Unity Of The Godhead Study Guide

Q. What does the Bible teach about inseparable operation?

One of the logical obstacles in contemplating the doctrine of the Trinity is maintaining a unity in diversity within the Godhead. This challenge is not exclusive to speaking of the “immanence” of the Trinity, but also in speaking of the “economy” of the doctrine. Here, by immanence, I am referring to the eternal consubstantiality of the triune God that exist in distinct interpersonal relationships to each other. And by an economy, I am alluding to the ‘ways’ or ‘actions’ by which the triune Godhead manifest himself to humanity in this temporal material world. Too much emphasis on the unity of the Trinity can lead us to some heretical views that dismiss the distinct persons and attempt

Ontologically speaking, these supposedly distinct separable operations of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit may, to some, infer that there are essentially three gods in one Godhead committee. The fact of the matter is, our human languages are fundamentally constructed to convey information and concepts that are exhaustively anthropomorphic by default. More often than not, when speaking of the temporal mission of the triune God, the Father is known as the Creator, the Son the Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit the Sanctifier as if each by part makes the triune Godhead mission

In Genesis account of the creation, it is not too difficult to point out that the Father and the (Holy) Spirit are at work. To be fair, the Father is not explicitly mentioned except the collective noun God and neither the Son is. But since the Father is the source or origin of all things, we can infer that the Father is present in creation. Then how about the Son? By its nature of being generated from the Father, we can conclude that the Son is also actively present in creation. That is why Colossians 1:16 says, “For by him [Jesus] all things were created...all things were created through him and for him.” (ESV) When it comes to the redemptive work of Christ, if not a mistake, it will be inadequate to think that the Son alone accomplished our salvation as a separate operation. We have to remind ourselves that it is the Father who loved us first and sent his only begotten Son from eternal damnation due to sin (John 3:16). Last, but not the least, the indwelling of the elects by the Holy Spirit is often attributed to the third person of the Trinity and rightly so. However, it is not a separate operation of the Holy Spirit since it proceeds from the Father and Son. So, wherever the Holy Spirit is there is the Father and the Son. Jesus makes it clear when he says, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with