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the one hand identified with Jehovah, and on the other hand distinguished from Him, Gen.
16:7-13; 18:1-21; 19:1-28; Mal. 3:1; and also in passages in which the Word or Wisdom of God
is personified, Ps. 33:4, 6; Prov. 8:12-31. In some cases more than one person is mentioned, Ps.
33:6; 45:6, 7 (comp. Heb. 1:8, 9), and in others God is the speaker, and mentions both the
Messiah and the Spirit, or the Messiah is the speaker who mentions both God and the Spirit,
Isa. 48:16; 61:1; 63:9, 10. Thus the Old Testament contains a clear anticipation of the fuller
revelation of the Trinity in the New Testament.
b. New Testament proofs.
The New Testament carries with it a clearer revelation of the
distinctions in the Godhead. If in the Old Testament Jehovah is represented as the Redeemer
and Saviour of His people, Job. 19:25; Ps. 19:14; 78:35; 106:21; Isa. 41:14; 43:3,11,14; 47:4;
49:7,26; 60:16; Jer. 14:3; 50:14; Hos. 13:3, in the New Testament the Son of God clearly stands
out in that capacity, Matt. 1:21; Luke 1:76-79; 2:17; John 4:42; Acts 5:3; Gal. 3:13; 4:5; Phil.
3:30; Tit. 2:13,14. And if in the Old Testament it is Jehovah that dwells among Israel and in the
hearts of those that fear Him, Ps. 74:2; 135:21; Isa. 8:18; 57:15; Ezek. 43:7-9; Joel 3:17,21; Zech.
2:10, 11, in the New Testament it is the Holy Spirit that dwells in the Church, Acts 2:4, Rom.
8:9,11; I Cor. 3:16; Gal. 4:6; Eph. 2:22; Jas. 4:5. The New Testament offers the clear revelation of
God sending His Son into the world, John 3:16; Gal. 4:4; Heb. 1:6; I John 4:9; and of both the
Father and the Son, sending the Spirit, John 14:26; 15:26; 16:7; Gal. 4:6. We find the Father
addressing the Son, Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22, the Son communing with the Father, Matt. 11:25,26;
26:39; John 11:41; 12:27,28, and the Holy Spirit praying to God in the hearts of believers, Rom.
8:26. Thus the separate persons of the Trinity are made to stand out clearly before our minds.
At the baptism of the Son the Father speaks from heaven, and the Holy Spirit descends in the
form of a dove, Matt. 3:16,17. In the great commission Jesus mentions the three persons: “. . .
baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” Matt. 28:19.
They are also named alongside of each other in I Cor. 12:4-6; II Cor. 13:14; and I Peter 1:2. The
only passage speaking of tri-unity is I John 5:7 (Auth. Ver.), but this is of doubtful genuineness,
and is therefore eliminated from the latest critical editions of the New Testament.
3. STATEMENT OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY.
The doctrine of the Trinity can best be
discussed briefly in connection with various propositions, which constitute an epitome of the
faith of the Church on this point.
a. There is in the Divine Being but one indivisible essence (ousia, essentia).
God is one in His
essential being or constitutional nature. Some of the early Church Fathers used the term
“substantia” as synonymous with “essentia,” but later writers avoided this use of it in view of
the fact that in the Latin Church “substantia” was used as a rendering of “hupostasis” as well as
of “ousia”, and was therefore ambiguous. At present the two terms “substance” and “essence”