The Mystery of the Holy Trinity
The Roles of The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit
The mystery of the Holy Trinity in Three Persons is beyond human comprehension. The all work in unison and in harmony with each other. They agree with each other. Neither of these three contradicts the others. If I can learn about the Trinity more clearly, then I can plainly teach this to my Sunday School class. But there is still so much I will never know in this life. It remains a mystery, because what man or woman can know the things of God? Least of all, not I nor can any human fully understand the mind of God, for His ways are past finding out for humans (Rom 11:13). This is what makes Him God. No finite human mind can wrap around the Infinite Who, What, When, Where, Why and How of God. But the most critical things that we need to know about God we can know about, and that’s the most important issue of all and one that even a child can understand (John 3:16). Now let’s try and look at the Three Persons of The God Family starting with The Father.
The Role of God The Father
The Father’s role is distinct from those of the other two of the Trinity. The Father does the calling. Paul’s encouraging statement that everything will work out for us and work together for our own good, tells us that no matter how bad things get, we are still secure. Paul tells the church that God has known you, and chosen you, and loved you, from before the foundation of the world (Rom. 8:28-29, Ephs. 1:4; 2 Tim. 1:9; 1 Pet.. 1:20; Rev. 13:8; 17:8) which means before we even existed. How incredible is that!?
"Predestine" means to decide or ordain ahead of time what destiny you will have. And the reason this verse puts such a massive foundation under the promise of Romans 8:28 is that that those who love God and are called according to his promise are destined to be like Jesus — destined to be conformed to the image of Christ. All things work together for your good because you were chosen and loved before you existed, and the way His choice and love expresses itself is in ordaining for you an unspeakably great future. Namely, it is to be more like Christ. All things work for your good because all things work to make you like Jesus. For this you were predestined. God's unbreakable, foreknowing and predestining guarantees our glory and our everlasting, eternal life in joy, regardless of our actions, if we are born-again.
Nothing I could ever do (i.e., good works) could cause this to happen, therefore nothing I could ever do (bad works or sin) could take it away. If it were dependent upon my cause, then I would never succeed and there would be no hope for me. God's purpose in the salvation of his people is invincible--it cannot fail--because it is based first not on our choosing God but on God's choosing us. "He [God] chose us in Him [Christ] before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4)â€. Your salvation did not begin with your choice to believe in Christ--a choice which was real and necessary. Your salvation began before the creation of the universe when God planned the history of redemption, ordained the death and the resurrection of his Son, and chose you to be His own through Christ.
The call of God that Paul has in mind is not like calling your children to supper. The call of God is like the call of Jesus to the corpse of Lazarus: "Lazarus, come forth!" The call contains the power to produce what it commands. It is an effectual call. That is why Paul can say in Romans 8:30 that all "those who are called are [now, already] justified." The certainty of their justification lies in the fact that the faith by which men are justified is produced by the effectual call of God. Therefore when Romans 8:28 says, "All things work together to good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose," it means that the beneficiaries of this massive promise are those who once did not love God but now do love God because God himself has called them effectually from darkness to light, from unbelief to faith, from death to life, and has planted within them a love to Himself. The effectual call of God is the new covenant fulfillment of the promise in Deuteronomy 30:6,"And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live." Not try, then fail and die. God always regards things in the future as already existing. A done deal!
The reason that the beneficiaries of Romans 8:28 can have such certainty that God will indeed fulfill this promise for them is that God himself has effectually called them into his covenant and caused them to qualify for it. It is one thing if God sends out a mass mailing addressed "to whom it may concern" inviting all to the banquet where all things work together for good. But it is quite another if God himself drives up to your front door, walks in, picks you up, puts you in the car, drives you to the banquet of Romans 8:28, gives you the banquet garment of love and then seats you at the right hand of His Son. Would not His own personal initiative in the second case give you a deeper confidence that God does indeed intend to pursue you with mercy all your days and work everything together for your good? And He uses us too, when Jesus told them “compel them to come to the wedding feast†when the rich guests failed to show. Someone told me about God, and God certainly knew He would use you to tell others about Him…all in advance. Clearly, predestination does not mean His kingdom is an all-exclusive club and “so why evangelize“? No, He has definitely commanded us to make other disciples (Math. 28:18-20, Acts 1).
Now what was Paul's reason for adding this phrase: "according to his purpose"? I think it was to make perfectly clear and forceful that the call of God originates in God's purpose not ours (John 6:44). The call of God is not a response to anything we purposed to do. God has His own high and holy purposes that govern whom He calls, and His call accords with these purposes not with ours. He did not drive up to my door and pick me up and bring me to the banquet of Romans 8:28 because it accorded with my purpose of salvation, but because it accorded with His. Had he waited for me to have a purpose of salvation, I would still be watching television at home every night, however someone shared Jesus with me and God knew this all along.
This phrase ("according to his purpose") also occurs in Romans 9:12. In the context Paul is trying to show that not all Israelites are true Israelites (verse 6); not all are the children of Abraham just because they are descended from him (verse 7); and the difference whether one is a true Israelite or a true child of Abraham depends on God's purpose and call, not man's. Notice verses 10-12: “...when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11) though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call, 12) she was told, "The elder will serve the younger." The point of this passage is to illustrate by the example of Jacob and Esau (Rebecca's twin sons) the nature of God's call. Jacob and Esau were in the same womb. They had the same father. They had done nothing good or evil. And yet God set his favor on Jacob not Esau. Why? Why not wait until they grow up and have a chance to show which of them will have the distinctives that make it just for God to call the one and not the other? Why did God reveal his choice even before they were born? Verse 11 gives the answer, and it uses the very words of Romans 8:28. It was "in order that God's PURPOSE of election might continue, not because of works but because of his CALL (or literally: "because of the One who calls")."
The unconditional call of God, apart from all human distinctives, is the means by which God maintains his purpose of election. If He did not call men without regard to their distinctives, but instead called them on the basis of their distinctives, then God's purpose of election would fall to the ground and it would be man‘s responsibility of his coming to God, yet that is not what Jesus said. No one can come to God unless the Father does the calling (John 6:44). If it were only up to us, then God would become like a political candidate up for vote going from precinct to precinct to see if he might be elected Lord. God would propose, but man would dispose. The size and make up of God's constituency would owe finally to the vote of man. The success of Christian missions and the possibility of converts from every tongue and tribe and people and nation would depend finally on the vote of man.
It was clear that God set his favor on Jacob and not Esau even before they were born so that His purpose of election might stand, not on the basis of their deeds but only on the basis of his call—the call that accords with his purpose of election. What then is the foundation of Romans 8:28? Where do those who love God find certainty that tribulation and distress and famine and nakedness and peril and sword and slaughter will in fact work together for their good? The answer is that those who love God are also those who have been called by God, and that this call is based not on something as wavering and uncertain as my commitment to God but only on his eternal purpose of election by which he set his favor on me without any respect to my action at all…remember, He knew you were going to be saved. God chose his people individually and personally before the foundation of the world to be saved; and He chose them to be with Him forever, but only through a union with Jesus Christ. And none of us would even love God first, for He first had to love us. We were natural enemies of God before He saved us.
Now add to this the teaching of Paul in Ephesians 1:4-6 and you see clearly how the glory of God is at stake in the denial of God's foreknowledge of the fall of Adam and its consequent miseries. Paul says, "[God] chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace." In other words, before the foundation of the world – before the sinful choice of Adam, (which some believe was not foreknowable by God) God chose us in Christ and predestined us for Son ship through Christ so that the free and sovereign grace of God would be seen as glorious: "unto the praise of the glory of his grace."
Second, we have seen from 2 Timothy 1:9 that God "has saved us . . . according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity." So the gracious work of Christ, redeeming us from the curse of the Fall, was planned in eternity, and grace was given to us "from all eternity" (literally in Greek, pro chronõn aiõniõn).
God wrote in His Book of Life (Rev. 3:5 & elsewhere) our names, before time, earth or we even existed. He filled out the book of life in anticipation of what not He knew we would do necessarily, but what He could cause to happen. Therefore, He did not write in response to what we actually did; rather, He wrote in response to what He knew that He would actually do. This distinction is very important.
Before you breathed your first word, God knew how you would respond to His offer of grace anyway. According to His foreknowledge, He wrote your name in the book of life. And there it shall remain forever. See for yourself in the following scriptures: Gen. 21:12; Ex. 9:16; 33:19; Deut. 10:15; 32:8; Josh. 11:20; 1 Sam. 12:22; 2 Chr. 6:6; Ps. 33:12; 65:4; 78:68; 135:4; Isa. 41:1-10; Jer. 1:5; Mark 13:20; Luke 22:22; John 6:37; 15:16; 17:2, 6, 9; Acts 2:28; 3:18; 4:28; 13:48; 17:26; Rom. 9:11, 18, 21; 11:5; Eph. 3:11; 1 Thes. 1:4; 2 Thess. 2:13; 2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 1:2; 1 Pet. 1:2.
The next in the Trinity will be looking at the role of the Son of God, and finally, the role of the Holy Spirit.
The Role of Jesus Christ, The Son of God
The Son of God’s role or that of Jesus Christ is distinct from those of the other Two Personages of the Holy Trinity. We are made prefect by Him. Are we perfect? Of course not, but we are perfectly forgiven for past, present and future sins. Just as Paul said “We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all†(Heb. 10:10). It is by “one offering He has perfected forever them that are sanctified (Heb. 10:14). Not only that, “The Lord…will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom…†(II Tim. 4:18). We will be kept forever by the power of God (I Pet. 1:5) and to “…keep you from falling, to present you spotless… (Jude 24). Christ does not have to shed more blood. It covers all sin, for all humanity (that accepts it) for all eternity. It’s not like the Leviticus priesthood, who time and again had to make sacrifices.
Christ Jesus Himself said, He died in place of the believer, the One for many (Mark 10:45), His life a ransom for many. As He declared, this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26:28). This is also what Peter proclaimed, "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God…" (I Peter 3:18). Paul's preaching is summarized at the end of II Corinthians 5:21, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him…†(II Corinthians 5:21).
A hundred good deeds can not absolve anything but a guilty conscience (Mark 1:15). Jesus has been our atonement or at-onement. That means we are made one with God before His eyes, since He can not even look upon sin. Even after a person is saved, they can feel they might not be saved, then the urge moves to "meriting," "earning," or "being good enough," instead of simply accepting with empty hands, the gift of righteousness in Christ Jesus. But Jesus blood does not have to be continually shed each and every time we sin. It’s a one time occurrence (Heb 10:10, 14). If you want to refuse to accept what God commands as forgiven, then you are repeating what some of the religious Jews of Paul's time did, "For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." (Romans 10:3) No amount of works can save anyone. Jesus has done it all, once and for all! Since we can not bring about our own salvation, it stands to reason that we can not bring about its loss. Tragically, some churches do not teach eternal security, therefore members often live in fear and doubt. The good news is no one need live in fear or doubt anymore. Jesus took the punishment that was due us. God took out His wrath on the ungodly upon Jesus Christ.
The Role of God, The Holy Spirit
Finally, what is the work and purpose of the Holy Spirit in a believer‘s life? His is the job of our being signed, sealed and delivered (yes, already delivered, yet not present with Him). We are also sealed forever like a letter that can be opened only by God Himself. Once sealed, it becomes an official document and who is worthy to open seals in the Bible? We can actually “…grieve not the holy Spirit of God“, but we can still rest assured the Holy Spirit has “…sealed [us] unto the day of redemption†(Eph. 4:30). After we are saved, or “...after that you believed, you were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise" (Eph. 1:13).
Only the King of kings can open something sealed by God (Rev. 13:8). How awesome to be sealed by God forever, via the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does the sealing against that Day of Judgment so there is nothing to worry about losing the seal or having your surety of redemptions seal broken by any thing or any person, including yourself (John 6:27, Heb 7:25, 12:23, Eph 11:13, 4:30, II Tim 2:19, Jude: 24, I Pet 1:4-5, John 17:12). After the sealing, then He delivers us unto the kingdom which God has promised with certainty (Dan 12:1, Ex. 3:8, Ish 4:3, Act 7:34, 13:48, II Cor 3:2, 13:3, Psl 18:17, 22:4, 34:17, 89:48, Rev 3:5, 21:27, Jhn 7:25, 12:23, II Tim 4:18...etc.).
When you sit down to read the Bible, pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal what is being read in the Bible for part of the role of the Holy Spirit is to also teaches us all things, as Christ told the disciples before He departed. The Holy Spirit is also a Helper, Comforter and teaches us about the things of God (John 14:26, Luke 12:12), and guides us in revealing the meaning of God’s written Word (John 16:13) and reminds us of things we need to remember (John 14:26). If you want to know a sort of job description of the Holy Spirit, John, chapters 14, 15 and 16 will help immensely. It’s also the Holy Spirit which brings godly repentance and brings about an awareness of when we are not doing the right thing. He also will begin to deal with the sins in our life. We are not the ones necessarily that conquer sin, the Holy Spirit is the power to do this. This doesn’t mean that the Holy Spirit stops all the urges nor will He stop our returning to sin, but the Holy Spirit prompts and urges the believer not to engage in such behavior as well as other ungodly acts.
Once you are saved, the Holy Spirit then has signed, sealed and, in God’s eyes, already delivered you. Neither anyone nor anything can change that! How can any man or angel wrestle us from the mighty hand of God and Jesus (John 10:28-29)? This signing, sealing and deliverance is permanent and irreversible. How very reassuring this ought to be. God has His sign on us and predestinated us; chosen specially by God before the universe was created (Eph. 1:4-5, Rom. 4:11, Ps. 139:16, Titus 1:2). And we are sealed by the Holy Spirit Himself. And who is able to break a seal of God? And who is He that is worthy to open seals or break any seals in the Bible? Only the King of kings (Rev. 13:8). How awesome to be sealed by God forever (John 6:27, Heb. 7:25, 12:23, Eph. 11:13, 4:30, II Tim. 2:19, Jude: 24, I Pet 1:4-5, John 17:12). The sealing, after being saved, is a deliverance already performed: which an infinity ago, He purposed with certainty (Dan. 12:1, Ex. 3:8, Ish. 4:3, Acts 7:34, 13:48, II Cor. 3:2, 13:3, Ps.18:17, 22:4, 34:17, 89:48, Rev. 3:5, 21:27, John 7:25, 12:23, II Tim. 4:18...etc.).
Additional scriptures also speak of a non-losable salvation…an eternal, permanent security that you can read for yourself and scriptures that talk about the Holy Spirit‘s permanent sealing of the believer are in the following verses. They are in the Old and New Testament: Gen. 21:12; Ex. 9:16; 33:19; Deut. 10:15; 32:8; Josh. 11:20; 1 Sam. 12:22; 2 Chr. 6:6; Ps. 33:12; 65:4; 78:68; 135:4; Isa. 41:1-10; Jer. 1:5; Mark 13:20; Luke 22:22; John 6:37; 15:16; 17:2, 6, 9; Acts 2:28; 3:18; 4:28; 13:48; 17:26; Rom. 9:11, 18, 21; 11:5; Eph. 3:11; 1 Thes. 1:4; 2 Thes. 2:13; 2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 1:2; 1 Pet. 1:2.
The mystery of the Holy Trinity in Three Persons is beyond human comprehension. The all work in unison and in harmony with each other. They agree with each other. Neither of these three contradicts the others. If I can learn about the Trinity more clearly, then I can plainly teach this to my Sunday School class. But there is still so much I will never know in this life. It remains a mystery, because what man or woman can know the things of God? Least of all, not I nor can any human fully understand the mind of God, for His ways are past finding out for humans (Rom 11:13). This is what makes Him God. No finite human mind can wrap around the Infinite Who, What, When, Where, Why and How of God. But the most critical things that we need to know about God we can know about, and that’s the most important issue of all and one that even a child can understand (John 3:16). Now let’s try and look at the Three Persons of The God Family starting with The Father.
The Role of God The Father
The Father’s role is distinct from those of the other two of the Trinity. The Father does the calling. Paul’s encouraging statement that everything will work out for us and work together for our own good, tells us that no matter how bad things get, we are still secure. Paul tells the church that God has known you, and chosen you, and loved you, from before the foundation of the world (Rom. 8:28-29, Ephs. 1:4; 2 Tim. 1:9; 1 Pet.. 1:20; Rev. 13:8; 17:8) which means before we even existed. How incredible is that!?
"Predestine" means to decide or ordain ahead of time what destiny you will have. And the reason this verse puts such a massive foundation under the promise of Romans 8:28 is that that those who love God and are called according to his promise are destined to be like Jesus — destined to be conformed to the image of Christ. All things work together for your good because you were chosen and loved before you existed, and the way His choice and love expresses itself is in ordaining for you an unspeakably great future. Namely, it is to be more like Christ. All things work for your good because all things work to make you like Jesus. For this you were predestined. God's unbreakable, foreknowing and predestining guarantees our glory and our everlasting, eternal life in joy, regardless of our actions, if we are born-again.
Nothing I could ever do (i.e., good works) could cause this to happen, therefore nothing I could ever do (bad works or sin) could take it away. If it were dependent upon my cause, then I would never succeed and there would be no hope for me. God's purpose in the salvation of his people is invincible--it cannot fail--because it is based first not on our choosing God but on God's choosing us. "He [God] chose us in Him [Christ] before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4)â€. Your salvation did not begin with your choice to believe in Christ--a choice which was real and necessary. Your salvation began before the creation of the universe when God planned the history of redemption, ordained the death and the resurrection of his Son, and chose you to be His own through Christ.
The call of God that Paul has in mind is not like calling your children to supper. The call of God is like the call of Jesus to the corpse of Lazarus: "Lazarus, come forth!" The call contains the power to produce what it commands. It is an effectual call. That is why Paul can say in Romans 8:30 that all "those who are called are [now, already] justified." The certainty of their justification lies in the fact that the faith by which men are justified is produced by the effectual call of God. Therefore when Romans 8:28 says, "All things work together to good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose," it means that the beneficiaries of this massive promise are those who once did not love God but now do love God because God himself has called them effectually from darkness to light, from unbelief to faith, from death to life, and has planted within them a love to Himself. The effectual call of God is the new covenant fulfillment of the promise in Deuteronomy 30:6,"And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live." Not try, then fail and die. God always regards things in the future as already existing. A done deal!
The reason that the beneficiaries of Romans 8:28 can have such certainty that God will indeed fulfill this promise for them is that God himself has effectually called them into his covenant and caused them to qualify for it. It is one thing if God sends out a mass mailing addressed "to whom it may concern" inviting all to the banquet where all things work together for good. But it is quite another if God himself drives up to your front door, walks in, picks you up, puts you in the car, drives you to the banquet of Romans 8:28, gives you the banquet garment of love and then seats you at the right hand of His Son. Would not His own personal initiative in the second case give you a deeper confidence that God does indeed intend to pursue you with mercy all your days and work everything together for your good? And He uses us too, when Jesus told them “compel them to come to the wedding feast†when the rich guests failed to show. Someone told me about God, and God certainly knew He would use you to tell others about Him…all in advance. Clearly, predestination does not mean His kingdom is an all-exclusive club and “so why evangelize“? No, He has definitely commanded us to make other disciples (Math. 28:18-20, Acts 1).
Now what was Paul's reason for adding this phrase: "according to his purpose"? I think it was to make perfectly clear and forceful that the call of God originates in God's purpose not ours (John 6:44). The call of God is not a response to anything we purposed to do. God has His own high and holy purposes that govern whom He calls, and His call accords with these purposes not with ours. He did not drive up to my door and pick me up and bring me to the banquet of Romans 8:28 because it accorded with my purpose of salvation, but because it accorded with His. Had he waited for me to have a purpose of salvation, I would still be watching television at home every night, however someone shared Jesus with me and God knew this all along.
This phrase ("according to his purpose") also occurs in Romans 9:12. In the context Paul is trying to show that not all Israelites are true Israelites (verse 6); not all are the children of Abraham just because they are descended from him (verse 7); and the difference whether one is a true Israelite or a true child of Abraham depends on God's purpose and call, not man's. Notice verses 10-12: “...when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11) though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call, 12) she was told, "The elder will serve the younger." The point of this passage is to illustrate by the example of Jacob and Esau (Rebecca's twin sons) the nature of God's call. Jacob and Esau were in the same womb. They had the same father. They had done nothing good or evil. And yet God set his favor on Jacob not Esau. Why? Why not wait until they grow up and have a chance to show which of them will have the distinctives that make it just for God to call the one and not the other? Why did God reveal his choice even before they were born? Verse 11 gives the answer, and it uses the very words of Romans 8:28. It was "in order that God's PURPOSE of election might continue, not because of works but because of his CALL (or literally: "because of the One who calls")."
The unconditional call of God, apart from all human distinctives, is the means by which God maintains his purpose of election. If He did not call men without regard to their distinctives, but instead called them on the basis of their distinctives, then God's purpose of election would fall to the ground and it would be man‘s responsibility of his coming to God, yet that is not what Jesus said. No one can come to God unless the Father does the calling (John 6:44). If it were only up to us, then God would become like a political candidate up for vote going from precinct to precinct to see if he might be elected Lord. God would propose, but man would dispose. The size and make up of God's constituency would owe finally to the vote of man. The success of Christian missions and the possibility of converts from every tongue and tribe and people and nation would depend finally on the vote of man.
It was clear that God set his favor on Jacob and not Esau even before they were born so that His purpose of election might stand, not on the basis of their deeds but only on the basis of his call—the call that accords with his purpose of election. What then is the foundation of Romans 8:28? Where do those who love God find certainty that tribulation and distress and famine and nakedness and peril and sword and slaughter will in fact work together for their good? The answer is that those who love God are also those who have been called by God, and that this call is based not on something as wavering and uncertain as my commitment to God but only on his eternal purpose of election by which he set his favor on me without any respect to my action at all…remember, He knew you were going to be saved. God chose his people individually and personally before the foundation of the world to be saved; and He chose them to be with Him forever, but only through a union with Jesus Christ. And none of us would even love God first, for He first had to love us. We were natural enemies of God before He saved us.
Now add to this the teaching of Paul in Ephesians 1:4-6 and you see clearly how the glory of God is at stake in the denial of God's foreknowledge of the fall of Adam and its consequent miseries. Paul says, "[God] chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace." In other words, before the foundation of the world – before the sinful choice of Adam, (which some believe was not foreknowable by God) God chose us in Christ and predestined us for Son ship through Christ so that the free and sovereign grace of God would be seen as glorious: "unto the praise of the glory of his grace."
Second, we have seen from 2 Timothy 1:9 that God "has saved us . . . according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity." So the gracious work of Christ, redeeming us from the curse of the Fall, was planned in eternity, and grace was given to us "from all eternity" (literally in Greek, pro chronõn aiõniõn).
God wrote in His Book of Life (Rev. 3:5 & elsewhere) our names, before time, earth or we even existed. He filled out the book of life in anticipation of what not He knew we would do necessarily, but what He could cause to happen. Therefore, He did not write in response to what we actually did; rather, He wrote in response to what He knew that He would actually do. This distinction is very important.
Before you breathed your first word, God knew how you would respond to His offer of grace anyway. According to His foreknowledge, He wrote your name in the book of life. And there it shall remain forever. See for yourself in the following scriptures: Gen. 21:12; Ex. 9:16; 33:19; Deut. 10:15; 32:8; Josh. 11:20; 1 Sam. 12:22; 2 Chr. 6:6; Ps. 33:12; 65:4; 78:68; 135:4; Isa. 41:1-10; Jer. 1:5; Mark 13:20; Luke 22:22; John 6:37; 15:16; 17:2, 6, 9; Acts 2:28; 3:18; 4:28; 13:48; 17:26; Rom. 9:11, 18, 21; 11:5; Eph. 3:11; 1 Thes. 1:4; 2 Thess. 2:13; 2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 1:2; 1 Pet. 1:2.
The next in the Trinity will be looking at the role of the Son of God, and finally, the role of the Holy Spirit.
The Role of Jesus Christ, The Son of God
The Son of God’s role or that of Jesus Christ is distinct from those of the other Two Personages of the Holy Trinity. We are made prefect by Him. Are we perfect? Of course not, but we are perfectly forgiven for past, present and future sins. Just as Paul said “We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all†(Heb. 10:10). It is by “one offering He has perfected forever them that are sanctified (Heb. 10:14). Not only that, “The Lord…will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom…†(II Tim. 4:18). We will be kept forever by the power of God (I Pet. 1:5) and to “…keep you from falling, to present you spotless… (Jude 24). Christ does not have to shed more blood. It covers all sin, for all humanity (that accepts it) for all eternity. It’s not like the Leviticus priesthood, who time and again had to make sacrifices.
Christ Jesus Himself said, He died in place of the believer, the One for many (Mark 10:45), His life a ransom for many. As He declared, this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26:28). This is also what Peter proclaimed, "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God…" (I Peter 3:18). Paul's preaching is summarized at the end of II Corinthians 5:21, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him…†(II Corinthians 5:21).
A hundred good deeds can not absolve anything but a guilty conscience (Mark 1:15). Jesus has been our atonement or at-onement. That means we are made one with God before His eyes, since He can not even look upon sin. Even after a person is saved, they can feel they might not be saved, then the urge moves to "meriting," "earning," or "being good enough," instead of simply accepting with empty hands, the gift of righteousness in Christ Jesus. But Jesus blood does not have to be continually shed each and every time we sin. It’s a one time occurrence (Heb 10:10, 14). If you want to refuse to accept what God commands as forgiven, then you are repeating what some of the religious Jews of Paul's time did, "For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." (Romans 10:3) No amount of works can save anyone. Jesus has done it all, once and for all! Since we can not bring about our own salvation, it stands to reason that we can not bring about its loss. Tragically, some churches do not teach eternal security, therefore members often live in fear and doubt. The good news is no one need live in fear or doubt anymore. Jesus took the punishment that was due us. God took out His wrath on the ungodly upon Jesus Christ.
The Role of God, The Holy Spirit
Finally, what is the work and purpose of the Holy Spirit in a believer‘s life? His is the job of our being signed, sealed and delivered (yes, already delivered, yet not present with Him). We are also sealed forever like a letter that can be opened only by God Himself. Once sealed, it becomes an official document and who is worthy to open seals in the Bible? We can actually “…grieve not the holy Spirit of God“, but we can still rest assured the Holy Spirit has “…sealed [us] unto the day of redemption†(Eph. 4:30). After we are saved, or “...after that you believed, you were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise" (Eph. 1:13).
Only the King of kings can open something sealed by God (Rev. 13:8). How awesome to be sealed by God forever, via the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does the sealing against that Day of Judgment so there is nothing to worry about losing the seal or having your surety of redemptions seal broken by any thing or any person, including yourself (John 6:27, Heb 7:25, 12:23, Eph 11:13, 4:30, II Tim 2:19, Jude: 24, I Pet 1:4-5, John 17:12). After the sealing, then He delivers us unto the kingdom which God has promised with certainty (Dan 12:1, Ex. 3:8, Ish 4:3, Act 7:34, 13:48, II Cor 3:2, 13:3, Psl 18:17, 22:4, 34:17, 89:48, Rev 3:5, 21:27, Jhn 7:25, 12:23, II Tim 4:18...etc.).
When you sit down to read the Bible, pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal what is being read in the Bible for part of the role of the Holy Spirit is to also teaches us all things, as Christ told the disciples before He departed. The Holy Spirit is also a Helper, Comforter and teaches us about the things of God (John 14:26, Luke 12:12), and guides us in revealing the meaning of God’s written Word (John 16:13) and reminds us of things we need to remember (John 14:26). If you want to know a sort of job description of the Holy Spirit, John, chapters 14, 15 and 16 will help immensely. It’s also the Holy Spirit which brings godly repentance and brings about an awareness of when we are not doing the right thing. He also will begin to deal with the sins in our life. We are not the ones necessarily that conquer sin, the Holy Spirit is the power to do this. This doesn’t mean that the Holy Spirit stops all the urges nor will He stop our returning to sin, but the Holy Spirit prompts and urges the believer not to engage in such behavior as well as other ungodly acts.
Once you are saved, the Holy Spirit then has signed, sealed and, in God’s eyes, already delivered you. Neither anyone nor anything can change that! How can any man or angel wrestle us from the mighty hand of God and Jesus (John 10:28-29)? This signing, sealing and deliverance is permanent and irreversible. How very reassuring this ought to be. God has His sign on us and predestinated us; chosen specially by God before the universe was created (Eph. 1:4-5, Rom. 4:11, Ps. 139:16, Titus 1:2). And we are sealed by the Holy Spirit Himself. And who is able to break a seal of God? And who is He that is worthy to open seals or break any seals in the Bible? Only the King of kings (Rev. 13:8). How awesome to be sealed by God forever (John 6:27, Heb. 7:25, 12:23, Eph. 11:13, 4:30, II Tim. 2:19, Jude: 24, I Pet 1:4-5, John 17:12). The sealing, after being saved, is a deliverance already performed: which an infinity ago, He purposed with certainty (Dan. 12:1, Ex. 3:8, Ish. 4:3, Acts 7:34, 13:48, II Cor. 3:2, 13:3, Ps.18:17, 22:4, 34:17, 89:48, Rev. 3:5, 21:27, John 7:25, 12:23, II Tim. 4:18...etc.).
Additional scriptures also speak of a non-losable salvation…an eternal, permanent security that you can read for yourself and scriptures that talk about the Holy Spirit‘s permanent sealing of the believer are in the following verses. They are in the Old and New Testament: Gen. 21:12; Ex. 9:16; 33:19; Deut. 10:15; 32:8; Josh. 11:20; 1 Sam. 12:22; 2 Chr. 6:6; Ps. 33:12; 65:4; 78:68; 135:4; Isa. 41:1-10; Jer. 1:5; Mark 13:20; Luke 22:22; John 6:37; 15:16; 17:2, 6, 9; Acts 2:28; 3:18; 4:28; 13:48; 17:26; Rom. 9:11, 18, 21; 11:5; Eph. 3:11; 1 Thes. 1:4; 2 Thes. 2:13; 2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 1:2; 1 Pet. 1:2.
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