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Chapter 2, that chapter is of 
God and of the Holy Trinity. Once again, we come to a topic 
which is which is high and lifted up. We are studying God and so 
we ought to come with that proper posture. If we're not on our 
faces as dead men before God outwardly, we ought to be at 
a measure inwardly because this is a very glorious topic. When we come to the study of 
God and of the Holy Trinity, we're coming to weighty subject 
matter. We're not coming as sleuths. We're not coming as detectives 
or investigators in order to find out and, you know, plumb 
the depths of God, because we can't plumb the depths of God. 
He is unfathomable. Yet He has revealed Himself. 
He's revealed Himself in creation. He's revealed Himself specially 
in the scriptures, and so we can have a knowledge of God. 
We cannot comprehend him as he is, but we can apprehend him 
as he has revealed himself in the Holy Scriptures. I'm going 
to read paragraphs 1, 2, and 3. We'll talk just very briefly, 
introductorily, about the three paragraphs, and then we'll look 
into just three simple things with regards to the doctrine 
of God. one, two, and three, and then get into it. The Lord 
our God is but one only living and true God whose subsistence 
is in and of himself, infinite in being and perfection, whose 
essence cannot be comprehended by any but himself, a most pure 
spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions, who only 
hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach 
unto, who is immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, 
every way infinite, most holy, most wise, most free, most absolute, 
working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable 
and most righteous will for his own glory, most loving, gracious, 
merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving 
iniquity, transgression, and sin, the rewarder of them that 
diligently seek Him, and with all most just and terrible in 
His judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear 
the guilty. God, having all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, 
in and of Himself, is alone in and unto Himself all-sufficient. 
not standing in need of any creature which he hath made, nor deriving 
any glory from them, but only manifesting his own glory in, 
by, unto, and upon them. He is the alone fountain of all 
being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things. and 
he hath most sovereign dominion over all creatures, to do by 
them, for them, or upon them whatsoever himself pleaseth. 
In his sight all things are open and manifest, his knowledge is 
infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature, so as nothing 
is to him contingent or uncertain. He is most holy in all His counsels, 
in all His works, and in all His commands. To Him is due from 
angels and men whatsoever worship, service, or obedience as creatures 
they owe unto the Creator, and whatever He is further pleased 
to require of them. In this divine and infinite being, 
there are three subsistences, the Father, the Word or Son, 
and Holy Spirit, of one substance, power and eternity, each having 
the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided. The Father 
is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding. The Son is eternally 
begotten of the Father. the Holy Spirit proceeding from 
the Father and the Son, all infinite, without beginning. Therefore, 
but one God who is not to be divided in nature and being, 
but distinguished by several peculiar relative properties 
and personal relations, which doctrine of the Trinity is the 
foundation of all our communion with God and comfortable dependence 
on Him. So those three paragraphs are 
rich with information. And in those three paragraphs, 
we really do have put together a summary of the biblical witness 
to the doctrine of God, such that it does and can, in effect, 
dash to pieces any and every heresy that has ever come up 
against the one and only living and true God who is God in three 
persons, blessed Trinity. What we're going to do is just 
have a look at three things from the doctrine of God as it's presented 
here from the Bible. And those three things are God 
is, God is one, and God is one in three persons, blessed Trinity. 
And this is sort of following after the process, if you will, 
of discovery with regards to the one true God, the Holy Trinity. Turretin says this, and this 
is the framework that we're following here, but Turretin writes this 
way. in his institutes. He says, the subject of the one 
in triune God admits of a threefold division. First, that we may 
know that he is against the atheist. Second, that we may know what 
he is with respect to his nature and attributes against the heathen. 
And third, that we may know who He is with respect to the persons 
against the Jews and heretics. So that we may know that God 
is, that we may know who He is, and that, or excuse me, may know 
what He is, and that we may know who He is. Those three things 
are what we're doing this morning. First, God is. And actually, 
just another introductory piece here. We need to recognize the 
incomprehensibility of God. Not that He cannot be known, 
but that we cannot know Him exhaustively, that we cannot comprehend Him 
as He is. The confession, in fact, in just 
the first half of the first paragraph, Touches upon divine incomprehensibility 
three times. It says, it reads, the Lord our 
God is but one only living and true God whose subsistence is 
in and of himself, infinite in being and perfection, and now 
notice, whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but himself. 
Only God can comprehend God. His essence cannot be comprehended 
by anybody but himself. We come across this language 
of incomprehensibility again when it reads, dwelling in the 
light which no man can approach unto, and then again it says 
incomprehensible right after that in a list of perfections 
concerning God. So God is incomprehensible. The study of the doctrine of 
God is unto a biblical and glorious apprehension of God, but not 
unto a comprehension, because we cannot fully wrap the knowledge 
of God within the grasp of our minds. A.N. Martin said something 
like this when he's preaching on the Incarnation. We have the 
doctrine of the Trinity and the glorious Incarnation, two mysteries 
unfathomable, and yet we can know them, and he's preaching 
on the incarnation, and he says something like this, and we'll 
introduce our study with this, is that he says, if a man could 
take strands of his brain and put together a rope and wrap 
them around this glorious mystery, he might congratulate himself 
for his cleverness, but he'll never worship. And that's what 
we're doing here with the doctrine of the Trinity. We're not wrapping 
our minds around God because we cannot do that. He's infinite, 
eternal, and unchangeable in all of His glory and all of His 
perfections. But this one has revealed Himself. 
And that's what we're doing now this morning. and seeking to 
know more of the God who has revealed himself. Incomprehensible, 
but knowable. So first, God is. The Lord our 
God is. That's probably not what they 
meant when they put that statement here, the Lord our God is, but 
one only living and true God. But we recognize the fact that 
God is. There is a God. God does exist. The confession in more than one 
place highlights this reality that God is known by His creation 
by the law or light of nature. If you have your confession, 
you can turn to chapter 22 for a moment. Chapter 22. In the chapter of religious worship 
and the Sabbath day, notice the very first statement in the very 
first paragraph. The light of nature shows that 
there is a God. This is an unmistakable, you 
know, unescapable reality with regards to creation. Creation 
confronts us immediately with the fact that there is a king 
in high heaven. who has set the galaxies in their orbits, who 
has fixed the stars in their places. The light of nature shows 
that there is a God, but notice it doesn't stop there, who hath 
lordship and sovereignty over all, is just good and doth good 
unto all, and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called 
upon, trusted in, and served with all the heart and all the 
soul and with all the might. the law of nature, the light 
of nature, creation, and the fact that we are created in the 
image of God and have consciences that speak to the reality that 
there is a God overall, sovereign, just, good, etc. These things 
are realities and they serve to push the force and the weight 
of this statement that that God who created all things is to 
be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, etc. There 
is a God in high heaven and His own creation speaks to this. 
The very first chapter of the Confession says this also. We 
probably could have went there first and then to chapter 22, 
but we read this a number of Sundays ago. The Holy Scripture 
is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving 
knowledge, faith, and obedience. Now notice, although the light 
of nature and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest, 
the goodness, wisdom, and power of God as to leave men inexcusable. The light of nature, the law 
of nature, creation, providence, our own consciences, the fact 
that we've been created in the image of God, as Turretin would 
say, we're not brutes or stocks, we've been made after the image 
of the creator, and so by virtue of that, we know that he is there. 
Turretin writes this way, he says, for God, the wonderful 
artificer of the universe, has so deeply stamped upon all its 
parts the impression of his majesty, that what was commonly said of 
the shield of Minerva, into which Phidias had so skillfully introduced 
his likeness, that it could not be taken out without loosening 
the whole work, has a far juster application here. God cannot 
be wrested from nature without totally confusing and destroying 
it. God speaks loudly in His creation. There is a sense, of course, 
in which God, with His special revelation, has punctured the 
silence, in a way, in that He's revealing Himself specially in 
disclosing His will unto the sons of men, but that it doesn't 
really puncture silence. As if creation doesn't speak 
to the reality that there is a God. As if our own consciences, 
as if the reality that we're made after the image of God doesn't 
already speak. And speak through any silence 
that man would try and heap up against the revelation of God. 
Notice in Psalm 19, no doubt you're familiar with this. This 
speaks clearly that God is. Psalm 19. Psalm 19. Special revelation here disclosing 
the truth concerning general revelation. God making known 
that the fact of the heavens speaks. to the reality that there 
is a king in the expanse that flies his flag. The heavens declare 
the glory of God, this is Psalm 19.1, to the chief musician, 
a Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory 
of God and the firmament shows his handiwork. Day unto day utter 
speech, night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech 
nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has 
gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of 
the world. goes on in verses 5 and 6, but 
you get the weight of that reality, don't you? The heavens declare 
the glory of God. We ought never to leave a... 
Well, no, we can't bind your consciences with this, but when 
considering this passage, it's good to remember the words of 
Spurgeon. On this passage, he says, in the expanse above us, 
God flies, as it were, his starry flag to show the king is at home. God is. He hangs out his coat-of-arms-bearing 
shield. I think the word is actually 
Escutcheon that he uses. I'm not sure if that's how you 
pronounce it. But it's the same thing Turin's talking about, 
the shield of Minerva. God hangs out his coat-of-arms-bearing 
shield to show the king is at home. and to show the atheists 
how futile their denunciations of him are. Athanasius. The early 
church fathers would very often use the language and ask questions 
like, you know, who would ever think that a craft has no artificer 
behind the craft? Who would come to an object invented, 
an object created, and say, oh, that has no artificer, that has 
no creator. Athanasius says, for who that 
sees the circle of heaven and the course of the sun and the 
moon and the positions and movements of the other stars as they take 
place in opposite and different directions, while yet in their 
difference all with one accord observe a consistent order, can 
resist the conclusion that these are not ordered by themselves, 
but have a maker distinct from themselves who orders them. Or 
who that sees the sun rising by day and the moon shining by 
night, and waning and waxing without variation, exactly according 
to the same number of days, and some of the stars running their 
courses, and with orbits various and manifold, while others move 
without wandering, can fail to perceive that they certainly 
have a creator to guide them. A man who rejects that God is, 
runs against a weight of evidence. He doesn't stand in a lack of 
evidence. Everywhere God speaks through 
the light of nature, through the law of nature, through his 
creation. There is nowhere where their speech is not heard when 
the sun and the moon run in their courses and the stars are spread 
across the sky. God is. Romans 1 as well, it's 
that New Testament version, if you will, of Psalm 19 that speaks 
with great clarity regarding the law or light of nature. and 
the weight of it disclosing that there most certainly is a God 
who is. Romans 1 verses 19 and 20. because what may be known of 
God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For 
since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are 
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, 
even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse." 
They are without excuse who reject an artificer, who reject the 
creator, who reject the living and true God because of the fact 
that creation speaks that there is a God. Gregory of Nazianzus, 
and then we move on to God is One. He says at this particular 
point that the reality of the creation speaking to the fact 
that there is a God who has made all these things, who is to be 
feared, loved, trusted in, He writes, now our very eyes and 
the law of nature teach us that God exists and that he is the 
efficient and maintaining cause of all things. Our eyes, because 
they fall on visible objects and see them in beautiful stability 
and progress, immovably moving and revolving, if I may say so, 
natural law, because through these visible things and their 
order, it reasons back to their author. For how could this universe 
have come into being or been put together unless God had called 
it into existence and held it together? For everyone who sees 
a beautifully made lute and considers the skill with which it has been 
fitted together and arranged, or who hears its melody, would 
think of none but the lute maker or the lute player, and would 
recur to him in mind, though he might not know him by sight. 
The revelation of God in his creation speaks with the great 
clarity that there is a God who is there and men are without 
excuse who reject that reality and do not worship the king. who has set his glory in the 
expanse of the heavens. So God is, and the Bible tells 
us clearly that revelation reveals that both general and of course 
special. And we're getting to special now as we look at God 
is one and then God is one in three persons. So God is one. In the confession we read the 
following things with regards to that most certain truth. If 
you find your way back to chapter two, Notice God is one. The very first statement in paragraph 
one reads this way, the Lord our God is but one only, living 
and true God. He is but one only living in 
true God. So when we say God is one, there 
are a number of things that we could and should observe. We're 
not going to spend time on all of those things. We're going 
to spend time on very simply the biblical support for monotheism. Some of the things that we would 
want to discuss in a longer discussion about the oneness of God is what's 
been called the unity of singularity. That means that there can only 
be one God. He is indivisible, and there 
is not more than one. There's one divine being, God, 
in three persons, blessed Trinity, and His essence cannot be divided. 
There's not more than one. His essence cannot be divided, 
and it also can't be multiplied. There is but one only living 
and true God, and it is the case that there could only ever and 
always be one God, not more than one God. Also the unity of simplicity, 
which we've discussed in the past. All that is in God is God. He's not made up of parts. The 
Confession says a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, 
or passions. God is not comprised of things. 
He's not a conglomerate of various properties and attributes. We 
speak of his attributes because he's revealed himself in such 
a way that we might know him after those attributes revealed. 
But he is a most pure spirit without parts. And all that is 
in God is God. God is his attributes. There 
is only one God and what we want to do is look at the biblical 
evidence that speaks quite clearly to the fact that there is only 
one living and true God. He is not one among many. We're 
gonna just observe some statements here. as we narrow down to what 
it means for God to be the only living and true God. He is not 
one among many. He is not one God in a pantheon 
of deities. Perhaps you've heard that word 
before, a pantheon, a great hall of deities, like the Greco-Roman 
religions of old, where they would have a multiplicity of 
gods, a multitude of gods that they would worship, some greater, 
some lesser. Perhaps because of the fact that they were made 
in the image of God, those unbelieving Greeks and Romans even did acknowledge 
that there must be one great God, the Father of all, but nevertheless 
they did believe in a multitude of gods. So he is not one God 
in a pantheon of deities, There's a term, maybe you've never heard 
of it, monolatry. He's not the greatest of gods 
or the one God that the Christians just happen to worship among 
a multitude of gods that are out there. He is the only living 
and true God. The Christian God is not one 
conception among others, all of which are legitimate expressions 
of the one God. Religious pluralism, I believe 
the Sikhs have a doctrine of this, where monotheism is right, 
the Christian grasps after God from this angle, the Muslim from 
this angle, the Sikh from this angle, the Jew from another angle, 
et cetera. There's an episode of, I believe 
it was, no, it was the fellow from Stan Theresen was being 
interviewed, Greg Kuckel, I think's his name, if that's the right 
pronunciation. He's there with a Sikh, a Muslim, a Jew, someone else, 
and they're all talking about religion, and the Sikh is arguing 
for religious pluralism, that the Christian God is just one 
conception of God, among others, that are legitimate expressions 
of God. That's what the Sikh was arguing for, and he's giving 
this illustration of all of these different monotheistic religions 
grabbing portions of an elephant, and thinking that they're saying, 
oh, this is a rope, and it's the tail, and this is a tree 
trunk, and it's the foot, and they're all touching the elephant, 
you know, that one God, if you will, but they're touching it 
in various parts, and they have a different conception of this 
one God. And then Greg Kuchel says, in 
that illustration, the Christian is actually standing on a porch 
and saying, there's the elephant. That was his response to the 
Sikh. And that's what we have in God's revelation to us. God 
has revealed clearly that there is one living and true God, and 
that he is to be worshipped, and that he is to be gloried 
in, and that he is to be trusted and obeyed. and that his praises 
are to be sung. So, as well then, he is not one 
in a universe where there could have been others. He just doesn't 
happen to be the one and only living and true God in a universe 
or in some order of existence where there could have been other 
gods, there just aren't. That's, of course, false. And 
he is not the only God who is the greatest being among other 
lesser beings in an order of existence. He is the Lord our 
God. He is the one only living and 
true God. So the biblical support then 
for this fact, the biblical support for the fact that there is only 
one living and true God. Let's go to our Bibles and let's 
first turn to the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 6. You remember, as you're turning 
there, that occasion or that instance, the narrative in 1 
Samuel 17, where Goliath is coming after and coming before the nation 
of Israel, blaspheming them by his gods, speaking and blaspheming 
the living and true God, and he's coming out day and night. 
I know that, and Jim can maybe correct me if I'm wrong, but 
I believe more than one interpreter is saying that he's coming out 
and he's interrupting them at the Shema when they're declaring 
that God is one, when they're coming before the God of Israel. and declaring God's oneness and 
rejoicing in the one God. He comes and he interrupts, I 
should probably not talk while I'm trying to find my way in 
the Bible, but he comes and he interrupts this declaration that 
we find in Deuteronomy 6, for, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our 
God, the Lord is one. you shall love the Lord your 
God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your 
strength." The confession of Israel was a monotheistic confession, 
and not a monotheistic confession as some might assume, where they 
recognized other gods, the true Israelite, the true worshiper 
of Yahweh, as if they recognized Yahweh as the one God to be worshipped, 
even though there were other gods, the gods of the Gentiles. They didn't legitimize or acknowledge 
the gods of the nations around them, but only worshipped Yahweh. They knew that there was only 
one living and true God who made all things, who upholds all things, 
and who has promised redemption in the seed-crushings. a skull-crushing 
seat of the woman. There is one living and true 
God, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one." And notice that the 
language of our confession is the language of Deuteronomy 6.4, 
that God has revealed himself and he is to be worshipped with 
all the heart, with all the soul, and with all the strength. Deuteronomy 
32, in the same book, we get to Deuteronomy 32, And we have quite a striking 
statement concerning the oneness and the exclusivity of Yahweh, 
of the living and true God of the Holy Scriptures. Notice in 
Deuteronomy 32 and verse 39, Now see that I, even I am He, 
and there is no God besides Me. I kill and I make alive, I wound 
and I heal, nor is there any who can deliver from My hand. God is the only living and true 
God. There is no God besides me. God's own revelation of himself 
is clear. There are no other gods. The 
Gentile deities are no gods at all. Isaiah 43. In fact, Isaiah, in the whole 
book to be sure, but in those 40s, From 40 through to 46, there 
are so many statements concerning the exclusivity of God, that 
He is the one and only living and true God. Isaiah 43, the 
first one that you can turn to, we can't exhaust all of them 
because we actually would be here all morning. just rehearsing 
Isaiah's witness to the oneness of God. Notice in Isaiah 43 at 
verse 10, You are my witnesses, says the Lord, and my servant 
whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me, and 
understand that I am He. Before me there was no God formed, 
nor shall there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord, and besides 
me there is no Savior. You see the clarity of God through 
the prophet here, with regards to the oneness of God. There 
is only one God. The prophet here is preaching, 
and very often when you're reading this, you'll come across indictments 
and mockeries against the gods of the heathens. They have eyes, but they do not 
see. They have, you know, noses, but they do not smell. They have 
ears, but they do not hear. You know, the psalmist brings 
that out time and time again, that the gods of the nations 
are no gods at all. Wholesome mockery is brought 
out by David in the Psalms, and others in the Psalms, to show 
the futility of idolatry, to show the madness of rejecting 
the one living true God, not for other gods, real and properly 
so-called, but for gods that are manufactured by human hands. You see that the madness of idolatry 
brought out very often that you took these stones and you carved 
them to make your gods. You chopped down these trees 
and whittled them and with some you cooked your food and with 
the rest you made your gods. The stupidity and the futility 
and the absolute folly of following after any other God, which are 
no gods at all, save for the one living and true God. You 
know, that language that our confession uses, that is pulled 
from the Bible, the one and only living and true God. All these 
other gods are dead idols, but there is one who lives. There 
is one who is life itself. There's one who is the I am and 
he is the only God and he is to be worshipped. He is to be 
gloried in. He is to be trusted in and feared. Notice in Isaiah 
44. Isaiah 44 at verse 6, thus says 
the Lord, the King of Israel and the Redeemer, the Lord of 
hosts, I am the first and I am the last, besides me there is 
no God. You see then the weight of Revelation 
1 when the Lord Christ identifies Himself as this, Isaiah 44, 6. 
God. He is the first and the last. 
He is the Alpha and the Omega. Jesus Christ is the Redeemer, 
the Lord of hosts, the first and the last. Besides the triune 
God, there is no God at all. You will come across in your 
Bibles very often, you might even come up against people who, 
atheists, unbelievers, who know something of the scriptures, 
and they'll talk to you and say, well the Bible actually presents, 
or the Bible, back then they believed in some form of polytheism, 
because very often the language of gods is used. the Psalms, 
for example, you know, worship Him, all you gods, in the Psalms, 
that sort of a thing, and they'll try to, you know, God-haters 
will try to say that, you know, the Bible actually isn't contrapolytheism, 
it actually presents it as a reality, that this Yahweh is exalted as 
the God of Israel, but, you know, there's other gods, because the 
Bible itself says so. Well, I mean, a couple things. 
First off, you know, there are instances in the Psalms where 
where the word gods is used in that example, worship Him, all 
you gods, it's again mockery, mocking the heathen gods and 
saying to the gods that are carved by human hands to worship the 
living and true God. It's the force of a biblical 
and wholesome rhetoric to show the futility of the Gentile gods, 
which are no gods at all, and to exalt the true and living 
God, Yahweh of Israel. Other places, I believe Psalm 
82, the word gods is used, but it's used there in sort of an 
ambassadorial sense that the judges appointed by God on earth 
serve as, if you will, small g gods in the land. Not that 
they're deities, but simply that they serve after the authority 
and in an ambassadorial way they serve the living and true God. 
The Bible does not support polytheism. Time and again we're coming up 
against this glorious language, I am the first and I am the last, 
besides me there is no God. You can make a note as well, 
Isaiah 45, 5-6. Another passage in Isaiah that 
speaks to this most certain reality. God is one. He is not one among 
many. He is the only living and true 
God. The New Testament, of course, 
speaks to this as well. In fact, in a passage very similar 
to very similar to Deuteronomy, to the Deuteronomy 6-4 passage, 
is I believe it's 1 Corinthians 8-6. Let me just check this. It's first or second. We'll check 
1 Corinthians 8-6 first. Should have made a note of it. 
Yes, 1 Corinthians 8-6. Yet for us there is one, well 
actually backing up to verse 4. Therefore, concerning the 
eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing 
in the world. It's what we've been saying. 
The idols aren't actually, you know, true gods. They're manufactured 
by human hands and are an abomination. And that there is no other god 
but one. For even if there are so-called 
gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as there are many gods 
and many lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom 
are all things, And we for him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through 
whom are all things, and through whom we live." So Paul is rejecting 
idolatry and upholding monotheism there, of course in its proper 
Trinitarian expression. But he says here, there is no 
other God but one. So there is one God. And moving 
now to God is one in three persons, blessed Trinity, before we get 
there though, we need to realize, and we'll be talking about this 
from paragraph three, that the oneness of God is also seen in 
what we call substantial unity. When we get to the Trinity in 
a moment, we're not going to be remarking after some reality 
that there's a conglomerate of three persons that comprise the 
one God. There is a substantial unity. God is one, the oneness of the 
essence, the indivisibility of the essence. When we say God 
is one, we say that there is a substantial unity and that 
the unity of God is not seen in the togetherness of the three 
persons. There is an infinite and eternal 
unity of the three persons absolutely. But the unity of God is first 
seen in substantial unity, the oneness of the substance or the 
oneness of the essence. And we'll get into that now as 
we look at God is one in three persons, Blessed Trinity. One of the places, if you read 
through the early church fathers, one of the places where a lot 
of Trinitarian defense comes out is in treatments on baptism. You see, when the Christians 
gather together in 325 in Nicaea to to hammer out and articulate 
the proper doctrine of the God, the Trinity, the same substance, 
reality of Christ with the Father, that He is of one substance or 
one essence with the Father, they're reflecting upon centuries 
of Christianity, a few centuries of Christianity and Christian 
thought, people asking the question, into whom are we being baptized? 
Are we only being baptized into one, you know, just the Father? 
Are we being baptized into what God or what is the nature of 
the God that we're being baptized into? They'd say things like, 
remember your confession. Who are you baptized into? Gregory 
Nazianzus, and just to introduce our section on the Trinity, Speaks 
this way, he says, remember your confession, into what were you 
baptized? The father, good, but still Jewish. The son, good, no longer Jewish, 
but not yet perfect. Holy ghost, very good, this is 
perfect. Was it then simply into these, 
or was there some one common name of these? Yes, there was, 
and it is God. You see what he's saying there. 
It's not enough to say, I worship the Father, although that is 
a good statement to make, and right, I worship the Father. 
But if you stop there, he's saying, that's good, but you're still 
Jewish. Now, if you proceed on and say, the Son, I was baptized 
into the Father and the Son, or I worship Father and Son, 
that's a good statement. But if you stop there to the 
exclusion of the Spirit, then that's not good. He says, no 
longer Jewish, but not yet perfect. Holy Ghost, very good. This is 
perfect. And these are the one God. And 
so that's where we're at now. God is one in three persons. 
Blessed Trinity, notice, the confession in paragraph three. 
And it's very interesting, this paragraph is substantially different, 
not different theologically, but as far as the size of the 
content and the number of words, it's at least twice the size 
as the other confessions, compared to the other confessions, the 
Westminster Confession of Faith and the Savoy Declaration. And 
it's very rich. It's a very rich statement with 
regards to the Trinity. And notice as I read through 
this again, the Baptists here move from oneness to threeness, 
to oneness to threeness, to oneness to threeness. In fact, there's 
a threefold repetition of unity and Trinity. I'd like to think, 
maybe Renahan knows, Dr. Renahan, that they did that deliberately. 
They're dealing with the Trinity, so let's highlight, in order 
to ensure that no one thinks us heretics, tritheists, or Unitarians, 
that there is one God in three persons, we'll repeat that three 
times. Notice the language. First, the oneness. In this divine 
and infinite being, there are three subsistences, the Father, 
the Word, or Son, and Holy Spirit, of one substance, power, and 
eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence 
undivided. The Father is of none, neither 
begotten nor proceeding. The Son is eternally begotten 
of the Father. The Holy Spirit, proceeding from 
the Father and the Son, All infinite, without beginning, therefore 
but one God, who is not to be divided in nature and being, 
but distinguished by several peculiar relative properties 
and personal relations. Which doctrine of the Trinity 
is the foundation of all our communion with God and comfortable 
dependence on Him? You see how, maybe you didn't, 
but if you read it slower on your own time, you see oneness, 
threeness, oneness, threeness, oneness, threeness. In confessing 
the Trinity, we are not doing away with oneness. In confessing 
the oneness of God, we are not doing away with Trinity. The 
Baptists here, and in their particular context, they were dealing with 
a number of heretics. They were dealing with Unitarians, 
those who believed in one God, but that one God wasn't three 
persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They wouldn't confess 
this, and they came up against the Baptists and the Presbyterians 
and the Congregationalists many times. So the Baptists want to 
affirm with great thrust to their Presbyterian and Congregational 
brothers that they're not Tritheists and they're also not Unitarians. 
1, 3, 1, 3, 1, 3. You see, the doctrine of God 
in the 17th century, and if we just go back a century before 
that to the Reformation, the doctrine of God wasn't one of 
those places of theology that the Reformers were reforming 
and renovating and trying to recapture the proper biblical 
doctrine over and against what the Roman Catholics were teaching. The reformers and the confessionalists 
after them were inheritors of a doctrine of God, the Trinity, 
God in three persons, blessed Trinity. There were those who 
took the Reformation, if we can say this language, too far. that 
they took the principle of even sola scriptura too far. And they 
said, because the Roman Catholics believe in trinity, tradition, 
and transubstantiation, we need to do away with all three of 
those things. We need to do away with transubstantiation, 
that's good. We need to do away with tradition, 
that's partially good, because Catholic tradition is, their 
approach to tradition is bad, but we are to receive and defend 
a form of sound words, as the apostle commanded. But they did 
away with Trinity, the Sassinians and the anti-Trinitarians of 
the 17th century. And so the Baptists here, again, 
want to ensure, coming from the holy scriptures that God himself 
gave us, that they're defending oneness and threeness, oneness 
and threeness, oneness and threeness. Okay, so when we say God in three 
persons, we want to work through a few things here to make sure 
that we No, not that we comprehend, but that we know this God who 
has revealed himself in Holy Scripture. The God that we confess, 
the God that we love, and the God in whom we are to find this 
communion and comfortable dependence. First thing we want to say is 
this, when we say God in three persons, blessed Trinity, we 
are not confessing oneness and threeness in the same way. Right? We're not confessing oneness 
and threeness in the same way. We're not saying one God, three 
gods. We're not saying one being, three 
beings. We're not saying one person, 
three persons. We're saying God in three persons, 
blessed Trinity. So we're not saying oneness and 
threeness in the same way. Tritheists would be saying that, 
that we have three gods. In fact, they wouldn't say one 
god, three gods. They would just say three gods. But all of that to say, we're 
not saying oneness and threeness in the same way. You see, that's 
the charge leveled against us since the outset of Christianity, 
really. But that's the charge leveled against Biblical Trinitarians 
that were, you know, there's a paradox there. One God and 
three persons, isn't that somehow a conflict? They fail to understand 
being untaught and unstable and unregenerate. They fail to understand 
the reality that this is not a oneness and threeness after 
the same manner. It's oneness and threeness in 
different ways. divine and infinite being, and 
then three subsistences, the Father, Word, or Son, and Holy 
Spirit. Now, the Baptists here changed 
the word person to subsistences, not that the word person is necessarily 
bad, but it can be hard to traffic in language of God when you're 
using the term because people immediately go to an individual 
eye, an individual person with their own will and their own 
consciousness. So then to move from there to 
God, is God three persons that have individual wills and individual 
self-conscious entities? There you get into tritheism 
again and the whole problem of oneness and threeness in the 
same way. Person's not bad, it's good, we sing it, but the Baptists 
deliberately use subsistence here in order to be more precise 
and in order to be more clear with regards to the doctrine. 
Augustine wrote this, when you ask three what? So he's dealing 
with the doctrine of the Trinity, and he's on the term persons, 
and what does it mean, three persons? He says, yet when you 
ask three what, human speech labors under a great dearth of 
words. So we say three persons, not in order to say that precisely, 
but in order not to be reduced to silence. See, when we're talking 
about God, human speech labors under a great dearth of words. 
What are we to say of these three, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? 
What word can we use to define and traffic in this incomprehensible 
one who has revealed himself as one God in three persons or 
subsistences, blessed Trinity, but nevertheless, it's a high, 
and it's a mysterious, and it's a glorious doctrine. We say three 
persons not in order to say that precisely but in order not to 
be reduced to silence. So when we say God in three persons, 
blessed Trinity, we are not confessing oneness and threeness in the 
same way as well or additionally. When we say God in three persons, 
blessed Trinity, we are not confessing one God who wears three masks, 
or who has manifested himself dispensationally as three persons. The old, you know, heresy of 
modalism, or Sabellianism, that the Father became the Son, became 
the Holy Spirit. As, you know, Dolezal said something 
like this in his lecture on the Trinity last year, if that's 
the case, that the Father became the Son, became the Spirit, then 
who's intercessing for us now at the right hand of the Father? 
First off, there's not three persons, there's one person in 
that sort of scheme, so who's intercessing for us? And he says 
something like, the Son is just a memory of a mask that God used 
to wear, because He's now the Spirit. If it is the case that 
the father became the son, became the spirit, not only does that 
just run completely against the clear language of the scriptures, 
when the son himself addresses the father, and when there's 
language all over the place with respect to the distinction of 
persons, but it's horrible practically. just tramples upon the salvation 
that we have in the triune God. So when we say God in three persons, 
blessed Trinity, we're not confessing one God wearing three masks or 
who has manifested himself as three persons. Additionally, 
when we say God in three persons, blessed Trinity, we are not confessing 
one Godhead constituted of three distinct persons who together 
make up the one God. In other words, the Father is 
not God minus the Son and the Holy Spirit. When we think of 
the Godhead, when we think of God, we can't say the Father 
is God minus the three other persons. Because that is to say 
then that God is one-third Father, one-third Son, one-third Holy 
Spirit. That's not the doctrine of the 
Trinity. the Father, the Word, or Son, and Holy Spirit of one 
substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine 
essence, yet the essence undivided. The essence is one. It is not 
divided. It's not multiplied. It's not 
divided. And so, when we talk about the 
Godhead, we're not to think that it's somehow this, you know, 
three-fold aristocracy, you know, that, you know, our universe 
is just one big Facebook group and, you know, there's three 
admins, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That's not the triune 
God. God is not comprised of anything. He's not comprised of Father, 
Son, and Spirit in a manner of composition as if there's one-third 
God, one-third God, one-third God. The deity of the Holy Spirit 
is no less than the Father and Son considered together. In fact, 
we could say this as well, the deity of the Son is no less than 
considering the deity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is 
the clear reality, again incomprehensible but yet knowable, that the Father, 
the Word, or Son, and the Holy Spirit are of one substance, 
having the whole divine essence. So if the Father has the whole 
divine essence and the essence undivided, then His deity is 
no less than that which is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Anyway, 
I'll leave that with you. You can ask me questions afterwards. 
But you see the glorious doctrine of the Trinity here. This isn't 
the stuff of human Greek pagan polytheism, where our mind can 
really grasp upon an actual anthropomorphic deity in the sky, actually leaving 
there and coming down to earth, He's not there anymore, now he's 
here and he's bouncing around and he's doing his thing or there's 
three of them there and one of them comes down and that sort 
of thing, mingles with men and all that sort of stuff. Our minds 
can wrap around pagan conceptions of deity, but the God of Holy 
Writ, the triune God of Holy Scripture is immense, is eternal, 
is incomprehensible, a glorious topic. So, the distinction, what 
then, what is the distinction of the persons? If we can't say, 
and we can't, if we can't confess oneness and threeness in the 
same way, if the distinction isn't that God, you know, God 
wears three masks, if it isn't the case that this Godhead is 
one third Father, one third Son, and one third Holy Spirit, then 
what is the distinction? What is, who are these, three 
persons, these three subsistences, Father, Word, or Son, and Holy 
Spirit. Well, the distinction is brought 
forth here in what we call relations, what the Confession calls relations. Notice the language here. The 
Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding. The Son is eternally 
begotten of the Father, the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father 
and the Son. We can say with biblical and 
confessional propriety that God just is Father begetting Son 
who together with the Father breathes forth the Spirit. That 
is God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 
The unbegotten eternally begetting the Son who with the eternally 
unbegotten Father breathes forth the Spirit. The Father is of 
none, neither begotten nor preceding. The Son is eternally begotten 
of the Father. We hear the language of generation 
or begotten and we forget that eternal precedes it. Christ the 
Son or the Word or Son is eternally begotten of the Father. Oh wait, 
he said begotten. That must mean at some point 
the Son was created. That at some point the Father 
brought forth the Son. You know we can't say at some 
point with God, because God is autemporal, He's timeless. There 
was no time where the Son was not. He always was. We reverse 
the Arian heretical saying, there was a time when the sun was not. 
No, there was never a time where the sun was not. He has always 
and ever been eternal God, light from light, true God from true 
God, begotten, yes, but not made, one in being with the Father, 
who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven. There 
is an importance, there is a, well, just more on this. Notice 
the language of relation is brought out after this. So you have it 
clearly stated in the actual statements of the relations of 
the three person. The father is eternally unbegotten, 
he eternally begets the son, and the two together breathe 
forth the spirit, or the language of the confession, the Holy Spirit 
proceeding from the father and the son. Again, eternally. But 
notice the language after that. This is basically a reiteration 
of what has just been said with regards to unbegottenness, begottenness 
and procession. The distinctions that are between 
the persons are their several peculiar relative properties 
and personal relations. The son's relationship with the 
father is that he is eternally begotten of the father. The father's 
relationship to the son is that he eternally begets the son. 
The father and the son's relationship to the spirit is that they eternally 
breathe forth or spirate the spirit. And the spirit's relation 
to the father and the son is that he is eternally proceeding 
from them. And those are the distinctions 
that are to be made. And really, no others. as far 
as the doctrine of God. You see, there are some who want 
to smuggle in eternal subordination as a property or attribute of 
the son. That just the reality of sonship 
demands that there's something more than the fact that he's 
eternally begotten. There has to be something else. 
No, there isn't anything else. He's not eternally subordinate 
to the Father, but rather is holy and entirely equal, having 
the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided. There 
is growing in our own day. a trending towards what's called 
social Trinitarianism. And basically that is taking 
some of the bite out of, that's probably not the right language, 
but stealing, if you will, the oneness of God from the category 
of substantial unity, one essence, the whole divine essence, and 
sort of saying that the Trinity is what we said earlier, a threefold 
aristocracy, if you will, that the unity of the Trinity isn't 
the whole divine essence and the essence undivided, but their 
unbreakable togetherness, the fact that they're at this state 
of perpetual harmony, one with the other. Now, of course they 
are. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit 
are, of course, eternally, there is an eternal togetherness with 
respect to the Trinity, but it's not a togetherness, as Dolezal 
says, of a corporation, or a conglomerate, or a social group, where there's 
three that are so close together that they comprise the Godhead, 
or constitute the Godhead. Some are even saying that we 
cannot properly say the Father is God, the Son is God, or that 
the Holy Spirit is God. We can only say that when they're 
considered together, which is, of course, wrong. to put it lightly. And that's the whole problem. 
When you don't confess the substantial unity that one divine essence, 
the essence undivided, our Lord God is but one only living and 
true God. When you tear that away and say 
that the oneness is a oneness of togetherness, then you're 
doing bad things to the doctrine of the Trinity. The paragraph 
closes with, when we talk about the Trinity, It's a very high 
and lofty, high and lifted up doctrine. But you see, it's not 
the stuff of ivory tower contemplations, and it's not the stuff where 
we just roll it around in our head and then leave it. Notice 
how the confession closes here. Which doctrine of the Trinity 
is the foundation of all our communion with God and comfortable 
dependence on Him? You see, meditation on the Trinity, 
filling our minds with the doctrine of the Trinity, is unto the end 
of communion with God, worshiping God. And with it, we have this 
dependence. We have this true foundation 
for dependence upon the living and true God, and that's in the 
reality of our knowledge of Him. What does the prophet say to 
disobedient Israel in the book of Jeremiah? You know, they're 
covenant-breaking wretches. They're doing everything that 
they shouldn't do and not doing what they should do. And judgment 
is coming. Judgment is coming upon the nation. They will be destroyed. Their 
city will be sacked. Their temple will be destroyed. 
Those sorts of things. What does the prophet say? He 
says, let not the rich man glory in his wealth. Let not the strong 
man glory in his strength. Let not the wise man glory in 
his wisdom. But let them glory in this, that 
they understand and know me, that I am the Lord. And I believe 
after that, that I am forgiving, merciful, full of loving kindness. 
You see, the doctrine of God, the knowledge of our God, who 
is, who is one, who is one in three persons, blessed Trinity, 
is the stuff of communion with God, worship, and a comfortable 
dependence upon Him. So let's look forward to going 
into worship, to worship the God who has revealed himself 
in creation, who has made himself known by his divine revelation 
to us, who is one, who is God in three persons, blessed Trinity. 
Let's worship Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Let us pray. Heavenly 
Father, we thank you for the fact that we can gather together 
and learn of you. We rejoice in the fact that we 
can come to the Holy Scriptures, that we can find You revealed 
therein, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we do pray that You'd 
help us to always seek after gaining, growing in our grace 
and in our knowledge of You, knowing that we can never exhaust 
the topic, but always seeking to know more and more of our 
blessed God each and every day. So we do pray that You'd help 
us to go into this hour of worship singing your praises, rejoicing 
in you, seeking to love you, to trust in you, to set all our 
hopes solely and alone in you. And we thank you for the forgiveness 
of sins through Christ our Savior. And it's in His name that we 
pray. Amen.