February 24 – LD 8, Day 6: Faith in God the Son

John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

In connection with the Person of the Son, it is easiest to demonstrate that He is a Person within the Godhead (a term we use to refer to the One Divine Being we call God, who lives in covenant friendship as three Persons).

This is important because there are many within Christianity who claim to teach the trinity but deny it. How do they deny the Trinity? They deny the Trinity by insisting that God is NOT three Persons, but three modalities, three ways of revelation. God is ONE Person who manifests Himself in three ways, as a Father, as a Son, and as a Spirit. Heretics throughout the ages have opposed the doctrine of the Trinity by using such reasoning. They do this because they insist that the idea of three Persons subsisting in One Divine Being is too philosophical and abstract. It is important that our catechism answered their false reasoning by simply stating, “God has so revealed Himself to us in His Word.” That is the key issue, do we let God tell us who He is or do we make God to be what we want Him to be. If we do, this is idolatry.

I say, God the Son as a divine Person can be demonstrated.

Psalm 2:7 is a declaration to the Son in eternity, “Thou art MY Son, this day have I begotten thee.” This is not a reference to Bethlehem, but a reference to His resurrection and ascension. He is a Person because the Father could talk to him, personally, and say to Him in eternity that He has begotten Him in victory.

He is a divine Person because He could do divine things on earth, He performed miracles which aroused debate as to His true identity. How can He do this if He is only a manifestation of the divine? He could do this because He was personally God the Son. The same was true in the debate that followed Jesus’ reference to forgiveness of sins. “Who can forgive sins but God only?” Jesus claimed that power because He was personally God.

What a comfort this affords!

All that Jesus did for us while He was on earth, He did for us not as a manifestation of the divine, but as a Person who consciously performed redemption. Hence it is genuine for us.