The following is a ****tion of noted Bible scholar and imminent Christian
theologian John Gill's larger work entitled "A Body Of Doctrinal
Divinity."
This lesson centers on the distinct personality and deity of God the
Father.
May God bless,
Carl
my website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
my blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/
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Of The Distinct Personality, And Deity Of The Father
by John Gill
Though what has been already observed, clearly shows there is a
distinction
of Persons in the Godhead, and wherein that distinction lies; yet other
things may be added, which will serve to illustrate and confirm it; and
which will be produced, not as making it, but as making it more clearly to
appear. A person is by some[1] defined, "An individual that subsists, is
living, intelligent, is not sustained by another, nor is a part of
another;"
and which is true of each of the three Persons, Father, Son, and Spirit. I
shall begin with the personality of the Father; the word "Person" is
expressly used of him in Hebrews 1:3 where Christ his Son, by whom he made
the worlds, is called, "the express image of his person": the word
upostasiv, here used, is translated "substance" in Hebrews 11:1 and some
would have it so rendered here; and some of the Latin writers did use the
word "substantia, substance": but then they understood it, and made use of
it, just in the same sense as we do the word person; but finding it to be
an
ambiguous word, and that it tended to lead men to imagine there were three
distinct divine Beings, they left it off, and chose the word person, as
less
exceptionable; the Greek writers, and some even before the council of
Nice,
took the word here used, in the same sense as we do, for "subsistence", or
person[2]; and so it is here rendered by many learned men, as Valla,
Vatablus, Erasmus, Calvin, Beza, Piscator, Paneus, and others; in which
translation we may safely acquiesce.
The definition of a person agrees with the Father of Christ, as before
observed. The Father of Christ is an individual, and so distinguishable
from
the divine nature he is possessed of, in common with the Son and Spirit;
he
subsists of himself, he does not owe his being to another, nor is he
upheld
in it by another; nor is he possessed only of a part, but of the whole
Deity; he is the living Father, has life in himself, and not from another,
(John 5:26, 6:57) and is intelligent, knows himself, his Son and Spirit,
and
all things (Matthew 11:27).
The personality of the Father may be concluded from those personal actions
which are ascribed to him; for besides begetting the Son, which is what
distinguishes him from the other two persons, there are other acts which
illustrate and confirm the distinction made, though they do not make it;
as,
1. The creation of all things is ascribed to him; he is said, as the
Father
of Christ, to make the worlds by him his Son, and to create all things by
him; not as an instrument, but as a co-efficient cause (Heb. 1:2; Eph.
3:9).
2. The works of providence, as upholding and sustaining all creatures in
their being, supplying them with all things necessary, governing the
world,
ordering and disposing of all persons and things in it, are attributed to
him, in distinction from his Son, though in conjunction with him, "my
Father
worketh hitherto, and I work" (John 5:17).
3. The mission of his Son into the world to be the Saviour of men, shows
his
distinct personality from him, which is often said of him; now he that
sends, and he that is sent, cannot be the same person, but must be
distinct;
indeed the Spirit of God is said also to send Christ, as well as the
Father,
(Isa. 48:16) but then, though the Son is sent by both, and the Spirit is
sent both by the Father and the Son, yet the Father is never said to be
sent
by either; he is always the sender, and never the sent.
4. The several distinct acts of grace towards the elect in Christ, will
serve to evince the distinct personality of the Father. Men are said to be
elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, (1 Peter 1:2) and
are said to be chosen by him in Christ unto salvation, through
sanctification of the Spirit, and therefore must be distinct from Christ,
in
whom, and to whose salvation they are chosen; and from the Spirit, through
whose sanctification they are chosen to the obtaining of the glory of
Christ, (Eph. 1:4; 2 Thess. 2:13, 14) planning the scheme of man's
salvation
by Christ; reconciling, or forming the scheme of reconciliation in Christ;
consulting in the council of peace with him about it, are personal acts,
and
distinguish him from Christ; making a covenant with his Son on account of
elect men, putting their persons into his hands, blessing them with all
spiritual blessings in him, and giving grace to them in him before the
world
was; as they are personal acts, so they show him to be distinct from his
Son, with whom he covenanted, and whom he entrusted with the said persons
and things: his drawing them by the powerful influences of his grace in
time, to come to Christ and believe in him, (John 6:44) promising and
giving
the Spirit as a convincer, comforter, enlightener, and strengthener, with
many other things, serve to illustrate and confirm his distinct
personality.
Now we call the Father the first person, not that he is so in order of
time
or causality, and as if he was "fons Deitatis", the fountain of Deity, as
some good men have wrongly called him; for rather the Deity is the
fountain
of the divine persons, from whence they arise together, and in which they
subsist, and in which they have no superiority and preeminence of one
another; but as it is necessary to speak of them in some order, it seems
most proper to place the Father first, whence we call him the first
person,
and then the Son, and then the Spirit; in which order they are usually put
in scripture; though to show there is a perfect equality between them,
this
order is sometimes inverted.
That the Father of Christ, as he is a person, so a divine person, will not
be doubted; nor is his Deity called in question; and yet it may be proper
to
say something of it, and establish it; which may be done, not only by
observing that he is expressly and distinctly called God, (Rom. 15:6; Gal.
1:1; Phil. 2:11) but this may be proved,
1. From his divine perfections: God necessarily exists, owes his being to
no
other, subsists of himself, and is independent of any; such is the Father
of
Christ, he "has life in himself" and of himself, and does not derive it
from
another (John 5:26). God is from everlasting to everlasting, without
beginning and end; so is the Father of Christ, he is he "which is, and
which
was, and which is to come" (Rev. 1:4). God is immense and omnipresent,
cannot be circumscribed by space, he fills heaven and earth, and is
contained in neither; such is the Father of Christ, of whom he often
speaks
as in heaven, and yet with him on earth, and with all his people, at all
times, and in all ages (John 14:23, 16:32). God is omniscient, knows all
persons and things; and so does the Father of Christ, he knows the Son in
such sense as no other does, and knows that which neither the angels nor
the
Son, as man, know, even the day and hour of judgment, (Matthew 11:27; Mark
13:32; Acts 1:7; 2 Cor. 11:31). God is omnipotent, he can do all things;
and
so can the Father of Christ, "Abba, Father", says Christ, "all things are
possible unto thee" (Mark 14:36; Matthew 19:26; John 10:29). Once more,
God
is immutable, not subject to any change and variation; God, the Father of
Christ, is the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness nor
shadow of turning, (James 1:17) he is unchangeable in his purposes and
promises made in Christ, and in his love which is in Christ Jesus the
Lord.
In short, there is no perfection in Deity but what God, the Father of
Christ, is possessed of.
2. His Deity will appear from the works which are ascribed to him, and
which
none but God could do; such as making the heaven, the earth and sea, and
all
that in them are; and who as the maker of them is addressed by the
apostle,
(Acts 4:24-27) and hence by Christ called Father, Lord of heaven and
earth,
(Matthew 11:25) and the works of providence, before observed, are ascribed
to him, as sup****ting the world by his power, governing it by his wisdom,
and supplying it by his goodness, which none but God could do: (see
Matthew
6:26, 32) And his mighty acts of grace in quickening sinners dead in sins,
in doing which the same power is put forth as in raising Christ from the
dead, (Eph. 2:1, 1:19) and in forgiving the sins of men, which none but
God
can do, (Mark 2:7) and for which Christ prayed to his Father on the behalf
of his enemies, (Luke 23:34) to which may be added the resurrection of the
dead, which is purely a divine work, and requires almighty power. The
resurrection of Christ is most frequently ascribed to him, and he will
raise
the dead at the last day (1 Cor. 6:14). From these and from many other
divine works, may the Deity of the Father be concluded, as well as,
3. From the wor****p due to him, and given to him. None but God is and
ought
to be the object of religious wor****p and adoration; "Thou shalt wor****p
the
Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve", (Matthew 4:10) now true
wor****ppers of God "wor****p the Father in spirit and in truth, for the
Father seeketh such to wor****p him", (John 4:23) and the Father of Christ
is
frequently represented as the object of faith, hope, and love; to whom
prayer is to be made, and to whom prayer was made both by Christ and his
apostles; how often are grace and peace wished for from him in the several
epistles? and he stands first in the form of baptism, which is a solemn
act
of divine and religious wor****p.
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ENDNOTES:
[1] Vid. Wendelin. Christ. Theolog. l. 1. c. 2. p. 93, 94.
[2] See my Doctrine of the Trinity, p. 93.
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