What did each of the three in one God do?

Here we must remember that we are dealing with deep and blessed things, things indeed which are beyond our creature minds. Think of Three Persons in One God. They are not Three, in the same sense as They are One, nor are Father, Son and Spirit different names for one and the same Person. The Father counsels and sends the Son; the Son comes to reveal the Godhead, a revelation which stands good for the whole creation; and the Holy Spirit, Whose work is the subjective part, comes to make good, in the souls of the heirs of purpose, that which has been revealed. This revelation includes every family in the heavens and earth, and indeed, it will go out to the place of eternal punishment, for the lake of fire will be an everlasting witness to the righteousness, holiness and majesty of God.

To God the Father belongs initiative. All purpose, counsel, direction, are His. To God the Son belongs administration — the execution of the Divine purpose whether in creation, redemption, or judgment. To God the Holy Ghost belongs the energy all-pervading that, acting always in perfect harmony with the Father's counsels and the Son's administration, produces the desired effects whether upon matter in creation, or upon the souls and ultimately the bodies of saints in connection with redemption.

By the way in which we have the truth presented to us in the Scriptures we learn that counsels belong to the Father (Eph. 1:3-14); the Son becomes Man, in order that through Him those counsels may be fulfilled (John 17), and the Holy Spirit is the Power by which all are brought to pass (Acts 10:38). In proof of each of these statements many other texts of Scripture might be adduced, but they can be easily found by the reader, and this exercise will be full of both interest and spiritual profit.

In the working out of the divine counsels we see that God, the Father, is looked upon as the author and source of all things, the One who chooses, predestinates, calls and justifies and works all things after the counsel of His own will. (See 1 Cor. 8: 6; Eph. 1: 3-11; 2 Tim. 1: 9; Rom. 8: 28-33, etc.). The Son is looked upon as the workman or artificer by whom all things are made and upheld, the One in, by and through whom all the counsels of the Triune God are realized and made secure and the work of redemption is accomplished, and the One who, in coming in the flesh, manifests and declares and reveals God to man. (See 1 Cor. 8: 6; Eph. 1: 2 Tim. 1: 9; John 1: 18; 1 Tim. 1: 16; Phil. 3: 21, etc.). The Spirit of God is looked upon as the One who works directly in power upon and in the creature or created things. (Ps. 104: 3; Judges 14: 5, 6; Eph. 3: 16; 2 Cor. 4: 4, 10, 12-14; Rom. 8: 4-16, 26, etc.).

In the very nature of things, what is true of One, is true of all Three as we have said, yet in the working out of the eternal plan, each takes His Own place in relation to the Others. The Father is He by whom every family in heaven and in earth is named; He worketh all things after the counsel of His Own will; He is above all, and through all and as to His children, is in you all. Eph. 3:15; Eph. 1:11; Eph. 4:6. The Son creates. John 1:3. Col. 1:16. Heb. 1:2; Redeems. Rom. 3:24; Eph. 1:7. Col. 1:14; He is also the Judge. John 5:22. By creation He brought in the platform upon which the plan would be wrought out. He became Man to cleanse it and put it on the stable basis of redemption and finally, He will put down all that is offensive and rebellious against God. The Spirit performs the subjective work, working for glory and adornment. His part in creation was to garnish it. Job. 26:13. His work in the saints is to array them in the beauty of Christ. Luke 15:22. Col. 3:12-14. To accomplish this, He uses the word of God. He takes up His abode in the believer and thus becomes the subjective power for spiritual instinct; intuition; inspiration; revelation; and illumination. In this way it is the Holy Spirit which qualifies the saints for service whether for conflict in the kingdom; Levitical service in the testimony; or worship in the sanctuary. He is the power which qualifies for all moral activities whether estimates, values or measures. See Note A.

Care is called for here, lest, when speaking of the place of subordination taken by the Son, in relation to the Father and Spirit, or of the place the Spirit takes in relation to the Father and Son, we might lose the balance and allow that which might militate against the unity of the Godhead. Whatever be the place taken by Each, whether of Authority or Subordination, eternal with the Co-equality remains the same. While Scripture connects purpose with the Father, it is ever the purpose of the Godhead. That is to say, the whole scheme is from Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In its working out, the Father represents supreme authority, the Son by Incarnation takes a place of subordination, while ever remaining God, to glorify God, and the Spirit comes down from the glorified Lord to carry out the will of the Father and Son. A parallel to this may be seen by comparing the work of creation. While creation is the act of Elohim, namely the Godhead (Genesis 1:1), yet when it is imputed to one Person of the Holy Trinity, it is either the Son or the Spirit, never the Father. Note the place Each ONE takes in working out the divine plan.

The Godhead presents the three Persons as One, but we use the word Trinity to distinguish the three Persons in the Godhead. They are distinguished in this chapter. Whenever the source of things is in view, this is attributed to the Father. The active instrumental Agent who brings all into being is the Son, and the power to secure it all is in the Spirit. In Godhead the will of God is the will of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; of that there can be no doubt. So we read in Genesis chapter 1 "Let us. In Hebrews 10 the Son has taken a subject place in Manhood in order to carry out that will, and in that place of subjection He says, "Lo, I come to do Thy will". So the source of this matter is in God; the doing of His will in sanctifying the company is by the work of Christ, and the witness of it is by the Holy Spirit.

The eternal counsels of the Father required a universe for the fulfilment of these counsels, and the One Person of the Godhead who was to carry out the eternal will of God created a universe in which that will could be fulfilled. In all the works of God the three Persons are ever said to be engaged; but in certain parts of those works certain Persons of the Trinity come more into prominence than the Others. Counsel belongs to the Father, creation and redemption to the Son, power to the Holy Spirit; but in each work All are concerned.

Thus we see how the three parts of the one parable are all needed to present the whole picture, and how it illustrates most graphically the wonderful activity of the thrice blessed Godhead—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—in our blessing. We see portrayed the work of the Son in our redemption: the work of the Holy Spirit in our regeneration, and then the response produced by the way of repentance, and the amazing reception accorded by the Father to the returning sinner.

Thus, then, the “quickening Spirit” acts in every one born of God. As the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, just so the Son quickens; and none the less it is of the Spirit we are born again. It is a divine work, and Father, Son and Spirit all partake in it. Thus it is manifest that we are by this birth children of God; and while the Son as Mediator is He in whom life is for us, and the Spirit is the positive Agent in communicating it, the Father it is whose blessed will the Son and Spirit alike work, and “of whom every family in heaven and earth is named” (Eph. 3:15, Gk.). “To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things and we for Him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him” (1 Cor. 8:6).