Wednesday, June 2, 2010
John 16:15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.
THE TRIUNE GOD: THE GOD OF OUR SALVATION
The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. Yet there is only one God. The Father, the Son and the Spirit are not each 1/3 God. Each is fully God, yet there is but one God. The Father, the Son and the Spirit are not three "faces" of God but God is eternally Father, Son and Spirit all the time -- Three in One.
Taken by itself the Bible doctrine of the Trinity may seem cold, with little to say to real people with real problems. But that isn't how Jesus sees it. On the night of His betrayal, when His disciples are in emotional crisis, Jesus calms their hearts by promising the Spirit's coming and describing His work as it relates to the Father and the Son.
For as the Spirit enables the disciples to clearly see the Father's plan of salvation and believe the Son's fulfillment of it through His life and death in our place, their doubts and fears will be laid to rest. Then they will see how the events of Jesus' life -- including its unimaginable conclusion, His death and resurrection -- fit together as divine promise made history. Then they will know the depth of God's love and find security in it. Then they will know their own mission and be equipped for it. Then, in Christ, they will be ready for life or death every day.
Jesus talks about the doctrine of the Trinity when His disciples are deeply distressed because what He says about Himself and the Spirit and the Father is not some obscure theological puzzle. Rather Jesus here reveals the very heart of the eternal God: the Triune God is the God of salvation.
