OF GOD AND THE HOLY TRINTIY
Thoughts on the
Second London Baptist Confession
Chapter 2: Of God & The Holy Trinity
By Brian Pendleton
“Hear, O Israel! Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is one!"
— Deuteronomy 6:4 (LSB)
Chapter two starts off with the confirmation of monotheism. There is only one God, "we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one. . . yet for us there is one God" (1 Corinthians 8:4,6). An idol, a statue of one’s god, is deaf, mute, and blind. It is dead. It it made of wood, stone, plastic, or some other non-living material. But the God of the Bible is living and not made by the hands of men. There are no other gods, there is none beside Him, “There is no one holy like Yahweh; Indeed, there is no one besides You, Nor is there any rock like our God.” (1 Samuel 2:2). The LORD alone is God, “For You are great and do wondrous deeds; You alone are God.” (Psalm 86:10). And is alone to be worshiped, “Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’” (Matthew 4:10)
The first paragraph speaks to the existence and perfections of God. We are given a list of His attributes. We are first told about God’s self existence, “Hear Me, O Jacob, even Israel whom I called; I am He, I am the first, I am also the last.” (Isaiah 48:12). And the paragraph ends speaking about His justice, “Yahweh is slow to anger and great in power, And Yahweh will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. . .” (Nahum 1:3). There are incommunicable attributes like immutable, ““For I, Yahweh, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.” (Malachi 3:6). And communicable attributes like love, “The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (1 John 4:8). It is a worth while study to learn about God’s perfections. One book I read on such a topic was “God is: A Devotional Guide to the Attributes of God” by Mark Jones.
The second paragraph speaks to God’s relations with His creatures. The LORD is independent from His creatures. God doesn’t need anything outside Himself to make Him ‘fulfilled’. He doesn’t owe His existence to anyone. The LORD doesn’t need a creature to make Him more glorious. “Can a mighty man be of use to God, Or an insightful man be useful to himself?” (Job 22:2-3). The LORD has sovereign dominion over His creatures. We owe our existence to God and He rules over all. “For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE REPAID TO HIM? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:34-36). The LORD has absolute knowledge of His Creatures. “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are uncovered and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we have an account to give.” (Hebrews 4:13). The LORD has intrinsic claims upon His creatures.
The final paragraph of chapter two addresses the doctrine of the Trinity. The teaching of Trinity can be summed up by the statement, that there is One God in Three Persons. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.” (2 Corinthians 13:14). When learning about the Trinity you will come across different terms like substance and subsistences. Substance refers to God’s essence/being and subsistences is another way of saying persons. In this paragraph you learn about the unity of the Three Persons (Exodus 3:14; John 14:11; 1 Corinthians 8:6) as well as the distinction of the Three Persons (John 1:14, 18; 15:26; Galatians 4:6). The doctrine of Trinity has great implications for the Christian as it is the foundation of all our communion with and our dependence upon, the LORD.