Spirit were only successive manifesta tions of a uni-personal God. On the other hand, there were attempts to de grade either the Son or the Spirit from positions as persons within the God head. A few even thought in terms of tri-theism. The truth was hammered out through controversy until — with the Nicene Creed of A.D. 325, plus the added statement at Constantinople con cerning the Holy Spirit in 381 — there emerged the doctrine of three divine persons of one substance. The Athana- sian Creed of the fifth century spells out the doctrine which has become the standard of the church declaring at one point, “So the Father is God; the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet there are not three Gods but one God.” This we believe not because it is a creed of the church, but because it expresses concisely, although in gen eral terms, the mystery of the Triune God of the Scriptures. We believe in the Triune God be cause this is the God who has revealed Himself in the Word of God. The Trinity is obviously not the God of man’s reason, for he can but feebly comprehend such a God even with the aid of the illumination of the Holy Spirit. It was not until God revealed Himself as the Triune God that He was acknowledged as such, and it is in His revelation that we, too, must find the Triune God. The Scriptures unfold the doctrine of the Trinity as the natural concurrence with the drama of redemption. Each person of the Godhead appears upon the stage of God’s history of salvation to perform His function. It is there fore not until the coming of the Son and the later sending of the Holy Spir it, that the full doctrine is revealed. The emphasis in the Old Testament is upon the unity of God. “Hear, 0 Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord” (Deut. 6:4). However, there are indica tions of a plurality within the Godhead even here. The name of God is a plural form. Plural pronouns are used of God, such as when He declares, “ Let us make man in our image” (Gen. 1:26). Also the angel of Jehovah appears to
men on earth as God distinct from God in heaven. But these pointers awaited the additional revelation of the New Testament for their understanding, somewhat as boulders in the night shadows await the light of day for their recognition. With the unfolding of the plan of redemption, the second person reveals Himself as God. “ . . . He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (Jn. 14:9). “ . . . Ye believe in God, believe also in me” (Jn. 14:1). The inspired testimony to His person is unanimous. Besides the conclusive evidence of His Deity in His works He is specifically called “God blessed forever,” (Rom. 9:5). Luke mentions Him as God who pur chased the church with his own blood (Acts 20:28), while the writer to the Hebrews records the Father declaring the throne of His Son by the name, “God” (Heb. 1:8). The revelation of the coming of the Holy Spirit brings the third personal ity of the Triune God. Our Lord fore told the Spirit’s coming as another Comforter whom He would send from the Father. His language indicates that the Spirit was to be a Comforter of the same kind as Himself when He was upon the earth, a personal, divine Being. The Spirit is then plainly re vealed as God against whom Ananias and Saphira sinned in Acts chapter five. There are then three persons called God. But they are not successive mani festations of a one personal God, for all three re revealed as distinct per sons when they are mentioned togeth er. In our Lord’s promise of the Spirit, He declares, “But when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me” (Jn. 15:26). Again at the baptism of Christ they appear as distinct persons, the Father in the voice from heaven, the Spirit in the form of a dove and the Incarnate Son (Matt. 3:16-17). Thus there are three distinct persons (continued on next page) 7
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