Matthew Barrett writes: It will take a team effort to find our way home to trinitarian orthodoxy. With the release of Simply Trinity: The Unmanipulated Father, Son, and Spirit (Baler), I sat down with with 12 fellow theologians and together we provided a road map. Here are all 12 Trinity Talks:

1. Trinity Drift and Evangelicalism with Thomas Kidd

2. Can We Trust the God of Our Fathers? with James Eglinton

3. Since When Did the Trinity Go Social? with Craig Carter

4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Trinity: Fred Sanders, Matthew Barrett, and the Dangers of Conflation

5. Why Must God be One to be Three? Divine Simplicity with Matthew Levering

6. What is Eternal Generation? with J.V. Fesko

7. Is Eternal Generation Essential to the Gospel? with Charles Lee Irons

8. Does Eternal Subordination Compromise Biblical Orthodoxy? with Liam Goligher

9. Why Should Evangelicals Reject the Eternal Subordination of the Son? with Michael Bird

10. Confessing the Holy Spirit in an Age of Biblicism with Michael Haykin

11. Does the Trinity Work Inseparably? with Ryan Hurd

12. Can We Have Communion with the Trinity? with Kelly Kapic

For me, the mystery of the Trinity is way more than my mind can handle. Way more!

Here is what we know: there is one God and yet three Divine Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Father is not the Son; the Son is not the Spirit; and the Spirit is not the Father. All three members of the Godhead possess the attributes of personality.

In the garden, the Lord Jesus prayed “not My will but Yours (Father) be done”. This speaks of yet another mystery – Christ is one Person with two natures, one truly human, the other truly Divine. At Gethsemane, Jesus prayed as the God-Man – His human will wishing to avoid the agonies of the cross and all that this would mean in terms of the Father’s wrath being poured out on Him (“this cup” as He called it), yet submitted Himself to the will of the Father.

In glorious, majestic, beautiful, divinity, the Father, Son and Spirit are one in mission. There is never opposition of will between the Members of the Trinity. There has never been a single argument between them – they are forever united in what they intend to do and from eternity have acted in complete unity always, even as they have distinct roles to carry out for the purpose of our redemption. It is the Father who sends the Son into the world; the Son lives and then dies for us; and the Spirit applies the work of redemption to those God elected and the Son died for. Amazing beyond words! And that is about as far as my mind can go and prove from Scripture.

Beyond the boundaries we find in God’s revelation of Himself in Scripture there is only speculation and the treacherous fall off the cliff of orthodoxy into heresy and damnation. As Calvin rightly said, “Where God closes His holy mouth, I will desist from inquiry.”

Two final thoughts:

1. One in essence, three in Persons; one “what” and three “who’s” – while fathomless mystery, is no contradiction.
2. God has revealed all He has about Himself that we would have more than enough to forever stand in awe of Him and find boundless joy and delight in all He is as our glorious Triune God, for eternity.

Pastor John Samson