We are now ready to embark on a very exciting chapter of the 1689 Confession on the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. But before we do this we should prepare our heart and mind for the study of the Godhead. In Louis Berkhof’s Systematic Theology, he states:
“God communicates knowledge of himself to Man. Kuyper calls attention to the fact that theology as the knowledge of God differs in an important point from all other knowledge. In the study of all other sciences man places himself above the object of his investigation and actively elicits from it from his knowledge by whatever method may seem appropriate. But in theology he does not stand above but rather under the object of his knowledge. In other words, man can know God only in so far as the latter actively makes Himself known.”[1]
Here is a portion of a sermon delivered on Sabbath Morning, January 7th, 1855, by the REV. C. H. Spurgeon at New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.
“I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”—Malachi 3:6
It has been said by some one that “the proper study of mankind is man.” I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God’s elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father. There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can compass and grapple with; in them we feel a kind of self-content, and go our way with the thought, “Behold I am wise.” But when we come to this master-science, finding that our plumb-line cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought, that vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild ass’s colt; and with the solemn exclamation, “I am but of yesterday, and know nothing.” No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God. We shall be obliged to feel—
“Great God, how infinite art thou,
What worthless worms are we!”
But while the subject humbles the mind it also expands it. He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe. He may be a naturalist, boasting of his ability to dissect a beetle, anatomize a fly, or arrange insects and animals in classes with well nigh unutterable names; he may be a geologist, able to discourse of the megatherium and the plesiosaurus, and all kinds of extinct animals; he may imagine that his science, whatever it is, ennobles and enlarges his mind. I dare say it does, but after all, the most excellent study for expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity. And, whilst humbling and expanding, this subject is eminently consolatary. Oh, there is, in contemplating Christ, a balm for every wound; in musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief; and in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore. Would you lose your sorrows? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead’s deepest sea; be lost in his immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of grief and sorrow; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead. It is to that subject that I invite you this morning.[2]
A.W. Tozer states: “The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.”[3]
Again Tozer says: “If we insist upon trying to imagine Him, we end up with an idol, made not with hand but with thoughts; and an idol of the mind is as offensive to God as an idol of the hand.”[4]
Chapter 1 laid a foundation or basis for knowledge, and that basis is revelation found in the holy Scriptures; revelation, meaning it is something that was hidden but has now been shown or revealed. Again, there are two important categories of revelation in theology, namely general and special revelation. General revelation will only tell us general things about God and are for a general audience. We must have special revelation in order to know specific things about God. Without special revelation, found ONLY in the Scriptures, we end up with an idol we have formed in our minds and not with the only true and living God. But what glorious revelation He has given us in the written word of God. We have the Scriptures as the “only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience.”[5]
Only if we know our limitations and our needs, are we a position to even begin this study of God.
- 1. We cannot know God unless He reveals Himself to us in the Scriptures.
- 2. We must understand that the ONLY in the Scriptures has God specifically revealed Himself.
- 3. We must receive illumination from the Holy Spirit to understand this special revelation (in the Scriptures).
Knowing how sure, reliable and incapable of error the Scriptures are, we come confidently and expectantly to see what they will tell us of our glorious God. But one more word of caution from R.C. Sproul:
- “Theology distinguishes between a comprehensive (exhaustive) knowledge of God, which we cannot have, and an apprehensive knowledge, which is limited, finite, human, creaturely knowledge that we can have.[6]
- Who has ascended to heaven and come down?
- Who has gathered the wind in his fists?
- Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment?
- Who has established all the ends of the earth?
- What is his name, and what is his son’s name?
- Surely you know!
- Every word of God proves true;
- He is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
- Do not add to his words,
- Lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar. Prov. 30:4-6 (ESV)
- [1]Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, Erdmann’s), pg. 35
- [2] http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0001.htm
- [3] Knowledge of the Holy, The Attributes of God: Their Meaning in the Christian Life (San Francisco, Harper & Row), pg. 3.
- [4] Ibid., pg. 8
- [5] 1689 Second London Baptist Confession, Chapter 1:1.
- [6] R.C. Sproul, Truths We Confess (New Jersey, P&R Publishing), Volume I, pg. 42.
