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John 20:21–22
“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (v. 21).
Trinitarian theology strives to maintain both unity (God is one) and plurality (God is three) in the Godhead. We must affirm that God is one in essence and three in person—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Without this confession, we do not have the God of the Bible. We are baptized into the Holy Trinity, not just any other being whom we might call “God” (Matt. 28:18–20).
Having considered how the mutual indwelling (Greek perichōrēsis) of the Trinitarian persons and the doctrine of divine simplicity help us understand the unity of the divine essence, it is time to look again at the plurality evident in God. That brings us to the divine missions, or the sending of the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Thomas Aquinas says that a mission is “the eternal procession, with the addition of a temporal effect.” Another way to put this is that a mission is a procession extended into time. Remember that the unique personal properties are the only distinctions between the persons of the Trinity, and with processions we are talking specifically about the personal properties of the Son and the Holy Spirit. A procession is an indication of “fromness.” The Son from all eternity is from the Father because He is eternally begotten of the Father. The Holy Spirit from all eternity is from the Father and the Son because He eternally proceeds from (or is spirated by) the Father and the Son. These processions constitute the inner life of the Trinity without making any of the persons lesser than the others.
With a mission, we have a procession extended in time, specifically through the incarnation of the Son and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Thus, the Father sent His Son to save His people (John 20:21; see 1:14). The Son has been from the Father from all eternity, and at a particular point this “fromness” was shown in the Son’s entering history in human flesh. The Father and the Son then sent the Holy Spirit, pouring Him out on the church (20:22; see Acts 2:33). These missions show us something of the inner life and order of the Holy Trinity. Why does the Father send the Son and not the other way around? It is not because the Father has a greater position than the Son but because the Son is eternally from the Father (procession). The Son is also temporarily from the Father (mission). Similarly, the Holy Spirit is sent but is not described as sending because none are eternally from Him, but He is eternally from both the Father and the Son. This occurs without diminishing the Spirit’s deity.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
The concept of the Trinitarian missions is important because it shows us that what God tells us about Himself in time is true. If the missions did not reflect the processions, then the sending of the Son, for instance, would be completely arbitrary and not at all reflective of who God is in Himself. That would leave us with a God who is unknowable. We cannot know God as He knows Himself, but the missions reveal truth to us about God’s triune life.
For further study
- Joel 2:28
- Matthew 21:33–44
- John 14:26
- Galatians 4:4
The bible in a year
- Numbers 3–4
- Mark 3:22–35