Previously, we discussed the glorious truth that our One God exists in three persons. Today we give further attention to who these three persons are.
Q: Who are they?
A: The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
(Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 Peter 1:2; Jude 20-21)
Our first passage for today comes from the formula for baptism that the Lord Jesus gave within the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19). Disciples are baptized in the name. Not names. The name that disciples are baptized in the name of is “of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. While the unity of the Trinity is affirmed in the singular name, each of the three divine persons are individually named. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are each named, but when you are baptized using each of their names, you are baptized into the one name belonging to God.
In our second text today, we turn to 2 Corinthians 13:14. Here we find Paul ending his letter with a benediction, just as we close our Lord’s Day service each week. In this blessing, Paul mentions all three persons of the Trinity “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God (a reference to the Father) and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Here then we have a blessing from the Apostle, praying that the Corinthian believers would experience grace, love and hope, from the Triune God.
In 1 Peter 1:1-2 we see Peter addressing a particular group of people. He is writing to the elect exiles in the Mediterranean. These exiles are chosen “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood.” Here we see all three persons of the Trinity at work in the redemption of a particular people. They are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God, just as Christ was foreknown before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:20). They are chosen in the sanctification of the Spirit, that is set apart by the Spirit. They are chosen for obedience to Jesus and being cleansed with his blood. Three divine persons acting harmoniously in the work of redemption. It’s no wonder Peter exclaims at the beginning of this letter, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Peter 1:3).
Our last passage of the day showing the three persons of the Trinity at work in the life of believers is Jude 20:21. Believers are exhorted to both, build themselves up in faith and also pray in the Holy Spirit. They are told to keep themselves in the love of God. And they are told to do all this while they wait for the mercy of the Lord Jesus (a reference to his coming). In the passage in 1 Peter, we saw a glorious statement of what is true about the Triune work of redemption. Here we see commands on what to do based on what is true about the Trinity.
There is a fullness in the Godhead, that we can understand the facts of, but we cannot fully grasp. We must believe this truth about God, even if we cannot fully comprehend it. We must believe it because God in his Word teaches it. The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the truths about God that truly leave us in awe filled wonder. I can’t imagine what it would be like to fully share in my one being with two other persons. God is amazing. Further, I am awestruck that our Triune God would work in such perfect harmony. I am only one person and I often don’t act in harmony with my own greater desires, when I instead follow the desires of my heart in the moment.
Try to imagine what it must be like to be in perfect and eternal harmony, as the three persons of the Triune God are. Then fall down in worship.
Yours in Christ,