The Doctrine of the Trinity (3)

The doctrine of the Trinity forms the heart of the Christian confession. There has been much strife in the early church regarding it. Calvin, in his day, took up his pen against Servetus, who denied the Trinity. This doctrine also has great practical meaning. We wish to consider it somewhat further in two articles.

When we open the Bible, there are quite a few places where the significance of the Trinity comes to the foreground. Let us read Ephesians 1. Paul begins with a salutation wherein he names the grace and peace “from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” Thereafter, he first points to God the Father and His work. God the Father “hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). In connection with this, Paul also points to the choosing “us in Him before the foundation of the world.” The Father has chosen His elect congregation already in eternity. For Paul this was reason for praise and thanksgiving. Subsequently, Paul points to the person of Christ. In

Subsequently, Paul points to the person of Christ. In verse 6 He is called the Beloved (by the Father, marginal note 19). Thereafter, he points to the redemption through His blood and on the same occasion of God’s image in us whereby, in time, the congregation is gathered together both of Jews and Gentiles (verse 10).

Paul also points to the work of the Holy Spirit. We read that the Ephesians had been “sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.” The writer of the marginal notes remarks upon the words “the sealing of the Spirit,” that it is “the regeneration or renewing of God’s image in us whereby He endows and imprints our souls so that when we believe in Christ He assures us more and more of the fulfillment of these His promises.”

The sealing of the Spirit is, according to the marginal notes, confirmed in our soul with an internal godly voice whereby we dare to call upon God as our Father and to hope in eternal glory with God (marginal note 46).

Paul, therefore, points to the three godly Persons and declares that they have great significance in the life of faith. That is a thought which we can find in all of the apostolic epistles. In Colossians 1:12 we read, for example, “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.”

Our catechism

When we study our confessions, we read in the Heidelberg Catechism that we think of God the Father and believe in our creation. Considering God the Son, we know and believe in our deliverance, and when we consider the Holy Spirit, we consider our sanctification. Sanctification refers to a complete renewal from quickening to glorification. The Spirit which begins its work in the quickening or rebirth of the sinner also continues it. The believers are more and more renewed in the image of God. In Romans 8:29, the apostle points to the fact that God’s children “whom He did foreknow, He did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” The believers, therefore, are all made conformable to the image of Christ.

That conformity is especially seen in the living of a holy life and in the glorification which shall follow thereupon (marginal note 80, Romans 8). Subsequently, our Catechism pursues the explanation of the practical significance of the Trinity in the Lord’s Days which follow very concretely and personally.

The questions of the catechism are directed to the heart and to the strengthening of saving faith. It is for this reason that there are questions such as, “What advantage is it for us to know that God has created, and by His providence doth still uphold all things?” (Question 28). The answer is the language of true faith that has a well-founded expectation upon our faithful God and Father and that in all things which may hereafter befall us, nothing shall separate us from His love and promises. In this expectation the soul of God’s child receives comfort and strength in all circumstances of life.

Confession of faith

The practical language of the Bible and of the catechism can also be found in the Confession of Faith. There we read that we know of the Trinity from the testimony of the Holy Scriptures. That is the primary source from which these deep mysteries are revealed. Outside of Scripture we cannot have any knowledge about a Triune God.

In addition to that, we also read of the knowledge of the three godly persons in their operations and, especially, as we note them within us. What is meant with that we hope to explain further in a subsequent article. p

(To be continued)

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