Our Triune God: Living in the Love of the Three-in-One

Our Triune God: Living in the Love of the Three-in-One

Our Triune God: Living in the Love of the Three-in-One

Our Triune God: Living in the Love of the Three-in-One

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Overview

Relating to God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit can have a deep impact on one’s faith. Ryken and LeFebvre outline the saving, mysterious, practical, and glorious Trinity in this theologically rich resource. 


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781433519871
Publisher: Crossway
Publication date: 04/07/2011
Pages: 128
Product dimensions: 5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Philip Graham Ryken (DPhil, University of Oxford) is the eighth president of Wheaton College. He preached at Philadelphia’s Tenth Presbyterian Church from 1995 until his appointment at Wheaton in 2010. Ryken has published more than fifty books, including When Trouble Comes and expository commentaries on Exodus, Ecclesiastes, and Jeremiah. He serves as a board member for the Gospel Coalition and the Lausanne Movement.

Michael LeFebvre (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is an ordained Presbyterian minister and an Old Testament scholar. He is also a fellow with the Center for Pastor Theologians. Michael and his wife, Heather, have five children and live in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

THE SAVING TRINITY

OUR TRIUNE GOD AND THE PLAN OF SALVATION

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ... In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. (Eph. 1:2, 13)

To the great One in Three Eternal praises be, Hence evermore.

His sovereign majesty May we in glory see, And to eternity Love and adore.

(Anonymous; eighteenth century)

A good place to begin knowing the triune God is at the very beginning, which is where Ephesians 1 begins. Before we were born — before anyone was born — before God made the heavens and the earth, even before the angels first praised their Maker, God was planning to save his people from their sins. We were destined to salvation long ages before the world was ever created. This was the work of the triune God.

The plan of salvation required the active engagement of every Person of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Spirit. Therefore, in the opening chapter of Ephesians, the apostle Paul praises first the Father (vv. 3–6), then the Son (vv. 7–12), and finally the Holy Spirit (vv. 13–14) for the part each plays in salvation. Salvation is administered by the Father, accomplished by the Son, and applied by the Spirit. The mystery at the epicenter of the universe — namely, the triune being of God — is also the heart of our salvation. Our redemption is Trinitarian in its structure.

THE THREE-PERSONED GOD

It is sometimes thought that because the term Trinity does not appear in Scripture, the doctrine is unbiblical, or at least irrelevant. One famous critic was the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, who claimed that "the doctrine of the Trinity, taken literally, has no practical relevance at all, even if we think we understand it; and it is even more clearly irrelevant if we realize that it transcends all our concepts" (emphasis in the original). It is true that the biblical doctrine of the Trinity is mysterious. It is such a great mystery, in fact, that we may never be able fully to understand it, let alone explain it. One thing we must do, however, is to believe in the Trinity, for in his perfect Word God has revealed himself as one God in three Persons. The true God is a triunity.

For all its complexity, the biblical doctrine of the Trinity can be stated in seven simple propositions:

1. God the Father is God.

2. God the Son is God.

3. God the Holy Spirit is God.

4. The Father is not the Son.

5. The Son is not the Spirit.

6. The Spirit is not the Father.

7. Nevertheless, there is only one God.

This is the doctrine of the Trinity, stated in propositional form, as distilled from Scripture. In his treatise On Christian Doctrine, Augustine used somewhat different language to express the same eternal truths:

The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and each of these by Himself, is God, and at the same time they are all one God. ... The Father is not the Son nor the Holy Spirit; the Son is not the Father nor the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is not the Father nor the Son: but the Father is only Father, the Son is only Son, and the Holy Spirit is only Holy Spirit.

THE TRIUNE GOD WHO SAVES

Ephesians 1 brings these bare propositions to life, for it shows the triune God working out our salvation. The Trinity is not an abstraction but a living, working, Creator-Redeemer. God is who he is in his triune being for our salvation. We are chosen by God the Father, in Christ the Son, through God the Holy Spirit. Or, as we have already noted, salvation is administered by the Father, accomplished by the Son, and applied by the Spirit. To express the same truths in yet another way, the salvation that was planned by the Father has been procured by the Son and is now presented and protected by the Spirit. Whatever words we use to describe it, the point is that our salvation from sin depends on a gracious cooperation within the Godhead.

Nearly the whole first chapter of Ephesians is one long sentence in the original Greek. As the apostle Paul began his letter to the church in Ephesus, he was overwhelmed by God's grace in salvation. So he wrote, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" (Eph. 1:3). Then Paul proceeded to praise God for all the blessings of salvation, which takes a while, and the apostle did not stop until he was finished.

The long sentence that runs from Ephesians 1:3 to Ephesians 1:14 stretches from eternity to eternity, showing the full saving work of the triune God. It lays out the whole scope of salvation, the plan that God has been working on forever. Our salvation began in the mind of God before the beginning of time, when our God and Father planned to save a people for himself. He planned to adopt us as his own sons and daughters. He planned to redeem us from our sins by sending a Savior, his own Son, Jesus Christ. He planned to sanctify us, to make us holy. Finally, God planned to bring us to glory.

What a great plan! The late James Montgomery Boice summarized it by comparing it to music:

This story has three movements, like a symphony. The first movement is the sovereign election of God according to which he has chosen to bless a special people with every possible spiritual blessing in his Son Jesus Christ. The second movement is the accomplishing of that purpose through the redeeming death of Jesus. ... The final movement ... concerns the work of the Holy Spirit by which those who have been chosen by the Father and redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ are actually "linked up" to salvation.

God plays the symphony of our salvation in three movements. Each movement is associated with a different Person of the Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. First, there is the work of God the Father in administering our salvation. The Father is the one who organizes and oversees the plan of salvation. Second, there is the work of God the Son in accomplishing our salvation. Jesus is the one who died on the cross for our sins and rose again to give us eternal life. Third, there is the work of God the Holy Spirit in applying our salvation. The Spirit is the one who takes what Jesus Christ has done and makes it ours. This is the plan, and the triune God has been working it out since before the beginning of time.

SALVATION IN THREE MOVEMENTS

Salvation starts with the Father, who is the origination of our salvation:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. (Eph. 1:3–6)

The Father deliberately blesses, chooses, and predestines his people. He lovingly bestows, reveals, and lavishes his grace. This is all part of the eternal plan of the one who "works all things according to the counsel of his will" (Eph. 1:11).

The salvation that originated with the Father is located in the Son. The opening verses of Ephesians focus their attention on the person and work of Jesus Christ, mentioning his person and work no fewer than a dozen times. Although the passage as a whole is Trinitarian in its structure, there is special focus on Christ as Savior. Everything God does (and has done and will do) for our salvation, he does in Christ:

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. (Eph. 1:7–12)

By listing so many benefits of salvation, these verses set the agenda for the Bible's saving message. Salvation means election, God's choice to save us by his predestinating grace (Eph. 1:4–5). Salvation means redemption, the payment of a price to free us from our bondage to sin (Eph. 1:7). Salvation means adoption, the legal act by which God makes us his own sons and daughters (Eph. 1:5). Salvation means propitiation, the atoning blood sacrifice that takes away our guilt and secures our forgiveness (Eph. 1:7). Salvation means reconciliation, on a cosmic scale, for in Christ God is unifying everything in the universe (Eph. 1:10). Christ's reconciling work operates horizontally as well as vertically; it is for the Jews ("we who were the first to hope in Christ," Eph. 1:12) and also for the Gentiles ("you also, when you heard the word of truth," Eph. 1:13). Thus reconciliation ends both our alienation from God and our estrangement from one another. Salvation means, finally, sanctification and glorification, in which God makes us as morally spotless and as shiningly beautiful as his own dear Son (Eph. 1:12).

These verses contain virtually the whole message of salvation, which Paul describes as "the mystery of [God's] will" (Eph. 1:9). This saving message communicates that all of God's best blessings come through union with Jesus Christ. This is how we come into full relationship with the triune God: we are blessed with every spiritual blessing "in Christ" (Eph. 1:3). Just as we were utterly lost in Adam, through the imputation of his sin, so we are completely saved in Christ, through the gift of his salvation. In Christ we are predestined, redeemed, forgiven, adopted, reconciled, sanctified, and glorified. Christ is not only the beginning and the end of our salvation, he is our salvation, for in him we receive everything we need to be saved. The location of our salvation is Jesus Christ.

The salvation that originated with the Father and is located in the Son is communicated by the Holy Spirit. Or as we expressed it earlier, salvation is administered by God the Father, accomplished by God the Son, and applied by God the Spirit: "In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory" (Eph. 1:13–14).

Since God's best blessings are spiritual, we can receive them only by his Spirit. First the Holy Spirit enables us to hear the gospel of truth, which is the message of salvation. Then he changes us from the inside out, the gracious act also known as regeneration. With regeneration comes the gift of faith, the spiritual ability to believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. By doing this work in us, the Holy Spirit makes our salvation a present reality. He takes the salvation that the Son accomplished in the past and applies it to us in the present. It is for this reason that the Holy Spirit is called a "seal" (Eph. 1:13), which in ancient times was proof of ownership. The sealing work of the Holy Spirit proves that we really do belong to God and will continue to belong to him for all eternity. Hence the Spirit is also called an advance "guarantee" or deposit (Eph. 1:14). In the spiritual transaction God has made with us, the Holy Spirit is a down payment on eternity, the security of our salvation, now and forever.

The first half of Ephesians 1 gives a complete overview of the work of the triune God in saving sinners. All the blessings of salvation come from God, in Christ, by the Holy Spirit. Our salvation jointly depends on the electing, predestining work of God the Father; the redeeming, atoning work of God the Son; and the sealing, guaranteeing work of God the Holy Spirit. Anyone who admits the need for salvation can see why the doctrine of the Trinity is so important and so practical. Not only is the existence of one God in three Persons central to our worship, but it is also central for our salvation.

One of the most careful explanations of the doctrine of the Trinity comes from the Athanasian Creed, which was written around AD 400. First the creed states the doctrine: "There is one Person of the Father: another of the Son: and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one. ... The Father eternal: the Son eternal: and the Holy Ghost eternal. And yet they are not three eternals: but one eternal." That is the doctrine, but the Athanasian Creed goes on to explain why it matters: "He therefore that will be saved, must thus think of the Trinity." The message of salvation by grace depends upon the threefold work of the triune God.

BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD

God's saving work began in eternity past. The emphasis in Ephesians 1 is not so much on the Spirit's application of salvation in the present, or even on the Son's accomplishment of salvation in the past, but on the Father's administration of salvation before the beginning of time. Our salvation was predestined, for we were chosen before the creation of the world (Eph. 1:4–5). The saving work of Jesus Christ in history thus depends on the saving plan of God from all eternity. To understand salvation, we need to go back with the Trinity all the way to eternity past.

It is becoming increasingly popular for theologians (including some who call themselves evangelicals) to think of God as performing without a script. They say that God is "in process." In other words, like the rest of us, he is working things out as he goes along, suffering the vicissitudes of life in this universe and changing his plans to fit the circumstances. In this view, there is a creative interchange between earth and heaven that allows human beings to influence God, even to change his mind altogether. God is not sovereign; he is a finite being who does not fully know the future, although he is open to the possibilities.

This is not the biblical picture of the triune God. It is true, of course, that God is actively at work in human history. He blesses the righteous and curses the wicked. He answers prayers, converts sinners, and plants churches. He rules over nature and the nations. But God does all these things strictly according to the plan he established before he created the world. God's participation in history depends on his purpose in eternity. He is working everything out according to his eternal plan, a Trinitarian plan that predates the creation of the universe.

In one sense, all God's plans were established in eternity. The Bible could hardly be stronger on this point than it is: we are "predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will" (Eph. 1:11). What is included in God's eternal decree? Everything that God has ever done and everything that he will ever do. This verse uses three different Greek words to describe God's plan. One is the word thelema, which simply refers to God's "will" in general. Another is the word prothesis, which means God's "purpose," especially his foreordained purpose. The third is the word boule, which refers to God's deliberate "counsel." Taken together, these words show that nothing lies outside the divine intention. God does whatever he does according to his predetermined plan.

If God works out everything according to his eternal decree, then his eternal decree must include the plan of salvation. This is specifically what is meant by predestination ("In love he predestined us," Eph. 1:4–5). Predestination is one special part of God's cosmic plan. It is his sovereign decision, made in eternity past, regarding the final destiny of individual sinners.

Divine election proves beyond all question or doubt that salvation is by grace alone. Salvation cannot depend on anything we do because we were predestined to it before we ever did anything, even before we existed. The salvation we possess in the present, which gives us certain hope for the future, depends on a decision God made in the eternal past.

KNOWING FOR SURE

Election is a glorious doctrine; yet it makes some people uneasy because it naturally causes them to wonder whether they are predestined or not. Indeed, some people experience high anxiety because they fear they are not among the elect. Their question becomes, how can I know if God has chosen me or not? It is a reasonable question. If salvation depends on election, then it would seem that being sure of my salvation requires being sure of my election.

How then can we be sure that we are among God's elect? The answer lies in the triune being of God. Here it helps to remember that the elect are chosen in Christ. Election in Christ is the only kind of election there is. What God has chosen to do is to unite us to Christ, putting us together with him for our salvation. Therefore, to ask if we are among the elect is really to ask if we are in Christ. If we want to know whether or not God has chosen us, all we need to know is whether or not we are in Christ. We do not need to read God's mind. We do not need to climb up to heaven and peek into the Book of Life. The triune God has made himself known to us in Christ. So all we need to know is Jesus Christ, who is the location of salvation. Every spiritual blessing God has to offer may be found in him, including election. If we are in Christ, therefore, we are among the elect, for the elect are chosen in Christ. John Calvin thus warned that "if we have been elected in him [Christ], we shall not find assurance of election in ourselves." Rather, Christ "is the mirror wherein we must, and without self-deception may, contemplate our own election." The way to make our calling and election sure is to be sure that we are joined to Jesus Christ by faith.

(Continues…)


Excerpted from "Our Triune God"
by .
Copyright © 2011 Philip Ryken and Michael LeFebvre.
Excerpted by permission of Good News Publishers.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Table of Contents

Foreword Robert Letham 11

Introduction 13

1 The Saving Trinity: Our Triune God and the Plan of Salvation 19

2 The Mysterious Trinity: Our Triune God and Human Comprehension 39

3 The Practical Trinity: Our Triune God and the Christian Life 69

4 The Joyous Trinity: Our Triune God and His People 95

Scripture Index 115

Subject Index 119

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Philip Ryken and Michael LeFebvre have written a delightful book that will help us to better understand the great truth of the Trinity; one God in three Persons. Better yet, it should cause us to grow in our appreciation of the distinct works of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in our salvation and sanctification. I heartily commend this book.”
—Jerry Bridges, author, The Pursuit of Holiness

“The Westminster Shorter Catechism tells us that 'man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.' In this book, the authors bring that affirmation to life by showing us that the Trinity is not just a doctrine to be believed but a relationship to be experienced and enjoyed. Pastors, teachers, and believers everywhere will be refreshed and challenged by this stirring call to a deeper participation in the love of the triune God.”
—Gerald Bray, Research Professor of Divinity, History, and Doctrine, Beeson Divinity School; author, God Is Love and God Has Spoken

“At a time when Biblical theology gets more attention among pastors, the twin advantages of systematic theology—namely that it will hold you to orthodoxy in the face of difficult Biblical texts and that it is organized according to the categories in which the non-Christian world speaks and thinks—cannot be underestimated. With this as backdrop, Ryken and LeFebvre's Our Triune God fills a void in Christian literature. The chapters are formed as carefully reasoned expositions on the subject of the Trinity, and as such, this book provides us with a model worth emulating across the spectrum of systematic categories.”
—David R. Helm, Chairman of the Board, Charles Simeon Trust; Pastor, Holy Trinity Church, Chicago

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