plain a _Testimony_ and declaration of this _Mystery_, as can be cited in words; and though some have endeavoured to invalidate the authority of this passage, as not extant in some ancient copies, and seldom appealed to by the first defenders of the catholick faith against the _Arians_ and _Macedonians_, yet the contrary to this is most evident. _Tertullian_, _St. Cyprian_, and _Fulgentius_ quote it in their writings: _Athanasius_ made use of it in the council of _Nice_ against _Arius_; and the reason why it was left out in some ancient copies _Socrates_ acquaints us with in his _Ecclesiastical_ history, when he tells us, ‘That the _Christian_ Church had all along complained, that the Epistle of _St. John_ had been corrupted by the first adversaries of the doctrine of Christ’s divinity.’ ’Twas by their artifice therefore that it was omitted; for several learned pens, both of our own and other churches, have made it very manifest, that it was[94] _originally_ in the text, and that the most and ancientest _copies_ always had it.

“But we need not be so tenacious of one _text_, when, besides these already mentioned, and many more that might be produced upon a farther enquiry, the very form of our _admission_ into the Christian covenant is _in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost_; the form of our _prayers_ is thus directed, that _through the Son we have an access by one Spirit to the Father_; and the form of our _dismission_ from them is, every day, with this _benediction_, _The grace of the Lord Jesus, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore_; as if the Wisdom of God had intended to inculcate this notion of the _Trinity_, and, in every act of our religious worship, to remind us of the manner of his _subsistence_.

“Thus it appears that there are _Three_, very often occurring in scripture, under the different appellations of _Father_, _Son_, and _Holy Ghost_: and that these three are not _one_ and the _same Being_, under _different respects_ and considerations, but _three_ real and distinct _persons_, with a _peculiar_ manner of _subsisting_, is plain from the very names of _Father_, _Son_, and _Holy Ghost_, if we understand them in a proper and natural sense; because these are opposite _relations_, which can never meet in the same _subject_: for a _Father_ cannot be Father to himself, but to his _Son_; nor can a _Son_ be Son to himself, but to his _Father_; nor can the Holy Ghost _proceed_ from himself, or (in this sense) be his own _Spirit_, but the Spirit of the Father, and Son, from whom he proceeds: and therefore the Father is not the Son, nor the Holy Spirit; nor the Son the Father, or Holy Spirit; nor the Holy Spirit either Father or Son. The only question is, whether these _names_, when spoken of the Trinity have a _proper_ and _natural_, or only an _allusive_ and _metaphorical_ signification.

“The divine nature and perfections indeed, (as they are far exalted above our conception) may be brought down by _metaphors_, taken from some things, that are _analagous_ in creatures; in which sense we may allow _Father_ and _Son_ to be _metaphorical_ names, when applied to God: not that God the Father is not, in the highest and most perfect sense, a Father, and his Son a most proper, natural, and genuine Son; but because the _divine generation_ is so perfect a communication of the divine nature and being from Father to Son, that _human generations_ are but obscure and imperfect _images_ and resemblances of it. The truth is, when any thing is spoken _metaphorically_ of God, the metaphor and image are always in the _creatures_; the truth, perfection, and reality of all, in _God_: and if so, then if God be a Father, and have a Son, an only-begotten Son, begotten eternally of himself; though this eternal generation be infinitely above what we can imagine or conceive, yet it is evident, that God the Father is more _properly_ and _perfectly_ a Father, and God the Son more properly and perfectly a Son, than any earthly fathers or sons ever were. And if God the Father and his Son be truly and perfectly Father and Son, they must be truly and perfectly _distinct_ beings; for the Father cannot be the Son whom he _begets_; nor the Son the Father that _begat_ him; nor the Holy Ghost either the Father or the Son, from whom he _proceeds_: consequently, they must be distinct, and real, and proper _persons_; for he that _begets_, and he that is _begotten_, and he that _proceeds_ from both, cannot be one and the same person.