Thursday, April 22, 2021

The Thirty-Nine Articles - Article 1 - The Triune God – 23 April 2021, Anno Domini

 




A

ND God spake all these words, saying, 2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.  (Exodus 20:1-3)

 

Our God is a Triune God – that is, He is, as Genesis 1 suggests, a singular/plural entity. The Elohim (used for God in Genesis 1) is of unusual grammatical character not to be found in English. It literally means a singular Godhead in a plural form – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. All three Persons of the Godhead act in unity of purpose and are of One Mind. Just as He brought the Children of Israel out of hard bondage in Egypt, He has brought His elect out from the bondage of sin and eternal damnation.

 

The Trinity was present on the first day of Creation of the old world, and the Trinity was present as well at the baptism of our Lord signifying the beginning of the new Creation in Christ: there was our Lord (who was baptized), the Holy Spirit (symbolized by the dove), and God the Father who spoke from Heaven. “16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: 17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17)

 

Article I of the Thirty-Nine Articles proclaims the very Foundation of our Faith in the Triune God. Just as all Persons of the Godhead are One with each other, so are all believers One in Christ (and One with the Father and the Spirit) in Christ Jesus. Being One with Him, we are One with all others of faith. There is no division of love or in Unity of Faith in the true Church of God. Division is caused by lack of knowledge.

 

I    Of Faith in the Holy Trinity 

There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts or passions; of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the Maker, and Preserver of all things both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there be three Persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost

 

            All doctrinal statements of the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Reformation Church of England are abundantly supported by Holy Scripture. If we were to discover any Article at variance with Scripture, we would reject it; however, we have volumes of Scripture texts to support each Article. The Thirty-Nine Articles summarize our faith in the biblical narrative, and we adhere strictly to them as an expression of who we are in the ancient Anglican faith.

 

            St. Patrick (patron Saint of Ireland who was never Roman Catholic) had a gift to express grave matters in simple terms. We all may be familiar with the Shamrock (three-leaf clover) which proliferates in the Emerald Isle. It is comprised of a stem and three leaves. St. Patrick describe the Trinity by the shamrock. It is one plant (stem) with a head of three leaves – all serving the same purpose and nature of the whole – yet still one plant. This is a great illustration of our Trinity.

 

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HIS is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” (1 John 5:6-7)

 

            Let no one disparage you by questioning the veracity of 1 John 5:6-7. It does not suit the modern Church to admit the profound truth of the Godhead since they must reduce and challenge the divinity of Christ at every point in their corrupt translations. The Globalist of Babel cannot reconcile their One-World Religion in the face of as Divine Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ keeps getting in the way – so, He must be reduced, in their fevered theology, to less than divine. Perhaps they would settle for a ‘good prophet’. But He is Prophet, King, and Lord – the Ancient Landmark and the Ancient of Days by whom all things were made. (see John 1:1-14)

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