Trinity of The Word

“Out of the Abundance of the Heart the Mouth Speaks” Matt: 12:34

 When attempting to speak about things eternal we will often find that human languages are woefully inadequate, especially when we attempt to come to an understanding of the Great God, the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, yet human languages are the means by which our God has chosen to convey his self-revelation to us.

God has chosen to bless us with a body of writings which Christian can resort to for guidance, comfort and above all, this word to helps us come to a knowing of the person of Jesus Christ, God’s Holy Son as he reveals the Father to us.

This body of writings, the Holy Bible, has been given to us by God not just as an instruction manual or self-help book or an ethical or moral guide, but even more than all of that. It speaks to us about the person of Jesus Christ.

 I Am God

This body of writing itself tells us that the one who is speaking from it’s pages is the very Creator of all things.

“I Am God” Isa: 42:8-9

“I Am God” Isa: 44:6,8

This truth, which Scripture affirms, behooves us that , if it is the Creator God who is speaking to us from the Bible then we should listen to what he has to say.

What does God have to say to us, what is it that he wants us all to come to know?

From the Heart

Our God speaks to us, and he does so from his very heart, for whatever is in the heart will ultimately proceed forth out of the mouth of God and humanity. Jesus himself tells us this as St. Matthew records.

“Out of the Abundance of the Heart the Mouth Speaks” Matt: 12:34

This means that what has come forth out of the mouth of God is coming from his heart, this is the dearest and most personal of communication, in fact ,it goes far beyond just an exchange of ideas or information, it is communion with God.

The writer of the Hebrews Epistle tells us that God has spoken to us now in the era of the incarnation through Jesus.

 “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” Heb: 1:1-3a

It is through Jesus that the Holy God has come to reveal himself and deliver the message of his divine love for each and all. Jesus has come to reveal the very Father heart of God.

After delivering a discourse regarding the Father St. Phillip asked Jesus to show the Father he and the other Disciples.

 “Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jhn: 14:8

Jesus’ answer to St. Phillip and to us all is of major importance of who Jesus is and why he has come; that when we look upon Jesus, we are seeing the Father, when we hear Jesus’ words, we are hearing the Father’s words.

“Jesus replied, “Philip, I have been with you all this time, and still you do not know Me? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (9)

Jesus has come and proclaimed the Gospel and taught the word of God which proceeds out of the heart of God to show us his Father. It is the revelation of who God is, for and toward us all who will but freely receive it.

The Divine Author

St. Peter writes of the true divine author of the sacred volume which has conveyed the word of God to us down through the ages.

“Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” 2Pet:1:20-21

St. Peter was very much aware that what has been record with in the word of God was not penned or arrived at through the mind of man, but that God himself has given it to us through the person of the Holy Spirit, who is the true divine author of the Scripture.

The Holy Spirit speaks to us about Jesus, through whom the Father has revealed himself as Jesus told his Disciples that the Spirit would speak to them and all believers about Jesus.

 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.” Jhn: 16:12-15

We see in the word of God the Trinity on display, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Some few in the Christian professing world advance the idea that the Holy Spirit is merely the “power” of God or an “impersonal force” and is not like the Father or the Son having person-hood. They cite, that in the Greek the words Jesus has chosen to speak to us , that Greek have masculine or famine gender association regardless of what is being described. Some believe that the noun “he” is merely a gender usage assigned to the Greek word “Parakletos”, but that is not the complete usage of this word, in the Greek this word “Parakletos” carries with it the implication of person-hood, of having a distinct identity, of being distinct , of being someone, not just power or force.

Trinity of the Word

The word comes forth out of the Father’s heart through Jesus and the Spirit speaks to us about Jesus who in turn reveals the Father.

This means of self-revelation of God to us mirrors the very divine nature of God himself. This divine means of revelation is called by St. Paul as “Theopneutos” which means “God breathed” carrying with it the concept of the breath of life by which God gave life to Adam in Gen:2, implying God is breathing into us life through his word.

“All Scripture is God-breathed” 2Tim: 3:16a

We see in the Bible God presenting himself and his triune nature to us as we read the Bible. All of God is found in his word to us. No “part” of God is being omitted in the word; this is seen in the person of Jesus who is the very Word of God through whom God created all things.

“In the beginning was the Word” Jhn: 1:1

This Word has come among us as one of us in the person of Jesus.

“and the word became flesh” (14)

St. Paul explains that in Jesus we find “all the fullness” of the Godhead in bodily form.

“for in him all the fullness of the God-head dwells in bodily form” Col: 2:9

When we come to Jesus we are coming to “all” of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Trinity is present in the person of Jesus. When we come to Jesus we encounter all of God who is being revealed. In the same way, when we take up the word of God, the Bible, the whole of the Trinity is being encountered The Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

As we read the Scriptures, we see that God is in three distinct “persons”. Using the word “persons” when talking about the Great eternal God is very limited, for though a completely personal God, he is beyond the limitations of human persons in every way.

The Greek word for each of the members of the Holy Trinity is; Hypostasis which can be understood as underlying state or underlying substance or essence, each being of one essence, co-essential, co-eternal, yet distinct in full and perfect union each unalienable from the other.

Some have the advanced the concept of a God who is a “committee” of three divine persons who have agreed to eternally “work” together in spite of each as being their own persons. This concept is called Tritheism and dose not capture the fullness of God as One.

We find however that God is , one God in three persons not three persons in one God.

God the Father is the "starting point" for lack of a better way of saying it, from whom the Son is eternally begotten and is eternally proceeding from the Father and it is through the Son that the Holy Spirit is eternally proceeding out of from the Father.

Trinity of the Word

This understanding of the Trinity also is reveals to us how the word of God the Holy Bible has been given us, it comes forth out of the heart of God, through the Son and was inspired by the Holy Spirit and leads us to Jesus who reveals the Father all that we might come to know him and have eternal life.

“and this is eternal life, that they might know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” Jhn:17:3

God’s Holy divine nature is found throughout even the “structure” of the Holy Bible revealing to us that just as he is fully with in, the incarnate Word so he is there fully in his written word.

Some ask, if the Holy Spirit is God why do we not encounter him in Scripture in a more overt way? the answer is, that we do, we just do not recognize that we are encountering him; for it is the Holy Spirit who is speaking to us when we read or hear the Bible, so he is always there even when we fail to see him.

The word of God works with power in our lives and transforms us and preforms a great work with in us.

“preforms it’s work in us”1Thess: 2:13

We are blessed to have a God who speaks to us through his Holy word and has insured to us that his word is there for us to give us a self-revelation of who he is and invites us to join him in eternity and live in joyful unity with the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit this is the God of his word.

Benediction: May we each and all ever give thanks to God for his self-revelation to us through his Holy Word, and has spoken from his heart to us today, tomorrow and forevermore. Amen

 

Rev.Todd Crouch, Norman, Oklahoma