Something Practical...

As we continue our discussion of the practical nature of the Trinity. I will quote a section of A. Craig Troxel's article about communion with the Triune God:

"All areas of our covenant relationship to God are triune. Our justification, adoption, sanctification, and glorification are triunely planned, purchased, and applied. Our access to God is through Christ, by the Spirit, and to the Father (Eph. 2:18). The gifts of the Spirit are won by Christ and offered to the Father (1 Cor. 12:4-6). Our worship is through the mediation of Christ, by the Spirit, and presented to the Father. Our prayers are in the name of Christ, by the Spirit, and addressed to the Father. All that we have from God and enjoy with him is triune.

Our communion with God is uniquely related to each distinct person of the Godhead. Nevertheless, it is never exclusive to the individual persons or separate from the other persons in the triune counsel. In other words, even though we have unique expectations with respect to each member of the Godhead, we can never isolate our relationship with one member of the Trinity from our relationship with the other persons.

For example, our adoption into the family of God particularly describes our relationship with our heavenly Father and the love that he has lavished on us (1 John 3:1). Yet it is the Holy Spirit – “the Spirit of adoption” – who testifies to our sonship (Rom. 8:15-16). And it is Christ, our “elder brother,” who won this grace for his “brothers” who will become his fellow heirs (Heb. 2:11-12; Rom. 8:17).

The same could be said of the work of creation, our redemption, our effectual calling, and so on. Scripture may attribute that word first or more particularly to one member of the Trinity, but it will never exclude the other members of the Trinity from that work. Every communication of grace from God is given to us triunely – distinctly but jointly, uniquely but unitedly. Our communion with God is communion with the entirety of the Trinity, and there is no communion with God that is not. We relate, then, to one divine counsel of three. And yet we relate intimately and uniquely with each person of the Trinity.

In the months ahead, we will look at how to understand our intimate and mutual covenantal bond with each person of the Godhead. We will consider how our communion with God the Father is distinguished by love, how our communion with God the Son is typified by grace, and how our communion with the Spirit is characterized by comfort. That is, we relate to the Father, from whom the gospel of love originates (1 John 4:9), to the Son, from whose fullness of merited grace we receive grace upon grace (John 1:16), and to the Spirit, who is the chief agent of our comfort (John 14:26). Again, although our communion with each member of the Trinity is unique, that does not mean that the other members of the Trinity do not share in the communications of love, grace, and comfort. It simply means that we look to each member of the Trinity for certain things.”

To be continued…