THE WORD "PERSONS" AS APPLIED TO THE GODHEAD
THE WORD “PERSONS” AS APPLIED TO THE GODHEAD
JT The word “Persons” as applied conveys what is true. You may say the word “person” is not applied to divine Beings as such in Scripture, but the personal pronoun is used constantly of each of the three divine Persons. One old doctrine taught that what we call Persons were three phases of the Deity, but this is utterly erroneous. There are three distinct Persons, and nothing is plainer in the Scripture than that. There is nothing more definitely asserted in Scripture than the Trinity.
Ques When we worship God, do we worship a Person in the Godhead, or the Godhead?
JT “To us there is one God, the Father” (1 Corinthians 8:6) — a most important expression. The other two persons are subservient to One, and Deity is presented in Him — the Father. We worship one God, the Father. But then in 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4 we have the Spirit first, then the Lord, and after that God. We thus travel along with the Spirit and the Lord to God. In certain connections we cannot exclude the other two Persons, the three Persons are included in the one God. But as we are standing in relation to the Mediator, we do not address God as including Him; He is on our side as towards God. In this supremely important matter wisdom lies in following the teaching and example of the apostles. The early disciples persevered in their teaching. What is clear throughout Acts and the epistles is the economy into which the Godhead has come; that is, one of the Persons, as already shown from Paul’s writings, occupies the place of God, the other two Persons take a mediatorial position in order to effect the divine thoughts. There is abundant evidence that in abstract Deity the three Persons are in equality; and further, that the Son and [p. 143] the Spirit as in the economy act severally as God. Thus the Scriptures fully assert Deity in all three Persons. This being accepted in our souls, we have liberty in our service Godward to appropriate the Son and the Spirit in Their gracious mediatorial service on our side, enabling us to approach and worship God. Hence Ephesians 2:18 says, “Through him [Christ] we have both access by one Spirit to the Father”, and other similar passages.