Unity and Diversity in the Trinity

It is the confession of the church from the very beginning that God exists as a Trinity.  We confess the unity of the nature of God, the Father, Son, and Spirit being of the same substance.  We also confess diversity with respect to the Persons in the Godhead: the Father is not Son, the Son is not the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father.  There is one God in three Persons, and this is the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.  The 1644 London Baptist Confession of Faith put it this way in the second article: “In this divine and infinite Being there is the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; each having the whole divine Essence, yet the Essence undivided; all infinite without any beginning, therefore but one God; who is not to be divided in nature, and being, but distinguished by several peculiar relative properties.”  To this, we say, “Amen!”

This may at first seem rather abstract and of little practical worth, but the fact of the matter is that it lies at the heart of the Christian religion.  One of the reasons that the doctrine of the Trinity is so important is that it is impossible to understand the doctrine of salvation apart from it.  In salvation, we see two things: the unity of God’s purpose and the diversity of the Persons in accomplishing this one purpose.  God the Father plans redemption, God the Son accomplishes redemption, and God the Holy Spirit applies redemption.  In the gospels we see the plan of the Father and the Son fulfilling that plan in the great work of redemption.  Our Lord put it this way: “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day” (Jn. 6:37-39).  In this passage we see that the will of the Father and the Son are one (cf. Jn. 10:30), and the Son is accomplishing the will (plan) of the Father in accomplishing salvation by His death on a cross.  Then the Spirit applies this redemption in the lives of His elect ones, regenerating (Jn. 3:3-8; Tit. 3:3-5), sanctifying (2 Thess. 2:13-14), and empowering them (Eph. 3:16).

Incidentally, this is one of the reasons we must embrace the doctrine of particular redemption.  The Son came to do the Father’s will.  There is not one will of the Father in salvation and another will of the Son and another will of the Spirit.  The Son came to redeem all whom the Father gave Him.  The Father gave a people to Christ to save, the elect.  This people is indeed a world-wide people who come from every kindred, tongue, people, and nation (Jn. 3:16; Rev. 5:9-10).  But we must not imagine that Christ intended to save a wider group of people than the Father purposed to save.  Christ died for the “us all” of Rom. 8:29-30 (see ver. 32): that is, those who are foreknown, predestined, called, justified, and glorified.  He gave his life for the church (Eph. 5:25-27) and laid down his life for the sheep (Jn. 10:15).

The unity of the Trinity in salvation not only affects the way redemption happens, but also the way it is enjoyed in eternity.  Have you ever wondered why our Lord couches the terms of eternal salvation in terms of unity?  In His High Priestly prayer, our Lord prays this way: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (Jn. 17:20-21).  The salvation of the elect is that they are to be unified in the sense of together joining in perfect harmony in the fellowship of the Trinity.  This unity should not be understood in terms of being deified, for we will forever be creatures, infinitely below God.  But we will be unified with God in terms of enjoying in a way appropriate to utterly dependent creatures the unity of the Godhead and the overflow of that in the fulness and purity of holy joy, love, and delight.

So many of our problems today can be thought of in terms of division, can’t they?  Divided families, divided churches, divided nations, divided hearts.  “Unite my heart to fear thy name,” prayed David (Ps. 86:11).  In the eternal state, all the ugly divisions that pull our souls in opposing directions, that tear at the fabric of our hearts will be healed in the unified enjoyment of the fellowship of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Even now, however, we can enjoy this fellowship in measure.  In the power of the Holy Spirit, through the mediation of the Son, we can approach God as Father.  This is not just a liturgical formula; this is the way the apostle Paul put it to the Ephesians: “For through him [Jesus] we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father” (Eph. 2:18).  The God who exists in three Persons has redeemed us with one purpose, and that is to bring us to the Father as sons and daughters with all the privileges enjoyed by children with their Father (Rom. 8:15-17; 1 Pet. 3:18).  Again, this is something every believer enjoys even now.  These are not blessings locked up in heaven, for the Spirit is the Spirit of adoption, who on the basis of the work of Christ enables us to approach God with cries of “Abba, Father!”  The purpose and work of the Spirit, Son, and Father are at one here as well.

And yet we don’t only enjoy the unity of the Trinity, but also the diversity of it.  Perhaps this is best seen in the unity of the church of Christ through the diversity of giftedness in the church (cf. Eph. 4:1-16).  Every believer is mutually dependent upon the other, and yet we are not all the same.  Thank God we are not!  Though we would be wise to be careful not to project too much of this upon the being of God, for God is one and three in ways that cannot be duplicated in created things, yet we do see in the Trinity's glorious diversity in unity.  The same is true of the church, unity and diversity, as it mirrors back to God in itself ever so faintly the image of the one who made it.

Dear reader, the richness of our salvation in its origin, accomplishment, and enjoyment are all due to the fact that God exists as a Trinity, both in terms of the unity and diversity in the Being of God.  This is not a doctrine to be ignored or feared, still less to be rejected, but to be enjoyed and delighted in.  We may not be able to fully understand it; who can?  It is like a majestic mountain piercing the sky above that cannot be climbed, and yet demands that it be beheld in wonder.  May it too cause us to hallow the name of God: Father, Son, and Spirit.