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Good evening.
•We are continuing our study of the Baptist Catechism.
•More specifically, we are using the edition found in the white catechism booklets that we give away here at the church.
•And this evening, we come to Question 10.
•This question has to do with the Triune nature of our God.
(The doctrine of the Trinity.)
•Our question this evening is this: “How many Persons are there in the Godhead”
Just as I said two months ago when we considered question #8 (What is God?), our question this evening is an intimidating one for me.
•“How many Persons are there in the Godhead?”
•I know the answer.
I know how to defend it from Scripture.
(Many of you do, too.)
•But this question has to do with the doctrine of the Trinity.
And that doctrine is unfathomable.
•There are books and books and sermons and lectures on the doctrine of the Trinity.
It is so deep.
It is beyond human comprehension.
•There are questions that it raises that I cannot yet answer well.
•And there are questions it raises that nobody can answer because God has not revealed the answer.
•Once again, we are dealing with who God is.
We are dealing with His nature.
We are dealing with the Triunity of Almighty God.
•And that is a subject that requires reverent fear and humility to even begin to consider and speak.
So, I’m going to review the basics of this doctrine.
•I’m a disciple, just like you.
I’m still learning.
And I cannot yet teach this doctrine as deeply as I’d like to.
•So I’ll only scratch the surface this evening.
My goal in this sermon is to simply set the doctrine before you and show you how to defend it from Scripture.
•I will not and cannot fully explain everything about it.
Nobody really can.
•It’s something that we receive by faith.
That is, it’s something that we receive solely because the Word of God declares it.
•God’s Triune nature is not something we can reason ourselves to from nature.
It is only by Scripture, by special revelation, that we come to know that the one God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
That there are three Persons in the one God.
•And so, we receive this doctrine because GOD HIMSELF HAS REVEALED THE TRUTH ABOUT HIMSELF.
But, again, it is not something that we can fully comprehend.
•It is not an illogical doctrine.
Rather, it is above human logic and reason and must be received by faith.
•It is not something that the Church has ever sought to explain to human satisfaction, but instead has only affirmed and sought how to describe what the Bible says on the subject.
A couple of books I would recommend to anyone who wants to study this doctrine further:
•Simply Trinity by Matthew Barrett.
•The Trinity: An Introduction by Scott R. Swain.
•Check those out.
They’re really helpful introductions.
But, with that said, I’m going to pray and then we will consider our catechism question for this evening.
(PRAY)
Our Triune God,
We thank you for another Lord’s Day where we could rest and devote ourselves to worshipping you.
And as we are gathered again this evening, we ask that you would once more meet with us at your Word.
By your grace, work in us and sanctify us in your truth.
Your Word is truth.
Open our eyes to behold wonderful things in your Law.
And grant us faith to believe whatsoever you’ve been pleased to reveal about yourself in your Word.
Help us to submit to the Scriptures, even when they go beyond our fallible and finite human reason.
Help us to humble ourselves before your Word, that you might grant us understanding and insight.
Work in us now for you glory.
We ask these things in Jesus’ Name and for His sake.
Amen.
Our question for this evening.
I ask that you read the answer with me.
Q.
How many Persons are there in the Godhead?
A. There are three Persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.
•(Let’s do that again.)
1.) Let’s begin by defining the terms used in the catechism.
•What do we mean when we use the word “Godhead?”
•That term was once pretty common because of the universal use of the KJV Bible.
But it’s not used much anymore unless you’re reading older books/translations of Scripture.
So what is that?
What does “Godhead” mean?
•Well, Fisher’s Catechism (an exposition of the WSC) rightly tells us that “Godhead” refers to the divine nature or essence of God.
•Romans 1:20 says this: For His (God’s) invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made…”
•That was from the ESV.
That same verse in the KJV says this: For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead;
•Our catechism is using the language of the KJV Bible to speak about God’s divine nature/essence.
•So we can rephrase our question to more modern English and ask, “How many Persons are there in the one divine nature?”
•There is only one God and one divine nature.
But is there a plurality of Persons within that one nature?
And that leads us to another term we must define: Person.
•Again, Fisher’s Catechism is helpful here.
There it is rightly stated that a divine Person is,
•“A complete, intelligent, and individual subsistence (manner of being/existing), which is neither a part of, nor sustained by any other; but is distinguished by an incommunicable property in the same undivided essence.”
Let me go ahead and break that one down a bit.
•When we take all of the biblical data together (we will see this in a bit), we must conclude some things about God.
•We conclude that a Person in the Godhead is an individual manner of being (a Person/subsistence) that is not part of God but is fully God.
•And each divine Person is not sustained by anything or any other Person in the Godhead, but shares the one undivided nature of God and is God in and of Himself.
•The Persons in the Godhead share the one divine nature but are distinguished from one another by what theologians calls Eternal Relations of Origin:
•The Father is eternally unbegotten and proceeds from none.
This is how He stands in relation to the other two Persons.
•The Son is eternally begotten by the Father alone.
This is how He stands in relation to the other two Persons.
•And the Holy Spirit is eternally proceeding/spirating (being breathed out) by both the Father and the Son.
This is how He stands in relation to the other two Persons.
•The Father is distinguished as the Father, the Son as the Son, and the Holy Spirit as the Holy Spirit.
•Aside from these relations of origin, there is no difference between the Persons because they all share the ONE UNDIVIDED DIVINE NATURE.
•That’s why even though our catechism says that there are three Persons in the Godhead, that they are at the same time “the same substance, equal in power and glory.”
(They are co-equal in every way because they share the same nature.)
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