Plenary Session Three: “How The Trinity Shapes The Gospel” – Michael Reeves
How are the precious truths of the Gospel rooted in the essential character of God? Everything that is beautiful about the Gospel is only so because God is Triune. At the beginning of the Reformation Luther called the Trinity the highest article on which all others hang. Why is that?
If God is not Father, Son and Spirit, what does that do to the Gospel?
First of all, if God were not Triune, if God had no Son to die in our place, then God would have to make a third party to suffer in our place. We would have to provide a substitute because God wouldn’t have one to give to us; we would have to produce a suitable man. But if that is the case, then how is that grace? We would be providing our own sacrifice. In addition, it would be impossible for us to produce that suitable sacrifice. People are broken; they are fallen; they are dead. Dead people are not helpful at all.
How you define God will shape how you present the Gospel. If you start with God as a judge or heavenly headmaster then you will communicate a certain Gospel out of that; the ultimate goal will be a clean slate. But if God is Father – then that changes everything. The ultimate goal for the Gospel that comes from that will be redemption, restoration, rehabilitation and return. It will be about being drawn back up to God. It will be about going home. That’s a better Gospel!
An Exegesis Of Romans 8
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (Romans 8:14 ESV)
Paul uses this terminology not because he is a misogynist, but rather because the end point of Paul’s Gospel is full “sonship” – joint inheritance in Christ and full privilege with Christ. That sense of Gospel only flows naturally from the Triune God.
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15 ESV)
Why in a Greek letter does Paul insert this Aramaic word, “Abba!”? The answer seems to lie in Mark 14:
“Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36 ESV)
Jesus prayed to God as a personal Father and he invites us to do the same.
An Exegesis Of John 1
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12–13 ESV)
No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. (John 1:18 ESV)
The Greek in verse 18 actually says that Jesus is in the bosom of the Father and he tells the disciples that he wants them to be with him where he is.
One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus’ side (John 13:23 ESV)
In the Greek the same language is present – the disciple was in Jesus’ bosom and Jesus is in the Father’s bosom – the idea here is that Jesus draws us into himself so that we can enjoy intimacy with the Father. The Gospel is all about being brought back to Father – it is about going home.
A Consideration Of The Gospel In Mark
Mark’s Gospel begins with these words:
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.(Mark 1:1 ESV)
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:9–11 ESV)
And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:37–39 ESV)
A Consideration Of Sonship In Hebrews
1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. 5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”? (Hebrews 1:1–5 ESV)
For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” 13 And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.” (Hebrews 2:11–13 ESV)
Who we understand Jesus to be determines the benefits we understand him to bring. When we understand him as Son we expect to be saved into a family and into an inheritance and into an intimate relationship with Father God.
We live in the slipstream of our Savior. We are brought into what he has. We are following in his footsteps.
We cannot understand justification apart from our understanding of Jesus as the Son of God. Quoting Calvin: “As Jacob did not deserve the right of the first born, but rather received it while clothed in the robes of his brother, we in like manner receive what we do not deserve when we are cloaked in the righteousness of Christ. We must smell sweetly in his odor and our vices must be covered in his perfection.”
The Gospel flows out of who the Son is in relation to the Father. It is into that intimacy that we are brought and bound by the Spirit. This is a Trinitarian Gospel from start to finish. It is essentially relational – how could it be otherwise when it flows from a God who exists in eternal fellowship?
Salvation is fundamentally about adoption. It is about being made and declared a child of God with full rights and authority through faith in Jesus Christ. It is being with God in the Son with the help of the Holy Spirit. It is about coming home.
Our Father is a God who delights in making sons out of slaves. He delights in finding people in bondage to sin and death and saving them, changing them, and gathering them into fellowship with him through the Son and by the operation of the Holy Spirit.
Numbers 13 – consider Caleb. He was adopted. His name means “dog” and he is described in Numbers 37 as a Kenizzite – that is a Canaanite. He was adopted into the royal tribe of Judah, he won a great inheritance and was revered as a hero of the faith. That is the picture of the Trinitarian Gospel – Old Testament and New. Thanks be to God.
My Reflections:
Dr. Reeves did not emphasize this point, but as I was listening I couldn’t help but wonder whether our current obsession with gender neutral pronouns and gender sensitivity threatens to rob us of our understanding of the Trinitarian Gospel. Will we become hesitant to speak of God as Father? Will we avoid referring to Jesus as the Son? Will we stop asking men to consider what it means to be the Bride of Christ or women to think of themselves as full blood sons of God through faith? If we lose this language and background these dynamics will we turn the Gospel into a weak and thin parody of itself? Spirit of God, preserve us!
The summary above represents my best efforts to recollect and capture the essence of Dr. Reeve’s presentation. Where quotations are exact they are indicated as such. Otherwise they should be understood as rough representations. The audio and video for this session will be posted on the TGC Atlantic website immediately following the conference.
May God Alone Be Glorified,
Paul Carter