Of God, and of the Holy Trinity

1. There is but one only, (Deut. 6:4, 1 Cor. 8:4–6) living, and true God, (1 Thess. 1:9, Jer. 10:10) who is infinite in being and perfection, (Job 11:7–9, Job 26:14) a most pure spirit, (John 4:24) invisible, (1 Tim. 1:17) without body, parts, (Deut. 4:15–16, John 4:24, Luke 24:39) or passions; (Acts 14:11,15) immutable, (James 1:17, Mal. 3:6) immense, (1 Kings 8:27, Jer. 23:23–24) eternal, (Ps. 90:2, 1 Tim. 1:17) incomprehensible, (Ps. 145:3) almighty, (Gen. 17:1, Rev. 4:8) most wise, (Rom. 16:27) most holy, (Isa. 6:3, Rev. 4:8) most free, (Ps. 115:3) most absolute; (Exod. 3:14) working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will, (Eph. 1:11) for His own glory; (Prov. 16:4, Rom. 11:36) most loving, (1 John 4:8,16) gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; (Exod. 34:6–7) the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him; (Heb. 11:6) and withal, most just, and terrible in His judgments, (Neh. 9:32–33) hating all sin, (Ps. 5:5–6) and who will by no means clear the guilty. (Nah. 1:2–3, Exod. 34:7)

Comments –

1) “There can be but one first cause, one self-existent, independent, omnipotent, infinite, and Supreme Being; it is a contradiction to suppose otherwise” (Shaw). He is the living God, as opposed to idols, and the true God, not because we have a religious system that contains Him in it. We have not defined Him, He has declared Himself. We assert this truth; we do not attempt to prove it (Hebrews 11:6 – “…for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”) Psalm 19 does not tell us that the heavens ‘give abundant evidence to prove’ the existence of God; it says that the heavens ‘declare’ the glory of God.

2) God is infinite in his being and perfection. That is, His essence, His attributes, and the perfections of those, are beyond any quantitative or qualitative value. Therefore, I cannot directly and completely ever understand Him, or His infiniteness.

3) God has a plan for everything He does, and so every detail is worked out according to His master plan, the end of which is His own glory.

4) God has made the world to display His glory, revealed in His many attributes. A world with sin was decreed in order that His mercy, longsuffering, forgiveness, as well as His wrath and justice might be displayed. But God is infinitely good and holy, which means that everything which God decrees (which is everything) is ultimately good and holy.

2.God hath all life, (John 5:26) glory, (Acts 7:2) goodness, (Ps. 119:68) blessedness, (1 Tim. 6:15, Rom. 9:5) in and of Himself; and is alone in and unto Himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which He hath made, (Acts 17:24–25) nor deriving any glory from them, (Job 22:2–3) but only manifesting His own glory in, by, unto, and upon them. He is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things (Rom. 11:36) and hath most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them whatsoever Himself pleaseth. (Rev. 4:11, 1 Tim. 6:15, Dan. 4:25,35) In His sight all things are open and manifest, (Heb. 4:13) His knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature, (Rom. 11:33–34, Ps. 147:5) so as nothing is to Him contingent, or uncertain. (Acts 15:18, Ezek. 11:5) He is most holy in all His counsels, in all His works, and in all His commands. (Ps. 145:17, Rom. 7:12) To Him is due from angels and men, and every other creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience He is pleased to require of them. (Rev. 5:12–14)

Comments –

1) God does not reflect these attributes; He is the fountainhead of all of them. He did not create us because He was lonely, but to reveal His glory. But He is self-sufficient. So, He did not need to be glorified, nor was He lacking glory before creation.

2) Nothing to God is contingent, or uncertain. This means that God never has knowledge mediated to Him in any way or by any means. God never learns anything. He is never changing plans, going one way and then another, reacting to His creation. There are no surprises for God.

3) Because God is most holy in all His counsels, in all His works, and in all His commands, it follows that everything that God ever commands us to do, or requires of us, is, by definition, holy and good.

3.In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost: (1 John 5:7. Matt 3:16–17, Matt. 28:19, 2 Cor. 13:14) the Father is of none, neither begotten, not proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; (John 1:14,18) the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son. (John 15:26, Gal. 4:6)

Comments –

1) One and three, cannot mean the same thing, of course. God is one in essence, but He is three in Persons. It surpasses our reason to fully understand it, as does so much truth.

2) With regard to the Oneness of the Godhead, it would be good to memorize Deuteronomy 6:4 - “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one”. We can show that the Father is distinctly God in John 20:17 - Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’ ”. In order to show that Jesus is God, you could turn to John 20:28 – “And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Finally, with regard to the divinity of the Holy Spirit, it would be good to know Acts 5:3-4 - “But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? “While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”

3) The distinctiveness of the Persons of the Godhead is known as the economy of the Trinity, which is very different than the ontology of the Trinity. Is this important? In our fight against unbiblical egalitarianism, it is essential (1 Cor 11).