Calvin Synod Herald, 2006 (107. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2006-05-01 / 5-6. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD 11 other in properties) be yet one and the same whole Godhead, or so that all and every of the persons have the whole and absolute Godhead.” [4] Thus there are not three gods, but three persons, consubstantial, coetemal, and coequal; distinct with respect to hypostasis, and with respect to order, the one preceding the other yet without any inequality. For according to the nature or essence they are so joined together that they are one God, and the divine nature is common to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. My learned forefather here is careless in wording in that it is not only a commonality of nature, but essence, God is one! Calvin’s subsistence is much more precise here. The attempt here is to show the three are the same in all things and each is fully God. This can cause some rather strange mental images to the created in that as an example it is not wrong to say God was on the cross, nor is it God that indwells the heart of His people. While there is no inequality of essence, subsistence, or whatever term you choose to define the Three in One, contrary to what some teach there is a definite subordination in place and each person has assigned duties and responsibilities toward the other. The equality of essence and existence however point to the Avoluntary@ subjection that exists in perfection in the Godhead that is God’s will for all of His creation. This is where we can see how all relationships among men should be. God created relationships because He has always existed in community and the desire for community is part of the nature of man. This fact is the very heart of understanding and applying the fifth commandment. God created man and woman, to bring about marriage and family that we might have a visible picture of what divine relationship is all about. If man perfectly understood and applied the first five commandments I do not think there is a need for the last five. Mankind is commanded to first seek the kingdom of God before any earthly or material benefits are added to man. This seeking of the kingdom of God is tied up with this understanding of God being One yet Three. God graciously gave to us the first four commandments just for this purpose, seeking the kingdom of God. When man has gained the understanding and application of the first four, the fifth stands as the golden gate to life in the flesh. The term father and mother has not so much to do with birth parents but to all persons in the life of a believer and the responsibility of each person to those in any station of life, whether above or beneath their own station in life providentially provided by God. Covenant relationship is in sight from before the revealed existence of God in eternity. Covenant relationship is then a position in God (Christ) and not of person whereby the Bible says in more than one place God is not a respecter of person. What is the bottom line? God is one and God is three. Don’t understand that? Join the party, no man has ever fully understood though many have attempted to explain. It is in the eternal truth of God revealed in His own Word; thus an absolute fact that will not change. In each person’s heart this truth can take root and bring that person to a place of peace with the threeness of one God. Not having any analogy or model which man can use to explain means that this will remain the hardest of all Biblical doctrine to explain to another. The issue is faith, and God has supplied that to His chosen people. Without faith it is impossible to please God because man cannot understand God’s existence. In faith the earthly marriage and family becomes this tool to understand the relationship within the Godhead and sets the pattern for all relationships among men. For Scripture has delivered to us a manifest distinction of persons, the angel saying, among other things, to the Blessed Virgin, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God (Luke 1:35). And also in the baptism of Christ a voice is heard from heaven concerning Christ, saying, This is my beloved Son (Matt. 3:17). The Holy Spirit also appeared in the form of a dove (John 1:32). And when the Lord himself commanded the apostles to baptize, he commanded them to baptize in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19). Elsewhere in the Gospel he said: When the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me, etc. (John 15:26). In short, we receive the Apostles’ Creed because it delivers to us the true faith. Perhaps my esteemed brother gives to Mary more honor than is due to her. Blessed she was, a virgin she was, but not to be a title to set her apart. It is no error that Mary is not mentioned after the birth except in passing references where we find Christ place the believers at His feet above His mother and brothers. Not wrong, but not careful enough less the error of Rome that has some saints above others resulting in idolatry. All are called to be saints and in the Spirit all are sanctified. We need clarification of the last sentence here. The Apostles Creed a document of men, not the apostles as such was developed to handle the Christology of the church, which deals with the conception, birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and return of Christ. It establishes His deity from the beginning, not something bestowed at the incarnation. The necessity of this document was better spelled out in the Nicene Creed because it is in the error of whom and deity of Christ all heresies are bom. Heresies. Therefore we condemn the Jews and Mohammedans, and all those who blaspheme that sacred and adorable Trinity. We also condemn all heresies and heretics who teach that the Son and Holy Spirit arc God in name only, and also that there is something created and subservient, or subordinate to another in the Trinity, and that there is something unequal in it, a greater or a less, something corporeal or corporeally conceived, something different with respect to character or will, something mixed or solitary, as if the Son and Holy Spirit were the affections and properties of one God the Father, as the Monarchians, Novatians, Praxeas, Patripassians, Sabellius, Paul of Samosata, Aetius, Macedonius, Antropomorphites, Arius, and such like, have thought. Buliinger boldly names, names and declares the error of those who deny the Scriptures and the oneness of God while Three. However be careful with two things here. It is not ours to condemn though such language in certain times has been used and accepted by the church. Only God condemns, man declares or testifies to the tmth. Thus our forefather boldly testified against this unholy use of the name of God in his day and truly such testimony was before the God who does condemn. What we condemn here must be understood in this way. Second, it would appear that Buliinger has contradicted Baynard in that
