Most North American evangelical Christians when asked to state the doctrine of the Trinity (if they can do it at all) will almost always give a heretical answer. The most common heresy among Western Christians has been “modalism,” which is the notion that God is not really one God in three persons, but rather only appears to be three persons. This is what we often teach in our Sunday Schools by way of the illustrations we use which imply that God wears a series of masks (first Father, then Son, then Spirit) or takes different forms under different conditions (e.g., water in solid, liquid, and gas forms). ~ R. Scott Clark in “The Splendor of the Three-In-One God”

The Scutum Fidei (Shield of the Trinity), diagram expressing the doctrine of the Trinity from the 12th century (click to enlarge)

We will continue Berkhof’s Systematic Theology. This week, we’ll be studying Part 1, Chapter VIII: The Holy Trinity. We’ll do a brief sketch of the patristic development of this doctrine in response to heresies, and how and where these heresies are still with us today. Then if time permits, we’ll go on to Part II, Chapter 1: The Divine Decrees in General. It gets more interesting here, where the terms sovereignty, predestination, free will, etc., are introduced. We might even mention infralapsarianism and supralapsarianism.

Here are a few recommended articles:

The Holy Trinity:

“The Splendor of the Three-In-One God” by Dr. R. Scott Clark (PDF booklet) (webpage)

“The Divine Trinity” by Herman Bavinck (PDF)

“What is the Trinity?” by R. C. Sproul (PDF)

“The Holy Trinity and Christian Worship” by Robert Letham (PDF)

“The Trinity” by The ESV Study Bible (PDF), with the modern version of the above diagram

Coat of Arms of the Anglican Diocese of Trinidad

The Decrees of God:

Summary of Christian Doctrine by Louis Berkhof, Part II, Chapter VIII: The Divine Decrees (webpage)

“Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism” by Herman Bavinck (PDF)

Westminster Shorter Catechism Project: Question 7 (links to Puritan writings)

Here’s a useful quote from Robert Letham’s “The Holy Trinity and Christian Worship”:

Putting it another way, from the other side as it were, the worship of the church is the communion of the holy Trinity with us his people. We are inclined to view worship as what we do, but if we follow our argument, it is first and foremost something the triune God does, our actions initiated and encompassed by his… Christ is, in reality, the one true worshiper, our worship being a participation in his. A focus on our worship, on what we do, is inherently Pelagian. Further, our worship is by the Holy Spirit in Christ. As John Thompson puts it: “If one understands the New Testament and the view it gives of how we meet with and know God and worship him as triune, then worship is not primarily our act but, like our salvation, is God’s gift before or as it is our task.”

See you there at 9 a.m.!