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Systematic TheologySeptember, 16 – Windsor Locks Congregational

Church – Tony Arsenal

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Communicable Attributes

In the Image of God

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Communicable Attributes

• Those attributes which God shares analogically with creatures

• Specifically, with humans, but not exclusively

• These attributes are only shared analogically

• God is holy

• A Christian is holy

• A Christian is holy in a way that is analogous, not identical, to the way that God is holy

• God’s attributes are not simply greater than ours, but of a different quality entirely

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Wisdom, Knowledge, and Power

• God’s wisdom, knowledge, and power is perfect and complete

• This is contrasted with our wisdom, knowledge, and power which is only ever partial

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Holiness, Righteousness, and Justice

• Holiness is related to the concept of being separate or unique

• Righteousness is related to the concept of being in a proper (particularly legal) relationship with another entity

• Justice is related to the concept of our actions being in proper alignment with a moral standard

• For God, these attributes flow from the very nature of God

• God is separated from all other things because of the uncreatedness of the divine nature

• God is in a right relationship with the Son, and Spirit because of a singular essence, purpose, and will

• God’s actions are necessarily in proper alignment with the moral standard, because the moral standard is defined by who God is

• For us, these attributes are always defined in relation to others

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Jealousy and Wrath

• Jealousy – Being aggressively protective of your perceived possessions

• Wrath – Anger that is acted upon toward the object of one’s anger

• God’s jealousy and wrath are always appropriate

• God has a rightful claim to all things

• God’s wrath is always exercised in according with his wisdom and knowledge of reality

• Our jealousy and wrath are only conditionally appropriate

• The things we have a claim to are only provisionally ours, and thus our jealousy is often inappropriate

• Our wrath is at times (most times?) exercised inappropriately out of emotion and reaction rather than wisdom

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Goodness, Love, and Mercy

• Similar to Justice, God’s goodness is perfectly aligned with the standard, because God himself is the standard

• God’s love is consistent and covenantal and always appropriately exercised

• God’s mercy is an exercise of God’s love when oriented toward sinners whom he does not immediately execute his justice and wrath upon

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The TrinityThe Beautiful Dance of the Divine Life

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Terminology

• Ousia – Translated as “substance”, “nature”, or “essence”

• Refers to the underlying metaphysical reality that defines the type or kind of thing a hypostasis is

• Later would be considered a synonym with physis (which plays into Christology later on)

• Hypostasis – Translated as “entity” or “person”

• Refers to a concrete, discrete, and discernable instance of a given nature.

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Deductive or Derived Doctrine

• The Doctrine of the Trinity is not explicitly found in the Scriptures

• However, in order to believe all of the Scriptures without affirming a contradictory state of affairs, the Church formulated the doctrine of the Trinity

• The Church has self consciously always believed that they were summarizing the doctrine regarding the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as found in the Scriptures, even if they were using language which was not explicitly present in the Scriptures

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Point’s of Synthesis

• There is one God – “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” (Deut. 6:4)

• The Father is God – “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort.” (2 Cor 1:3)

• The Word or Son is God – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father” (John 1:1, 14)

• The Holy Spirit is God – “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, “You have not lied to man but to God.” (Acts 5:3, 4)

• “The doctrine of the Trinity is a conceptual framework that allows us to read every biblical text (concerning God’s life) with due seriousness, but without discovering contradictions between them.”

• Stephen R. Holmes, ‘Classical Trinity: Evangelical Perspective’, in Two Views on the Doctrine of the Trinity, ed. James S. Sexton (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014), 35.

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Where to Start?

• Some schools of thought begin with and give priority to the Divine Nature as “God”

• Others begin with and give priority to the Divine Persons (particularly the Father)

• It is an over simplification to draw this as a distinction between East and West, or between Augustine and the Cappadocians, but generally speaking the former is more prominent in Western theology (particularly following Aquinas) and the later is more prominent in Eastern theology (particularly following Eastern Orthodoxy)

• In this course, we are beginning with and give priority to the Divine Persons

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The Father’s Nature

• The Scriptures speak of God primarily in terms of the person of the Father

• The Son and Spirit are then identified as God in three particular ways

• They share in the nature of the Father as demonstrated by possessing incommunicable attributes such as “eternality/uncreatedness” (John 1) and “omnipresence” (Psalm 139)

• They share in the name of the Father as demonstrated in the Old Testament with the phrase “Word of YHWH” and “Spirit of YHWH”, and in the New Testament by being called Lord (the Greek equivalent of YHWH), God, and in the great commission

• They share in the activity of the Father as unique agents and participants in things only God does, particularly creation (Genesis 1, John 1) and salvation (Romans 8, Ephesians 2)

• This is in accord with the reasoning of the early Church, particularly as expressed in the Nicene Creed

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The Three are Three

• Scripture present the Father, Son, and Spirit as three genuinely distinct entities

• Example: The Baptism of Jesus

• The Father speaks from heaven, as the Son is baptized, and the Spirit departs like a dove

• The interpersonal relationships shown in Scripture must either be between genuinely discrete entities, are merely illusory, or represent a form of insanity

• The Father gives the Son glory before time was created, because the Father loves the Son (John 17:24)

• The Son sends the Spirit from the Father, and the Spirit testifies concerning the Son (John 15:26)

• The Elect (those whom the Father chooses to save) are a gift that has been given to the Son (John 6:37)

• These are not simply processes internal to a single entity

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The Three are One

• The unity of the Trinity exists in 3 specific ways

• Unity of Nature – The Divine Persons fully and perfectly share a single Divine Nature

• This is not simply three entities with three instances of the same kind of divine nature (this would be tritheism/polytheism)

• This is not simply three entities each possessing a portion of a single divine nature (this would be a form of partialism)

• This is not simply a single entity possessing a single divine nature but expressing it in three ways (this would be a form of Unitarianism/modalism)

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The Three are One

• The unity of the Trinity exists in 3 specific ways

• Unity of Will – The Divine Persons fully and perfectly share a single Divine Will

• Space doesn’t allow a full defense of this

• Will is a function of our individual natures, thus two instances of a single kind of nature would have two wills

• Since the Divine Persons share a single nature, they also share a single will

• To assert three distinct wills (even if those wills were identical) would be to assert the possibility of disagreement within the Trinity

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The Three are One

• The unity of the Trinity exists in 3 specific ways

• Unity of Action – The Divine Persons act in perfect unity and harmony in everything they do

• Because they share a unity of will, they always act in concert and never act alone

• The external actions of the Trinity always operate as originating in the Father, being executed and mediated in the Son, and being applied and actualized in the Spirit

• Example: The Father creates through his Word, and that creation is organized by his Spirit

• Example: The Father gives the Son a people to redeem, the Son obtains that redemption, and the Spirit applies that redemption to the people

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How Can This Be?

• The key to understanding this (in my view) is understanding the way that Divine Simplicity and Divine Infinity affect how the divine nature is shared between the three persons

• A complex nature (such as human nature) cannot be shared between two persons without being divided into portions, however a simple nature cannot be divided. Thus if a person is to possess any part of that nature, they necessarily possess the whole of that nature

• A finite nature (such as human nature) cannot be shared between two persons without reducing the total “amount” of that nature that each possesses, however an infinite nature can be fully shared without any person having a “smaller” portion than any other person.

• Thus, the simple and infinite Divine Nature is fully possessed by the persons, and does not constitute individual instances of that nature since that nature cannot be divided.

• This sharing of the divine nature, the divine action, and the divine will is described in the term “Perichoresis”, which comes from the Greek meaning “to dance around each other”

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Discussion and Questions

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Bibliography

• Holmes, Stephen R. ‘Classical Trinity: Evangelical Perspective’. In Two Views on the Doctrine of the Trinity, edited by James S. Sexton. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014.

• Horton, Michael. Pilgrim Theology. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013.

• ———. The Christian Faith. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010.

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For Further Reading

• Augustine. The Trinity. Edited by John E. Rotelle. Translated by Edmund Hill. Hyde Park: New City Press, 1997.

• Holmes, Stephen R., Paul D. Molnar, Thomas H. McCall, and Paul S. Fiddes. Two Views on the Doctrine of the Trinity. Edited by Jason S. Sexton. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014.

• Horton, Michael. The Christian Faith. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010.

• Karkkainen, Veli-Matti. The Trinity: Global Perspectives. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007.

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Reading for Next Week

• Chapter 7 – Jesus Christ: the Lord Who is Servant (pp 159-189)

• Chapter 8 – The Work of Christ (pp 191-228)

• John 1

• Hebrews 1