QUESTION 6: How many persons are there in the Godhead?
ANSWER: 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.
Explanatory questions and answers:
Q. 1. Whence is it, that this article of our holy religion has been so much opposed by adversaries, in every period of the church?
A. The devil and his instruments have vehemently opposed it because they know it is the primary object of our faith and worship; it not being enough for us to know what God is, as to his essential attributes, without knowing who he is, as to his personality, according as he has revealed himself in his word, to be Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 1 John 2:23, — “Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father.”
A. Beyond all doubt it is: because without the knowledge and belief of the Trinity of persons, we would remain ignorant of the love of the Father, the merit of the Son, and the sanctifying influences of the Holy Ghost, in the purchase and application of redemption; without which there could be no salvation, John 17:3, — “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.”Q. 3. Can the Trinity of persons be proved from the Old Testament?
A. Yes; not only from the history of man’s creation, where God speaks of himself in the plural number, “Let us make man,” Gen. 1:26; but likewise from such passages, as expressly restrict this plurality to three persons, such as, Psalm 33:6, — “By the word of the Lord, or JEHOVAH, were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath, or spirit, of his mouth;” where there is mention made of YAHVEH, the Word, and the Spirit, as concurring in the creation of all things: accordingly, we are told that all things were made by the Word, John 1:3, and that the Spirit garnished the heavens, Job 26:13. The same truth is also evident from Isaiah 63:7, 9, 10; where we read of the loving-kindness of YAHVEH; of the Angel of his presence saving them; and of their vexing his Holy Spirit. A plain discovery of a Trinity of persons.
Q. 4. What is the meaning of the word Trinity, so commonly used in expressing this doctrine?
A. It signifies the same with Tri-unity, or three in one; that is, three distinct persons, in one and the same individual or numerical15 essence, 1 John 5:7.
Q. 5. Is not a Trinity of persons, in the divine Essence, an unsearchable mystery?
A. Yes; and so is every perfection of God, which infinitely transcends our thoughts, and finite capacities, Col. 2:2; Job 11:6, 7.
Q. 6. Is it not unreasonable to require a belief of what we cannot understand?
A. It is not at all unreasonable in matters that are entirely supernatural; but, on the contrary, it is the highest reason we should believe what God says of himself, and of the manner of his own subsistence, John 20:31; besides, it is the peculiar office of faith to subject our reason to divine revelation, Heb. 11:1.
Q. 7. How has God revealed this mystery in his word?
A. He has in it told us, that “there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one,” 1 John 5:7. Or, as our Confession expresses it, “In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost,” Matt. 3:16, 17 and 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14.
Q. 8. What is meant by the word Godhead?
A. The divine nature or essence; Rom. 1:20, compared with Gal. 4:8.
Q. 9. What is meant by a person in the Godhead?
A. A complete, intelligent, and individual subsistence, which is neither a part of, nor sustained by any other; but is distinguished by an incommunicable property in the same undivided essence.
Q. 10. Has each person then a distinct nature, or essence of his own?
A. No; but the same divine nature, or essence, is common to all the three glorious persons, 1 John 5:7, — “These three are one;” not only united in will and affection, but in one and the same common nature, or essence: it being the transcendent and incommunicable property of the divine nature, to reside in more persons than one.
Q. 11. What was the heresy of the Sabellians, and Tritheists, in opposition to this fundamental doctrine of the Trinity?
A. The Sabellians maintained that there is but one person in the Trinity under three different names; the Tritheists, that the three persons are three Gods.
Q. 12. Is the word Person, as applied to this mystery, made use of in scripture?
A. Yes; for the Son is said to be the “express image of the Father’s person,” Heb. 1:3.
Q. 13. How do you prove that there are three persons in the Godhead?
A. From the institution of baptism, Matt. 28:19; from the apostolic blessing, 2 Cor. 13:14; from John’s salutation to the seven churches, Rev. 1:4, 5; and from the baptism of Christ, Matt. 3:16, 17; where the Father is manifested by a voice from heaven; the Son, by his bodily appearance on earth; and the Holy Ghost, by his lighting on him in the shape of a dove.
Q. 14. How is it farther evident that they are three distinct persons?
A. From the distinct capacities in which they are represented to act; for, in the work of redemption, we find in scripture, the Father “ordaining,” the Son “purchasing,” and the Holy Ghost “applying it,” 1 Pet. 1:2.
Selah