Day 8: What is God? part 4 - The Trinity

Larger Catechism Questions 9-11, Confession chapter 2, section 3

Q. 9. How many persons are there in the Godhead?
A. 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 in substance, equal in power and glory; although distinguished by their personal properties.^l

Q. 10. What are the personal properties of the three persons in the Godhead?
A. It is proper to the Father to beget the Son,^m and to the Son to be begotten of the Father,ⁿ and to the Holy Ghost to proceed from the Father and the Son from all eternity.^o

Q. 11. How doth it appear that the Son and the Holy Ghost are God equal with the Father?
A. The Scriptures manifest that the Son and the Holy Ghost are God equal with the Father, ascribing unto them such names,^p attributes,^q works,^r and worship,^s as are proper to God only.

---

Q. 9. How many persons are there in the Godhead?
A. 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 in substance, equal in power and glory; although distinguished by their personal properties.^l
l 1 John 5:7. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
Matthew 3:16-17. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Matthew 28:19. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
2 Corinthians 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.
John 10:30. I and my Father are one.

Q. 10. What are the personal properties of the three persons in the Godhead?
A. It is proper to the Father to beget the Son,^m
m Hebrews 1:5-6, 8. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? And again, when he bringeth in the first-begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. ver.8 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.

and to the Son to be begotten of the Father,ⁿ
n John 1:14, 18. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.... No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

and to the Holy Ghost to proceed from the Father and the Son from all eternity.^o
o John 15:26. But 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.
Galatians 4:6. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Q. 11. How doth it appear that the Son and the Holy Ghost are God equal with the Father?
A. The Scriptures manifest that the Son and the Holy Ghost are God equal with the Father, ascribing unto them such names [as are proper to God only],^p
p Isaiah 6:3, 5, 8. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. ver.5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. ver.8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
compared with John 12:41. These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.
And with Acts 28:25. And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers.
1 John 5:20. And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
Acts 5:3-4. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? ver.4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

attributes [as are proper to God only],^q
q John 1:1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Isaiah 9:6. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
John 2:24-25. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.
1 Corinthians 2:10-11. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. ver.11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

works,^r [as are proper to God only]
r Colossians 1:16. For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.
Genesis 1:2. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

and worship,^s as are proper to God only.
s Matthew 28:19. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
2 Corinthians 13:14. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

---

III. 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.o
o (I John 5:7)
Matthew 3:16-17 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
II Corinthians 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 Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; p
p John 1:14,18 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son. q
q John 15:26 But 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.
Galatians 4:6 And Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

End of Lesson, Day 8

---

Gordon H. Clark (1902–1985), in his 1965 commentary on the Westminster Confession, makes these observations:

While sections i and ii describe a basic monotheism, which, with many proof texts from the Old Testament, could largely and perhaps altogether be accepted by a devout Jew, section iii has to do with the Trinity.

This trinitarian third section is very short. In fact, those who wish to rewrite the creeds would do better to consider expanding here rather than contracting elsewhere. The doctrine of the Trinity centers in the deity of Christ. The personality of the Spirit and the relations among the Persons are included, but surely it is not in­correct to say that the deity of Christ forms the center.

Naturally the theologians who followed Hegel and denied the personality of God also denied the deity of Christ. This denial was somewhat obscured in the minds of the too naive and trusting orthodox by the use (in English) of the term divinity instead of deity. This latter term came into use near the beginning of the twentieth century in order to dispel the smoke screen the mod­ernists had laid down. Historically the phrase “divinity of Christ” meant that Jesus was God. But the modernists used it in a novel sense.

Controlled by a pantheistic construction of the immanence of God, they could speak about a spark of divinity in every man. On this basis they assured any suspicious questioner that they did indeed believe in the divinity of Christ.

More recently the unbelievers have been using the phrase “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.” This is, of course, a good Scriptural phrase; but when detached from its context and given a non-biblical setting, it becomes a phrase that can be said of any man. God is in every man, obviously he was in Jesus too. Indeed, God was in Jesus to a greater degree and made a larger use of this good man than is the case with other people; but none of this pious phraseology means that Jesus is the second Person of the Trinity.

On the whole, however, the controversies of this century in American churches did not very explicitly or very publicly discuss the Trinity as such. For example, in 1924 more than 1200 Presbyterian ministers, over their signatures, issued a document, the Auburn Affirmation, which denied the inerrancy of Scripture and asserted that the Virgin Birth, the Atonement, and the Resurrection were not essential parts of Christianity. Some of these men, I know for a fact, believed in the deity of Christ. And therefore it might seem that this latter doctrine was not called into question.

Nevertheless a religion in which Christ was not virgin born, did not suffer the penalty due us for sin, and did not rise from the dead, is such a distorted form of Christianity-—or, better, is not a form of Christianity at all—that one can hardly believe that the doctrine of the Trinity has remained intact.

Another example is found in the hymn book of the Disciples’ denomination. They have rewritten “Holy, Holy, Holy,” so as to exclude all reference to “God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity.” A defense that is offered for such disconcerting editing is that the doctrine of the Trinity is based more on pagan Greek philosophy than on the Scriptures. But such a defense can be credited only by those who are ignorant of the extensive Scriptural arguments in the writings of Athanasius. Some ignorance of Greek philosophy also helps.

By mid-century the attack on the Trinity took a different form. Instead of arguing against the doctrine, as an honest Uni­tarian might do, the new fashion is to declare loudly that the doctrine of the Trinity expresses a deep and abiding truth. Of course the words of the Confession cannot be taken literally, but they must be understood as symbolic. They are like a map, which is not the road itself.

This is the line taken by Reinhold Niebuhr in Faith and History. On page 165 he writes, “Trinitarian definitions are indeed embarrassing rationally [that is, they make no sense]; but they are necessary to embody what is known about the character of God as apprehended in faith’s recognition of the revelation of divine mercy [and this makes less sense] .... [Theistic interpretations of the Trinity] acknowledge that the world we know points beyond itself to a creative ground.”

This last phrase makes some sense. It apparently means that when we speak of the Godhead as consisting of three persons, of whom Jesus is the second, we really mean nothing more than that the world requires a creative ground—whatever “creative ground” may mean.

Although the present temper of the churches with their doctrinal laxity and ecumenical obsession does not issue in explicit attacks on the Trinity, it would be a mistake to conclude that this doctrine more than others enjoys uniform acceptance. Whether the Virgin Birth is rejected as an impossible biological miracle, or whether creeds are eviscerated by making them symbolic, pointers, or myths, the very nature of the Godhead is called into question.

An attack against a citadel is not always frontal. Sometimes the outer defenses are first put out of commission, one by one; sometimes the foundations are undermined; sometimes the supplies are cut off. This is not to suggest that all those who attack some doctrine or other intend to weaken their testimony to the deity of Christ. It does not even imply that all those who deny the Virgin Birth are conscious enemies of trinitarianism. The ecclesiastical situation is similar to the political, where many Americans have advocated this or that part of communistic propaganda with­out knowing its source and aims.

But put the question thus: If the Virgin Birth is not an his­torical event, and if the body of Christ did not come out of the tomb, and if the Scriptures are often in error, what hope is there of long maintaining the deity of Christ? Indeed, can one be said truly to believe in Christ if he denies these things? The New Testament does not present us with a mere name, but with a real person who did things. Suppose one should say, I believe Napoleon was a real historical character who actually lived; but I reject the legendary accretions which say he put an end to the French revolution, became Emperor, fought Spain, Italy, Austria, invaded Russia, lost the battle of Waterloo, and was exiled on St. Helena. But of course, I firmly believe in Napoleon!

Is this any more silly than to say, I believe in Jesus Christ, but of course miracles are impossible and the story of the resurrection is a kerygmatic myth?

There is either one Christ or there is none. If Jesus was not the eternal Son of God, equal in power and glory with the Father, then let’s have done with all talk about Christianity. Let us admit honestly that we are Unitarians, Jews, Buddhists, or humanists. But not Christians. For the historical Jesus said, Upon this rock, of the deity of Christ, I will build my Church. Some other organization may call itself a church, but it is not His.