His Word Today

² in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.” (Titus 1:2 (ESV)

The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning May 8, 1864 by the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. The sermon text is Titus 1:2. The sermon title is What God Cannot Do.

II. Let us pass on to look at THE BREADTH OF MEANING IN THE TEXT.

When we are told in Scripture that God cannot lie, there is usually associated with the idea the thought of immutability. As for instance— “He is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent.” The word “lie,” here includes beyond its ordinary meaning the thought of change, so that when we read that God cannot lie, we understand by it not only that He cannot say what is untrue, but that having said something which is true He never changes from it, and does not by any possibility alter His purpose or retract His word.

This is very consolatory to the Christian, that whatever God has said in the divine purpose is never changed. The decrees of God were not written upon sand, but upon the eternal brass of His unchangeable nature. We may truly say of the sealed book of the decrees, “Hath he said and shall he not do it? hath he purposed and shall it not come to pass?”

We read in Scripture of several instances where God apparently changed, but I think the observation of the old Puritan explains all these. He says, “God may will a change, but He cannot change His will.” Those changes of operation which we sometimes read of in Scripture did not involve any change in the divine purpose.

God wills a change, but He never changes His will. And when the last great day shall come, you and I shall see how everything happened according to that hidden roll wherein God had written with His own wise finger every thought which man should think, every word which he should utter, and every deed which he should do. Just as it was in the book of decree, so shall it transpire in the roll of human history.

But we must not, while talking in this manner, forget the primary meaning, that He cannot be false in His thoughts, words, or actions. There is no shadow of a lie upon anything which God thinks, or speaks, or does. He cannot lie in His prophecies. How solemnly true have they been! Ask the wastes of Nineveh. Turn to the mounds of Babylon. Let the traveler speak concerning Idumean and Petra. Turn even to the rock of Sidon, and to Your land, O Immanuel.

As God is true in His prophecies, so is He faithful to His promises. Have you and I, dear friends, a confidence in these? If so, let us try them this morning. Sinner, weeping and bemoaning yourself, God will forgive you your sin if you believe in Jesus. If you will confess that He is faithful and just to forgive you, He has promised to do so, and He cannot lie.

Christian, if you have a promise today laid upon your heart, if you have been pleading it, perhaps for months, and it has not been fulfilled, I pray you gather fresh courage this morning, and again renew your wrestling. Go and say, “Lord, I know You cannot lie, therefore fulfill Your word unto Your servant.”

His threatening’s are true also. Ah! sinner, you may go on in your ways for many a day, but your sin shall find you out at last. Seventy years God’s long-suffering may wait over you, but when you shall come into another world you shall find every terrible word of Scripture fulfilled. You shall then know that there is a place, “where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” You shall then experience the “wailing and gnashing of teeth” unless you repent. If you will believe in Jesus, you shall find the promise true, but if you will not, equally sure shall be the threatening.

We might thus go through everything which concerns God, from prophesy to promises, and threatening’s, and onwards, and multiply observations, but we choose to close this point by observing that every word of instruction from God is most certainly true.

It is astounding how much sensation is caused in the Christian church by the outbreak every now and then of fresh phases of infidelity. I do not think that these alarms are at all warranted. It is what we must expect to the very end of this dispensation. If all carnal minds believed the Bible, I think the spiritual might almost begin to doubt it. But as there are always some who will attack it, I shall feel none the less confidence in it.

Beloved, we may rest assured that we have not a word in the book of God which is untrue. There may be an interpolation or two of man’s which ought to be revised and taken away, but the Book as it comes from God is truth, and nothing but truth. Not only containing God’s Word, but being God’s Word; being not like a lump of gold inside a mass of quartz, but all gold, and nothing but gold, and being inspired to the highest degree. I will not say verbally inspired, but more than that, having a fullness more than that which the letter can convey, having in it a profundity of meaning such as words never had when used by any other being, God having the power to speak a multitude of truths at once.

Nothing can set forth in words to us the hatred and detestation which God has in His heart of anything which is untrue. O that we knew and felt this, and would glow with the same anger, seeking to exterminate the false, slaying it in our own hearts, and giving it nothing to feed upon in our temper, our conversation, or our deeds.

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here.

Soli deo Gloria!

² in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.” (Titus 1:2 (ESV)

The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning May 8, 1864 by the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. The sermon text is Titus 1:2. The sermon title is What God Cannot Do.

Again, we all know that God is too wise to lie. Falsehood is the expedient of a fool. It is only a shortsighted man who lies. For some present advantage the poor creature who cannot see the end as well as the beginning states that which is not, but no wise man who can look far into the future ever thinks a lie to be profitable. He knows that truth may suffer loss at first, but that in the long run she is always successful. He endorses that worldly-wise proverb that “Honesty is the best policy” after all, and the man, I say, who has anything like foresight, or judgment, or wisdom, prefers always the straight line to the curve, and goes directly to the mark, believing that this is in the end the best.

Do you suppose that God, who must know this, with an intensity of knowledge infinitely greater than ours, will choose the policy of the witless knave. Shall God, only wise, who sees the end from the beginning, act as only brainless fools will choose to behave themselves? Oh! it cannot be, my brethren. God, the all-wise, must also be all-true.

And the lie, again, is the method of the little and the mean. You know that a great man does not lie. A good man can never be false. Put goodness and greatness together, and a lie is altogether incongruous to the character. Now God is too great to need the lie, and too good to wish to do such a thing, both His greatness and His goodness repel the thought.

My dear friends, what motive could God have for lying? When a man lies it is that he may gain something, but “the cattle on a thousand hills” are God’s, and all the beasts of the forest, and all the flocks of the meadows. He says, “If I were hungry, I would not tell thee.” Mines of inexhaustible riches are His, and treasures of infinite power and wisdom. He cannot gain aught by untruth, for “the earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness thereof,” wherefore, then, should He lie?

Men are false oftentimes to win applause. See how the sycophant cringes to the tyrant’s foot, and spawns his villainy. But God needs no honor and no fame, especially from the wicked. To Him it was the greatest disgust of His righteous soul to be loved by unholy creatures. His glory is great enough even if there were no creatures. His own self-contained glory is such that if there were no eyes to see it, and no ears to hear it, He would be infinitely glorious. He asks nothing, no respect and no honor of man, and therefore has He no need to stoop to the lie to gain it.

And of whom, again, could He be afraid? Men will sometimes, under the impulse of fear, keep back or even contradict the truth, but can fear ever enter into the heart of the eternal God? He looks down upon all nations who are in rebellion against Him, and He does not even care to rise to put them down. “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision!”

Moreover, dear friends, we may add to all this the experience of men, with regard to God. It has been evident enough in all ages that God cannot lie. He did not lie when Adam fell. It seemed a strange thing, that after all the skill and labor which had been spent in making such a world as this, so fair and beautiful, God should resign it to the dominion of Satan, and drive the man whom He had made in His own image, out of his home, his Eden, to labor in sweat, and toil, and suffering, until he came to his grave. But God did it, and the fiery sword at the gate of Eden was proof that God could not and would not lie.

He might come to Adam, and bemoan Himself, crying, “Adam, where art thou?” as if He pitied him, and would, if it had been possible, have spared the stroke. But still it must be done, and Eden is blasted, and Adam becomes a wanderer upon the fruitless earth.

Then afterwards, to quote a notable instance of God’s faithfulness, when the flood swept away the race of men, and Noah came forth the heritor of a new covenant, we have clear proof that God cannot lie. No flood has ever destroyed the earth since then. Partial floods there have been, and parts of provinces have been inundated, but no flood has ever come upon the earth of such a character as that which Noah saw. Hence the rainbow, every time it is painted upon the cloud, is an assurance to us that God cannot lie.

Then He made an oath with Abraham that he should have a son, and that his seed should become possessors of all the land in which the patriarch had sojourned. Did not that come true? They waited in Egypt two hundred years. They smarted under the tyrant’s lash. They lay among the pots, and yet, after all, with a high hand and with an outstretched arm He brought forth His people, led them through the wilderness and divided Canaan by lot to them, having driven out the inhabitants of the land before them.

Since that time, He made His covenant with David, and how fast has that stood! All the threatening’s which He has uttered against the enemies of Israel, how surely have they been fulfilled! Last of all, and best of all, when the fullness of time was come, did not God send forth His own Son, born of a woman, made under the law? Did He not, according to His ancient promise, lay upon Him the iniquity of us all?

Was not the incarnation and death of our Lord Jesus the grandest proof of the truthfulness of God which could be afforded. His own Son must leave heaven emptied of its glory, must be given up to be despised and rejected of men, must be nailed to the accursed wood, and be forsaken in the hour of His bitterest grief, herein is truth indeed.

May I not add as another argument that you have found Him true! You have been to Him, dear friends, in many times of trial. You have taken His promise and laid it before His mercy seat, what say you, has He ever broken His promise? You have been through the floods—did He leave you? You have passed through the fires—were you burned? You have cried to Him in trouble—did He fail to deliver you?

O ye poor and needy ones, you have been brought very low, but has He not been your helper? You have passed hard by the gates of the grave, and hell has opened its horrid jaws to swallow you up, but are you not today the living monuments of the fidelity of God to His promise, and the veracity of every word of the Most High God? Let these things, then, refresh your memories that you may the more confidently know that He is “God, that cannot lie.”

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here.

Soli deo Gloria!

² in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.” (Titus 1:2 (ESV)

The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning May 8, 1864 by the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. The sermon text is Titus 1:2. The sermon title is What God Cannot Do.

After wandering over the sandy desert of deceit, how pleasant it is to reach our text, and feel that one spot at least is verdant with eternal truth. Blessed be Thou, O God, for Thou canst not lie.

We will use our text in the following manner this morning. First, while we do not attempt to prove it, we will remind you of a few things which may confirm your confidence that God cannot lie, so that our opening remarks shall be upon the truth of the text. Then secondly, we will speak upon the breadth of the text, endeavoring to show that we must give no narrow interpretation to the words before us, but must receive them with an extent of meaning not usual to the expression. And then, thirdly, we will try to use the text for our own improvement, arguing from it that if God cannot lie, He ought to receive our loving confidence.

1. First then, let us commune together awhile concerning THE TRUTH OF THE TEXT, not, as we have said, to prove it, because we all believe it, but to confirm our confidence thereon.

I think we shall feel assured that God cannot lie, when we remember that He is not subject to those infirmities which lead us into falsehood. Lord Bacon has said, “There are three parts in truth: first, the inquiry, which is the wooing of it; secondly, the knowledge of it, which is the presence of it; and thirdly, the belief, which is the enjoyment of it.” In each of these three points, by reason of infirmity, men fail to be perfectly true.

In the search after truth, our moral eye is not altogether clear, and therefore we fail to see what we love not. We do not follow truth in a straight line, but are very liable to turn aside to the right hand or to the left, either to obey our prejudices or advance our profit. “Truth lies in a well,” said the old philosopher. Many go down into that well to find truth, but looking into the water they see their own faces, and become so desperately enamored of their own beauty that they forget poor truth, or dream that she is the counterpart of themselves.

Now the great God cannot be liable to this error, because there is no discovery of truth with Him. He needs not to search anything out, for “all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” When in Scripture that term is sometimes used— “Shall not God search this out?” when we hear Him spoken of as “searching the heart and trying the reins of the children of men,” it is not because He is not perfectly acquainted with all things, but only to set forth the certainty and accuracy of divine knowledge. God having no need to search, or if He had, having nothing in Him which should lead Him to make a dishonest search, therefore He does not lie.

When we have searched out the truth there is the knowing of it. And here the falsehood gets a footing in the form of a sin of omission, for we often refuse to know all that we might know. It would be inconvenient perhaps, for us to be too well acquainted with certain arguments, for then our prejudices must be given up, and therefore we close our eyes to them for fear of knowing the truth. Do not many men leave passages of Scripture altogether unread because they have no wish to receive the doctrines which are taught in them? Every time you refuse to give a hearing to God’s truth, you do in effect lie, because you prefer not to know the truth, which is really to prefer to hold error.

Now nothing of this kind can ever happen with our only wise God. He knows all truth, seeing it all at a glance, and retaining it ever in His mind. In nothing is He ignorant, either willfully or otherwise. He receives truth as His own beloved, and when the world casts her out, truth finds a happy shelter beneath His shield. We are quite clear that we frequently fall into the lie through a defect in our believing, for we sometimes know more than we care to believe.

Truth is grasped by the understanding, but thrust out by the affections. We know her as Peter knew his Lord, and yet deny it after the same fashion as that disciple did his Master. Moreover, through weakness, we are led to doubt what we know to be God’s truth, and even to speak unadvisedly with our lips.

Now this can never occur with God, since God is one, and is not to be divided into parts and passions, and His tongue can never be diverse from His heart. God’s tongue is His heart, and God’s heart is His hand. God is one. You and I are such that we can know in the heart, and yet with the tongue deny. But God is one and indivisible, God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all, with Him is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Then, again, the Scriptural idea of God forbids that He should lie. Just review your thoughts about God, if you can. What idea have you formed of Him? If you have read Holy Scripture, and have gotten the slightest shadow of an idea of God, I think you will see that it is utterly inconsistent with the thrice Holy One, whose kingdom is over all, that He could lie. Admit the very possibility of His speaking an untruth, and to the Christian there would be no God at all.

The depraved mind of the heathen may imagine a monster to be a god who can live in adultery, and in theft, and in lying, for such the gods of the Hindus are described as being, but the enlightened mind of the Christian can conceive no such thing. The very word “God” comprehends everything which is good and great. Admit the lie, and to us at once there would be nothing but the black darkness of Atheism forever. I could neither love, worship, nor obey a lying God.

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here.

Soli deo Gloria!

² in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.” (Titus 1:2 (ESV)

The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning May 8, 1864 by the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. The sermon text is Titus 1:2. The sermon title is What God Cannot Do.

TRUTH once reigned supreme upon our globe, and then earth was paradise. Man knew no sorrow while he was ignorant of falsehood. The Father of Lies invaded the garden of bliss, and with one foul lie he blighted Eden into a wilderness, and made man a traitor to his God. Cunningly he handled the glittering falsehood and made it dazzle in the woman’s eyes—“God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Proud ambition rode upon that lie as a conqueror in his chariot, and the city of Mansoul opened its gates to welcome the fascinating enemy.

As it was a lie which first subjugated the world to Satan’s influences, so it is by lies that he secures his throne. Among the heathen his kingdom is quiet and secure, because the minds of the people are deluded with a false mythology. The domains of Mohammed and the Pope are equally the kingdom of Satan, and his reign is undisturbed, for human merit, priestly efficacy, and a thousand other deceptions buttress his throne. The darkness of ignorance, the dungeons of falsehood, and the chains of superstition are the main reliance of that monster who oppresses all the nations with his infernal tyranny.

Since by the lie Satan now holds the world and maintains his power, he everywhere encourages lies and aids their propagation. Look about you and see what a prolific family falsehood has! The children of the untrue are as many as the frogs of Egypt, and like those plagues they intrude into every chamber. The slime of falsehood may be seen upon most things, both in secular and religious life. You have lying news and garbled reports in print, and as for the flying gossip of the tongue, if it touches the characters of good men, beware of believing a word it utters.

If you would not have complicity with those who make the lie, be not hasty to entertain it. From the high places of the earth falsehood is not excluded. The untruth glides right royally from the kingly tongue, but is as much a lie as if the ragged mendicant had blurted it forth with low-lived oaths and curses.

What is diplomacy for the most part? Is it not “the art of lying”? Was not he thought to be the best politician who used language to conceal his thoughts? In how many a conference have the plenipotentiaries labored which could overreach, dissimulate, and intrigue to the greatest degree? In the commerce of courts, who knows not that flatteries and lies are the most abundant commodities? The art of king-craft, as practiced by the Most High and Mighty Prince James, whose name dishonors our English Bible, was only and simply the science of lying in the neatest possible manner.

In these modern times, the difference between the promises of the hustings and the performances in the House of Commons proves that the lie is still commonly patronized. Falsehood is everywhere. It is entertained both by the lowest and the highest. It permeates all society. It has ruined the whole of our race, and so defiled the entire world that upright men exclaim, “Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!”

In the so-called religious world, which should be as the holy of holies, here too, the lie has insinuated itself. Of old there were prophets who prophesied lies, and dreamers of false dreams. And there were others who spoke the word of God with such bated breath, and after such a fashion, that it was no longer the truth as it came from God, but truth alloyed with human falsehood. It is so today.

There are those wearing the vestments of God’s priests who do not hesitate to profess what they do not believe. Such men are the priests of hell. To wear a bishop’s miter and teach infidelity—how shall I stigmatize it?—it is nothing less than detestable hypocrisy and robbery. And what shall I say of men of all creeds, all subscribing to the same articles and catechism, when all the world knows they cannot all honestly believe the same thing, and yet differ as much from one another as light from darkness?

What shall I say but that shame covers my face that there should be so many ministers of God who are untrue to their convictions, and continue to do and say what they feel to be unscriptural? In other quarters philosophy is believed and Christianity professed. The traditions of men are put in the place of God’s truth. The prophets prophesy lies, and the people love to have it so.

Brethren, we have everywhere to battle with falsehood, and if we are to bless the world, we must confront it with sturdy face and zealous spirit. God’s purpose is to drive the lie out of the world, and let this be your purpose and mine. His Holy Spirit has undertaken to drive falsehood out of our hearts, be this our determination, in His strength, that it shall be cut up root and branch, and utterly consumed. Then let us walk in the truth, “Buy the truth, and sell it not,” hold fast the truth, speak the truth in love, and act the truth in all our deeds, for so shall we be known to be the children of that God of whom our text asserts that He is “God, that cannot lie.”

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here.

Soli deo Gloria!

“Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, ² in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.” (Titus 1:1–2 (ESV)

The ultimate purpose of the Apostle Paul’s service solely of God and apostleship solely of Jesus Christ he clearly declared. It was initially for the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth resulting in their godliness. However, ultimately it was for the hope of eternal.

In the Scriptures, hope (ἐλπίδι; elpidi) is never a wish. Rather, it is a confident expectation of what will happen, and not what might or could happen. How can the believer in Christ be so confident their hope of eternal life in Christ is more than just a wish?

The believer can be confident of eternal life because the promise for such a life is from God. The reason Paul gives for such confidence in God is because God never lies (Num. 23:19; 2 Tim. 2:13; Heb. 6:18). Additionally, God’s promise for eternal life originated before the ages began. Paul also stated this truth as did the Apostles.”  Peter and John.

Ephesians 1:3–4a (ESV) – “³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”  

2 Timothy 1:8–9 (ESV) – “⁸ Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, ⁹ who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.”

1 Peter 1:17–21 (ESV) – “¹⁷ And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, ¹⁸ knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. ²⁰ He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you ²¹ who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”  

Revelation 13:7–8 (ESV) – “⁷Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, ⁸ and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.”

“Now all that has been said so far—Paul’s service and apostleship in the interest of the faith of God’s elect and of their acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness—rests on the hope of life everlasting, which the never-lying God promised before times everlasting. This hope is an earnest yearning, confident expectation, and patient waiting for “life everlasting,” salvation in its fullest development (cf. John 17:24; Rom. 8:25). It was this salvation which the God who cannot lie (1 Sam. 15:29; Heb. 6:18; cf. 2 Tim. 2:13; contrast Titus 1:12) “promised before times everlasting.”^[1]

“This “before the foundation of the world” doctrine, the exact phraseology, is not only Johannine but also definitely Pauline. Note Eph. 1:4, “He elected us for himself in him (i.e., in Christ) before the foundation of the world. Thus interpreted, Titus 1:2 is entirely in harmony with Pauline thinking, which regularly traces the salvation of believers to its origin in God’s redemptive plan from eternity (besides 2 Tim. 1:9 and Eph. 1:4 see also Rom. 8:29, 30; 1 Cor. 2:7; 2 Thess. 2:13; and see N.T.C. on 1 Thess. 1:4).^[2]

“Why does Paul insert here the statement, who does not lie, in reference to God? Titus would surely have been in no doubt about this. His intention must be to underline the reliability of God’s promises. The further words before the beginning of time draw attention to the fact that those promises are grounded in God’s eternal purposes. Linked with this eternal view of God’s purposes is the appointed time of the bringing of his word to light, that is at the incarnation. The words here are reminiscent of the opening of John’s gospel.” ^[3]

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here.

Soli deo Gloria!

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^[1] William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of the Pastoral Epistles, vol. 4, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953–2001), 340–341.

^[2] Ibid., 341–342.

^[3] Donald Guthrie, “Titus,” in New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, ed. D. A. Carson et al., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), 1312.

“Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness,” (Titus 1:1 (ESV)

“Paul’s fellow-servant Titus first appears in Galatians 2:1–10, wherein the gospel of grace apart from the works of the Law was vindicated when the Jerusalem apostles did not require him to be circumcised. Thus, unlike Timothy, Titus was a Gentile convert to Christ Jesus. As one of Paul’s closest associates, Titus seems to have been gifted for navigating contentious situations. From 2 Corinthians 7–8 and 12 we learn that Titus both delivered Paul’s difficult letter to the Corinthian church and collected money in Corinth for the church in Jerusalem,” explains one biblical commentator.

“At the time he received his letter from Paul, Titus was leading the church on Crete, which was apparently in its infancy. We infer this from the fact that while Timothy had to reform a church already in place at Ephesus (1 Tim. 1:3), Titus was going to be the first one to appoint elders on Crete (Titus 1:5). Like Timothy, Titus also had to deal with false teaching, as we will see in the days ahead.”

As previously noted, biblically, there are three aspects to justification by faith alone. In the Latin, they are Notitia, Assensus, and Fiducia.

Notitia. Notitia refers to the content of faith, or those things that we believe. We place our faith in something, or more appropriately, someone. In order to believe, we must know something about that someone, who is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Assensus. Assensus is our conviction that the content of our faith is true. You can know about the Christian faith and yet believe that it is not true. Genuine faith says that the content — the notitia taught by Holy Scripture — is true.

Fiducia. Fiducia refers to personal trust and reliance. Knowing and believing the content of the Christian faith is not enough, for even demons can do that (James 2:19). Faith is only effectual if, knowing about and assenting to the claims of Jesus, one personally trusts in Him alone for salvation.

When God enables the sinner to exercise faith, it involves all three aspects (Eph. 2:1-10). This justifying trust, commitment, dependence worship of the person and work of Jesus Christ delivers the sinner from the penalty of sin, the power of sin and eventually the presence of sin. The result of God’s deliverance, or salvation, of the sinner results in a changed life in the here and now which foreshadows the eternal change of life in heaven. It was this three-fold aspect of justifying faith the Apostle Paul had in mind when he began his letter to his young protégé Titus.

After he identified himself as a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul expressed the vision and mission of his God-ordained ministry. Paul wrote this epistle and served the Lord “for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness,”

The phrase for the sake of (κατὰ; kata) is one word in the Greek. It means in accordance with or in relationship to an object. In this particular instance, the object was the faith of God’s elect. Faith (πίστιν; pistis) refers to an intellectual, emotional, and volitional trust. commitment, dependance and worship of Jesus Christ. It is only possessed by the elect (ἐκλεκτῶν; eklekton) or only the ones who God alone has chosen.

When Paul wrote of faith, it was in reference to a blind faith. Rather, he spoke of a trust, commitment, dependence and worship centered in a knowledge of the truth. Knowledge (ἐπίγνωσιν; epignosin) refers to a recognition or understanding of reality. Truth (ἀληθείας; aletheias) is reality or the way things are. Paul referred to the truth and reality of the Gospel, which sets forth the doctrines of God’s existence, sin’s existence, the Savior Jesus Christ’s existence and salvation’s existence (John 1:1-18).  

This understanding of the Gospel results in a changed life for reach individual believer in Christ. The apostle identified it as godliness (εὐσέβειαν; eusebeian).  Godliness is “the devout practice and appropriate beliefs of God; (Acts 3:12; 1Tim. 2:2; 3:16; 4:7, 8; 6:3, 5, 6, 11; 2 Tim. 3:5; Titus 1:1; 2 Peter 1:3, 6, 7; 3:11).^[1]

“The service and apostleship are exercised “in the interest of” (that seems to be the meaning of κατά here; cf. John 2:6; 2 Cor. 11:21) the faith of God’s elect and (their) acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness; that is, they are carried out in order to further or promote the reliance of God’s chosen ones upon him, and their glad recognition or confession of the redemptive truth which centers in him; a truth which, in sharp contrast with the vagaries of false teachers, accords with (or here also “is in the interest of,” “promotes”) godliness, the life of Christian virtue, the spirit of true consecration,” explains Dr. William Hendriksen.^[2]

“Paul began by identifying himself as a servant of God. Usually, no doubt as a result of his Damascus Road experience (Acts 9:1–9), Paul called himself a “servant of Christ Jesus.” Only here did he use the term “servant of God.” On the other hand, apostle of Jesus Christ is standard. Both of these titles (“servant” and “apostle”) focus on Paul’s two main concerns: the faith of God’s elect (cf. Rom. 8:33; Col. 3:12) and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness (cf. 1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Tim. 2:25; 3:7). God was using Paul to call out a people for Himself (e.g., 1 Thes. 1:2–10) and to teach them the truth which is conducive to godly living (cf. 1 Tim. 6:3). In other words, Paul’s ministry was aimed at both the salvation and sanctification of God’s people.”^[3]

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here.

Soli deo Gloria!

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^[1] James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).

^[2] William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of the Pastoral Epistles, vol. 4, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953–2001), 340.

^[3] A. Duane Litfin, “Titus,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 761.

“Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness,” (Titus 1:1 (ESV)

“When we think back to the first few decades after Pentecost, we are often tempted to think that the early church functioned as an ideal community in which everything was done properly and in order. By this point, however, our study of Paul’s career should have disabused us of this notion. From the first of his epistles, Galatians, to the final letters he wrote, the Pastorals (1 and 2 Timothy, Titus), we see that the church had problems from the start, problems the apostle addresses in nearly all of his writings,” explains Dr. R. C. Sproul.

Biblically, there are three aspects to justification by faith alone. In the Latin, they are Notitia, Assensus, and Fiducia.

Notitia. Notitia refers to the content of faith, or those things that we believe. We place our faith in something, or more appropriately, someone. In order to believe, we must know something about that someone, who is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Assensus. Assensus is our conviction that the content of our faith is true. You can know about the Christian faith and yet believe that it is not true. Genuine faith says that the content — the notitia taught by Holy Scripture — is true.

Fiducia. Fiducia refers to personal trust and reliance. Knowing and believing the content of the Christian faith is not enough, for even demons can do that (James 2:19). Faith is only effectual if, knowing about and assenting to the claims of Jesus, one personally trusts in Him alone for salvation.

When God enables the sinner to exercise faith, it involves all three aspects (Eph. 2:1-10). This justifying trust, commitment, dependence worship of the person and work of Jesus Christ delivers the sinner from the penalty of sin, the power of sin and eventually the presence of sin. The result of God’s deliverance, or salvation, of the sinner results in a changed life in the here and now which foreshadows the eternal change of life in heaven. It was this three-fold aspect of justifying faith the Apostle Paul had in mind when he began his letter to his young protégé Titus.

Paul began this letter as he began his other epistles. He identified himself; not only by his given name but also by his God-give position and resp0onjsbilites.” “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ.”

A servant (δοῦλος; doulos) means a slave who is the property of an owner. Paul was the sole property of God (θεοῦ; theou). The Greek noun for God is in the genitive case. It is a genitive of possession. Paul was the sole possession of God.

“Letters customarily opened with the name of the sender. It could be prestigious to be the slave in a high-status household, and the Old Testament prophets were often called “servants of God.” Judaism believed that Jewish people were chosen for salvation by virtue of their corporate participation in Israel; perhaps especially to counter false teachers in Crete (1:10), Paul applies the term to all believers in Jesus (though he usually does so anyway).”^[1]

Paul was also an apostle (ἀπόστολος; apostolos). This refers to one who was a special messenger. In the first century of the church, it was a title reserved for the immediate twelve disciples of Jesus Christ and also those who communicated the Gospel. As with being God the Father’s servant, Paul was an apostle solely belonging to and the possession of Jesus Christ.  

“This is a considerably longer greeting than in either 1 or 2 Timothy. It is in fact more theological. Only here does Paul specifically describe himself as servant of God, although he does elsewhere call himself ‘servant of Jesus Christ’. The more usual apostle of Jesus Christ is nevertheless added and then developed.”^[2]

“Paul is God’s servant (“servant” also in Rom. 1:1; Phil. 1:1; cf. James 1:1; 2 Peter 1:1, but note variation in modifiers), and has received his authoritative commission directly from Jesus Christ, being therefore his apostle.”^[3]

Are you God’s sole possession? This occurs only by grace alone, through faith alone in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone. When you repent of sin and place faith in Christ, you not only began possessing justification, redemption and reconciliation with God, you also became the possession of God. Hallelujah!

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here.

Soli deo Gloria!

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^[1] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Tt 1:1.

^[2] Donald Guthrie, “Titus,” in New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, ed. D. A. Carson et al., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), 1311.

^[3] William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of the Pastoral Epistles, vol. 4, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953–2001), 340.

“Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness,” (Titus 1:1 (ESV)

 The following article is by Lee Gatiss. He is an author in the Reformed and Evangelical tradition of the Church of England, and an author of books and articles on the Bible, theology, Anglicanism, and church history. This essay, entitled Three Things to Know about Titus, appeared December 6, 2023 in Tabletalk Magazine published by Ligonier Ministries.

Titus is one of the Pastoral Epistles, which is an eighteenth-century term for the books of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus because they are letters from the Apostle Paul to his fellow pastors. Here are three important things to keep in mind as you read this letter.

1. Titus is about the truth that leads to godliness.

At the beginning of his letter to Titus, Paul says that he is “an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness” (Titus 1:1). The stress on truth and godliness continues throughout the letter: these things must always go together.

When it comes to describing the sort of people Titus is to appoint as elders in the churches on Crete, Paul is very clear that they must be “above reproach” and that they must “hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught” (Titus 1:6–9). Conversely, the false teachers that Titus has to wrestle with “profess to know God, but they deny him by their works”—which shows they are wrong in both lip and life, in their teaching as well as their behavior (Titus 1:16).

To counter this, Titus is to “teach what accords with sound doctrine,” since the same grace of God, which offers salvation to all, also teaches us to “renounce ungodliness and worldly passions” (Titus 2:1, 11–12). If we miss that connection between truth and godliness, we have missed the main point of this letter.

2. Paul calls Jesus “God.”

In chapter 2, Paul says that Christians are “to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:12–13). What we might easily miss is the reference here to Jesus as “our great God.”

We know that Jesus is God, of course, from elsewhere in the Bible. His words and actions, His fulfillment of prophecy, and the way the New Testament speaks about Him prove that this is so. It is a central tenet of the Nicene Creed that Jesus is “God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God.” But there aren’t many places in the New Testament where it is stated as baldly as it is in Titus 2. Can you think of the others? John 1:1 is an obvious example: “the Word was God.” And Paul also speaks in Romans 9:5 of “the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever.”

The context for this tremendous identification is that we are waiting for the glory of our God and Savior Jesus Christ to appear when He returns. This is our great hope. Note that Paul brings this up at the same time as he reminds us that the God and Savior who will appear is the same One who “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people” (Titus 2:14). That is, his identification of Jesus as God is in service of the melodic line of this letter—his call to remember the truth that leads to godliness.

3. Paul tells us how to handle heretics.

Titus is told to “avoid foolish controversies” with the false teachers in Crete because “they are unprofitable and worthless” (Titus 3:9–10). He does need to be able to refute their arguments and silence them when he can, even rebuking them sharply if need be (Titus 1:9, 11, 13). But there comes a time when those who have been upsetting whole families and disrupting households with their teaching need to be recognized as divisive and dealt with decisively.

The word Paul uses for a “divisive person” in Titus 3:10 is hairetikos, from which we eventually get our word heretic. Heretic has a somewhat different meaning in modern English than that original word in ancient Greek. In Titus, it does not necessarily mean someone who preaches a specific heresy or false doctrine, but someone who starts or encourages factions, though possibly they do this by means of heterodox teaching as well as pointless speculations.

It is important to note that in Titus 3, the divisive person is given a warning and not just dismissed at once. Just as in Jude 22–23, an attempt should be made to have mercy and snatch people from the fire, warning them as brothers before treating them otherwise (see also 2 Thess. 3:15). Classic definitions of heresy include the idea that a person should only be classified as a divisive heretic, and therefore avoided, if they persist in their false teaching after prayerful instruction and time for repentance (a repentance also hoped for in 2 Tim. 2:25–26).

The underlying assumption here is that the unity of the church is threatened by divisive people teaching unsound (meaning unhealthy) doctrine. That is why, out of a right concern for church unity, we should “have nothing to do” with such people. It is they who cause the problems and should be avoided (see Jude 19; Rom. 16:17).

In his commentary on Titus 3, Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) says that “if a person were to maintain that God is not triune and one, or that fornication is not a sin, he would be a heretic.” These two examples of heresy nicely sum up the emphasis of Paul’s letter, showing how theology and ethics, truth and godliness, both go together.

I encourage to you begin reading the Apostle Paul’s Epistle to Titus. May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here.

Soli deo Gloria!

“As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for your benefit. And as for our brothers, they are messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 8:23 (ESV)

Continuing our study in the Apostle Paul’s Pastoral Epistles, the next in line historically is the Epistle of Titus. Paul’s letter to this other young protégé follows his first epistle to Timothy and precedes his second. In beginning this exegetical study, what do we know of Titus?  

Titus was a Greek believer in Christ (Gal. 2:3). Paul’s ministry was how the Holy Spirit brought Titus to saving faith (John 3:1-8; Romans 10:14-17; Titus 1:4). There is little we know about Titus’ his background. Luke never mentioned him in Acts. It is possible he was a convert from heathenism who Paul enlisted for service.

Titus assisted Paul in collecting the offering for the saints (2 Cor. 2:1–9; 7:8–12; 12:18); and he met Paul at Troas with the report of the Corinthian situation (see 2 Cor. 2:12–13; 7:5–16). Titus carried the Epistle of 2 Corinthians back for Paul (2 Cor. 8:16–24). Titus remained on Crete to organize the church (Titus 1:5) until Paul could send Tychicus or Artemas to take over (Titus 3:12). Titus was also at Rome during Paul’s second imprisonment, until traveled to Dalmatia on a mission for the apostle (2 Tim. 4:10). Paul’s estimate of Titus is given in 2 Cor. 8:23.

Paul identified Titus as a partner and fellow worker. Partner (κοινωνὸς; koinonos) refers to one who joins in with another for shared purposes and activities. Fellow worker (συνεργός; synergos) means a co-laborer. Both terms are references to Titus’ work of ministering the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Why did Paul write this letter to Titus? Paul’s haste in leaving Titus at Crete prompted Paul to write to Titus in order encourage and instruct his dedicated co-laborer. The Cretians were not the easiest people to work with, as Titus 1:12–13 indicates. We do not know who began the church at Crete. However, we know the organization of the church, and the lives of the believes, needed repair.

“It is likely that the church suffered from two sources: (1) visiting Judaizers who mixed law and grace, and (2) ignorant Christians who abused the grace of God and turned it into license,” explains Dr. Warren Wiersbe. .

The Apostle Paul had several purposes in mind when he wrote this letter: (1) to remind Titus of his work of organizing the church and appointing elders; (2) to warn him about false teachers; (3) to encourage him in pastoring the various people groups in the church; (4) to emphasize the true meaning of grace; and (5) to explain how to deal with troublemakers in the church.

There are several repeated words in this brief letter. They help us to understand Paul’s burdened heart. First, there is a major emphasis on good works (1:16; 2:7, 14; 3:1, 5, 8, 14). Salvation by grace alone also means saved unto good works. Second, Christian doctrine and Christian living are to be sound (1:9, 13; 2:1–2, 8). Third, believers in Christ are to live a life of godliness (1:1; 2:12), not worldliness. Fourth, God’s grace leads a person to live a godly life (1:4; 2:11ff; 3:7, 15).

The key verse is Titus 3:8. “The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.” (Titus 3:8 (ESV)

A suggested outline for the Epistle of Titus is as follows.

I. Chapter 1: In Congregational Life.

A.      The Address and Salutation.

B.       Well-qualified elders must be appointed in every town.

C.       Reason: Crete is not lacking in disreputable people who must be sternly rebuked.

II. Chapter 2: In Family and Individual Life

A.      All classes of individuals that compose the home-circle should conduct themselves in such a manner that by their life they may adorn the doctrine of God, their Savior.

B.       Reason: to all, the grace of God has appeared unto sanctification and joyful expectation of the appearing in glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

III. Chapter 3: In Social (i.e. Public) Life

A.      Believers should be obedient to the authorities. They should be kind to all men, since it was the kindness of God our Savior—not our own works!—which brought salvation.

B. On the other hand, foolish questions should be shunned, and factious men who refuse to heed admonition should be rejected.

C. Concluding directions with respect to kingdom-travelers (Artemas or Tychicus, Titus, Zenas, Apollos) and Cretan believers in general. Greetings.^[1]

I encourage you to begin reading the Apostle Paul’s Epistle to Titus. May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here.

Soli deo Gloria!

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^[1] William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of the Pastoral Epistles, vol. 4, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953–2001), 336.

The following essay is Dr. J.I. Packer. It is from his book Concise Theology.

“This is what the LORD says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God” (Isaiah 44:6).

The Old Testament constantly insists that there is only one God, the self-revealed Creator, who must be worshiped and loved exclusively (Deut. 6:4-5; Isa. 44:6– 45:25). The New Testament agrees (Mark 12:29-30; 1 Cor. 8:4; Eph. 4:6; 1 Tim. 2:5) but speaks of three personal agents, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, working together in the manner of a team to bring about salvation (Rom. 8; Eph. 1:3-14; 2 Thess. 2:13-14; 1 Pet. 1:2). The historic formulation of the Trinity (derived from the Latin word trinitas, meaning “threeness”) seeks to circumscribe and safeguard this mystery (not explain it; that is beyond us), and it confronts us with perhaps the most difficult thought that the human mind has ever been asked to handle. It is not easy; but it is true.

The doctrine springs from the facts that the New Testament historians report, and from the revelatory teaching that, humanly speaking, grew out of these facts. Jesus, who prayed to his Father and taught his disciples to do the same, convinced them that he was personally divine, and belief in his divinity and in the rightness of offering him worship and prayer is basic to New Testament faith (John 20:28-31; cf. 1:18; Acts 7:59; Rom. 9:5; 10:9-13; 2 Cor. 12:7-9; Phil. 2:5-6; Col. 1:15-17; 2:9; Heb. 1:1-12; 1 Pet. 3:15). Jesus promised to send another Paraclete (he himself having been the first one), and Paraclete signifies a many-sided personal ministry as counselor, advocate, helper, comforter, ally, supporter (John 14:16-17, 26; 15:26-27; 16:7-15). This other Paraclete, who came at Pentecost to fulfill this promised ministry, was the Holy Spirit, recognized from the start as a third divine person: to lie to him, said Peter not long after Pentecost, is to lie to God (Acts 5:3-4).

So, Christ prescribed baptism “in the name (singular: one God, one name) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”—the three persons who are the one God to whom Christians commit themselves (Matt. 28:19). So, we meet the three persons in the account of Jesus’ own baptism: the Father acknowledged the Son, and the Spirit showed his presence in the Son’s life and ministry (Mark 1:9-11). So, we read the trinitarian blessing of 2 Corinthians 13:14, and the prayer for grace and peace from the Father, the Spirit, and Jesus Christ in Revelation 1:4-5 (would John have put the Spirit between the Father and the Son if he had not regarded the Spirit as divine in the same sense as they are?). These are some of the more striking examples of the trinitarian outlook and emphasis of the New Testament. Though the technical language of historic trinitarianism is not found there, trinitarian faith and thinking are present throughout its pages, and in that sense the Trinity must be acknowledged as a biblical doctrine: an eternal truth about God which, though never explicit in the Old Testament, is plain and clear in the New.

The basic assertion of this doctrine is that the unity of the one God is complex. The three personal “subsistences” (as they are called) are coequal and coeternal centers of self-awareness, each being “I” in relation to two who are “you” and each partaking of the full divine essence (the “stuff” of deity, if we may dare to call it that) along with the other two. They are not three roles played by one person (that is modalism), nor are they three gods in a cluster (that is tritheism); the one God (“he”) is also, and equally, “they,” and “they” are always together and always cooperating, with the Father initiating, the Son complying, and the Spirit executing the will of both, which is his will also. This is the truth about God that was revealed through the words and works of Jesus, and that undergirds the reality of salvation as the New Testament sets it forth.

The practical importance of the doctrine of the Trinity is that it requires us to pay equal attention, and give equal honor, to all three persons in the unity of their gracious ministry to us. That ministry is the subject matter of the gospel, which, as Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus shows, cannot be stated without bringing in their distinct roles in God’s plan of grace (John 3:1-15; note especially vv. 3, 5-8, 13-15, and John’s expository comments, which NIV renders as part of the conversation itself, vv. 16-21). All non-Trinitarian formulations of the Christian message are by biblical standards inadequate and indeed fundamentally false, and will naturally tend to pull Christian lives out of shape.

Have a blessed Lord’s Day.

Soli deo Gloria!

¹⁵ “We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; ¹⁶ yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” (Galatians 2:15–16 (ESV)

Martin Luther possessed a singular and even obsessive passion for God’s Word. For in the Scriptures, he discovered God’s truth (John 17:17). Following his conversion, and while teaching from the Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, Martin posted 95 Theses on the University Church Door of Wittenberg, Germany. It was the bulletin board of the day. His intention was to discuss with his fellow professors the abuses occurring within the church and how such behavior and doctrine deviated from the Scriptures.

He also wrote extensively and debated with leaders of the church who opposed his writings. The formal cause of the brewing controversy was Martin’s contention the Scriptures were the sole authority binding the believer’s conscience. He also affirmed the Bible’s teaching of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone. Attributed to Martin is the statement, “Justification by faith alone is the article on which the church stands of falls.”

Martin Luther taught if the doctrine of justification by faith alone (sola fide) stands, the church stands; if it collapses, the church collapses.  While Luther did not use the exact wording “justification is the foundation by which the church stands or falls,” his writings and sermons consistently emphasized its centrality. The Augsburg Confession (1530), a key Protestant statement, explicitly calls justification “the article on which the Church stands or falls.”

The following is an excerpt from Luther’s book Justification by Faith. It is his brief commentary concerning Galatians 2:16.

For this cause, we do so often repeat and so earnestly set forth the righteousness of faith that the adversaries may be confounded and this article established and confirmed in our hearts. And this is a most necessary thing; for if we once lose this sun, we fall again into our former darkness. And most horrible it is that the Pope should ever be able to bring this to pass in the church: that Christ should be denied, trodden under foot, spit upon, blasphemed, yea, and that even by the gospel and sacraments—which he has so darkened and turned into such horrible abuse, that he has made them to serve him against Christ, for the establishing and confirming of his detestable abominations. O deep darkness! O horrible wrath of God!

“Even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law.”—Galatians 2:16

This is the true means of becoming a Christian, even to be justified by faith in Jesus Christ and not by the works of the Law. Here we must stand, not upon the wicked gloss of the schoolmen, which say that faith justifies when charity and good works are joined with it. With this pestilent gloss the sophisters have darkened and corrupted this and other like sentences in Paul, wherein he manifestly attributes justification to faith only in Christ. But when a man hears that he ought to believe in Christ, and yet, notwithstanding, faith does not justify except it be formed and furnished with charity, by and by he falls from faith—and thus he thinks, “If faith without charity does not justify, then faith is in vain and unprofitable. And charity alone justifies; for except faith be formed with charity, it is nothing.”

The role of charity. And to confirm this pernicious and pestilent gloss, the adversaries do allege this place: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels…and have not charity, I am nothing” (1Co 13:1-2). This place is their brazen wall! But they are men without understanding, and therefore they can see or understand nothing in Paul. By this false interpretation, they have not only perverted the words of Paul, but have also denied Christ and buried all His benefits. Wherefore, we must avoid this gloss as a most deadly and devilish poison, and conclude with Paul that we are justified, not by faith furnished with charity, but by faith only and alone.

We grant that we must teach also good works and charity, but it must be done in time and place; that is to say, when the question is concerning works, and does not touch this article of justification. But here the question is: By what means are we justified and attain eternal life? To this we answer with Paul that by faith only in Christ we are pronounced righteous, and not by the works of the Law or charity (Gal 2:16). [This is] not because we reject good works, but because we will not suffer ourselves to be removed from this anchor-hold of our salvation, which Satan most desires. Wherefore, since we are now in the matter of justification, we reject and condemn all good works; for this place will admit no disputation of good works.

In this matter, therefore, we do generally cut off all laws and all the works of the Law. But the Law is “holy, and just, and good” (Rom 7:12). True, it is. But when we are in the matter of justification, there is no time or place to speak of the Law. [Instead,] the question is what Christ is, and what benefit He has brought unto us. Christ is not the Law; He is not my work, or the work of the Law. He is not my charity, my obedience, or my poverty; but He is the Lord of life and death, a mediator, a savior, and a redeemer of those that were under the Law and sin. We are in Him by faith, and He in us. The bridegroom must be alone with the bride in his secret chamber, all the servants and family being put apart. But afterwards, when the door is open and he comes forth, then let the servants and handmaidens return to minister unto them. Then let charity do her office, and let good works be done.

The role of the Law. We must learn therefore to discern all laws (yea, even the Law of God), and all works, from the promise of the gospel and from faith, [so] that we may define Christ rightly. For Christ is no law, and therefore He is no exactor of the Law and works; but He is “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (Joh 1:29). This faith alone lays hold of—and not charity, which notwithstanding must follow faith as a certain thank[1]fulness. Wherefore, victory over sin and death, salvation, and everlasting life come not by the Law, nor by the works of the Law, nor yet by the power of free-will, but by the Lord Jesus Christ only and alone. “That we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law.”—Galatians 2:16b

Paul speaks here not of the ceremonial law only, as before we have said, but of the whole Law—for the ceremonial law was the law of God as well as the moral law. For ex[1]ample, circumcision, the institution of the priesthood, and the service and ceremonies of the Temple were as well commanded of God as the Ten Commandments. Moreover, when Abraham was commanded to offer up his son Isaac in sacrifice, it was a law. This work of Abraham pleased God no less than other works of the ceremonial law did, and yet was he not justified by this work, but by faith, for the Scripture says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (Rom 4:3; Gen 15:6). But since the revealing of Christ, say they, the ceremonial law kills and brings death. Yea, so does the Law of the Ten Commandments also, [if] without faith in Christ.

Moreover, there may no law be suffered to reign in the conscience, but only the law of the spirit and life, whereby we are made free in Christ from the Law of the letter and of death, from the works thereof, and from all sins. [This is] not because the Law is evil, but because it is not able to justify us, for it has a plain contrary effect and working. It is a high and an excellent matter to be at peace with God; and therefore, in this case, we have need of a far other mediator than Moses or the Law. Here we must be nothing at all, but only receive the treasure which is Christ, and apprehend Him in our hearts by faith— although we feel ourselves to be never so full of sin. These words, therefore, of the apostle, “That we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law,” are very effectual—and not in vain or unprofitable as the schoolmen think, and therefore they pass them over so lightly.

This is then a general conclusion: “By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified” (Rom 3:20). The Law of God is greater than the whole world, for it comprehends all men; and the works of the Law far excel even the most glorious will-works of the merit-mongers. And yet Paul says that neither the Law, nor the works of the Law, do justify. Therefore, we conclude with Paul, that only faith justifies.

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here.

Soli deo Gloria!

²⁰ O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,” ²¹ for by professing it some have swerved from the faith. Grace be with you.” (1 Timothy 6:20–21 (ESV)

Martin Luther possessed a singular and even obsessive passion for God’s Word. For in the Scriptures, he discovered God’s truth (John 17:17; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21). Following his conversion, and while teaching from the Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, Martin posted 95 Theses on the University Church Door of Wittenberg, Germany. It was the bulletin board of the day. His intention was to discuss with his fellow professors the abuses occurring within the church and how such behavior and doctrine deviated from the Scriptures.

He also wrote extensively and debated with leaders of the church who opposed his writings. The formal cause of the brewing controversy was Martin’s contention the Scriptures were the sole authority binding the believer’s conscience. He also affirmed the Bible’s teaching of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone.

The die was cast and eventually Martin was called to appear before religious and magisterial leaders to answer their charges against him of committing heresy. The meeting, or diet, was held in the German town of Worms, April 16-18, 1521. Martin thought his appearance would allow him to explain his teachings.

However, when he arrived he was asked two questions. The council asked him if he acknowledged the books he had written were his. He replied yes. They then asked him whether he would recant what he had written. They ordered him to renounce his books which criticized church abuses, the pope and doctrine.

At first, Martin answered so softly no one heard him. The interrogators demanded he speak louder. He replied by asking if he could have 24 hours to consider their question. In other words, to think it over. The interrogators agreed to his request.

The next morning, following an evening of heartfelt prayer for courage and God’s strength, Martin once again faced his interrogators. They asked him if he would recant of his writings criticizing the church, the pope and the church’s doctrine. The following is Martin’s reply.

My lord, emperor most serene, princes most illustrious, lords most gracious, 

I am here obedient to the order made yesterday evening that I should appear at this time. By the mercy of God I beseech your most Serene Majesty and your most illustrious lordships to deign to hear with forbearance my cause – which (I hope) is both just and true. If through my inexperience I do not give any one his proper title, or offend in any way against courtly etiquette, I beg you of your kindness to pardon me as a man whose life has not been spent in the courts of princes but in the cells of monks, and who can testify of himself nothing more than that he has hitherto taught and written with a simplicity of mind which looked solely to the glory of God and the sincere upbuilding of Christian believers.

Most serene emperor, most illustrious princes: two questions were put to me yesterday by your Highness, whether I acknowledged as mine a list of books published under my name, and whether I wished to hold to my defence of them or to revoke them. I gave a deliberate and plain answer to the first, and I stand by it and always shall – namely, that the books were mine, being published by me under my own name, unless perchance it has happened that by the guile or meddlesome cleverness of my rivals things in them have been altered or omitted. For I only acknowledge what is solely my own and what I alone have written, and not the interpretations which the industry of others has added.

In answer to the second question, may I ask your Highness and your lordships to deign to take note that my books are not all of the same kind. 

In some I have dealt with religious faith and morals so simply and evangelically that my very antagonists are compelled to confess that these books are useful, harmless and fit to be read by Christians. Even the Bull, savage and cruel as it is, grants that some of my books are harmless, even though it condemns them by a judgment that is simply monstrous. If, then, I were to start revoking them, what (I beg you) should I be doing? Should I not alone of mankind be condemning that very truth which friends and enemies alike confess? Should I not alone be wrestling against the agreed confession of all?

Another class of my writings consists of polemic against the Papacy and the doctrine of the Papists, as men who by their most evil teachings and examples have laid waste all Christendom, body and soul. Nobody can deny or dissemble this: the experience and the complaint of all men bear witness that by the laws of the Pope and man-made doctrines, the consciences of the faithful have been most wretchedly ensnared, tormented, tortured, that above all, in this renowned German nation, goods and wealth have been devoured by tyranny unbelievable, and to this day the devouring goes on, endlessly and by most grievous means. Yet the canon law of the Papists itself provides that Papal laws and doctrines contrary to the Gospel or the opinions of the Fathers should be counted erroneous and rejected.

If, then, I revoke these books, all I shall achieve is to add strength to tyranny, and open not the windows but the doors to this monstrous godlessness, for a wider and freer range than it has ever dared before. The memorial of my revocation would be the kingdom of their wickedness, with license complete and unbridled, exercising over its wretched subjects a sway by far the most intolerable of all, and even strengthened and stabilized if word got abroad that I had revoked my books with the authority of your serene Majesty and all the Roman Empire. Good God, what wickedness and tyranny should I then let loose!

A third class of my writings has been aimed at certain private persons and (as they say) people of consequence, who have laboured to defend the Roman tyranny and undermine my religious teaching. Here I confess I have been more acrimonious than befits my religion or my calling. For I do not pose as a saint, and I am not disputing about my own life but about the teaching of Christ. Yet the way is not clear for me to revoke even these writings, for by such revocation I should lend my countenance to the reign of tyranny and wickedness, which would hold more savage and violent sway than ever among the people of God

However, because I am a man and not God, I can bring no other protection to my writings than my Lord Jesus Christ brought to his own teaching, when at the interrogation before Annas he was struck by a servant and said: “If I have spoken evil, testify to the evil.” If the Lord himself, who knew he could not err, did not disdain to listen to testimony against his teaching, even from the meanest of slaves, how much more should I, the dregs of a man, who cannot but err, seek and await for someone to bear witness against my teaching? I therefore beg by the mercy of God that your serene Majesty, your illustrious lordships, or anyone at all, from the highest to the lowest, who is able, should bear witness, convict me of error, vanquish me by the prophets or the evangelists of scripture. I shall be only too ready, if I am convinced, to revoke any error, and in that case I shall be the first to cast my books into the fire.

From these remarks I think it is clear that I have sufficiently considered and weighed the hazards and dangers, as well as the excitement and dissensions aroused in the world as a result of my teachings, things about which I was gravely and forcefully warned yesterday. To see excitement and dissension arise because of the Word of God is to me clearly the most joyful aspect of all in these matters. For this is the way, the opportunity, and the result of the Word of God, just as He [Christ] said, ‘I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, etc.’ [Matt. 10:34– 35].

Therefore, we ought to think how marvelous and terrible is our God in his counsels, lest by chance what is attempted for settling strife grows rather into an intolerable deluge of evils, if we begin by condemning the Word of God. And concern must be shown lest the reign of this most noble youth, Prince Charles (in whom alter God is our great hope), become unhappy and inauspicious. I could illustrate this with abundant examples from Scripture—like Pharaoh, the king of Babylon, and the kings of Israel who, when they endeavored to pacify and strengthen their kingdoms by the wisest counsels, most surely destroyed themselves. For it is He who takes the wise in their own craftiness [Job 5:13] and overturns mountains before they know it [Job 9:5].

 Therefore, we must fear God. I do not say these things because there is a need of either my teachings or my warnings for such leaders as you, but because I must not withhold the allegiance which I owe my Germany. With these words I commend myself to your most serene majesty and to your lordships, humbly asking that I not be allowed through the agitation of my enemies, without cause, to be made hateful to you. I have finished

Since your serene Majesty and your lordships request a simple answer, I shall give it, with no strings and no catches. Unless I am convicted by the testimony of scripture or plain reason (for I believe neither in Pope nor councils alone, since it is agreed that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the scriptures I have quoted, and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I neither can nor will revoke anything, for it is neither safe nor honest to act against one’s conscience. Amen.

It is debated whether Martin concluded his reply with the words “Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen!” What is not debated is the Reformation began and the Lord used Martin Luther to bring such reformation to the church.

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here.

Soli deo Gloria!

²⁰ O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,” ²¹ for by professing it some have swerved from the faith. Grace be with you.” (1 Timothy 6:20–21 (ESV)

Having studied I Timothy, I cannot forget the Apostle Paul’s final charge to his young protégé. The phrase “guard the deposit entrusted to you” resonates with me. It is a solemn command to passionately and obediently protect and keep the true doctrine of God’s Word.

Each and every pastor who seeks to rightly divide the Word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15) can identify with this directive from Paul. Each evangelist who shares the Gospel and seminary professor who teaches theology does so in light of this divine directive. Each Sunday school teacher who instructs the youngest or the eldest, and all those in-between, are to obey this command from God.

One such minister who understood this command was Martin Luther. He possessed a singular and even obsessive passion for God’s Word. For in the Scriptures, he discovered God’s truth (John 17:17). Following his conversion, and while teaching from the Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, Martin posted 95 Theses on the University Church Door of Wittenberg, Germany. It was the bulletin board of the day. His intention was to discuss with his fellow professors the abuses occurring within the church and how such behavior and doctrine deviated from the Scriptures.

He also wrote extensively and debated with leaders of the church who opposed his writings. The formal cause of the brewing controversy was Martin’s contention the Scriptures were the sole authority binding the believer’s conscience. He also affirmed the Bible’s teaching of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone.

The die was cast and eventually Martin was called to appear before religious and magisterial leaders to answer their charges against him of committing heresy. The meeting, or diet, was held in the German town of Worms, April 16-18, 1521. Martin thought his appearance would allow him to explain his teachings.

However, when he arrived he was asked two questions. The council asked him if he acknowledged the books he had written were his. He replied yes. They then asked him whether he would recant what he had written. They ordered him to renounce his books which criticized church abuses, the pope and doctrine.

At first, Martin answered so softly no one heard him. The interrogators demanded he speak louder. He replied by asking if he could have 24 hours to consider their question. In other words, to think it over. The interrogators agreed to his request.

That evening, Martin prayed a prayer. Perhaps, you have either heard or read the prayer. For those who have, and especially for those who have not, here is the prayer Martin Luther prayed the night before he would respond to his accusers.

O God, Almighty God everlasting! how dreadful is the world! behold how its mouth opens to swallow me up, and how small is my faith in Thee! … Oh! the weakness of the flesh, and the power of Satan! If I am to depend upon any strength of this world – all is over… The knell is struck… Sentence is gone forth… O God! O God! O thou, my God! help me against the wisdom of this world. Do this, I beseech thee; thou shouldst do this… by thy own mighty power… The work is not mine, but Thine. I have no business here… I have nothing to contend for with these great men of the world! I would gladly pass my days in happiness and peace. But the cause is Thine… And it is righteous and everlasting!

O Lord! help me! O faithful and unchangeable God! I lean not upon man. It were vain! Whatever is of man is tottering, whatever proceeds from him must fail. My God! my God! dost thou not hear? My God! art thou no longer living? Nay, thou canst not die. Thou dost but hide Thyself. Thou hast chosen me for this work. I know it! … Therefore, O God, accomplish thine own will! Forsake me not, for the sake of thy well-beloved Son, Jesus Christ, my defense, my buckler, and my stronghold.

Lord – where art thou? … My God, where art thou? … Come! I pray thee, I am ready… Behold me prepared to lay down my life for thy truth… suffering like a lamb. For the cause is holy. It is thine own! … I will not let thee go! no, nor yet for all eternity! And though the world should be thronged with devils – and this body, which is the work of thine hands, should be cast forth, trodden under foot, cut in pieces, consumed to ashes, my soul is thine. Yes, I have thine own word to assure me of it. My soul belongs to thee, and will abide with thee forever! Amen! O God send help! … Amen!

When reading this prayer, I recall the words by the Sons of Korah in Psalm 46:1–3 (ESV) which says, “¹ God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. ² Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, ³ though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.” Selah

Are there individuals, or councils, in your life who challenge your trust in the Scriptures? Perhaps it is a student, a colleague or co-worker, or even a family member or friend. Resolve to obey the command of I Timothy 6:20-21 and find comfort in the counsel of Psalm 46:1-3. Timothy did. So, did Martin. May we also.

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here.

Soli deo Gloria!

²⁰”O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,” ²¹ for by professing it some have swerved from the faith. Grace be with you.” (1 Timothy 6:20–21 (ESV)

The following transcript is by Dr. J. Ligon Duncan. He preached this November 14, 2004. The message is entitled Guard What God has Given You.

III. Refrain from False Knowledge.

It’s false knowledge. Paul isn’t mad at it because it’s knowledge. No, he’s mad at it because it’s false knowledge. He’s not saying, “Well, we shouldn’t get hung up about what you believe, it’s just how you live.” That’s not what he’s saying. He’s saying that what it being claimed is wrong

And then he says, realize something. Look at verse 21. Paul says that some have claimed to have this false knowledge, and even though they’ve professed faith in Jesus Christ, they’ve gone astray. Look at what he says in verse 21: “…which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith.” You see what Paul is saying. Paul is saying that there are some people in this congregation who have professed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They’ve professed to believe the Christian truths which had been taught by Paul and the apostles. And yet, because they became entangled in these false teachings, because they began to stray, in curiosity embracing these false teachings, they had gone astray from the faith.

You see, Paul is saying that bad theology leads to spiritual destruction. And he’s saying, “Timothy, the reason that I warn you against false teaching is because I’m concerned for the lives and the souls of men and women, and boys and girls.” This is not the first time that Paul has given this warning, but isn’t it urgent? It’s in his own hand, it’s the last thing that he’s going to say in this letter to Timothy and to his church, and he’s saying false teaching will lead to spiritual disaster. And that’s why we need to retain the truth and refrain from becoming entangled in the study and the curious discussion of these false teachings, and we need to realize that this false teaching leads to spiritual disaster.

IV. Rely on God’s Grace.

But Paul’s not done. If you look at verse 21, Paul concludes with a benediction: “Grace be with you”, in which he calls on Timothy to rely upon the grace of God. Indeed, he calls upon the whole congregation to rely upon the grace of God, to depend upon God’s unmerited and strengthening favor. “Grace be with you.” This little phrase indicates the greatest blessing of them all: God’s favor to us through Jesus Christ; his blessing on those who are undeserving of that blessing, purchased at the cost of the death of His own Son.

This grace Paul pronounces on Timothy. Why? Because for the ongoing life of the believer, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is essential. There is nothing that we are able to do apart from the grace of God, and there is nothing that God cannot do through us by His own grace. And so, Paul, even in pronouncing this blessing, is reminding Timothy and that congregation (and you and me) that we are always dependent upon the grace of God. That’s very important for us to remember in this season of this life of this congregation. We have tremendous opportunities and challenges for ministry and service before us, but we must be dependent upon the grace of God, because we can do absolutely nothing without it.

But notice what Paul says: “Grace be with you.” Now, you can’t pick it up in your English translation, but he’s not saying “Grace be with you (singular), Timothy.” He’s saying here, “Grace be with …y’all!” It’s a plural! Paul’s speaking this benediction on the whole congregation. It is yet another indication that this book has two audiences in mind. It has Timothy in mind, the elders in mind; but it has the congregation of the people of God in mind. And this blessing is not simply on Timothy, it’s on the whole congregation of the people of God, because in the realities of life in this fallen world, and of life and ministry in an imperfect church, the only hope we have is the grace of God.

Paul calls on Timothy and his congregation, and us, to retain the truth, to hold fast to it; to refrain from dabbling in worldly speculation and false teaching; to realize that false teaching will lead sheep over the edge into destruction; and to be utterly dependent, as we hold fast to that truth, on the only thing that can hold us up, which is the grace of God.

And what a rich blessing it is! The Aaronic priests, you remember, in the Old Testament had a blessing for the people of God: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.” The Lord lifting up His face and making it to shine upon you, and being gracious to you, is giving you His favor. And receiving the Lord’s favor creates the reality of the enjoyment of peace; not cessation of physical warfare in this world, but peace with God, reconciliation with Him wherein we receive all the benefits which He has intended for us in His mercy.

And when Paul says “Grace be with you” he’s reminding you of that gift which God has given to all those who trust in Jesus Christ, and he’s reminding us that that message of grace is not just for those who are as yet unbelievers. It’s a message for us, too. Just as those who are apart from Christ need the grace of God if they would be saved, so we need the grace of God if we will live the Christian life. It’s the same message: rely on God’s grace. May the Lord bless His word. Let’s pray.

Our Lord and our God, we thank You for the mercy that You have given us in Jesus Christ, and for the truth which You have committed to us in Your word. Grant that we would hold on to that truth, and that we would rely on Your mercy and grace. We ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen. Grace be with you. Amen.

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here.

Soli deo Gloria!

“The doctrine of the Trinity has always bristled with difficulties, and therefore it is no wonder that the Church in its attempt to formulate it was repeatedly tempted to rationalize it and to give a construction of it which failed to do justice to the Scriptural data.” — Louis Berkhof

The following essay is from Ligonier Ministries. Author unknown.

The early church father Tertullian is believed to have been the first to use the word, Trinity. In his treatise Adversus Praxean, Tertullian refers to the “Trinitas unius Divinitatis, Pater et Filii et Spiritus Sancti” (the Trinity of the One Divinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).

Tertullian provided the building blocks regarding the multiplicity of persons (Latin personae), but later fathers provided the essential vocabulary to understand and defend Trinitarian doctrine. Athanasius was the great defender of the consubstantiality of the Father and the Son—i.e., that the Father and Son are the same in essence—after the Council of Nicaea, and the Cappadocian Fathers (Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa) drew the clear distinction between the meaning of essence and person.

The Cappadocian Fathers were the determinative voices in the outcome of the Council of Constantinople, which built on the Council of Nicaea by clarifying the distinct personhood of the Holy Spirit in light of His unity of essence with the Father and the Son. Nicholas Needham explains, “The Cappadocians fashioned the language of Trinitarian orthodoxy that we still use today. In addition to the term ousia for the divine nature, they defined the term hypostasis to express the reality of the divine persons.”

In the early church, the deity of the Son was the central point of doctrinal contention. The Christian church’s definitive presentation of the core truths of the doctrine of the Trinity was established at the Council of Nicaea (AD 325) and at the Council of Constantinople (AD 381). In both councils, Christological error was refuted and doctrinal precision established. The essential elements of the deity of Christ and the doctrine of the Trinity were codified in the Nicene Creed (also known as the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, because it was refined and expanded at the Council of Constantinople).

After the Cappadocians, Augustine further refined established trinitarian distinctions. His De Trinitatis (On the Trinity) is one of the most significant theological works in church history. Herman Bavinck explained the importance of Augustine’s articulation of the Trinity:

[Augustine] does not derive the Trinity from the Father but from the unity of the divine essence, nor does he conceive of it as accidental but rather as an essential characteristic of the divine being. It belongs to God’s very essence to be triune. In that regard personhood is identical with God’s being itself. . .. Each person . . . is identical with the entire being and equal to the other two or all three together. With created beings that is different. One person does not equal three but, says Augustine, “in God that is not so, for the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit together are not a greater being than the Father alone or the Son alone; but these three substances or persons, if they must be so called, are at one and the same time equal to each individually” (De trin., VII, 6).

One particular phrase became controversial over the course of church history. In the eleventh century, the Western church added the word filioque (and the Son) to the Nicene Creed, in keeping with centuries of liturgical practice and the biblical testimony that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son, not the Father alone. Eastern Orthodox churches rejected (and continue to reject) the filioque clause, which contributed to the break between the Eastern and Western churches in 1054.

The Reformed confessions and catechisms of the seventeenth century concur with the early and medieval church regarding the doctrine of the Trinity. The Westminster Standards summarize the Nicene doctrine of the Trinity. The Westminster Shorter Catechism states, “There are three persons in the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory” (Q&A 5). The Westminster Larger Catechism notes that the members of the Godhead are “distinguished by their personal properties” (Q&A 9), which are defined in this way: “It is proper to the Father to beget the Son, and to the Son to be begotten of the Father, and to the Holy Ghost to proceed from the Father and the Son from all eternity” (Q&A). This distinction serves to delineate the order of existence among the members of the Godhead. The Father is commonly said to be the first person of the Godhead, the Son is the second person, and the Spirit is the third person. This does not suggest any subordination in the Godhead. Rather, it reflects the persons of the Godhead in their personal capacity and their order of operation. Salvation comes to us from the Father through the Son and by the Holy Spirit, and we return praise to God by the Holy Spirit through the Son unto the Father.

“In the formula of the Trinity, the church bows to sacred Scripture, honoring both the unity of God and the distinctions among the persons of the Godhead. The formula made use of terms such as person, subsistence, hypostasis, in an attempt to get at the unity and the distinction within God Himself. In addition to affirming the deity of Jesus, without which deity it would be blasphemous for Him to be an object of worship in the church, the Holy Spirit is also described in the Scriptures in terms of divine attributes. He is omnipotent. He is omniscient. He is infinite. He is eternal. He is actively involved in the divine work of creation, and in conjunction with His being the author of life and human intelligence, He is active in empowering the work of Christ in redemption. We see in the Bible that the work of creation involves the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, just as the work of redemption includes the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All three are testified to uniformly by the Scriptures as being divine. They are not three gods, because the unity of God remains axiomatic in the Monarchianism of sacred Scripture. The church still declares that the Lord our God is one. He is one being, though we must distinguish within that one being the subsistence of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” — R.C Sproul, “Triune Monarchy” Tabletalk magazine

Have a blessed Lord’s Day.

Soli deo Gloria!

The following essay is from Ligonier Ministries. Author unknown.

“This is what the LORD says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God” (Isaiah 44:6).

Although the word Trinity does not appear in Scripture, the essence of the doctrine is revealed in both the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament, God’s triunity is alluded to rather than explicitly revealed. This is due, in part, to the preparatory nature of Old Testament revelation. In the Old Testament, God did not fully reveal all that He intended to reveal throughout redemptive history. We need the New Testament revelation to give us the full unfolding of the Old Testament revelation that prepared God’s people for the new covenant.

Additionally, the monotheistic character of God is emphasized in the Old Testament in such a way as to contrast the truth of Israel’s God with the polytheism of the surrounding pagan nations. This emphasis on the singular nature of God was meant to protect the people from the idolatry of the nations. There are, however, significant Old Testament allusions to the multiplicity of persons in the Godhead.

Consider the following:

• Certain theologians—most notably Peter Lombard and Martin Luther—found an allusion to a multiplicity of persons in the Godhead in the use of the divine name Elohim.
• Throughout church history, many theologians have accepted the Trinitarian character of the communication of the divine council in Genesis 1:26, 11:7, and Isaiah 6:8. The alternative proposal that God was speaking to the angels is unlikely, since Genesis 1:26 reveals that God makes man in His “own” image rather than in the image of angels.
• There are many passages in the Old Testament in which the persons of the Godhead communicate to one another or refer to one another (e.g., Ps. 45:6–7; 110:1; Zech. 2:8–11; Heb. 1:8–9). This is a strong proof of the Trinitarian character of God in the Old Testament.
• Many early church, Lutheran, and Reformed theologians held to the view that the “Angel of the Lord” (Hebrew malakh YHWH) was a preincarnate manifestation of the second person of the Godhead—namely, the Logos.
• The revelation of the Spirit of God in the Old Testament—in distinction to the Father (Isa. 63:16) and the Son (Ps. 2:7; Prov. 30:4)—bears strong witness to the multiplicity of persons in the Godhead (e.g., Gen. 1:2; Ex. 35:31; 2 Sam. 23:2; Isa. 63:10; Ezek. 2:2). The Spirit is the agent of creation, sustenance, power, revelation, and the application of redemption in the Old Testament.

When we come to the New Testament, we see the mystery of the Trinity more clearly unfolded at the baptism of Jesus. All three persons of the Godhead are present when Jesus is baptized. The Father speaks about the Son while the Spirit descends upon the Son (Matt. 3:13–27).

Additionally, the persons of the Godhead are specifically mentioned alongside one another in in the New Testament (Luke 1:35; 3:21–22; Matt. 28:19; 1 Cor. 12:3–4; 2 Cor. 13:14; 1 Peter 1:2). In the Gospels, the Son prays to the Father on numerous occasions, thereby proving that He is in some way distinct from the Father and that the Father and Son are not merely different modes or manifestations of the same divine person, as suggested in the view known as modalism (Luke 22:42; 23:34, 46; John 12:28; 17:1). Rather, Jesus is God incarnate—the eternal Son of God—in perfect unity with and yet distinct from His Father and the Spirit. Jesus speaks explicitly of all three persons of the Godhead in His discourse in John 14–16.

The divine personhood of the Spirit is taught throughout the pages of the New Testament—and most strikingly in the references to His speaking (Acts 13:2; Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22; 14:13; 22:17). “The Holy Spirit says,” “The Spirit said through . . .,” and “As the Spirit says,” are common ways in which Old Testament citations are introduced in the New Testament. The New Testament speaks both of the eternal divine equality between the Father, Son, and Spirit and of the functional subordination of the Son to the Father in the work of redemption that He performed as the incarnate God-man.

Theologians have commonly distinguished between the ontological Trinity and the economic Trinity. The ontological Trinity describes God as He is in Himself. In the ontological Trinity there is absolute divine equality without any subordination of being. As to the being and attributes of God, the Son is absolutely equal to the Father (John 1:1; 8:58; Col. 1:15, 19; Heb. 1:3). The economic Trinity describes the persons of the Godhead in God’s external working. As to the work of God in redemption, there is functional subordination of the incarnate Christ to the Father (John 5:19–23; 1 Cor. 11:3). This subordination in time as Christ carried out the work of salvation fulfilled the Father’s commitment to send the Son and the Son’s commitment to purchase our redemption that was made in the covenant of redemption (John 10:17–18, 12:49; Titus 1:2).

The term ‘Trinity’ is not a biblical term, and we are not using biblical language when we define what is expressed by it as the doctrine that there is one only and true God, but in the unity of the Godhead there are three coeternal and coequal Persons, the same in substance but distinct in subsistence. A doctrine so defined can be spoken of as a Biblical doctrine only on the principle that the sense of Scripture is Scripture. And the definition of a biblical doctrine in such unbiblical language can be justified only on the principle that it is better to preserve the truth of Scripture than the words of Scripture. The doctrine of the Trinity lies in Scripture in solution; when it is crystallized from its solvent it does not cease to be Scriptural, but only comes into clearer view. — B.B. Warfield, “The Biblical Doctrine of the Trinity”

Have a blessed Lord’s Day.

Soli deo Gloria!

Deuteronomy 6:4–5 (ESV) – “⁴ “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ⁵ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

The Bible teaches there is One God who exists in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Each person possesses the divine essence.

In church history, there were two distinct viewpoints concerning the nature of God. The first was Homoiousia. This Greek word means “of a similar nature,” which was used by Arius in the fourth century to affirm that Jesus Christ was a supernatural heavenly being but not of the same nature as God the Father. The second was Homoousias. This Greek word means “of the same nature.” This was word used in the Nicene Creed to teach Jesus Christ was of the exact same nature as God the Father and therefore was fully divine as well as fully human.

There have been several errors throughout the church’s existence concerning the Trinity. The se erroneous views are as follows.

1. Modalism. The heretical teaching that holds that God is not really three distinct persons, but only one person who appears to people in different “modes” at different times. Also called Sabellianism. ^[1]
2. Arianism. The erroneous doctrine that denies the full deity of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.^[2]
3. Tritheism. The belief that there are three gods.^[3]
4. Subordinationism. The heretical teaching that the Son was inferior or subordinate in being to God the Father. Also called ontological subordination, but different from economic subordination, which has been the historic view of the church.^[4]

What then is the biblical View of the Trinity?

God the Father. He is the Creator of all things (I Cor. 8:6; Heb. 12:9; James 1:17), the Father of Israel (Deut. 32:6; Isaiah 63:16), and the Father of all believers in Christ (Matt. 5:45; 6:6, 9, 14; Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:4-7). God the Father is the First Person of the Trinity. John 1:14, 18; 8:54; 14:12-13), and who planned the word of redemption, creation, and providence (Eph. 1:3-6).

God the Son. He is the second person in the Trinity (John 1:1-18; Col.1:15-21; Heb. 1:1-3), the only begotten of the Father (John 1:14, 18; 3:16-18; Gal. 4:4). He is the Messiah chosen of the Father (Matt. 8:29; 26:63; John 1:49; 11:27; 17:1-5). He is eternally begotten of the Father (Psalm 2:1-7; Acts 13:33; Heb. 1:1-5), and who mediated the work of creation (John 1:1-3, 10; Heb. 1:1-3). The Son mediates the work of redemption. (Eph. 1:3-12; I Tim. 2:5).

God the Holy Spirit. He is the third person in the Trinity (John 14:16-17, 26; 15:26; 16:1-15; Rom. 8:26). He possesses intelligence (John 14:26), possesses emotion. (Isaiah 68:10; Eph. 4:30), possesses a will (Acts 16:7; I Cor. 12:11), proceeds from the Father and the Son (John 15:26; 16:7; Rom. 8:9l Gal. 4:6), and applies creation and redemption (Gen. 1:3; Job 26:13; Luke 1:35; John 3:34; I Cor. 12:4-11; Eph. 2:22).

Biblical Passages for the Trinity.

Isaiah 61:1 (ESV) – “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; See Luke 4:17-18.

Matthew 28:19–20 (ESV) – “¹⁹ 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, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

2 Corinthians 13:14 (ESV) – “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

Revelation 1:4–6 (ESV) – “⁴ John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, ⁵ and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood ⁶ and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

One author writes, “The doctrine of the Trinity is foundational to the Christian faith and to Christian living, since knowing God is at the heart of biblical religion and God is fully revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the unfolding of the divine mystery. The one true and living God eternally exists in three distinct yet inseparable persons. The creeds and confession of the church summarize the essential biblical truths about the triunity of God, providing theological nuance and support for this foundational doctrine. Nevertheless, the doctrine of the Trinity has also been frequently misunderstood, misrepresented and perverted. Considering biblical support for the doctrine of the Trinity and its historical development will help us more accurately comprehend this precious truth.”

Have a blessed Lord’s Day.

Soli deo Gloria!

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^[1] Wayne Grudem, Bible Doctrine: Essential Teachings of the Christian Faith, ed. Alexander Grudem, Second Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2022), 609.

^[2] Ibid.,  597.

^[3] Ibid.,  616.

^[4] Ibid., 615.