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Genesis 1:1–3
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”
The church has confessed that all the works of the Holy Trinity toward or in creation are indivisible and inseparable. Everything that the three persons do external (ad extra) to the Godhead They all do, not as a committee or team on which each person makes His own contribution but as one, all working the very same work. This must be so because the power of the Father is identical to the power of the Son is identical to the power of the Holy Spirit; therefore, if one executes an operation by this power, They all execute it.
Scripture reveals to us the principle that all of God’s ad extra works are inseparable when it tells us that the three persons of the Trinity all perform the works of creation, redemption, and consummation. Regarding creation, for instance, we see in Genesis 1:1–3 that the Speaker, the Word spoken, and the Holy Spirit are all involved in creation. As we noted several weeks ago, Martin Luther saw this as an indication that the Father (the Speaker), the Son (the Word), and the Holy Spirit (the agent) were all active in making the universe. Other texts make it plain that all three persons of the Trinity created the world. Ephesians 3:9 says that “God . . . created all things,” and that verse in context plainly refers to God the Father, in keeping with Paul’s frequent use of the word “God” for the Father. Hebrews 1:2 reveals the Son’s agency as Creator when it says that God created the world through the Son. Psalm 104:30 tells us that the various beasts are created by the going forth of God’s Spirit. The Father is Creator, the Son is Creator, and the Spirit is Creator.
Although the three persons work inseparably in creation, all doing the same thing, we can nevertheless differentiate the persons by the mode of Their working. The Father, eternally unbegotten, creates from Himself and from none other. The Son, eternally begotten of the Father, creates as the One who is from the Father. The Holy Spirit, eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son, creates as the One who is from the Father and the Son. To say things another way, creation is from the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit. This is true of all of God’s external works. The same work is initiated by the Father, who works through the Son, who brings all to completion by the Spirit.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Because we love God, we want to speak about Him only in ways that are true. Our careful work to articulate the inseparable work of the Trinity and the different modes in which the same work is performed is therefore not a pointless exercise. It is a necessary part of ensuring that we speak only the truth about God and thereby love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
For further study
- Job 33:4
- Colossians 1:15–17
- James 1:16–17
- Revelation 4:11
The bible in a year
- Numbers 13
- Mark 5:21–43