Johannes Marck’s Marrow of Christian Theology, Didactic-Elenctic V
James Dodson
CHAPTER V
Of the Trinity of Persons
I. Trinity is, as it were, tri-unity, or the unity of three, from 1 John 5:7: καὶ οὗτοι οἱ τρεῖς ἕν εἰσι [and these three are one]. And this name is better than quaternity or triplicity, since those involve composition rather than unity.
II. The word “person” is taken from the stage; for it Paul uses ὑπόστασιν [subsistence / person] in Heb. 1:3: ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης καὶ χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ [the brightness of His glory and the express image of His subsistence], etc. The Latins sometimes say subsistence, sometimes substance. Here, however, person generally denotes an intelligent, individual, and incommunicable substance.
III. Personality in the abstract is not something real which is a being, for thus there would necessarily be multiple essences in God; nor is it merely the negation of actual communication, for thus it would be a mere nothing, nor could the distinction of Persons be conceived through characteristic properties, and the personality of τοῦ λόγου [the Logos] would perish in the incarnation. Rather, it is—
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—a positive mode of being, finally terminating and completing a substantial nature, and giving incommunicability to it.
IV. The names “Person” and “Trinity,” in the present state of the Church, are necessary for warding off heresies, even though they are not explicitly read in Scripture; because heretics also use scriptural names in a distorted sense. And those do very wrongly who, from hatred of scholastic terms, yield so much that they speak only of the mystery of the Father, Son, and Spirit.
V. These points help toward understanding the Trinity:
1. There is one single and most simple essence of God, against the Tritheites and Triformians.
2. There are three modes of subsisting of this one essence, relatively and terminatively distinct from the essence, not bare names, against the Sabellians and Patripassians.
3. These Persons agree both in one essence, which the Nicenes expressed by ὁμοούσιον [consubstantial], and in ἰσότητι [equality], or equality of honor, and in ἐμπεριχωρήσει [mutual indwelling / perichoresis], or mutual inexistence, from John 14:11: “Believe Me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me.”
VI. These Persons are again distinguished from one another:
α. By the names Father, Son, and Spirit, from Matt. 28:19: “baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
β. By order, from 1 John 5:7: “For there are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost.”
γ. By mode of operation, from John 5:19: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do,” etc.
δ. By outward works, through economic appropriation, from 1 Cor. 8:6: “But to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things,” etc.
And most especially—
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—by personal or characteristic properties, which belong to the Persons in the concrete, and are relative rather than absolute.
VII. The property of the Father is ἀγεννησία [unbegottenness], and the ineffable production of the Son and Spirit, from John 5:26: “As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son also to have life in Himself”; and from the name of Father. In this respect the ancients spoke rather harshly when they called the Father the fountain of the whole deity.
VIII. The property of the Son is to be begotten of the Father, and with this to produce the Spirit. This generation is treated in Ps. 2:7: “Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee”; Prov. 8:24–25: “When there were no depths, I was brought forth,” etc.; “before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth”; Mic. 5:2: “whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting,” etc. From this alone He is called the Son of God, only-begotten, proper, beloved: Matt. 16:16, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”; John 1:14, “and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father”; Rom. 8:32, “He that spared not His own Son,” etc.; Matt. 3:17: οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, ἐν ᾧ εὐδόκησα [this is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased].
This eternal and hyperphysical generation is true and proper, not metaphorical, and is described as an eternal, ineffable communication of the same numerical divine essence, made by the Father to the Son: Col. 1:15, “who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature”; Heb. 1:3: ὃς ὢν ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης καὶ χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ [who, being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His subsistence]; Col. 2:9: ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ κατοικεῖ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος σωματικῶς [for in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily], etc.
IX. The Arians formerly explained this generation badly by creation before the Mosaic beginning, from Col. 1:15, where nevertheless Christ is called πρωτότοκος [firstborn]—
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—not πρωτόκτιστος [first-created]. The Socinians also wrongly set down four temporal degrees of His sonship: birth from the Virgin, sanctification to the office of Mediator, resurrection from the dead, and exaltation to the right hand of the Father. In all of these, according to Scripture, there is nothing except a consequent demonstration of divine filiation; compare Luke 1:35; John 10:36; Rom. 1:4; Heb. 5:5.
The Remonstrants also wrongly join these four Socinian causes of filiation with eternal generation, as though He were the Son of God because of both this and those together.
Finally, a learned man recently did wrongly when he first established this generation in coexistence with the Father, which is common to the Spirit and is no less rightly attributed to the Father than to the Son, and which has nothing in itself corresponding to generation; and then, denying true eternal generation, he adopted the Socinian causes of filiation alone with respect to the incarnation and office, though still acknowledging the eternal deity of the Son. In this way Scripture is overturned when it calls Christ the Son of God before the incarnation; and the mystery of the Trinity openly passes either into tritheism, if the distinction of the Persons is constituted not in the mode of having essence, but in the essence itself, or into Sabellianism, if there is no distinction either of essence or of mode. Since this pertains no less to the Spirit than to the Son, the great weight of this error is clear to all who attend to it, and the care of the Belgian synods against it ought to be praised.
X. Although the Son is begotten of the Father, He is nevertheless true, supreme, and independent God, or αὐτόθεος [God of Himself], according to 1 John 5:20, “This is the true God and eternal life”; Rom. 9:5, ὁ ὢν ἐπὶ πάντων Θεὸς [who is over all, God]—
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—εὐλογητὸς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας [blessed forever]; and John 5:26, ὥσπερ ὁ πατὴρ ἔχει ζωὴν ἐν ἑαυτῷ, οὕτως ἔδωκε καὶ τῷ υἱῷ ζωὴν ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ [as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself].
Therefore the Papists wrongly deny this phrase: both because of the life given to Him by the Father, which regards only the mode of possessing independent essence and the personal order of subsisting; and because of the giving and subjection in time, which must be referred either to the human nature and οἰκονομία [economy], or to the voluntary economy and external declaration.
XI. The property of the Holy Spirit is to proceed, or to be breathed forth: Ps. 33:6, “By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and by the Spirit of His mouth all their host”; John 15:26, τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, ὃ παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐκπορεύεται [the Spirit of truth, who proceedeth from the Father]; John 20:22, ἐνεφύσησε [He breathed on them], and says to them, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” He proceeds not from the Father alone, but also from the Son, for which reason He is also called His Spirit: Gal. 4:6, “God sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts”; from Him He receives all things, John 16:13–15, “He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are Mine; therefore said I, that He shall take of Mine and shall show it unto you”; and by Him He is sent, John 15:26, “whom I will send unto you from the Father,” etc.
This must be held against the Greeks, who maintain that the Spirit proceeds from the Father alone. Yet it can rightly be granted to them that in this spiration the Son is to be subordinated to the Father rather than coordinated with Him.
XII. The difference between generation and spiration is not accurately perceived by us. Yet this is clear: in generation the faculty of further communicating the essence is given to the Son; in spiration the same is not given to the Holy Ghost. But as to the fact that many attribute generation to the intellect and spiration to the will—
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XIII. The doctrine of the Trinity is not to be derived either, with the Papists, from tradition, or, with others, from natural reason, but solely from the Scriptures, both of the Old and New Testament. And first we prove indefinitely that there are multiple Persons in the one God.
1. From passages in which God speaks of Himself in the first person plural: Gen. 1:26, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness”; Gen. 3:22, “Behold, the man is become as one of Us”; Gen. 11:7, “Go to, let Us go down, and there confound their language,” etc. These cannot be referred either to angels, because they do not have a part in performing the things spoken of in these places, or to the modern manner of princes, which did not so obtain among the Orientals.
2. From those places also in which multiple Persons are distinctly named: Gen. 19:24, “Jehovah rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven”; Ps. 45:7, “Therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows”; Ps. 110:1, “Jehovah said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand,” etc.
XIV. The argument which others add from the plural ending of the name אֱלֹהִים [Elohim] and others, we cannot approve; because a plural of excellence is commonly used with a singular sense, especially in names of dignity. Compare Exod. 21:4, 29: “If his master,” אֲדֹנָיו [his lord / master], “have given him a wife,” etc.; “and his owner,” בְּעָלָיו [his owner / master], “shall be put to death,” etc. The same name is also used concerning idols: Exod. 20:3, “Thou shalt have no other gods,” אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים [other gods], etc. Indeed, it is attributed to individual Persons: Ps. 45:7, “God, Thy God,” אֱלֹהִים אֱלֹהֶיךָ [God, Thy God]; and if it is translated plurally, it leads us to multiple gods.
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XV. Secondly, we have places of the Old Testament in which the Trinity of Persons is determined:
1. Where there is a threefold repetition of the name or divine attribute: Num. 6:24–26, “Jehovah bless thee and keep thee; Jehovah make His face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee; Jehovah lift up His countenance upon thee and give thee peace”; Isa. 6:3, “Holy, holy, holy, Jehovah of hosts,” compared with verse 8, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” and John 12:41, ταῦτα εἶπεν Ἠσαΐας ὅτε εἶδεν τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐλάλησε περὶ αὐτοῦ [these things said Isaiah when he saw His glory and spoke of Him]; Acts 28:25–26, καλῶς τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἐλάλησε διὰ Ἠσαίου τοῦ προφήτου [well spake the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the prophet], etc.
2. Where three distinct Persons are recounted: Ps. 33:6, “By the Word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and by the Spirit of His mouth all their host”; Isa. 61:1, “The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon Me, because Jehovah hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me,” etc.; Isa. 63:7, 9–11, 14, “I will mention the lovingkindnesses of Jehovah,” etc.; “the Angel of His face saved them,” etc.; “but they rebelled, and vexed His Holy Spirit,” etc.; “Where is He that put His Holy Spirit in the midst of him?” etc.; “the Spirit of Jehovah caused him to rest,” etc.; Hag. 2:4–5, “I am with you, saith Jehovah of hosts, with the Word which I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, and My Spirit remaineth among you,” etc.
XVI. We do not think the appearance of the three men before Abraham, Gen. 18:1–2, pertains here. Rather, only one was Jehovah, the Son of God, with two created angels; as these are distinguished in the context by name and by ministerial work, whence also Paul gathers that angels were received with hospitality, Heb. 13:2.
Objection 1. Divine and equal honor was rendered to the three.
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Reply: It was not equal, since the speech is often directed by way of excellence to one; nor was it divine at first, since Abraham did not yet recognize Jehovah.
Objection 2. The two angels are called by the name Jehovah, Gen. 19:18, 25.
Reply: Jehovah, who had previously remained with Abraham, afterward returned in the departure to the two angels and Lot, according to the prediction of Gen. 18:20.
XVII. Thirdly, we produce the clearest testimonies of the New Testament: from Matt. 3:16–17, where Christ, being baptized, is declared by the Father to be His Son, and the Spirit descends in the form of a dove; from Matt. 28:19, where we are commanded to be baptized into the name, that is, by the authority, into the faith, and into the obedience of these three; from John 14:16–17, where Christ, who will send the Spirit, distinguishes Himself from the Father and the Spirit; from 2 Cor. 13:14, where the Father, Christ, and the Spirit are invoked as one author of grace; from Rev. 1:4–5, where with the Father and Jesus Christ there are joined, in John’s prayer, the seven Spirits, that is, the Holy Ghost according to symbolic representation and His manifold and sufficient sevenfold gifts.
XVIII. Yet above all other passages, the text of 1 John 5:7 is eminent, where the three are said to be οἱ μαρτυροῦντες ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, ὁ πατὴρ, ὁ λόγος, καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα [those bearing witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost], and these three are εἰς τὸ ἕν [unto one / one]. More than unity of testimony is understood, namely essential unity, because of the different phrase from that which is read in verse 8, εἰς τὸ ἕν [unto one], and because of Christ’s explanation, John 10:29–30, “I and the Father are one,” etc.
Nor should this place be rejected as supposititious, since the most ancient codices and fathers have it, and the opposition of the three earthly witnesses in verse 8 makes it necessary. But—
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—because this verse is not read in some copies, or is read variously, this must be referred to the corruption and fraud of ancient Anti-Trinitarians, even before Arius.
XIX. The Socinians and other Anti-Trinitarians object:
1. Places where God is called one: Deut. 6:4; Eph. 4:6; 1 Cor. 8:4–6.
Reply: These deal with the one essence, and in some of these places multiple divine Persons are mentioned explicitly or implicitly.
2. Places which call the Father alone God: John 17:3; Jude 4, etc.
Reply: Some of these do not deal with the Father, but truly with God οὐσιωδῶς [essentially], or even with Christ; and in the others the Father alone is not called God, but the Father is called the only God, that is, the true God, the one and only God.
3. Places which attribute wisdom, goodness, independence, etc., to the Father alone: 1 Tim. 1:17, μόνῳ σοφῷ Θεῷ [to the only wise God]; Matt. 19:17, τί με λέγεις ἀγαθόν; οὐδεὶς ἀγαθός, εἰ μὴ εἷς ὁ Θεός [why callest thou Me good? there is none good but one, that is, God]; John 5:26, ὥσπερ ὁ πατὴρ ἔχει ζωὴν ἐν ἑαυτῷ [as the Father hath life in Himself], etc.
Reply: Nowhere is any exclusion of the Son or the Spirit made, since in some places they are expressly included, but only of creatures.
4. The Son and Spirit are called “of God,” and so are distinguished from God.
Reply: The name God is then taken personally; and elsewhere both are also called God in the nominative case.
XX. To the arguments from reason which are opposed, it must generally be said that, because of our finitude and God’s infinity, they are to be subjected to the truth of revelation, from 2 Cor. 10:5: λογισμοὺς καθαιροῦντες καὶ πᾶν ὕψωμα ἐπαιρόμενον κατὰ τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ αἰχμαλωτίζοντες πᾶν νόημα εἰς τὴν ὑπακοὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ [casting down reasonings and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ].
In particular, when they say:
α. That essences are always multiplied with persons, we note that this has place in finite things, not in infinite being.
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β. If there is one essence, the Persons do not differ among themselves; we say that they are nevertheless distinguished by characteristic properties.
γ. If personality is distinguished from essence, there will be four essences; we observe that personality is not a being, but the mode of subsisting of a being.
δ. If each Person is God, that Person also will be triune; we answer that each Person indeed has the essence and essential perfections, but not all the personal and relative properties.
XXI. The deity of the Son is further proved:
1. From the names Jehovah, God, and Lord, which are given to Him very emphatically: John 20:28, Κύριός μου καὶ ὁ Θεός μου [my Lord and my God]; Acts 20:28, ποιμαίνειν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἣν περιεποιήσατο διὰ τοῦ ἰδίου αἵματος [to shepherd the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood]; 1 Tim. 3:16, Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί [God was manifested in the flesh]; Tit. 2:13, προσδεχόμενοι τὴν μακαρίαν ἐλπίδα καὶ ἐπιφάνειαν τῆς δόξης τοῦ μεγάλου Θεοῦ καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ [looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ]; 1 John 5:20, “This is the true God and eternal life”; Isa. 40:3, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah,” etc.; Jer. 23:6, “And this is His name whereby He shall be called, Jehovah our righteousness,” etc.
2. From the divine attributes: eternity, Prov. 8:22, “Jehovah possessed Me in the beginning of His way, before His works,” etc.; Mic. 5:2, “Out of thee shall He come forth unto Me, who is to be ruler in Israel; and His goings forth have been מִימֵי עוֹלָם [from the days of eternity],” or from, or rather before, the beginning, before the days of the age; John 1:1, ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος [in the beginning was the Word], etc.; John 8:58, πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι ἐγὼ εἰμί [before Abraham was, I am]. Omnipresence—
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—omnipresence: Matt. 18:20, “where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” Independence: John 5:26, “As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself.” Immutability: Ps. 102:27–28, “They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure,” etc.; “Thou art the same, and Thy years shall have no end.” Omniscience: John 21:17, “Lord, Thou knowest all things”; Rev. 2:23, ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἐρευνῶν νεφροὺς καὶ καρδίας [I am He who searcheth the reins and hearts]. Omnipotence: Rev. 1:8, “I am Alpha and Omega,” etc., ὁ παντοκράτωρ [the Almighty].
To these also belong His very deity, Col. 2:9; the form and equality of God, Phil. 2:6; and unity with the Father, John 10:30.
3. From divine works: creation, Ps. 33:6, “By the Word of Jehovah were the heavens made”; John 1:3, πάντα δι’ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο [all things were made by Him]. Preservation, Col. 1:17, καὶ τὰ πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ συνέστηκεν [and by Him all things consist]; Heb. 1:3, φέρων τὰ πάντα τῷ ῥήματι τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ [upholding all things by the word of His power]. Miracles, John 5:21, 36. Redemption, Acts 20:28, “the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood.” Calling, John 5:25, “when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.” Justification, Matt. 9:6, “that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins.” Sanctification, Eph. 5:26, “that He might sanctify,” etc. Preservation, John 10:28, κἀγὼ ζωὴν αἰώνιον δίδωμι αὐτοῖς, καὶ οὐ μὴ ἀπόλωνται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, καὶ οὐχ ἁρπάσει τις αὐτὰ ἐκ τῆς χειρός μου [and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand]. Resurrection—
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—John 5:28, μὴ θαυμάζετε τοῦτο, ὅτι ἔρχεται ὥρα ἐν ᾗ πάντες οἱ ἐν τοῖς μνημείοις ἀκούσονται τῆς φωνῆς αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐκπορεύσονται [marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth], etc. Universal judgment, John 5:22, “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son,” etc.
4. From divine honor and worship: John 5:23, “that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father,” etc. To this belongs invocation, Heb. 1:6, καὶ προσκυνησάτωσαν αὐτῷ πάντες ἄγγελοι Θεοῦ [and let all the angels of God worship Him]; Phil. 2:9–10, “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth,” etc. Obedience, Ps. 45:12, “for He is thy Lord; and worship thou Him.” Faith, John 14:1, πιστεύετε εἰς τὸν Θεόν, καὶ εἰς ἐμὲ πιστεύετε [believe in God, believe also in Me]. Love, 1 Cor. 16:22, “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.” Baptism into His name, Matt. 28:19.
All this honor could not be given to Christ if He were not God, from Isa. 42:8, “My glory will I not give to another”; Jer. 17:5, “Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from Jehovah”; Matt. 4:10, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve,” etc.
XXII. The Socinians, who hold Christ to be a mere man, object:
1. That He is distinguished from God as Son and image of God, Matt. 16:16; Col. 1:15.
Reply: The name “God” is then taken personally; indeed, by the very names “image” and “Son,” the same nature with the Father is attributed to Him.
2. That He, as man and as Mediator, is different from God, 1 Tim. 2:5.
Reply: He is both man and God at once, and the office of Mediator—
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—does not exclude deity, but altogether requires it.
3. That the gifts of the Spirit were bestowed upon Him, Matt. 3:16.
Reply: Only according to His human nature, and by virtue of the personal union with the divine nature, most abundantly.
4. That Christ denies goodness, Matt. 19:17; omniscience, Mark 13:32; and divine power, John 5:19, “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do,” etc.
Reply: Christ by no means denies divine goodness to Himself, but intends to convict the man from his own words. Omniscience is denied to Christ only according to His human nature. Nor does Christ attribute impotence to Himself, but speaks concerning His unity with the Father and the order of operation.
XXIII. Concerning the Holy Spirit, we prove first that He is a true Person. This is taught by His names; by masculine pronouns joined to the neuter noun πνεῦμα [Spirit], John 15:26, etc.; Eph. 1:13–14; by attributes of intellect and will; by personal works; and by the emblems under which He was seen.
The Socinians wish Him to be the power of God, a quality, a medium between God and the creature; and they object:
1. That He is called the power of God, Luke 1:35, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee”; 1 Cor. 2:4, “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,” etc.
Reply: Either He is called personal power, or rather divine power is attributed in these places.
2. That He is everywhere said to be sent, given, and distributed.
Reply: The Son also is sent and given; and then these things chiefly regard the gifts of the Spirit—
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—which receive the name “Spirit” by metonymy.
XXIV. We prove, secondly, that He is a Person distinct from the Father and the Son, from His peculiar name, from the distinct enumeration, Matt. 28:19; 1 John 5:7; and from other express mentions, John 14:16, καὶ ἄλλον παράκλητον δώσει ὑμῖν [and He shall give you another Comforter]; John 15:26, “when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth,” etc.
The Socinians object, who sometimes wish the Spirit not to be distinct from God whose Spirit He is.
1. The name “Spirit” is attributed to God.
Reply: Then it is understood only of the spiritual nature.
2. The mention of the Spirit is more rarely made where the Father and the Son are mentioned.
Reply: Sometimes mention is also made of the Father alone; and although this is not done so often, nevertheless the Holy Spirit is sometimes expressly added.
XXV. Thirdly, we prove that the Spirit is one Person from the fact that He is mentioned singularly, and is expressly called one, 1 Cor. 12:4, 11: διαιρέσεις δὲ χαρισμάτων εἰσί, τὸ δὲ αὐτὸ πνεῦμα [there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit]; πάντα δὲ ταῦτα ἐνεργεῖ τὸ ἓν καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ πνεῦμα [but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit].
This must be held against a new paradox, that the Holy Spirit is a multitude of good angels. For this opinion it is objected:
1. Angels are numbered where mention of the Spirit is omitted, 1 Tim. 5:21.
Reply: Elsewhere mention of Him also is omitted, and the Father also is sometimes passed over, Luke 12:8, “The Son of man shall confess him before the angels of God.”
2. Certain works are sometimes attributed to angels, sometimes to the Spirit.
Reply: To Him as the principal cause, to them as ministers.
3. Singular names are often put collectively, and angels are—
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—holy.
Reply: Nevertheless this has no place here because of the arguments already given; nor are angels holy independently and effectively, as the Holy Spirit is.
XXVI. Finally, we assert that the Holy Spirit is a truly divine Person, or God.
1. From names: Jehovah, Exod. 17:7, “because they tempted Jehovah, saying, Is Jehovah among us, or not?” compared with Isa. 63:10, “but they rebelled, and vexed His Holy Spirit.” Num. 12:6, “If there be a prophet among you, I Jehovah will make Myself known in a vision,” etc., compared with 2 Pet. 1:21, ὑπὸ πνεύματος ἁγίου φερόμενοι ἐλάλησαν ἅγιοι Θεοῦ ἄνθρωποι [holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost]. Isa. 6:9, “and He said,” that is, Jehovah of hosts, “Go and tell this people,” etc., compared with Acts 28:25–26, καλῶς τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἐλάλησε διὰ Ἠσαΐου τοῦ προφήτου [well spake the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the prophet], etc.
He is called the God of Israel, 2 Sam. 23:2–3, “The Spirit of Jehovah spake by me,” etc.; “the God of Israel said,” etc. God, 1 Cor. 3:16, οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι ναὸς Θεοῦ ἐστε καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ οἰκεῖ ἐν ὑμῖν; [know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?]; and Acts 5:3–4, 9, “Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?” etc.; “thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God,” etc.; “the Spirit of the Lord.” Lord, 2 Cor. 3:17–18, ὁ δὲ Κύριος τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστιν [now the Lord is that Spirit], etc.; ἀπὸ Κυρίου πνεύματος [from the Lord the Spirit], etc.
2. From attributes: eternity, Gen. 1:2, “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters”; immensity, Ps. 139:7, “Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit?”; omniscience, 1 Cor. 2:10–11, τὸ γὰρ πνεῦμα πάντα ἐρευνᾷ, καὶ τὰ βάθη τοῦ Θεοῦ [for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God], etc.
3. From works: creation, Gen. 1:2, “and the Spirit of God מְרַחֶפֶת [was moving / hovering] upon the face of the waters”; Ps. 33:6, “By the Word of Jehovah were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the Spirit of His mouth.” Preser—
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—vation, Ps. 104:30, “Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created; and Thou renewest the face of the earth.” Miracles, 1 Cor. 12:4, 11, διαιρέσεις δὲ χαρισμάτων [diversities of gifts], etc.; πάντα δὲ ταῦτα ἐνεργεῖ τὸ ἓν καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ πνεῦμα [but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit]. The anointing of Christ, Isa. 61:1–2, “The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon Me, because Jehovah hath anointed Me,” etc. The sending of ministers, Acts 8:29; 13:2, “The Spirit said unto Philip,” etc.; “Separate Me Paul and Barnabas for the work whereunto I have called them.” Regeneration, John 3:5; sanctification, Tit. 3:5; preservation, Eph. 4:30, “and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God,” etc.
4. From divine worship: baptism into His name, Matt. 28:19; our consecration, 1 Cor. 3:16, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”; obedience, Eph. 4:30, μὴ λυπεῖτε τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον τοῦ Θεοῦ [grieve not the Holy Spirit of God]; invocation, 2 Cor. 13:14, ἡ κοινωνία τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος μετὰ πάντων ὑμῶν [the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all], etc.
The Remonstrants also deny that in Scripture any command, example, or manifest indication of this worship is found; but this is against the example of Paul and John, Rev. 1:4, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἑπτὰ πνευμάτων [and from the seven Spirits], and against manifold implicit command. And because invocation of the Spirit is not commanded so often or so explicitly, this is because He is economically considered as the cause of prayers.
XXVII. They object badly against the deity of the Spirit:
1. That He is not eternal, John 7:39, “for the Holy Ghost was not yet, because Jesus was not—
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—yet glorified”; 1 Thess. 5:19, τὸ πνεῦμα μὴ σβέννυτε [quench not the Spirit].
Reply: It treats of the operations and extraordinary gifts of the Spirit poured out abundantly, or also of ordinary operations and the gracious sense of them.
2. That He is not omniscient, Matt. 11:27, “No man knoweth the Son but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son.”
Reply: The Spirit, or creatures, are not excluded here.
3. That He is not independent, John 16:14–15, τὸ ἐκ τοῦ ἐμοῦ λήψεται [He shall take of Mine], etc.
Reply: This place regards only the order of Persons and internal operations.
XXVIII. This dogma of the Trinity surpasses the reason of corrupt man, by which it cannot be proved, according to experience and the passages Matt. 11:27, “neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son,” etc.; Matt. 16:17; Col. 2:2, “unto the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ”; 1 Tim. 3:16, καὶ ὁμολογουμένως μέγα ἐστὶ τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον [and without controversy great is the mystery of godliness], etc.
Some object:
1. That man was made in the image of the Trinity, Gen. 1:26, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness,” etc.
Reply: The passage treats of the whole man, complete; nor was he created to the image of the Trinity as such.
2. That Christ enlightens all men, John 1:9.
Reply: Not equally, nor to this extent; indeed, there it treats not of individual men one by one, but of men without distinction.
3. That among Trismegistus, the Sibyls, and Plato, many things are read concerning this mystery.
Reply: Many writings are falsely attributed to them; and the sayings of others either refer to something else, or flowed from tradition.
4. Necessary reasons—
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—from the perfections of God, which require the Trinity, and similarities in nature from which the same may appear.
Reply: Both of these are only discovered after revelation, and are in many ways invalid or dissimilar.
XXIX. The Trinity is also an article necessary to be known and believed unto salvation, according to passages in which the knowledge of the Father and the Son, not excluding but including that of the Spirit, is called necessary: John 17:3, “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent”; 1 John 2:23, πᾶς ὁ ἀρνούμενος τὸν υἱὸν οὐδὲ τὸν πατέρα ἔχει [whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father], etc. So also the chief doctrines of the incarnation, satisfaction, etc., presuppose this; nor can the true God be worshipped decently unless we know Him with respect to His Persons.
The Remonstrants object:
1. Confession of the Trinity is not required, Acts 8:37, πιστεύω τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ εἶναι Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν [I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God]; 1 John 4:15, ὃς ἂν ὁμολογήσῃ ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἐστιν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ Θεὸς ἐν αὐτῷ μένει [whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him], etc.
Reply: It is required altogether, whether implicitly, or even explicitly, in these very passages.
2. This matter is proposed too obscurely in both Testaments.
Reply: No; in both Testaments it is sufficiently clear, according to the reason of the economy.
3. This matter is too difficult to know.
Reply: Therefore it must be believed; nor is it necessary for every believer to know anything except the sum of the matter, namely, that there is one God, and at the same time three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—not three Gods, but divine Persons.
XXX. Against the Remonstrants we further observe that this dogma is useful for true piety, insofar as, first, it leads us to divine incomprehensibility—
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—to the true worship of the true God, and is the sure foundation of faith and solid hope.