The doctrine of the Trinity is one proclaimed throughout Scripture, and one inferred from its earliest pages. Though there are those who have sought to expunge the precious truths in 1 John 5.7–8, they could sooner drag God from His throne than annul the blessed foundation so aptly expressed in the Westminster Confession: ‘In the unity of the Godhead there be three Persons of one substance, power, and eternity; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son’.

In Genesis 1.1–2 we have the voice of God the Father who gave the Word (i.e., God the Son), and God the Holy Spirit who moved upon the face of the waters, as sent by the Father and the Son, creating the world in which we live. The act of creation is thus ascribed to each of the three Persons, as confirmed elsewhere in John 1 and Hebrews 1.

Likewise in Isaiah 6.8 we read, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ The singular ‘I’ and the plural ‘us’ speak of two sacred and certain facts concerning God: there is one God and only one God, and yet He is also referred to in the plural as ‘us’. This plainly teaches us of the plurality within the Godhead of three co-equal, co-eternal Persons, in whom the same God dwells in all His fulness. Even though the Second Person, the Son, as the Servant of His Father, assumed a complete holy humanity, yet within that finite compass dwelt, and still dwells, all the fulness of the Godhead (see Colossians 2.9).

In the miracle of the giving of water out of the rock (Exodus 17.5–6), ‘and that Rock was Christ’ (1 Corinthians 10.4), the action of a Triune God was revealed. This is shown in Moses being the type of God the Father in divine justice in smiting the rock who is the type of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the waters gushing out into the dry places which is the sacred type of the gift of the Holy Spirit.

At the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ each Person of the Trinity gave their divine approbation to the ordinance. This is seen in God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in being baptised; God the Spirit descending and remaining on Him like a dove; and God the Father testifying, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’ (Matthew 3.17).

Likewise, in Revelation 22.1 we have these words, ‘And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb’. God the Father sits on His throne, and His dearly beloved Son, Christ Jesus, shares the honour at His right hand as the Lamb of God, slain but now risen and glorified. The pure waters flowing from beneath the throne are the Holy Spirit conveying to the church triumphant above and the church militant below the benefits of the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus in His precious blood, and the Word of God as revealed in the Gospel. What a sacred stream, in its source, in its nature, and in its power!

At the end of public worship how welcome are the desires of what we call the ‘Benediction’, as each Person of the Trinity is implored, ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen’ (2 Corinthians 13.14). It is a mark of the condescending grace of the Triune God that it was to Corinth of all the churches to whom Paul ministered that this benediction should first be pronounced. We might have understood it better if it had been Philippi or Ephesus for whom Paul had such a high regard and commendation. But no, it was to Corinth: the divided church, the church assailed by heresy, the church where discipline had failed. How this proves to us the principles of sovereign grace in dealing with sinners! It was the blessings of a Triune God which alone could heal the church at Corinth. As Paul wrote to Titus: ‘But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour’ (Titus 3.4–6).

It is also implied that we may approach in prayer each of the three Persons. We come to God the Father, through the Son, by the aid of the Holy Spirit. We have records in Scripture of prayers offered directly to each Person: the Father (Acts 4.23–31), the Son (Acts 7.59–60), and the Holy Spirit (Song of Solomon 4.16).

All true believers have reason to thank God for each of these three sacred Persons: God the Father in His eternal choice of His own; God the Son in His redeeming love so clearly demonstrated at Calvary; and God the Holy Spirit to whom we owe any spiritual life we may have in our hearts.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.¹

Written by Mr G.D. Buss, A Vice-President of the Society. First published in Quarterly Record 643. 

Endnote:

^1. T. Ken in Gadsby’s Hymns no.506A