What does it mean that the Father is the first Person of the Trinity?

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To speak of the Father as "the first Person of the Trinity" is not to say He existed before the Son and the Spirit, nor that He is superior in nature or essence. All three Persons are equally and eternally God. The word "first" points to a divine order of relationship and operation — the Father is the One from whom purpose, counsel, and initiative originate, while the Son carries out those purposes, and the Spirit gives them living effect. F. B. Hole draws out this distinction with remarkable clarity: 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. F. B. Hole This is why the Father is called "first" — not first in time (for the three Persons are co-eternal), but first in this divine order: the Father purposes, the Son executes, and the Spirit effects. Every great work of God — creation, redemption, judgment — flows in this order. Hole reinforces the same thought when addressing why the Lord Jesus said "My Father is greater than I" (John 14:28): We distinguish, therefore, between what the Lord Jesus was and is essentially — equal with God, and what He became relatively — subordinate to the Father's will. And again: Scripture always attributes the purposes, counsels, plans of the Godhead, the fixing of times and seasons to the Father. Note particularly Acts 1:7: "The times or the seasons, which the Father has put in His own power." It equally attributes action, the execution of the purposes of the Godhead, whether in creation, redemption, or judgment, to the Son. equal with God This "firstness" of the Father also carries with it a deeply relational meaning. The very name "Father" speaks of the One who is the eternal source of love and delight in the Son. J. G. Bellett writes: The bosom of the Father was an eternal habitation, enjoyed by the Son, in the ineffable delight of the Father — "the hiding-place of love," as one has called it, "of inexpressible love which is beyond glory; for glory may be revealed, this cannot." Can I be satisfied with the unbelieving thought, that there are not Persons in the Godhead, and that Father, Son, and Spirit are only different lights in which the One Person is presented? The substance of the gospel would be destroyed by such a thought, and can I be satisfied with the unbelieving thought that these Persons are not related? The love of the gospel would be dimmed by such a thought. relational The Father is "first" because the relationship of love in the Godhead begins with Him — He is the One who delights in the Son, who sends the Son, who purposes all blessing through the Son. As Hole puts it in his paper on Fatherhood and Sonship: Connect God's Fatherhood with Christ the Son — who is the worthy Object of His love, and in whom a perfect response is given — and at once you have the key that opens the subject in its fulness. the relationship of love in the Godhead begins with Him The familiar order "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19) reflects this. Walter Scott observes that this order is not arbitrary — it follows the natural sequence of grace: the Father sends the Son, and the Son sends the Spirit: Had it been simply a question of grace, pure and simple, then necessarily the mention of Christ would have preceded that of the Spirit, after the Father as sent by Him (1 John 4:14), and before the Spirit because sent by the Son (John 15:26). Walter Scott Yet the same author notes that in Revelation 1:4-5, the order is different — Jehovah, the Spirit, then Jesus Christ — because the context there is governmental, not the outflowing of grace. The order of naming varies according to what is being revealed, but the personal distinctions within the Godhead do not change. A. J. Pollock states the foundational truth simply: This clearly shows that whilst Scripture affirms that there are three distinct Persons in the Godhead, yet there are not three Gods, but one; not a trinity of Gods, but a triune God. (authors/pollock/Bible_Testimony_to_the_Son_of_God) William Trotter makes a practical point about how seriously these distinctions matter. He warns against confusing the Persons in prayer: No one believes that the Father died on Calvary, or that Christ sent His Son into the world. Where, then, is the collectedness of spirit, the soundness of mind, which should characterize those who take the place of being the channels of the saints' worship, when they use language which really expresses what they do not themselves believe — and what it would be shocking for any one to believe! William Trotter In summary: to call the Father the "first Person" of the Trinity is to recognize that all divine purpose originates with Him. He is the eternal Fountain of love and counsel. The Son, the "second Person," is the One who carries that purpose into effect — the Creator, Redeemer, and coming Judge. The Spirit, the "third Person," is the living energy who makes it all real in the souls of men. These are not ranks of importance or degrees of deity. Father, Son, and Spirit are co-equal and co-eternal — one God. But there is a divine order in which each Person acts, and the Father stands at its head as the One from whom all initiative, all purpose, and all love proceed.

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