Glory Be to Our Great God | Day 26 - God is Inseparable

Give Thanks to the United Persons of the Trinity

Now this is the catholic faith:
That we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity,
neither blending their persons
nor dividing their essence.
For the person of the Father is a distinct person,
the person of the Son is another,
and that of the Holy Spirit still another.
But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one,
their glory equal, their majesty coeternal. . . .

Thus the Father is Lord,
the Son is Lord,
the Holy Spirit is Lord.
Yet there are not three lords;
there is but one Lord. - The Athanasian Creed

There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions; of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the Maker, and Preserver of all things both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there be three Persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. - The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion

In this divine and infinite Being there are three subsistences, the Father, the Word or Son, and Holy Spirit, of one substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided: the Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son; all infinite, without beginning, therefore but one God, who is not to be divided in nature and being, but distinguished by several peculiar relative properties and personal relations; which doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God, and comfortable dependence on Him. - The 1689 London Baptist Confession

By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. - Psalm 33:6

To those who are elect exiles . . . according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. - 1 Peter 1:1-2

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

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. - Galatians 4:4-7

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. - 1 Peter 1:1-2

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heav'nly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Amen.
- Thomas Ken, “Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow”

Not Like Group Projects and High School Musical

I remember joking with some youth at my church that I finished my education journey in 17th grade. If you count all elementary, middle school, high school, and my five-year B.A. and M.Div., then I have spent 17 years of my life in academics (minus kindergarten). Looking back, I realize how God has blessed me with a great education journey, but I did dislike one thing about school: group projects. Don’t get me wrong; I liked the group projects when I was with people I liked who I knew were going to get their share of the work done. But I’m sure you know by experience that group projects suck when at least one member doesn’t intentionally participate. We hate it when one or more group members slack off or make you do their work which could lead to a bad grade or lots of stress for you to do everything.

But have you ever experienced great teamwork? We get refreshed and excited when we are part of a group coming together with total focus and effort to accomplish a task. Speaking of school, when I was in middle school, one of the most popular Disney movies debuted with a song that expresses this ideal:

We're all in this together
Once we know
That we are
We're all stars
And we see that

We're all in this together
And it shows
When we stand
Hand in hand
Make our dreams come true
- Robert S. Nevil & Matthew R.t. Gerrard, “We’re All in This Together”

For the record, I am NOT a fan of the High School Musical franchise, but as the song goes, there is something special when a bunch of individuals come together to achieve a common goal that requires all that they have. Because of teamwork and dedication, “We've arrived because we stuck together. Champions one and all.”

But can we describe the Triune God like a group project? Are persons of the Trinity just three separate individuals coming together to accomplish a task? Does each person do their own thing but then collaborate every once and a while? What does it mean for the Triune persons to be united?

Much ink has been spilled regarding how the Trinity is united, yet much misunderstanding has also been written. However, as we will see both biblically and theologically, all three persons are the same God with the same divine nature, which means they are inseparable in both being and action.

One Nature, One Will, One Unified Effort

It’s easy for Christians today to understand the triune persons like human persons as three separate centers of consciousness. Typically, the word “person” is often used to describe a distinct individual from another along with his or her nature, but, although all humans have the same type of nature as being spiritually embodied creatures, all humans are not the same person and don’t possess the same body and mind, thus not sharing the same concrete nature.¹ So it’s no wonder how we can easily read into the Trinity the creaturely definition of “person”—that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit each are God but separate individual personalities that have separate consciousnesses and personalities.

However, this misunderstands the unity of the Trinity because it abandons key aspects of the doctrine of God, particularly Divine Simplicity. You might be tired of me bringing this up repeatedly, but I think it is vital that Christians affirm that God is not made up of parts but is one simple nature that includes the mind and will. Boethius, a church father, defined “person” as “the individual substance of a rational nature,”² which means that it is “a subsistence that acts in and through a ‘rational nature.’ In such a definition, the intellect and will are located in the ‘essence’ or ‘nature,’ which results in a distinction between the ‘person,’ or the subject who acts (‘act of willing’), and the ‘nature’ (which includes the capacities or faculties of intellect and will) in which the ‘person’ subsists and by which the person acts.”³ This means that there cannot be three separate centers of consciousness, three minds, and three wills because “the divine persons are ‘subsisting relations’ in the one indivisible divine nature (per divine simplicity). Since the persons subsist in the divine nature fully and completely, they can only be distinguished by their eternal, immanent relations in the divine essence or their incommunicable personal properties (i.e., paternity, affiliation, and spiration).”⁴

Although this may seem to blow up our brains, the New Testament authors not only assume that the Triune persons share the same divine nature but also mutually indwell one another. For instance, Jesus states “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30) and “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves” (John 14:10-11). The Holy Spirit is known as the Spirit of the Father (Matt. 10:20) and the Spirit of the Son (Gal 4:6) because he eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son (John 15:26). Theologians have called this reality perichoresis which is that “Father, Son, and Spirit mutually indwell or interpenetrate one another” and this assumes that God is simple because “We can only affirm mutual life between the persons because each person is a subsistence of the simple essence.”⁵

“But Joseph, how do you reconcile the persons sharing only one divine mind/will, not multiple minds and wills when the Bible shows each of them doing different things? Surely, each person doing different actions means three separate centers of consciousness.” Yes, we do see that Father “gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16) into the world, the Son takes on a human nature, dies, and rises from the dead, and the Holy Spirit indwells and regenerates, but since God is one, the three persons are inseparable in all divine works—inseparable operations. Augustine writes that “the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are inseparably united in themselves; that this Trinity is one God; that all the works of the one God are the works of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”⁶ Inseparable operations means that there are “common action[s] of the three divine persons in virtue of their one power and their one nature.”⁷ Therefore, “In God’s works (i.e., revelation, creation, redemption, and consummation), the persons act inseparably and indivisible but also according to their ‘ordered’ (taxis) relations, with specific acts appropriated to one of the divine persons, which fittingly reveal the eternal relations of the three persons.”⁸ So let’s view the works of God in this way:

1. Revelation: God speaks to make himself known to all

   1. The Father has spoken through all creation, messengers, and his direct speech, especially through his Son and the written Word (Gen. 1:1; See all references to “Thus says the LORD,” Heb. 1:1-4).

   2. The Son is the Word of God who perfectly reveals the Father (John 1:1; Heb.1:1-4)

   3. The Holy Spirit has spoken through the prophets and ultimately gave us the written Word of God (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:19-21)

2. Creation: God makes all things

   1. The Father created and sustains all things (Gen. 1:1; Isa. 40:25-26).

   2. The Son is the Word through whom the Father creates and sustains all things (Gen. 1:3; Ps. 33:6; John 1:2-3; Col. 1:16-17).

   3. The Holy Spirit has perfected and sustains all creation (Gen. 1:2; Ps. 33:6).

3. Redemption: God saves sinners

   1. The Father chose before time all whom he would save and sent the Son to accomplish the work of salvation and the Spirit to apply that work (Eph. 1:3-6; Rom. 4:5; 5:5; Gal. 4:6-7).

   2. The Son takes on a human nature to accomplish the work of salvation through his perfect obedience, death, resurrection, and ascension (John 1:14-17; John 14:6; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; Phil. 2:5-11; Eph. 1:7-10).

   3. The Holy Spirit applies the work of salvation accomplished by the Son through union with Christ by his indwelling and baptism of regeneration in sinners’ hearts (John 15:26; 1 Cor. 3:16; 2 Cor. 3:18; Eph. 4:4-6; Tit. 3:5-7; Jude 20-21.

4. Consummation: God will make all things new

   1. The Father will create new heavens and new earth and send the Son to bring about the resurrection of the death and the life everlasting (Rev. 21:1-4)

   2. The Son will come again to bring about the resurrection and judge the living and the dead (John 11:25; Rev. 22:1-6)

   3. The Holy Spirit has sealed all Christians for the coming of Christ when all things will be made new (Eph. 1:13-14; Rev. 22:17)

Living to the Father through the Son by the Holy Spirit

Why do Trinity’s inseparable operations and appropriations matter for the Christian life? Gilles Emery writes, “By receiving the Holy Spirit, by communing in Christ, believers enter into the divine life. They are led to the Father by the divine power and the Son and the Holy Spirit who renew them interiorly.”⁹ Look back at the Great Commission which Jesus states, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:18-20). Our lives as Christians were started and commissioned in the name of the LORD, the Triune God and it is in this name that we have found life through his saving work.

Therefore, the Christian lives a life of communion with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God has given us his written Word through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so that we can conform our lives increasingly toward conformity to the image of Christ (2 Tim 3:16-17; Rom. 8:28-29). Christians follow Christ’s teaching to pray to the Father because they come to him through the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 6:9-13; Rom. 8:11-17, 26-27; Heb. 4:14-16). By looking to Jesus by the Spirit’s power, Christians put to death sin and run the race of life with endurance doing all things to the glory of God the Father (1 Cor. 10:31; Gal. 5:16-26; Col. 3:17; Hebrews 12:1-2). By congregating together, Christians form local churches to be God’s embassies that preach the gospel of Jesus, recognize all who have been born again by the Spirit of God, and make disciples of all nations (Eph. 4:4-6; Matt. 28:18-20; Tit. 1:1-9). Because God the Father is the God of all comfort, we can run to Jesus who will never leave us or forsake us because the Holy Spirit is our Helper and Comforter (2 Cor. 1:3-7; John 14:26-27).

Because God is inseparable in his nature and works, we can live, strive, heal, fight, rest, and thrive in the eternally secure communion of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen. - The Book of Common Prayer, “The Collect for Purity”

1. Stephen J. Wellum, Systematic Theology, Volume 1: From Canon to Concept (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2024), 692.

2. Boethius. "A Treatise Against Eutyches and Nestorius." In Theological Tractates, translated by H. F. Stewart and E. K. Rand. Accessed February 13, 2025. https://www.ccel.org/ccel/boethius/tracts.iv.v.html.

3. Wellum, Systematic Theology, Volume 1, 690.

4. Stephen J. Wellum, “Three Persons, One Will,” in On Classical Trinitarianism: Retrieving the Nicene Doctrine of the Triune God, ed. Matthew Barrett (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2024), 278.

5. Matthew Barrett, Simply Trinity: The Unmanipulated Father, Son, and Spirit (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2021), 323.

6. Augustine of Hippo, “Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel according to St. John,” in St. Augustin: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies, ed. Philip Schaff, trans. John Gibb and James Innes, vol. 7, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, First Series (New York: Christian Literature Company, 1888), 137.

7. Gilles Emery, The Trinity: An Introduction to Catholic Doctrine on the Triune God, trans. Matthew Levering (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2011), 161.

8. Wellum, Systematic Theology, Volume 1, 704.

9. Emery, The Trinity, 4.