Walking Through Westminster, WCF 2.3

Westminster Confession of Faith 2.3

"In the unity of the Godhead there be three Persons of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son."

Summary

      While there is only one God, there are three Divine Persons who are each rightly called God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are distinct in their Personhood, but united in their substance, power, and eternity, or their Godhood. The Father is neither begotten, nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; and the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son. The Son being eternally begotten and the Spirit proceeding in no way means that they are creatures or had a beginning, since they are eternally God. This is the fundamental doctrine of the orthodox catholic faith. Anyone who denies the belief in the Trinity, as presented above, is in no way a part of the one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. Anyone who denies this teaching and teaches something contrary is a false teacher and worthy of eternal damnation. This includes Arians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Unitarians, Mohammedans, so-called “Jews”, Modalists, and all heathen religions, which are obviously false. While the Trinitarian reality is a great mystery, this doesn’t make it illogical or impossible to believe. Further, anyone who would claim that they will only believe in a god they can fully understand is asking for an idol, and truly worships themselves. 

Since humanity is made in God’s image, I believe we can sufficiently grasp this doctrine by considering humanity itself. There is only one human nature, what we might call “humanness”. Each human person has this human nature 100%. In other words, it is not the case that human nature is subdivided based on how many human persons there are. For example two human persons don’t split human nature, each taking 50%, but rather they each are 100% human, yet maintain their distinct personhood. In a greater way, each of the Three Divine Persons is 100% God, the divinity being neither shared nor subdivided, yet in such a way that each Divine Person maintains their distinct personhood; the Father is neither the Son nor the Spirit, the Son neither the Spirit nor the Father, the Spirit neither the Father nor the Son, and yet each of the Three is truly God and there is only one God.

+ Blessings in Christ +