GOD-TRINITY
Indeed, the
existence of fellowship within the Trinity (John 17:23-24) makes it evident
that the creation of mankind was not intended to meet some deficiency in
God. God was not lonely, bored, or
incomplete before he created humanity. God is perfect in himself, happy in the
fellowship and love that exist from all eternity between the Father, Son, and
Spirit. Thus, rather than being an attempt to make up for a lack within the
Trinity, God created mankind simply because he delights in sharing himself as
an expression of his overflowing self-sufficiency.
The God of Promise and the Life of
Faith. Crossway Books, 2001, p. 32.
Bring me a
worm that can comprehend a man, and then I will show you a man that can
comprehend the triune God.
John Wesley
The word
"Trinity" is never used, nor is the doctrine of Trinitarianism
ever explicitly taught in the Scriptures, but Trinitarianism
is the best explanation of the biblical evidence. The theological exposition of
the doctrine arose from clear…scriptural teaching. It is a crucial doctrine for
Christianity because it focuses on who God is, and particularly on the deity of
Jesus Christ. Because Trinitarianism is not taught
explicitly in the Scriptures, the study of the doctrine is an exercise in
putting together biblical themes and data through a systematic theological
study and through looking at the historical development of the present orthodox
view of what the biblical presentation of the Trinity is.
H. Wayne House
Charts of Christian Theology and Doctrine,
Zondervan, 1992, p. 48.
The
Trinity is revealed to us only in the Bible. God has revealed some things to us
through nature and through conscience. But the Trinity is not among them. This
He has revealed to us by supernatural revelation and by supernatural revelation
alone.
J. Gresham Machen
The Christian Faith in the Modern
World, 1936.
The
New Testament is just as much opposed as the Old Testament is to the thought
that there are more Gods than one. Yet the New Testament with equal clearness
teaches that the Father is God and the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God,
and that these three are not three aspects of the same person but three persons
standing in a truly personal relationship to one another. There we have the
great doctrine of the three persons but one God.
J. Gresham Machen
The Christian Faith in the Modern
World, 1936.
[The]
doctrine is a mystery. No human mind can fathom it. Yet what a blessed mystery
it is! The Christian’s heart melts within him in gratitude and joy when he
thinks of the divine love and condescension that has thus lifted the veil and
allowed us sinful creatures a look into the very depths of the being of God.
J. Gresham Machen
The Christian Faith in the Modern
World, 1936.
All sorts of
people are fond of repeating the Christian statement that “God is love.” But
they seem not to notice that the words ‘God is love’ have no real meaning
unless God contains at least two persons. Love is something that one person has
for another person. If God was a single person, then before the world was made,
He was not love.
C.S. Lewis
Beyond Personality, Macmillan, 1948,
p. 21.
God is but
one, yet are there three distinct persons subsisting in one
Godhead. This is a sacred mystery, which the light within man could
never have discovered. As the two natures in Christ, yet but one person, is a
wonder; so three persons, yet but one Godhead. Here is a great deep, the Father
God, the Son God, the Holy Ghost God; yet not three Gods, but one God. The
three persons in the blessed Trinity are distinguished, but not divided; three
substances, but one essence. This is a divine riddle, where one makes three,
and three make one. Our narrow thoughts can no more comprehend the Trinity in
Unity, than a nut-shell will hold all the water in the sea.
Thomas Watson
The Trinity.
In the body
of the sun, there are the substance of the sun, the beams, and the heat; the
beams are begotten of the sun, the heat proceeds both from the sun and the
beams; but these three, though different, are not divided; they all three make
but one sun: so in the blessed Trinity, the Son is begotten of the Father, the
Holy Ghost proceeds from both; yet though they are three distinct persons, they
are but one God.
Thomas Watson
The Trinity.
The Trinity
is purely an object of faith; the plumbline of reason
is too short to fathom this mystery; but where reason cannot wade, there faith may swim. There are some truths in religion
that may be demonstrated by reason; as that there is a God: but the Trinity of
persons in the Unity of essence is wholly supernatural, and must be believed by
faith. This sacred doctrine is not against reason, but above it.
Thomas Watson
The Trinity.
If there be
one God subsisting in three persons, then let us give equal reverence to all
the persons in the Trinity. There is not more or less in the Trinity; the
Father is not more God than the Son and Holy Ghost. There is an order in the
Godhead, but no degrees; one person has not a majority or super eminence above
another, therefore we must give equal worship to all the persons.
Thomas Watson
The Trinity.
God the
Father is called the “God of peace” (Hebrews 13:20). God the
Son, the “Prince of peace” (Isaiah 9:6). God the Holy
Ghost, the “Spirit…of peace” (Ephesians 4:3).
Thomas Watson
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 206.
“Baptizing
them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost:
there are three distinct persons: in the Name, not names; there is one essence.
Thomas Adams
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 297.
It is
rashness to search, godliness to believe, safeness to preach, and eternal
blessedness to know the Trinity.
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 297.
Explain the
Trinity? We can't even begin. We can only accept it – a mystery, disclosed in
Scripture. It should be no surprise that the triune Being of God baffles our
finite minds. We should be surprised, rather, if we could understand the nature
of our Creator. He would be a two-bit deity, not the fathomless Source of all
reality.
Vernon Grounds
Radical Commitment, Christianity Today, v.
33, n. 4.
It was the
whole Trinity, which at the beginning of creation said, "Let us make
man" (Gen. 1:26). It was the whole Trinity again, which at the beginning
of the Gospel seemed to say, "Let us save man" (Mt. 3:16-17).
Commentary: Matthew 3.
This truth is
a great mystery. Let it be enough to receive and believe it, and let us ever
abstain from all attempts at explanation. It is childish folly to refuse assent
to things that we do not understand. We are poor crawling worms of a day, and
at our best, know little about God and eternity. Suffice it for us to receive
the doctrine of the Trinity in Unity, with humility and reverence, and to ask
no vain questions. Let us believe that no sinful soul could be saved without
the work of all three Persons in the blessed Trinity, and let us rejoice that
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who co-operated to make man, do always co-operate
to save him. Here let us pause. We may receive practically what we cannot
explain theoretically.
J.C.
Ryle
Commentary, Matthew 28.
[God] is an
eternal communion of three persons in undivided union.
Robert Letham
God
is Love, Tabletalk Magazine, May 2004, p. 6. Used by Permission.
In God there
are no three persons alongside of, and separate from, one another, but only
personal self-distinctions within the Divine essence, which is not only
generically, but also numerically, one.
Louis Berkhof
Systematic Theology, by permission of
Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 1998,
p. 87.
The divine
essence is not divided among the three persons, but is wholly with all its
perfection in each one of the persons so that they have a numerical unity of
essence.
Louis Berkhof
Systematic Theology, by permission of
Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 1998,
p. 88.
[The
church] has never tried to explain the mystery of the Trinity, but only sought
to formulate the doctrine of the Trinity in such a manner that the errors which
endangered it were warded off.
Louis Berkhof
Systematic Theology, by permission of
Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 1998,
p. 89.