Wednesday, August 13, 2008

The Triune God

Chapter 13 ... Calvin now moves to theology proper, and discusses first God's personhood. and quickly moves to the doctrine of the trinity. In language which often left me in wonderment at how a 26 year old man could achieve such intellectual stature, he deals with the unity, and the separatness of the trinity. Through the ages, Christians have struggled with how the trinity is of one essence, yet in three distinct persons, and Calvin deals with the extremes in both directions ... from only God the Father being God with the Son and Spirit coming from Him and only deriving deity from Him to pantheism where God is everywhere and in everything. Calvin makes broad use of two terms: essence and hypostasis. He takes great pains to point out that each person of the trinity possesses the same essence, and at the same time, three distinct personhoods, united hypostatically. The hypostatic union is usually used to describe the union of the divine and human nature of God the Son, but here Calvin uses it to describe the union of the three persons of the trinity. I finished this 30 page chapter exhausted!

Take Home Pearl: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty! God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

No comments: