In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost: the Father is of none, neither begotten, not proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son (The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 2, Article 3).
To make sure we clearly see what the confession is saying let me put it like this:
One God, three Persons:
The Father - of none, not begotton, not proceeding
The Son - eternally begotton of the Father
The Spirit - eternally proceeding from the Father and Son
Many years ago I began reading something on the Trinity. I did not understand it and to a certain degree was disturbed by it. I had not heard it taught in any church I had attended. Fearing that it might be error I put it aside and moved on to something else.
In recent years I have greatly benefited from the teaching of John Piper on the Scripture. At one point in his instruction he spoke of the Trinity and referred to the teaching of Jonathan Edwards. It was then that I came to realize that what I had set aside years earlier was this same material by Edwards. In the providence of God, what I could not previously grasp has recently become joy to my innermost being as I meditate and marvel upon it. And be assured, my present understanding of it would have to be juvenile and lacking maturity, for who is it that in this world can begin to grasp the more exquisite perfections of an infinite God? Yet the child of God now has a heart that longs for and feasts upon God Himself.
So I am indebted to Jonathan Edwards and John Piper for much of what follows. This is my feeble attempt to put into my own words the wealth they have mined from the Scriptures and upon which I have benefited. I direct the reader to Jonathan Edward’s “Essay on the Trinity” (which can be downloaded at monergism.com) and John Piper’s discussion found in pages 34 to 45 of his must-read book, “The Pleasures of God” (desiringgod.org).
As the above confession states, God the Father “is of none.”
He is that He is. There is nothing that we can compare Him to for He asks rhetorically, “To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?” (Is. 40:18). He is completely and totally other. He is not like anything created. No image made by man is permitted.
Consider briefly the image you have of yourself. I am not referring to the image that you see of your physical body in the mirror, but the mental image that you behold of yourself. This would be who you consider yourself to be. For instance you might consider yourself doing what is right, helpful to others, happy, performing a good job, living a good life - just an all around nice person. The problem that you would have with your image is that it is flawed. All humans have a sin nature that corrupts the way they understand themselves. Our intention at seeing ourselves properly might possibly be good but our ability at doing so is impossible. Only God can see us as we truly are. The point I desire to make is that even if we know that we are ungodly sinners we can never imagine how corrupt we are in and of ourselves. I cannot truly know myself. My image of myself is insufficient and thus my image of myself is false and does not exist in reality. Such an image is worthless and undesirable.
God the Father does not have this problem. He is cognizant of Himself in a perfect manner. He understands His existence. He knows His worth. The depths of Himself is not tarnished in anyway as He beholds Himself. The beauty of His total otherness is always before Him. The Father sees His excellence in a faultless and precise manner. The image He has of Himself is true. It is not fake, but factual. It is not artificial, but genuine. It is not tainted, but pure. He knows exactly who He is and sees Himself as such.
The Father beholding Himself in a perfect manner is real and eternal. Seeing Himself perfectly yields an image that is not a thing created but is of His own essence. The image is not an it but is such of the Father Himself that it is He who is “the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person” (Heb. 1:3). The image is the exact representation of the Father. The very nature of the Father is the very nature of His image. All that the Father is, the image is. He is such of the Father and yet distinct, being His own Person. Thus the image or expression or brightness of glory or exact representation is the second Person of the Trinity, fully Deity, the eternal begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ (Col. 1:15, 2:9; II Cor. 4:4).
The Father beholds His Son and He sees one who is infinitely glorious and beautiful, an eternal treasure of value and worth that is unmatched. In like manner, the Son beholds the Father and sees unrivaled perfection and majesty, a cascade of magnificence and glory. God beholds God and treasures He who is most valuable: God. Thus, in all eternity, the Father and the Son involve themselves in adoring, delighting in and rejoicing in each other. “Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him” (Prov. 8:30). The gospels are full of the declarations of love the Father has for the Son and the Son’s declarations of love to the Father through the obedience to His will (e.g. John 5:20, 30).
The love, adoration, delight, joy, admiration flowing from the Father to the Son and the Son to the Father is not a created thing but is of the same essence as God. It proceeds forth from one to the other in infinite power. It is such of God yet distinct from the Father and Son, but of the same substance. This holy proceeding of blessed blessedness from the Father to the Son and Son to the Father is such of each so as to be Deity itself. As such, being of the same substance, yet distinct, this proceeding is not an it but a Person, the third Person of the Trinity, the incomparable Spirit of God.
The Holy Spirit is such adoration and blessedness proceeding between the Father and the Son and He cannot be contained by time or space. He is of such glory that He fills all in all. Thus David ask rhetorically, “Whither shall I go from thy spirit?” (Ps. 139:7).
There are many metaphors used in scripture to identify the Spirit of God. Some are wind (Acts 2:2), wine (Matt. 9:17), oil (Ps. 23:5), fire (Acts 2:3,4) breath (John 20:22) and a dove (Luke 3:22). Perhaps a most noted one is the river of water of life found in Rev. 22:1. “And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” This is the river that, when granted to the people of God, flows forth from their innermost being. As Jesus said, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:38, 39). Elsewhere this is called “the river of thy (God’s) pleasures” and “the fountain of life” (Ps. 36:8,9). It is of this water or river or fountain that the one who thirsts is told to come and take freely. “and let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17).
In Matt. 7:11, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” we see that it is the Father that gives “good things” to those asking. In a parallel passage, Luke 11:13, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” it is the Father giving the “Holy Spirit” to those asking. The “good things” appear to be synonymous to the “Holy Spirit.” I suspect the good things spoken of in Matt. 7:11 would be the love, adoration, excellency, joy, delight, etc. that proceeds from the Father and the Son. That “proceeding” is the Holy Spirit spoken of in the parallel passage of Luke 11:13.
It is common of Paul in his letters to desire grace and peace from the Father and the Son to the recipients of his letters, e.g., “To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 1:7). It is noteworthy that the Holy Spirit is not included. However, consider such a place as II Cor. 13:14. “ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.” The blessing of the Holy Spirit is Himself, the taking part of His Being in communion.
John tells us in I John 1:3 that he declares the truth to us “that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” There is no fellowship with the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is the fellowship Himself. The elect are “partakers of the divine nature” (II Peter 1:4). They have received “the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Gal. 3:14).
That Spirit of mutual adoration between the Father and the Son, Himself being fully God, inhabits the believer. He fills the believer with Himself - love, joy, delight and adoration of the Father and the Son. He is the communion, participation, fellowship, sharing, joining in of the Father and the Son. Thus every believer is joined together in this fellowship one with another as well as with the Father and Son.
Lest I have been a source of confusion or have muddied someone’s water, let me go to Jonathan Edwards to state this doctrine of the Trinity more clearly and succinctly:
I seek to comprehend the incomprehensible. What beauty the Son is to the Father. What loveliness the Father is to the Son. Each beholds the other in eternal delight and love. The worth, the value of each cannot be surpassed. There is sheer ecstasy one for the other. That ecstasy is the Spirit of the Father and Son.
How is it that God can set His love on certain of mankind if He is so passionate about Himself? If it were possible, and of course it is not, for God to love someone more than Himself, He would commit idolatry. God’s love must and will always be centered on Himself. He does all things for His own Name’s sake (Ezek. 20:44), for His own glory (Phil. 2:11). God’s love for mankind is secondary. God’s love for man will never place man above God. He will not give His glory to another (Is. 48:11). God will not make much of someone else. No one will be exalted above Him (I Chr. 29:11).
The Father’s love for Himself in the person of His Son is a love of delight and pleasure in that which is excellent and beautiful. The love of God for mankind is a love involving mercy and grace that makes provision for fallen man to share in the love of that which is excellent and beautiful, i.e., God Himself.
To be loved by God is not to be made much of, but to be made such that you know and make much of God. It is to be directed to the place where there is “fullness of joy” and “pleasures for evermore,” the very presence of God (Ps. 16:11). It is to be placed in such a position that you “rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (I Pet. 1:8) and “shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (I Pet. 2:9).
When one is found to be redeemed by Jesus Christ, that one is known to be loved. And that love is not to exalt the one loved. It is for the one loved to be caught up in the love, joy, delight, admiration, etc. that flows between the Father and the Son and to participate, commune, share and take part in it. That one is said to be indwelt by the Spirit of God. “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Rom. 8:9). “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit” (I John 4:13).
In conclusion I first quote Jonathan Edwards:
Father, fill my soul with the inconceivable ecstasy that flows between You and Your Son: the non-contained Spirit of God. Amen.
To make sure we clearly see what the confession is saying let me put it like this:
One God, three Persons:
The Father - of none, not begotton, not proceeding
The Son - eternally begotton of the Father
The Spirit - eternally proceeding from the Father and Son
Many years ago I began reading something on the Trinity. I did not understand it and to a certain degree was disturbed by it. I had not heard it taught in any church I had attended. Fearing that it might be error I put it aside and moved on to something else.
In recent years I have greatly benefited from the teaching of John Piper on the Scripture. At one point in his instruction he spoke of the Trinity and referred to the teaching of Jonathan Edwards. It was then that I came to realize that what I had set aside years earlier was this same material by Edwards. In the providence of God, what I could not previously grasp has recently become joy to my innermost being as I meditate and marvel upon it. And be assured, my present understanding of it would have to be juvenile and lacking maturity, for who is it that in this world can begin to grasp the more exquisite perfections of an infinite God? Yet the child of God now has a heart that longs for and feasts upon God Himself.
So I am indebted to Jonathan Edwards and John Piper for much of what follows. This is my feeble attempt to put into my own words the wealth they have mined from the Scriptures and upon which I have benefited. I direct the reader to Jonathan Edward’s “Essay on the Trinity” (which can be downloaded at monergism.com) and John Piper’s discussion found in pages 34 to 45 of his must-read book, “The Pleasures of God” (desiringgod.org).
As the above confession states, God the Father “is of none.”
He is that He is. There is nothing that we can compare Him to for He asks rhetorically, “To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?” (Is. 40:18). He is completely and totally other. He is not like anything created. No image made by man is permitted.
Consider briefly the image you have of yourself. I am not referring to the image that you see of your physical body in the mirror, but the mental image that you behold of yourself. This would be who you consider yourself to be. For instance you might consider yourself doing what is right, helpful to others, happy, performing a good job, living a good life - just an all around nice person. The problem that you would have with your image is that it is flawed. All humans have a sin nature that corrupts the way they understand themselves. Our intention at seeing ourselves properly might possibly be good but our ability at doing so is impossible. Only God can see us as we truly are. The point I desire to make is that even if we know that we are ungodly sinners we can never imagine how corrupt we are in and of ourselves. I cannot truly know myself. My image of myself is insufficient and thus my image of myself is false and does not exist in reality. Such an image is worthless and undesirable.
God the Father does not have this problem. He is cognizant of Himself in a perfect manner. He understands His existence. He knows His worth. The depths of Himself is not tarnished in anyway as He beholds Himself. The beauty of His total otherness is always before Him. The Father sees His excellence in a faultless and precise manner. The image He has of Himself is true. It is not fake, but factual. It is not artificial, but genuine. It is not tainted, but pure. He knows exactly who He is and sees Himself as such.
The Father beholding Himself in a perfect manner is real and eternal. Seeing Himself perfectly yields an image that is not a thing created but is of His own essence. The image is not an it but is such of the Father Himself that it is He who is “the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person” (Heb. 1:3). The image is the exact representation of the Father. The very nature of the Father is the very nature of His image. All that the Father is, the image is. He is such of the Father and yet distinct, being His own Person. Thus the image or expression or brightness of glory or exact representation is the second Person of the Trinity, fully Deity, the eternal begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ (Col. 1:15, 2:9; II Cor. 4:4).
The Father beholds His Son and He sees one who is infinitely glorious and beautiful, an eternal treasure of value and worth that is unmatched. In like manner, the Son beholds the Father and sees unrivaled perfection and majesty, a cascade of magnificence and glory. God beholds God and treasures He who is most valuable: God. Thus, in all eternity, the Father and the Son involve themselves in adoring, delighting in and rejoicing in each other. “Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him” (Prov. 8:30). The gospels are full of the declarations of love the Father has for the Son and the Son’s declarations of love to the Father through the obedience to His will (e.g. John 5:20, 30).
The love, adoration, delight, joy, admiration flowing from the Father to the Son and the Son to the Father is not a created thing but is of the same essence as God. It proceeds forth from one to the other in infinite power. It is such of God yet distinct from the Father and Son, but of the same substance. This holy proceeding of blessed blessedness from the Father to the Son and Son to the Father is such of each so as to be Deity itself. As such, being of the same substance, yet distinct, this proceeding is not an it but a Person, the third Person of the Trinity, the incomparable Spirit of God.
The Holy Spirit is such adoration and blessedness proceeding between the Father and the Son and He cannot be contained by time or space. He is of such glory that He fills all in all. Thus David ask rhetorically, “Whither shall I go from thy spirit?” (Ps. 139:7).
There are many metaphors used in scripture to identify the Spirit of God. Some are wind (Acts 2:2), wine (Matt. 9:17), oil (Ps. 23:5), fire (Acts 2:3,4) breath (John 20:22) and a dove (Luke 3:22). Perhaps a most noted one is the river of water of life found in Rev. 22:1. “And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” This is the river that, when granted to the people of God, flows forth from their innermost being. As Jesus said, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:38, 39). Elsewhere this is called “the river of thy (God’s) pleasures” and “the fountain of life” (Ps. 36:8,9). It is of this water or river or fountain that the one who thirsts is told to come and take freely. “and let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17).
In Matt. 7:11, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” we see that it is the Father that gives “good things” to those asking. In a parallel passage, Luke 11:13, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” it is the Father giving the “Holy Spirit” to those asking. The “good things” appear to be synonymous to the “Holy Spirit.” I suspect the good things spoken of in Matt. 7:11 would be the love, adoration, excellency, joy, delight, etc. that proceeds from the Father and the Son. That “proceeding” is the Holy Spirit spoken of in the parallel passage of Luke 11:13.
It is common of Paul in his letters to desire grace and peace from the Father and the Son to the recipients of his letters, e.g., “To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 1:7). It is noteworthy that the Holy Spirit is not included. However, consider such a place as II Cor. 13:14. “ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.” The blessing of the Holy Spirit is Himself, the taking part of His Being in communion.
John tells us in I John 1:3 that he declares the truth to us “that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” There is no fellowship with the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is the fellowship Himself. The elect are “partakers of the divine nature” (II Peter 1:4). They have received “the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Gal. 3:14).
That Spirit of mutual adoration between the Father and the Son, Himself being fully God, inhabits the believer. He fills the believer with Himself - love, joy, delight and adoration of the Father and the Son. He is the communion, participation, fellowship, sharing, joining in of the Father and the Son. Thus every believer is joined together in this fellowship one with another as well as with the Father and Son.
Lest I have been a source of confusion or have muddied someone’s water, let me go to Jonathan Edwards to state this doctrine of the Trinity more clearly and succinctly:
And this I suppose to be that blessed Trinity that we read of in the Holy Scriptures. The Father is the Deity subsisting in the prime, un-originated and most absolute manner, or the Deity in its direct existence. The Son is the Deity generated by God’s understanding, or having an idea of Himself and subsisting in that idea. The Holy Ghost is the Deity subsisting in act, or the Divine essence flowing out and breathed forth in God’s Infinite love to and delight in Himself. And I believe the whole Divine essence does truly and distinctly subsist both in the Divine idea and Divine love, and that each of them are properly distinct Persons.There is also good instruction in Edward’s discussion of the honor of the individual Person’s of the Trinity:
They are equal in honor: besides the honor which is common to them all, viz., that they are all God, each has His peculiar honor in the society or family. They are equal not only in essence, but the Father’s honor is that He is, as it were, the Author of perfect and Infinite wisdom. The Son’s honor is that He is that perfect and Divine wisdom itself the excellency of which is that from whence arises the honor of being the author or Generator of it. The honor of the Father and the Son is that they are infinitely excellent, or that from them infinite excellency proceeds; but the honor of the Holy Ghost is equal for He is that Divine excellency and beauty itself.For my part, I have written thus far knowing that I am not sufficient or adequate for such things (II Cor. 2:16). Yet I am driven by the joy of seeing, yet only through a glass, darkly (I Cor. 13:12). And that joy of seeing is the Holy Spirit, the communion of the Father and the Son. For what other joy would compare?
‘Tis the honor of the Father and the Son that they are infinitely holy and are the fountain of holiness, but the honor of the Holy Ghost is that holiness itself. The honor of the Father and the Son is [that] they are infinitely happy and are the original and fountain of happiness and the honor of the Holy Ghost is equal for He is infinite happiness and joy itself.
The honor of the Father is that He is the fountain of the Deity as He from Whom proceed both the Divine wisdom and also excellency and happiness. The honor of the Son is equal for He is Himself the Divine wisdom and is He from Whom proceeds the Divine excellency and happiness, and the honor of the Holy Ghost is equal for He is the beauty and happiness of both the other Persons.
I seek to comprehend the incomprehensible. What beauty the Son is to the Father. What loveliness the Father is to the Son. Each beholds the other in eternal delight and love. The worth, the value of each cannot be surpassed. There is sheer ecstasy one for the other. That ecstasy is the Spirit of the Father and Son.
How is it that God can set His love on certain of mankind if He is so passionate about Himself? If it were possible, and of course it is not, for God to love someone more than Himself, He would commit idolatry. God’s love must and will always be centered on Himself. He does all things for His own Name’s sake (Ezek. 20:44), for His own glory (Phil. 2:11). God’s love for mankind is secondary. God’s love for man will never place man above God. He will not give His glory to another (Is. 48:11). God will not make much of someone else. No one will be exalted above Him (I Chr. 29:11).
The Father’s love for Himself in the person of His Son is a love of delight and pleasure in that which is excellent and beautiful. The love of God for mankind is a love involving mercy and grace that makes provision for fallen man to share in the love of that which is excellent and beautiful, i.e., God Himself.
To be loved by God is not to be made much of, but to be made such that you know and make much of God. It is to be directed to the place where there is “fullness of joy” and “pleasures for evermore,” the very presence of God (Ps. 16:11). It is to be placed in such a position that you “rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (I Pet. 1:8) and “shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (I Pet. 2:9).
When one is found to be redeemed by Jesus Christ, that one is known to be loved. And that love is not to exalt the one loved. It is for the one loved to be caught up in the love, joy, delight, admiration, etc. that flows between the Father and the Son and to participate, commune, share and take part in it. That one is said to be indwelt by the Spirit of God. “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Rom. 8:9). “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit” (I John 4:13).
In conclusion I first quote Jonathan Edwards:
So that it is God of Whom our good is purchased and it is God that purchases it and it is God also that is the thing purchased.And secondly I quote John Piper:
This is the soul’s end - the blessing beyond which no better can be imagined or conceived: an infinite, eternal, mutual, holy energy of love and pleasure between God the Father and God the Son flowing out in the Person of God the Spirit, and filling the souls of the redeemed with immeasurable and everlasting joy (The Pleasures of God, pg. 311 - 312).Thus, herein is the beginning of my joy in considering the Trinity, the God who is all in all (I Cor. 15:28).
Father, fill my soul with the inconceivable ecstasy that flows between You and Your Son: the non-contained Spirit of God. Amen.
