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I want to start bY
Posing
a question:
in our meditations on God are we
sufftciently Trinitarian? I do not mean
"do
we you believe in the Trinity?" or,
"do
we confess the Trinity?." Many of
us would happily check the doctrine
box
"Trinity:
Yes." Having confessed
it, many of us quite frankly do not
know what difference the TrinitY
makes.
First, let me say, we believe in the
Trinity because it is a truth revealed
in Scripture. God is triune: He is one
God who has for all eternity exlsted
in three disiinct persons. God is one
in His essence but distinct in persons
so that there is eternal fellowship
between the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirlt. Like all doctrine,
we believe it because it is true. But
does the truth of the TrinitY shaPe
your worship of God? Does it shaPe
how you think about your relation-
ship with God? We are talking about
who God is-and who He is should
impact how we worship, glorifY, and
give thanks to Him.
Consider this examPle: I am ln love
with my wife, but I do not divorce mY
love of my wife from fundamental
truths about her character and per-
sonality. If I love my spouse I have to
love her for who she is. Love is not
a mystical feeling that floats unwed
from the person. And
Yet,
this is
precisely the disconnect that I think
is far too common in the evangelical
world. Simply put: we do not know
what to do with the Trinity. We fall
to conceive it as a highly applicable
doctrine
-as
all good doctrine is in
the end.
In this study; I would like to offer
one signpost for the directlon we
need to go in thinking about the
Trinity. We all recognize that God is
love
(1 John 4:B). If love is a funda-
mental attribute of God and God is
triune then our exPerience of God
will be an experience of one love
God's love for us will manifest itself
along Trinitarian lines not because
love is god but because the God rvho
loves us is triune and thus will mani
fest love in a manner consistent with
His belng and persons.
Using Galatians 4:4-7, we will draw
this out in three
Points.
We should
note that, while
"love"
and
"Trinity"
are not mentioned in these verses, it
is clear from the whole of Scripture
that what God is described as doing
in these three verses is grounded in
God's love. Also, this
Passage
does
not work
unless God is a Trinity. in other
words, we cannot conceive of the
acLions undertaken by God in rhis
passage apart from God being triune.
First, the love of God was
accomplished by sending the
Son. The love of God is an actlve
1ove. As the old saying goes
"love
is a verb." It is something that you
actively express for someone. God
the Father accomplishes His love by
the sending of the Son. Notice the
underlined words here:
But when the
fullness
of time
had come, God sent forth his
Son, born of woman, born under
the law, to redeem those who
were under the law. so that we
might receive adoption as sons.
-Galatians
4:4 (ESV)
There are two aspects of God
sending His Son. First is that God
the Father and God the Son
be born of the woman; not only this,
but He comes as a Jewish child under
the Old Covenant law of God.
Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of
God, came to be our Redeemer. He
died on the cross to bear the curse
ol sin thar the Law proclaims on
everyone who disobeys God (Ga1.
3:13). Jesus died on the cross so that
we can be set free from sin. This is
the love of God flowing to us from
the Father and from the Son. So God
the Father loved us and sent His Son
for us (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9-10),
but the Son also loved us and gave
Himself for us (Galatians 2:20).
Thus, there is no conflict between the
Father and the Son in this p1an. Jesus
obeyed the Father's wili, but Jesus
also loved us and did not balk-"do I
have to do this?".
been poured into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who has
been given fo as.
-Romans
5:5
Every believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ has the Holy Spirit. God's love
came into the world when God sent
Christ, but God's love came into our
hearls when the Hoiy Spirit regener-
ated us with new life.
"But
when the
goodness and lovingkindness of God our
Savior appeared, he saved us, not because
of works done by us in righteousness,
but according to his own mercy, by the
washing of regeneration and renewal
of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out
on us richly through Jesus Christ our
Savior."
-Titus
3:4-6
existed together in heaven from all
eternity past. There is no point in
eternity when the Son did not ex-
ist and enjoy fellowship with
the Father. Second, there is
a ooint in time when the
Son is actually sent. It is
in the fullness of time.
At a point in time, the
Son who existed from
all eternity is sent
so that He would
Second, the love of God is
applied by sending the Holy
Spirit. The Bible tells us that the
Holy Spirlt is pouring God's love into
our hearts by virtue of His presence
in us. We in turn carr cry out in loving
communion with God because of the
Holy Spirit in us:
And because you are sons, God
has sent the Spirit of his Son
into our hearts, crying,
"Abba!
Father!"
-Galatians4:6
... and hope does not put us to
shame, because God's love has
We find here that we are unrigh-
teous and fi1thy in our sin with noth-
ing good residing in us. But what did
God do? He cleansed us. He renewed
our hearts by the Holy Spirlt. He
gave us new birth by the Holy Spirit.
He poured out the Holy Spirit richly
upon us. He did this all through the
work of Christ. This means the com-
ing of the Holy Spirit for the
application of redemption is directly
tied to the accomplishments of Jesus
Christ on the cross. Unity is funda-
mental to their working because they
are unified in their essence.
So God the Father sends the Holy
Spirit, but He is the Spirit of the Son
because, (a) Jesus had a perfect spiri
tual experience with the Holy Spirit
in His earthly life, and
(b)
Jesus is the
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kontinned
qn page 16)
Tfinity
(continued
from
page 5)
One who went back to heaven so that
the Holy Spirit could be sent. He, too, is
involved in the sending. But how does
the Holy Spirit help you grasp the love
of God? Here are at least four ways:
1. We would not believe the
gospel if it were not for the
enlivening power of the Holy
Spirit. You and I need regen-
eration if we are to believe. I
must be made alive; I must be
made to see if I am to believe.
2. We will not love God unless
God first put His love in our
hearts. This is the work of the
Holy Spirit.
3. The Holy Spirit seals us. You
cannot be cut off from Christ
because the Holy Spirit resides
in you- in the same waY that
Jesus Christ has communion
with the Holy Spirit and can-
not be cut off from God the
Father.
4. The Holy Spirit causes us to
cry out to God as your Father.
It should never cease to amaze
us that the most intimate
address'Abba" is now some-
thing which, by our adoption,
we experience in our commu-
nion with God.
-Romans
B:14-15
Third, the love of God is experi-
enced by us in our adoption.
God's love for us is shown in all His
working on our behalf by each of the
three persons that results in our adop-
tion into His family. You become a
full heir of the inheritance that Christ
T imothy B ertol et p astor s
Pocono Mountain Bible
Fellowship Church,
Mt. Pocono, PA.
has won and the will of the Father has
granted to the Son by His divine plea-
sure.
(Galatians 4:6-7)
We should immediately note that
our sonship by adoption is not same as
Jesus' Sonship. We do not share in the
essence of the Godhead. Jesus is the
eternal Son. He is perfect, ho1y, and has
always been the Son. We were added
into the inheritance. We have the privi-
leges but we do not, nor will we ever,
exist as God.
Yet, God's love in our adoption brings
us a new status. We are in the familY
now. We share communion with the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in a
manner analogous to their communion.
We commune with God as unequals and
as creatures. The Trinity communes as
equals in their divinity. Nevertheless,
do not miss the grace of God in this-
we have been raised to a privilege that
in eternity passed was experienced only
within the Trinity.
The love of the three persons functions
in perfect unity. One God accomplishing
one salvation-for one people of God.
There is a line in a song
"looking
for love
an eternal love, He cannot'
accomplish this love. God's
not fai1. Since only the 1
perfect, only God's love
us. When we grasp this, we
sweet communion with
the Almighty one, Father,
Holy Spirit.
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