The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1902, Page 26

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26

The Lutheran Pioneer.

Of the Holy Trinity.

Hiero, the king of Syracuse, once inquired
of Simonides, a heathen poet, ‘‘What and how
is God?’’ The poet requested one day to con-
sider the question and to prepare his answer.
At the expiration of the day, he asked for two
days more; and when those had expired he
desired four days additional. The king, sur-
prised because of this behavior of Simonides,
demanded an explanation. The poet meekly
but frankly replied, ‘‘The more I think of
God, the more mysterious and incomprehen-
sible He appears.’’ This acknowledgment of
the wise poet confirms the words of the
apostle, ‘‘The world by wisdom knew not
God.’’ Though the existence of God and
some of His attributes may be learned from
the visible creation, yet such a knowledge is
at its best but a ‘‘feeling’’ after God, if, haply,
they might find Him, as St. Paul says to the
Athenians, Acts 17, 27.

But if human wisdom is unable to give a
satisfactory answer to the question, ‘‘What
and how is God?”’ still less can it answer the
question, ‘‘IVio is God?’? Only the Holy
Scriptures can answer this question. Reason
can only hopelessly flounder and go astray.
The Holy Scriptures, however, give us the
positive and correct answer. And what is
this answer? Who is God, the true God?
“The Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, three distinct Persons in one divine
Essence.’”

In the Creed we confess that we believe in
God the Father, God the Son, and God the
Holy Ghost. We confess our faith in three
distinct diyine Persons. And this our faith is
founded on Holy Scriptures, for Christ ‘com-
mands His Church to baptize in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost, Matt. 28, 19. So also St. Paul makes
mention of three distinct Persons when he says,
2 Cor. 18, 14: ‘'The grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the love of God, and the com-
munion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.’”
Likewise does the benediction which we hear
pronounced in every divine service refer to
the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: ‘The Lord
bless thee, and keep thee; the Lord make His
face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto
thee; the Lord lift up His countenance upon
thee, and give thee peace,”’ Num. 6, 24—26.

At the baptism of Jesus the three divine
Persons revealed themselves most unmistak-
ably. God the Father cries from heaven,
“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased ;’’ God the Son is being baptized in
the River Jordan by John; and God the Holy
Ghost descends like a dove, and alights upon
Jesus. Yes, from Holy Scriptures it is plain
that there are three distinct Persons in the
- Godhead; that there is a distinction which
allows naming them Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost; that there is a distinction which allows
use of the pronouns J, thou, he; which
aders it proper to speak of sending and of

being sent, of- Christ geing with God, being in
His bosom. ~

But how are these divine Persons distin-
guished from one another? Answer: The
Father has begotten the Son from all eternity,
for thus He says to the Son, ‘‘Thou art my
Son; this day have I begotten Thee,’’ Ps.
2,7. The Son is begotten of the Father from
all eternity. The Holy Ghost proceeds from
the Father and Son from all eternity; for
John 15, 26 Christ says of the Comforter, the
Holy Ghost, that He will send Him unto His
disciples from the Father; and Gal. 4, 6 the
Apostle tells us of the Holy Ghost that He is
the Spirit of the Son. Likewise do the Per-
sons of the Godhead distinguish themselves
from one another by the works especially as-
cribed to them. The Father reveals Himself
especially in the work of Creation, the Son in
the work of Redemption, and the Holy Ghost
in the work of Sanctification.

Thus we believe ‘‘that the Father is God,
the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God;
and yet there are not three Gods, but one
God.’’ This is in perfect accordance with
Holy Scripture. As outspoken as is the Bible
in teaching that there are three Persons in the
Godhead, so outspoken is it also in its doc-
trine that these three Persons are in one divine
Essence. ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God
is one Lord,’’ says Moses Deut. 6, 4. Our
God is one, and yet threefold, He is the Tri-
une God; hence we speak of the Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost as the Holy Trinity.

Here we have, indeed, a mystery of mys-
teries, and yet this doctrine is not irrational
or contradictory. It is simply beyond our
understanding, because we can draw nothing
from nature or our experience to illustrate it.
We must simply believe it upon the testimony
of divine revelation. And when, dear reader,
we in simple faith believe this truth, we shall
come to know the Son who was in the begin-
ning, and thereby, too, we shall know the Fa-
ther who sent this Son into the world, and we
are at the same time filled with a blessed assur-
ance and joy, worked in us by the Holy Ghost.

This, then, is the true God; and there is
none other God than the Triune God. Who-
ever denies Him, as do the Jews, Mohammed-
ans, Unitarians, Universalists, Mormons, and
the so-called secret societies—I say, whoever
denies this Triune God worships an idol and
deprives himself of everlasting life. There-
fore let us give all honor, worship, and glory
to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy
Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and
ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

F. J. L.
—s~e oo

He who has the Word of God is a rich man
and is not in need of anything better. For
this Word is full of life, of light, of truth, of
peace, of righteousness, of salvation, of joy,
of freedom, of wisdom, of strength, of grace,
of honor, and of all good things in abundance.

- Luther.

Briars Transformed into Roses.

‘A preacher once used the following illus-
tration: ‘‘Once there was a briar growing in
the ditch, and there came along a gardener
with a spade. As he dug around it, and lifted
it out, the briar said to itself, ‘What is he do-
ing that for? Doesn’t he know that I am an
old, worthless briar?’ But the gardener took
it into his garden and planted it amid his flow-
ers, while the briar said, ‘What a mistake he
has made, planting an old briar like myself
among such rose trees as these!’ But the gar-
dener came with his keen-edged knife, made a
slit in the briar, and ‘budded’ it with a branch
from a rose bush. By and by, when summer
came, lovely roses were blooming on that old
briar. Then the gardener said, ‘Your beauty
is not due to that which came out of you, but
to that which I put into you.’”’

This is just what the Holy Ghost is doing
all the time with men. The natural man is
like a briar. The Spirit of God takes hold of
him and puts new life into him. By the blessed
Gospel the Spirit enkindles faith in his heart,
lifts him up out of the dust, and grafts him
unto Christ, the life-giving Vine, who says,
‘“‘He that abideth in me, and I in him, the
same bringeth forth much fruit; for without
me ye can do nothing.’’ The good-for-noth-
ing briar, fit only to be cut down and cast into
the fire, becomes a blooming rose because of
Christ living in him. The natural man, dead
in sin, is changed into a living child of God,
‘being fruitful in every good work.’’ A won-
derful change! J.F.L.

—_—_—— ~~ oP oo

Footprints.

‘“‘What is that, father?’’ asked Benny.

“Tt is a footprint, my son, and is a sign that
some one came into our front yard last night.”

“It must be,”’ replied Benny, ‘‘for there
could not be a footprint without somebody
had been there to make it.’’

“That is true, Benjamin; and now show
me some of the footprints of the Creator!”

“I don’t understand you, father.’’

“Well, who made all these beautiful flow-
ers; these splendid trees; the clouds up in
the sky; the great round earth; the mighty
sun flaming in the heavens, and started the
bright moon rolling around the world?’’

‘Oh, God, to be sure!’”

“Then all these things are but the foot-
prints of the Creator. They are the sign that
there is a Creator, and that He has been here.
See this ice plant that I hold—man could
never haye made it; see all the glistening
grass; hear all the chirping birds—man did
not, and could not, make them! God made
them, and they are all simple ‘footprints’ of
the great Creator, to prove to us that there is
& good and great God, whom we love, wor-
ship, and obey. Do you understand ?”’

“*Yes, father, I understand very well now,
and I thank you for teaching me that lesson.”