verses 18 through 20. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Let's pray. Almighty and sovereign and gracious Triune God, we bow before Thee, thanking Thee for Thy triune existence, for Thy inter-Trinitarian communion, and for the overflow of that love communion shown to poor sinners who put their trust in a rich and glorious Savior. We thank Thee, Lord, that each of Thy persons is of the same essence and quality and equality that all three are very God of very God. And we thank Thee that each of Thy persons is intimately involved in our salvation. We thank Thee, Lord, that all contributed to our resurrection from the dead and all contributed to Jesus' resurrection. We thank Thee that our religion is solidified by Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and that even in its initiation, symbolized by baptism, all three of Thy persons are brought to the foreground. And now, Lord, we pray that our ministries, too, may be owned by all three persons. Lord, we know not which we need the most, but this we know, as Rutherford said, we need each of the persons and we love them all. Help us then, Lord, to maintain in our ministries a right balance between the need to proclaim the Trinity as one and yet to enrich our flocks with the reality of the economic emphases of each person of the Trinity. Give us much wisdom, not to focus on the many at the expense of the one, or the one at the expense of the many. But that we may see in the Trinity the most important testimony that assists us to grapple and to comprehend the one and the many phenomena that abounds on this earth. Help us to see that by self as Trinity is the pattern for creation and the pattern for our daily lives. Oh God, be with us as we approach this awesome subject. Give us wisdom and insight in lecturing and scripturalness. Give that it may greatly benefit our students as well. We look to Thee, Lord. Help us now, we pray. Guide and bless us. Wash away our sins. Cleanse us by the power of Thy blood. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I'd like then to move right on to the doctrine of the Trinity. intimately associated, of course, with the attributes of God, because it refers to God's very being. We've seen at the beginning of this class that all spirits are personal beings, and personality involves self-awareness, it involves personal communication, and interpersonal communion. And so we may say of God, the supreme spirit, that he has supreme personality. His self-awareness is infinite, eternal, unchangeable. self-existent and ideal. When we say that it's ideal, by the way, we mean that it can never be improved. Self-awareness and interpersonal communion and personal communication are infinitely perfect. God's personality is superlative. You can't augment it, you can't improve it, you can't change it. Now these remarkable traits of God's personality point us to a great mystery. The mystery is that his supreme personality, by very definition, cannot be unipersonal. That is, it cannot be limited to only one person. But then he couldn't have had interpersonal communication independently from eternity. God's supreme personality must involve plurality. And yet we cannot define that plurality, can we, without further revelation from Him. Happily, God does not leave us in suspense, but unveils in Scripture the nature of this plurality. And that explanation in Scripture we have come to call the biblical doctrine of the Trinity. And we argue from the Bible that scripture teaches us that God is tri-personal, T-R-I dash personal, or triune, three in one. Three distinct persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are the one supreme being, the only living and true God. And hence we baptize not in the names, but in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. In that very designation of Matthew 28, you see both the threeness of God and the oneness of God, don't you? It's not in the name of Father, Son, Spirit. No, it's of the Father, of the Son, of the Spirit. There's three, but it's not names. There's just one name, one in essence, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So God's personality is unique. It's essential. It's unique since God alone is tri-personal. No one else is tri-personal. No other spirits, angelic, human, we're all unipersonal. But God's personality is also essential. It's an absolute characteristic of God. God cannot cease to be tri-personal and remain God. So that brings us then to the biblical disclosure of God's personality. In the Old Testament, that may involve several matters. Progressively, God unfolds for us what we now call the doctrine of the Trinity. even though it is still enshrouded in some shadow in the Old Testament. And I'll explain what I mean by that as we go along. If you take what scholars have written, theologians have written on this subject, you can probably reduce it to five things. First of all, there is the argument that God reveals his name and method as creator in a kind of way that intimates this plurality. And that reference here goes all the way back to Genesis 1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. God said, let there be light. Now, the name for God here, as you know, is Elohim. translated God. It's the plural of Eloah. And there's been a great deal of debate over the fact that does this somehow reveal plurality in God? It doesn't reveal distinctly Trinity, but does it somehow reveal plurality of God? Because often in scripture it's used when a divine action is described, with a plural verb. And other times it's used with a singular verb. And so some scholars have concluded that it reveals that God has more than one person, yet he's one God. Now it doesn't reveal very much yet, doesn't define the distinct roles of God the Father or the Word of God or the Spirit of God, a little bit of the Spirit of God in creation here, but it points in the direction, perhaps we can say, albeit weakly, of some kind of plurality in God. Now, that's what some scholars say who take this up in a rather optimistic way. Others say that really we shouldn't build on this whatsoever, and that for two reasons. The first and perhaps the most powerful reason is that if we appeal to Elohim in the Old Testament as an understanding of the plurality of God, we must not forget that Elohim was also used of the pagan gods. Even, we need to remember, even if the manifoldness implied in the word Elohim is correct, we must not mistake that for the distinctiveness and particularity of the idea of Trinity. Trinity is so much more than just simple plurality. So there's questions about this text, whether this can really be taken up here as intimating plurality, whether it can be taken up etymologically or even logically. But nonetheless, there seems to be something here that at least makes it worthy of mention. Secondly, the same type of problem and possibility emerges with the fact that God intimates some kind of plurality in his person, in his personality, that is, when he takes his interpersonal communion and reflects on it in our presence, as it were, in the scriptures. That's part B on the outline, relates his interpersonal communion. For example, in Genesis 1.26, God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness. And in Genesis 3.22, and the Lord God said, behold, the man has become as one of us to know good and evil. And then in Genesis 11.6 and 7, about the Tower of Babel, God is upset. with their behavior and so he says in verse seven, go to let us go down and there confound their language that they may not understand one another's speech. Well, in these texts, plural pronouns describe God's interpersonal communion. God alone creates man, yet he says let us make man. Now again, this at the very best intimates plurality in the personality of God. not the full-blown doctrine of the Trinity. But at least God has some kind of plurality in his own personal consciousness, we seem to learn at least from the very beginning of the Bible. Now, in ancient church history, this was made much of by Origen and Irenaeus. Irenaeus particularly used Genesis 1, 26, 27 against heretics who denied the Trinity. But Justin Martyr, one of the great early apologists, wasn't so persuaded by this particular text. He argued it cannot prove the doctrine of the Trinity, it can at very best prove that there are at least two persons in the Trinity. Thirdly, the Old Testament teaches us that God intimates plurality in His personality when He sends His divine, angelic messenger to man. Hermann Bavink offers a comprehensive list of the texts which present the angel of Jehovah as a supreme being. This mysterious person, the angel of the Lord, is a divine messenger that God uses to bring His word to men. And yet, this divine messenger is himself a divine person. Scripture calls him the Supreme Lord. Genesis 16 verse 13. He speaks as a supreme being. Genesis 16 verse 10. He even receives homage as a supreme being. Judges 13, 20 through 23. We are told that when people see him, they see God. Exodus 3 verse 2. So the question has been raised, and rightly so, how can one person be both a divine messenger and divine? How can men see God himself while they see his messenger? Well, we don't fully grasp that in the Old Testament, but the New makes it plain. When the Son becomes incognito, He comes down and He says, I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me. He says to Philip, he that has seen me has seen the Father. And how sayest thou then, show us the Father? So God the Son comes down from heaven to earth as divine messenger, yet he is also divine person. Christ is God sent by God to bring the word of God to men. Christ is God sent by God to bring the word of God to men. And so when men see him, they see the supreme being incarnate. And so the New Testament helps us to understand this angelic messenger by way of premonition in the old. Then too, fourthly, in the Old Testament, God intimates plurality's personality when he anoints and communes with a divine Messiah. We read in Psalm 45 verse 7, Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness. Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And also in Psalm 110 verse 1, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. Now these passages all assert the deity of the Messiah. Your throne, O God. My Lord. There are other texts as well. You could draw on Isaiah 7.14. Emmanuel. Isaiah 9.6. Mighty God. So, Christ himself and his inspired apostles confirm that interpretation in the New Testament as well. Matthew 1.23, Hebrews 1.8-9. So God is speaking to his Son. God says unto my Lord. And again the question is raised, how can these things be? How can God anoint God? How can Uzziah David's son be the Supreme Being? Well, again, you see the New Testament sheds light on this. It tells us that the Word was with God and the Word was God. The saying that was in the beginning, with God. This Word becomes flesh and dwells among us. And finally, God intimates plurality in His personality when He describes His Spirit as a distinct person. Let me give you some text here, and you can just put down the references I think would be sufficient, but it would be good to look up and study. Isaiah 48 verse 16, Come near to me, hear this, I have not spoken a secret from the beginning, from the time that it was, there am I, and now the Lord God and His Spirit has sent me. Isaiah 61.1, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me. Isaiah 63.10, but they rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit. Ezekiel 2.2, and the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me and set me upon my feet, et cetera. Haggai 2.4, yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord, And be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work. For I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts. And my Spirit remaineth among you, fear ye not. And then Zechariah 7, verse 12. Yea, they have made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts has sent in his spirit by the former prophets." And there are, of course, more texts. David, one comes to mind right now, David speaking in Psalm 51, that, take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Well, all these passages present already in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit as a distinct person. The Spirit anoints the Messiah. The Spirit indwells and guides Ezekiel. The Spirit lives among God's people. The Spirit brings His Word to men. Furthermore, the Spirit cannot be an impersonal force. But when men rebel, they grieve Him, we read. So, the Old Testament is clear that there's plurality in God's personality, that there is a Messiah, who is divine, that there is a unique Holy Spirit who is divine. It doesn't put together the doctrine for us, but all the basics are there. So that leads us to a few thoughts by way of conclusion. The first is this. It is striking that all the passages I quoted so far on the doctrine of the Trinity, that the New Testament does not characteristically appeal to them as proof for the doctrine of the Trinity. Now, that does not mean that it's illegitimate for the Church to appeal to passages to which the Apostles don't appeal. But it is noteworthy that the Apostles themselves do not appeal to these passages when they discuss the activity of the second or third persons of the Trinity. Nevertheless, we may say two things. First, that the New Testament does recognize the revelation by way of promise and prophecy of the Son. New Testament does recognize a revelation by way of promise and prophecy of the Son as well as a revelation of the Spirit in similar ways as already being revealed in the Old Testament. The one who is now fully made known in the person of the Son Jesus the New Testament recognizes is not absent from divine activity in the Old Testament. But secondly, and even more importantly, the phenomena within the Old Testament revelation that we have mentioned are inexplicable solely within the context of the Old Testament revelation of God. That is why people like the Jews who don't believe in the New Testament can remain so incredibly ignorant of what the Old Testament is saying. The Old Testament does not specifically provide us with a revelation of the triune character of God. But its revelation of God is made clear in the New Testament's revelation in terms of the triune character of God. Perhaps no one has put this better than B.B. Warfield in his Biblical and Theological Studies, pages 30 to 31, very important pages, I believe. He says this, The Old Testament may be likened to a chamber richly furnished but dimly lighted. The introduction of light brings into it nothing which was not in it before, but it brings out into clearer view much of what is in it, but was only dimly or not at all perceived before. The mystery of the Trinity is not revealed in the Old Testament, but it underlines the Old Testament revelation, and here and there almost comes into view. Thus the Old Testament revelation is not corrected by the fuller revelation which follows, but it is only perfected, extended, and enlarged. So in other words, we have a principle here with respect to Trinitarian theology, as well as with respect to pneumatology and Christology, that there is not only cumulative revelation throughout the biblical period, but progressive revelation. so that only in the light of the fullness of the revelation of God in Christ does the nature of God's being as triune fully come to light. Alright, any questions on the Trinity in the Old Testament? Okay, let's move on then to look at God's disclosure of His personality in the New Testament. And here too I've got several thoughts. First of all, God reveals His triune personality when the Father sends His Son to His people to save them from their sins. Father sends a son to his people to save them from their sins. Now that becomes explicit already in the incarnation of the Lord Jesus. In Luke 1, 32 and 35, we learn that Jesus shall be called the Son of the Most High and the Son of God. Thus he's not called God the Father, he's not called the Holy Spirit. Who then is he? Well, in John 1, verse 1, 2 and 3, as well as 14, we learn that Jesus Christ is a divine person. The Word become flesh. But he's distinct from God the Father, for the Word was with God, and yet is the one and only Supreme Being, and the Word was God. This Divine Person always was, the same was in the beginning with God, and also created all things, all things were made through Him. Well, this is, in generic terms, the doctrine of the Trinity. There's only one God, the Father is that one God, the Word is that one God, But the Father is not the Word, they are distinct divine persons. So there you have it. And John 1 clearly spelled out for you. Secondly here too, we can note that the anointing of God the Son reveals God's Trinity. In Luke 3, 21 and 22, Scripture describes the anointing of the Messiah. And you know what happens, of course, the Father speaks from heaven, the Spirit descends in the form of a dove, and God says, Thou art my beloved Son. So all three persons are clearly and distinctly revealed. And again in Luke 4, 1 and 18, When Christ describes this experience of anointing, he distinguishes himself from the Holy Spirit and from the Father. He says, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he anointed me. And then two, the teaching of God the Son reveals God's triunity, the teaching of God the Son. And here we think particularly Matthew 28, 19. Warfield, in his article on the Trinity, affirms that this text furnishes the closest thing in all the New Testament to an explicit doctrine of the Trinity. Christ teaches us here, that the sacrament is the sacrifice, symbolized as a sacrament of admission, that of baptism, inserts them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. It doesn't say names, I pointed that out already. It says name. But there are three distinct divine persons. They have one and the same name. And God's name, in this generic sense, refers, as we saw when we looked at the names of God, to His unique divine being. Psalm 79, verse 6. So, when Christ uses this, He's saying, we are baptized in the name of three distinct divine persons. who have one unique divine being. Now, secondly, we also see that God reveals His triune personality when the Father and the Son send the Spirit to His people to sanctify them, to comfort them, to instruct them, to commune with them. God reveals his triumph personality not only through incarnation, but also through the impartation of the Holy Ghost. Scripture tells us that the Spirit comes to God's people as the Holy Spirit to sanctify them. Ezekiel 36 verse 27, Titus 3 verse 5. He comes as the comforter to comfort them. John 14, 16 and 17. And he comes as a spirit of truth to instruct them. John 16, 13. And he comes as a spirit of the Father and of the Son, a spirit of adoption to commune with them. Romans 8. Now, We must observe here that the sending of the Spirit unveils the interpersonal communion of the three divine persons. Notice statements like this, that Jesus says, I will pray the Father, He shall give you another comforter. There you've got all three persons. The Holy Spirit, whom the Father shall send in my name. Or, when the comforter has come, whom I will send from the Father. Now see, the Son is not the Father, but prays to Him. The Son and the Father are not the Spirit, but they send Him. Then too, we notice here, clearly, that the Spirit is not an impersonal force, but a person. He communicates verbally. Acts 10, verse 19. He intercedes for the saints. Romans 8, 27. He searches and understands and teaches the deep things of God. 1 Corinthians 2. He feels grief and anger when his people rebel against him. Ephesians 4.30. Then too, we can say the Spirit sent to us as a divine person because if men lie to him, they are lying to the supreme being. Acts 5.3-4. Then Ananias and Sapphira. And 2 Corinthians 3.17 specifically calls him Jehovah, the Lord. So, the Pentecostal impartation of the Spirit explicitly divulges God's triune personality. And then finally, God reveals his triumph personality when the inspired writers declare their devotion to and fellowship with God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Many New Testament passages unveil the Trinitarian consciousness of the Apostles. That they are in experiential fellowship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Think of John's statement. Our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. We know that we abide in Him and He in us because He has given us of His Spirit. Spiritual communion with the Trinity governs and pervades every aspect of the Christian life and experience. It regulates our understanding of the radical transformation of God's people into spiritual life, Acts 11, verse 15. It regulates our reception of spiritual gifts and their usage in the church, 1 Corinthians 12, 4 through 6. It regulates our worship of God, Ephesians 2, verse 18. It regulates our experience of divine benevolence and favor 2 Corinthians 13 verse 14. It regulates our maintenance of Christian unity. Ephesians 4, 4 through 6. It regulates our knowledge of salvation accomplished by Christ. Hebrews 2, 3 and 4. And so in many of these ways, and many more could be mentioned, scripture unfolds for us the manifold riches of the Trinity. And if you look up these texts, you'll see in each of them references to all three persons of the Godhead. Well, I'm going to I'm not going to go into much greater depth here about the deity of Christ and the deity of the Holy Spirit, because we've already taken that up in Christology and in Soteriology. So I wanted to just give you an overview here of the New Testament doctrine of Trinity, and now I want to look with you at that doctrine spelled out in terms of the New Testament doctrine of Trinity. theology and then historical theology. Are there any questions at this point? All right, let's look then at the doctrine of God's personality as it's been formulated. We need first to take up briefly here the question of methodology, how we approach Trinity doctrinally. with the biblical data in hand. The doctrine of the Trinity is an area of theology where the question of methodology has often been debated, particularly in the contemporary context of late 20th century. And one of the most debated points over the centuries and revived again in recent years, has been the question of whether we begin constructing the doctrine of the Trinity from the perspective of divine unity, the oneness of God, or whether we begin to construct it from the perspective of divine diversity. There are several different contexts in which you might be familiar with, which have surfaced this question. Let me mention just two of them to you. The first is the division between Eastern and Western Christianity, indexed by the long-standing debate over the filioquy clause. which revolves around the question of whether the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father only or from the Father and the Son. Of course, the Western Church advocating the latter and the Eastern Church the former, and hence the break of Christendom in 2 and 1054 AD. Now, what lies behind that issue in part? is the broader question of how we approach the doctrine of the Trinity. It's often said in this connection that it's characteristic of Western theology to begin with divine unity and move to divine Trinity. Hence the danger in Western theology is that people could, if we're not careful, move into Unitarianism only one person in the deity, and deism. By contrast, the approach of Eastern Christian theology is usually to begin with the three, the Father, Son, and Spirit, and move from the diversity of God's personality to their unity in the one. Secondly, a more modern form of this charge is found in the work of the contemporary European theologian named Moltmann, Jürgen Moltmann. Perhaps you're a bit familiar with him, associated with various forms of theology of liberation. But one of his most influential works has been The Crucified God. And though he's a Western theologian, Moulton argues self-consciously against both Karl Rahner and Karl Barth, who were at different times his teachers, that it is essential to begin with a threeness. Because, he says, to begin with a unity is to begin with the a prioris of Hellenistic philosophy. rather than the redemptive historical revelation of God among his people. Now, there are some things that we can learn from Maltman's criticism, though we don't agree with it in principle. For example, it is true that Western Christianity has had a tendency at times to Unitarianism. And that can appear even within Evangelicalism. Although the choice of which particular person of the Trinity is the focus of the Unitarian theology can differ from time to time, from group to group, and period to period. Sometimes focus can be on the Father, that was the traditional focus. But over the period of the post-Reformation world, there are different rhythms in the Christian Church and different lurches, as it were, from one person of the Trinity to another person of the Trinity. Certainly in the last few hundred years we've seen a movement from focus on the Father to focus on the Son, and now in the last hundred years a greater focus on the Holy Spirit in terms of all the growing Pentecostal churches and so forth. Nevertheless, over against the critique of Eastern Christianity and Maltman, The fact is that the actual exposition of the triune being of God in scripture takes place within the context of the progressive revelation of the nature of the oneness of God, the unity of God. Scripture's own methodology, in other words, enables us to begin with the notion that God is one. That's the focus of the Pentateuch. That's the focus of the great Deuteronomy 6.4 text. The Lord our God is one Lord. God is one, but is also three. So it is certainly not legitimate to say that the only appropriate way of speaking about the Trinity is to say that the three are also one. Rather, it is legitimate for us to begin by stressing the unity of God, and then moving on to his tri-unity. That is to say, the unity of God, the oneness of God is so absolutely clear in scripture that we need to do little more than just simply state it as a fact. It's confirmed in both testaments, there's one true living God. We talked about that at the beginning of this course. And the New Testament echoes that without embarrassment. Jesus teaches it in Matthew 12, 19. And 1 Timothy 2 verse 5. And it's echoed in James 2 verse 19, where James suggests that the principle of the unity of God is so fundamental that even the devils are forced to believe it. So, we have to remember that we are in the Take for a starting point then as we began this course that God is the one living only God. There's unity in God and from there we build the doctrine methodologically based on scripture of the triune nature of God. And that brings us then to the definition of the Trinity, God's supreme and triune personality. We could put it this way, trying to bring all that needs to be brought into it. God's Trinity is God's triune personal consciousness in which three distinct divine persons, Father, the Son and the Spirit, have unique personal properties and interpersonal relations, and yet are equally the one and only supreme being, having the same divine authority, and equally possessing each divine attribute. and manifesting the same divine glory. So, the essence of God's supreme personality, we could say in general terms, is then God's triune personal consciousness, or you could say is tri-personal life. A life that involves both oneness in terms of unity and threeness in terms of persons. And God acknowledges that, that unity there when he says, doesn't he, in Isaiah 45 verse 22, Look unto me and be ye saved all ye ends of the earth for I am God and there is none else. And yet, equally strongly, Jesus speaks of all three persons as having personal consciousness. I will pray the Father, he will give you another comforter that he may be with you forever, even the spirit of truth. John 14, 16, and 17. So, God has this triune self-awareness. an awareness that is never static or isolated. From all eternity is triune personality involved interpersonal communication. Then the second thing we need to observe from our definition is that these three distinct divine persons or subsistences Father, Son, and Spirit have unique personal properties and interpersonal relations. Unique personal properties, interpersonal relations. Each of them, Father, Son, and Spirit, have their peculiar task to do. Each of them have their own properties. Each of them communicates with the other. They necessarily relate as they do because they are who they are. And so the task of one is not the task of another. The word became flesh, the father didn't become flesh, the spirit didn't become flesh, but the word only. And yet, and notice that finally, all of them are equally the one Supreme Being. They all have the same divine authority, the same divine nature, the same divine glory. Each person has the right and the prerogative of the Supreme Being. Each of them possesses every attribute in full. Each of them is radically different from man. Our human nature is unipersonal. We each have our own distinct human natures. But with God it is different. There are now three distinct beings. Three different divine natures. God is not polytheistic. He is monotheistic. And each of the three receive the same divine glory. Now, obviously, the deity of the Father, we don't need to spend much time on the whole Bible, is filled with it, that God, the Father is God. Let me just mention a few texts to you that you can look up. John 6.27, Him the Father, even God, has sealed. 1 Corinthians 8.6, To us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things. 1 Corinthians 15.24, He shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, and so forth. But we do need to take just a moment to look at the deity of the Father and understand that what makes the Father the Father is his relationship with the Son. God speaks of himself as the first person of the Trinity in fatherly terms, possessing fatherly characteristics. Psalm 89 verse 26, Psalm 103 verse 13, Malachi 1 verse 6, this is already true, you see, in the Old Testament. But that is given specific nuance in the New Testament by the revelation of the Son. In whom, as Son, it is implicit that God is both Father and Son. So here, you see, Trinitarianism comes into clearer expression in the revelation of Jesus Christ. The revelation of Jesus as Son of God necessarily implies the fatherhood of the Father. And Jesus unpacks that further for us in Matthew 11, 27, when he speaks about the mutuality of knowledge that is possessed by both the Father and the Son. And the way in which men are to honor the Son is the way in which they are to honor the Father. So you could say that proof of the deity of the Son is an evidence of the proof of the distinct personhood of the Father. And vice versa. These two belong together. They're inseparable. They stand and fall together. It's largely for this reason that in Christian theology and the breadth of New Testament testimony, our attention is focused not so much on the issue of the deity of the Father, the personal subsistence of the Father, but the deity of the Son. In the revelation of whom the deity of the Father and the subsistence of the Father is necessarily implicit. That's what Jesus was conveying to Philip. If you've seen me, We've seen the Father. If you have the Son, in every sense you have the Father, because He cannot be Son apart from Son of the Father. So when we think of the First Person of the Trinity, we must always think of Him in closest possible proximity to His Son, His Father, essentially because He's Father of the Son. And then, of course, you have the deity of the sun and the deity of the spirit, which I said we've covered in other classes. And what I'd like to just do with you is give you a very quick summary of the main categories of proof. And then you can use that for your own refreshment and, of course, add much to that from the other classes. In terms of the deity of the sun, there are really five major areas. 1. Scripture calls him directly the Supreme Being. John 1.1-3 is a good example. 2. He possesses the attributes of the Supreme Being. Matthew 11.27 is one example. 3. He performs the works of the Supreme Being. Matthew 28, 18. Four, he receives worship due to the Supreme Being only, Matthew 4, verse 9. And five, Scripture describes him with the names and titles of the Supreme Being, Isaiah 9, 6, and 7. Then you have the same categories basically for the Holy Spirit. Scripture calls him the Supreme Being, Acts 5, 3 and 4. Here's the attributes of the Supreme Being, Psalm 139, 7 through 10. He performs the works of the Supreme Being, Romans 8, verse 11. He deserves the reverence and devotion due only to the Supreme Being, 2 Corinthians 13 and 14. And Scripture describes Him with the names of the Supreme Being, Isaiah 8, or rather 6, 8 through 10. All right, now what we need to do is we need to look at the stages of how this Doctrine of Trinity then developed in church order. And I want to take you very briefly on Friday through seven stages, probably take us a half an hour or so, seven stages of the historical theological development. What I want to do here is I want to give you an overview again and give you the main stages of development with the main thoughts. In ancient church history, you obviously, and of course on the symbols, you get this in much greater detail. But I think it's helpful if you could pin it down in your own mind to see it in big steps. I think you'll find it helpful in grasping the doctrine of the Trinity. Friday we'll conclude that, and then certainly the last half of the hour or so will be devoted to the decrees of God. Any questions? Yes, Don. Yeah, speaking about the Trinity, it brings me back a few weeks on the names of God. And I believe it was Brockel who made the statement that in the New Testament, the proper name for God is Father. Well, proper name, it depends on what you mean by the word proper. I think if you say the supreme name of Revelation, the name in which he sheds most of his light on his name Yahweh, is Father. That's the culmination. of the names of God. He's father to his son and a father to his people. Nathan? What do current Jewish commentators do with the Elohim and the terms in Genesis that show plurality? I don't have a clue. I don't read a lot of Jewish commentators. Sorry. I don't remember what the term is, but when you write sometimes, if you're writing a book, you would say, and we see next, something like that.