The Conservative Christian Reader

Next Week

Sorry, but I will not be able to post again until next week.  Probably the 10th of May.

Doug

9 – The Doctrine of the Trinity (The Conclusion)

9 – The Doctrine of the Trinity (The Conclusion)

Yesterday, we talked about He is One God.  Today, we’ll conclude our focus on The Trinity.

Conclusion

There are no differences in deity, attributes, or essential nature between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Each person is fully God and has all the attributes of God.  The only distinction between the members of the Trinity are the way they relate to each other and to creation.  In those relationships they carry out roles that are appropriate to each person.

 

The truth about the Trinity has sometimes been summarized in the phrase ‘ontological equality, but economic subordination, ‘ where the word ontological means ‘being.’  Another way of expressing this more simply would be to say ‘equal in being, but subordinate in role’ Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, p. 251.

 

This is something far removed from our human experience, where every different human ‘person’ is a different being as well.  Somehow God’s being is so much greater than ours that within his one undivided being there can be an unfolding into interpersonal relationships, so that there can be three distinct persons.  Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, p. 254

 

Next we’ll look at The Sufficiency of Scripture.

Doug