Not Suggesting the Three-God Squad

One of 2024’s most helpful books on the Trinity is Beholding the Triune God: The Inseparable Work of Father, Son, and Spirit, by Matt Emerson and Brandon Smith. I’ve been recommending it widely for people who have a basically sound trinitarianism but recognize their need to reflect a little more deeply on how the three persons work together. In my endorsement for the the publisher, I said:

Two trustworthy theologians team up on a project to explain why it’s never enough to say that the persons of the Trinity team up on projects. There is a much deeper unity to the work of the triune God, and this short, readable book directs our attention to it.

When I praised the book (and the classic doctrine of the inseparable operations of the Trinity) on social media, a pastor friend replied:

I get this in principle and agree, but isn’t this partly just the way that we talk? Wouldn’t it be super cumbersome to say the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit do XYZ? Also, isn’t this us just taking our cues from the Scriptures and from how the Bible speaks? For instance, the Bible tells us that the Spirit comes to illuminate, to lead us into truth, to convict us of sin and whatnot. Should we speak differently than the Bible does? [lightly edited]

These are great questions, and I definitely want to speak like the Bible and like normal Christians. But sometimes when we say things like “the Father created and the Son redeemed,” we presuppose (in our own minds) and suggest (to listeners) that Father and Son are taking turns or divvying up the work. That is, we presuppose and suggest that their works are exclusive, shutting each other out. And the Bible does not mean that!

The most edifying way to show this is to pick a divine action or attribute and then trawl through the Bible gathering verses that show the Father does that action / has that attribute, and then that also the Son does that action / has that attribute, and likewise the Holy Spirit. THIS IS A BLAST, and it creates a safe environment for sentences like “the Father creates.” By safe, I mean more comprehensive: we have established the non-exclusivity of the three, which keeps us from presupposing (in our own minds) or suggesting (to listeners) some kind of three-god-squad collaborating. And that is basically what the short Emerson/Smith book does, which is why I recommend it.

I freely admit that there are a couple dozen sentences in my book The Deep Things of God that might sound like I think the three persons take turns or do exclusive parts of tasks. When Crossway did a second edition of the book after seven years, I considered “fixing” these sentences, but decided that they were okay as part of the whole message of the book. The goal is clear and energetic communication that tracks with the biblical way of putting things, but not at the cost of theological orthodoxy that dwells within the Bible’s total framework.

The Emerson/Smith book is clear that the project isn’t about language-policing (which as you warned might just lead preachers to nervously lard up their sentences with all kinds of doctrinally correct verbiage that paradoxically ended up making them sound less directly scriptural), but about deeper understanding, and about warding off error.

I’ve blogged a few other things on this topic, which might be helpful. They’re at least short and free! First a reference to an early and influential statement of the doctrine of inseparable operations (Nyssa); second a word about what goes wrong when you don’t build this kind of trinitarian unity into your way of thinking and talking (super cahoots); and third a handy name for the hunting-and-gathering mode of trinitarian interpretation (coordinating exegesis).