greenbaggins
Puritan Board Doctor
It is easy to forget the importance of the Trinity not only for salvation considered narrowly, but also for the entire Christian walk. John Owen explains:
Of all that communion which is here between God and man, founded on the revelation of his mind and will unto him, which makes way for his enjoyment in glory, there are these two parts:-1st, God's gracious communication of his love, goodness &c., with the fruits of them, unto man; 2d, The obedience of man unto God, in a way of gratitude for that love, according to the mind and will of God revealed to him. These two comprise the whole of the intercourse between God and man. Now, when the mind of man is exercised about these things, he finds at last that they are so wrapped up in the doctrine of the Trinity, that without the belief, receiving and acceptance of it, it is utterly impossible that any interest in them should be obtained or preserved.
For the first, or the communication of God unto us in a way of love and goodness, it is wholly founded upon and inwrapped in this truth, both as to the eternal spring and actual execution of it. A few instances will evince this assertion. The eternal fountain of all grace, flowing from love and goodness, lie in God's election, or predestination. This being an act of God's will, cannot be apprehended but as an eternal act of his Wisdom or Word also. All the eternal thoughts of its pursuit lie in the covenant that was between the Father and the Son, as to the Son's undertaking to execute that purpose of his. This I have at large elsewhere declared.
Take away, then, the doctrine of the Trinity, and both these are gone; there can e no purpose of grace by the Father in the Son-no covenant for the putting of that purpose in execution: and so the foundation of all fruits of love and goodness is lost to the soul (from The Divine Original of Scripture, in The Works of John Owen, vol. 16, pp. 340-1).
For the first, or the communication of God unto us in a way of love and goodness, it is wholly founded upon and inwrapped in this truth, both as to the eternal spring and actual execution of it. A few instances will evince this assertion. The eternal fountain of all grace, flowing from love and goodness, lie in God's election, or predestination. This being an act of God's will, cannot be apprehended but as an eternal act of his Wisdom or Word also. All the eternal thoughts of its pursuit lie in the covenant that was between the Father and the Son, as to the Son's undertaking to execute that purpose of his. This I have at large elsewhere declared.
Take away, then, the doctrine of the Trinity, and both these are gone; there can e no purpose of grace by the Father in the Son-no covenant for the putting of that purpose in execution: and so the foundation of all fruits of love and goodness is lost to the soul (from The Divine Original of Scripture, in The Works of John Owen, vol. 16, pp. 340-1).
