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I am currently reading Donald McKim's new book, Daily Devotions with Herman Bavinck: Believing and Growing in Christian Faith (P&R Publishing, 2023). Here's an excerpt, from day #6...  The Heart and Core of Our Confession Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Matt. 28:19) BASIC TO CHRISTIAN faith is our belief in God as the divine Trinity. We confess one God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe in one God in three persons. The Trinity is three distinct persons in the one divine being. This belief emerged in the early Christian centuries. On the basis of the Old and New Testaments and consideration of the overall witness of the Scriptures, the church affirmed its faith in the triune God: God as three persons in unity. In the familiar Apostles' Creed, we confess that we believe in God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit as the three persons of the one God. Th...

Bible reading for September 24.  2 Samuel 20. "I am one of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel. Why will you swallow up the heritage of the LORD?" (2 Samuel 20:19) ANOTHER REVOLT. Sometime later there is another uprising against David's reign, this time led by a man named Sheba. Joab, a loyal but violent man, kills Amasa (who was delaying in his task) and leads the army again to a successful outcome. The real victory, however, goes to an unnamed "wise woman" who knew how to bring things to a head (sorry, couldn't resist the pun). The city of Abel is spared a siege, and peace returns to the kingdom. This woman displayed the character traits of the woman Wisdom (Prov 8:12-21), described by King Solomon later.  REFLECT. Why is this story recorded in Scripture? And what are we supposed to do with it? For one thing, it shows God's continued preservation of David's kingdom from yet another ...

Bible reading for Mar 27 -- Exodus 38; John 17.  "And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."  (John 17:3)  The high priestly prayer. This chapter has intrigued me all of my Christian life and it is one of my very favorite passages in all of Scripture.  It is at once beautiful, caring, and yet mysterious and profound.  It is a deep well of wonder, giving us a window on the relationship of the Father and the Son . Carefully note the terms and phrases Jesus uses: glory and glorify, "those whom you gave me", an accomplished work of giving his disciples the name and words of the Father, and "that they may be one", along with Father and Son.  We learn that eternal life is not merely living forever or even living forever in a new creation.  Eternal life is to know the Father, and the Son whom he has sent , and to share in that glorious relationship within the triune God . I admit freely that...

NT reading for Mar 24 -- John 14.  "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." (John 14:27) Untroubled (Jn 14:1, 27). We, like the disciples in the upper room, are looking at a world which has great uncertainty about it .  The corona virus pandemic has people asking, "How is this all going to end up?  Will my family and my loved ones be all right? Am I ready for this?"  Of course there are practical matters to attend to: enough canned goods on the shelf, making sure children know where important papers are, and so on. On the night of Jesus' betrayal the disciples were certainly beginning to ask similar questions -- what if things turn out badly? ...what if Jesus is not going to be here? ...what will we do and how will we manage?  These days are -- as those days were -- uncertain and troubling. And Jesus begins by saying, "Let not your heart...

Bible reading for March 10:  Exodus 21; Luke 24. "But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe."  (Exodus 21:23-25)  Case law, limitations, and laws of restitution (Ex 21).   The core of the covenant law is now applied to various real life situations , which is also known as case laws. An "eye for an eye" has come to mean having a rigid and strict standard of judgment and it is believed that Jesus spoke against this.  After all, he said, "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also" (Matt 5:38-39).   But Jesus upheld the inspiration of the Old Testament law (Matt 5:17-18).  And the two contexts are different . In Exodus this law, an "eye for an eye", is a l...

"God is ultimate reality. The revelation that his nature is Trinitarian brings us the knowledge that personal relationships are ultimate reality, and are blissful. The revelation of his character brings us the knowledge of how we may go about establishing our relationship with God and with one another more perfectly, by loving God with all our heart and loving our neighbor as ourselves, by giving ourselves in personal communication to one another, by absolute fairness and faithfulness in our dealings with each other, and by being mindful of the order and priority which God has created, so that our relationships may flower with the bliss that God intends for us in our friendship with him and with one another." ~ Broughton Knox, The Everlasting God

The Trinity Window at Holy Trinity Church, Hertford, UK.   "Good morning heavenly Father, good morning Lord Jesus, good morning Holy Spirit. Heavenly Father, I worship you as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. Lord Jesus, I worship you, Saviour and Lord of the world. Holy Spirit, I worship you, Sanctifier of the people of God. Heavenly Father, I pray that I may live this day in your presence and please you more and more. Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you. Holy Spirit, I pray that this day you will fill me with yourself and cause your fruit to ripen in my life: love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Holy, blessed and glorious Trinity, three persons in one God, have mercy upon me. Amen." ~ The Morning Prayer of John Stott  (1921-2011) as found in The One True Light: Daily Advent Readings from the  Gospel of John , by Tim Chester.

"This Gospel itself can be summarized in three words : 'God Saves Sinners.' By this we mean that,  "God —the Triune Jehovah, Father, Son and Spirit; three Persons working together in sovereign wisdom, power and love to achieve the salvation of a chosen people, the Father electing, the Son fulfilling the Father’s will by redeeming, the Spirit executing the purpose of Father and Son by renewing;  "saves —does everything, first to last, that is involved in bringing man from death in sin to life in glory: plans, achieves and communicates redemption, calls and keeps, justifies, sanctifies, glorifies;  "sinners —men as God finds them, guilty, vile, helpless, powerless, unable to lift a finger to do God’s will or better their spiritual lot." -- J. I. Packer, “Saved by His Precious Blood,” in A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1994), p. 130.

"When all things are subjected to him [ the Son ], then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in  subjection under him, that God may be all in all." (1 Corinthians 15:28 ESV) I had a good discussion recently with our guest speaker on the following statement.  The context was Hebrews 1:2, Philippians  2, and the emptying of Christ at his incarnation...  "Once he surrendered that place as divine Spirit beside the eternal Father, once he became human, there was no turning back.   He could never go back to what he was before. He had become human; he couldn't 'un-human' himself. He could never again be  divine Spirit. He gave up that position. No man, not even Jesus Christ, can be equal with God." Now we had a good discussion on this, and what he was saying was that Jesus laid aside his divine status and united himself  permanently with a human nature.  And so, he would forever as the God-man represent the human race be...

Here is Chris Faith's outline from Sunday's message, " A Window on Spiritual Reality ", from  John 17:1-5.  Sermon MP3 and PDF is here .   Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the  Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal  life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I glorified You on  the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with  the glory which I had with You before the world was."  ( John 17:1-5) A window on spiritual reality I. Spiritual reality is all about relationships.  II. The persons of God are caught up in glorifying one another. III. Eternal life is experiencing relationship with the  “other-glorifying” persons...

" [Athanasius] stood for the Trinitarian doctrine, 'whole and undefiled,' when it looked as if all the civilized world was slipping back from Christianity into the religion of Arius – into one of those 'sensible' synthetic religions which are so strongly recommended today and which, then as now, included among their devotees many highly cultivated clergymen. It is his glory that he did not move with the times; it is his reward that he now remains when those times, as all times do, have moved away."   (--C. S. Lweis on the influence of Athanasius, from his introduction, On The Incarnation )

I read again some passages from John Owen's Communion with God (R J K Law's edited version, Banner of Truth, 1991) that are so helpful. I need to ponder these truths often... "Have fellowship with the Father in his love. Have no fears or doubts about his love for you. The greatest sorrow and burden you can lay on the Father, the greatest unkindness you can do to him is not to believe that he loves you. " (p. 13) "Believers must receive the love of the Father. Communion or fellowship lies in giving and receiving. Until the love of the Father is received, we have no communion with the Father in love. How then is this love of the Father to be received in order that we may have fellowship with him? There is only one way and that is by faith. To receive the love of the Father is to believe that he does love us. God has so fully, so clearly revealed his love, that it may be received by faith. " (p. 16) "Many saints have no greater burden in thei...

Wayne Grudem gives the simplest description of the Triune God: “God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God.” (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology ) Berkhof gives a little more, adding the important distinction that Person is not an Individual, but persona (Latin). This may be more in the direction of Karl Barth's eternal semi-modalism. (Not to be confused with old Modalism.) “The Bible teaches that, while He exists in three Persons, called Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, these are not three persons in the ordinary sense of the word; they are not three individuals, but rather three modes or forms in which the Divine Being exists. At the same time they are of such a nature that they can enter into personal relations. The Father can speak to the Son and vice versa, and both can send forth the Spirit. The real mystery of the Trinity consists in this that each one of the Persons possesses the whole of the divine es...

Sometimes people think the doctrine of the Trinity is a speculative and irrelevant formula, far removed from daily life. But here's how Patrick (aka St. Patrick), missionary to the Irish in the fourth century, applied God's Triune nature at the beginning of the day. Very realistic and practical... I arise today Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, Through the belief in the threeness, Through confession of the oneness Of the Creator of Creation. I arise today Through the strength of Christ's birth with his baptism, Through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial, Through the strength of his resurrection with his ascension, Through the strength of his descent for the judgment of Doom. I arise today Through the strength of the love of Cherubim, In obedience of angels, In the service of archangels, In hope of resurrection to meet with reward, In prayers of patriarchs, In predictions...