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 PrintableVersion Father, Son and SpiritThe Triniy and John's GospelThree in oneFATHER, SON AND SPIRIT As John’s Gospel reminds us, eternal life consists in knowing the only true God (17.3); and it is John’s Gospel in particular which reveals God as triune. We are to know and enjoy fellowship with each person of the Trinity. This book is part of the IVP series New Studies in Biblical Theology; while it is not ‘easy reading’, as with so many volumes in this series, it includes plenty of helpful and edifying material. The book is in three parts. First, John is set in the context of Jewish monotheism. While the Jews saw Jesus’s claims to deity as blasphemous, the early Christians were able to grasp that they could be monotheistic and believe in both Father and Son as God, i.e. relationships within the Godhead. Even the first verse of the Gospel reveals the Word as God, and with God. Second, we are shown how each person of the Trinity is presented in this Gospel. Jesus speaks openly of God as his Father, who sent him into the world, and upon whom he depends. It is clear that Jesus’s understanding of himself as ‘Son’ of God is in a uniquely divine sense. He is the object of faith and source of life, yet at the same time he is ‘sent out’ by the Father. Similarly Jesus speaks of sending the Spirit, and yet that this means that ‘I will come to you’. Thirdly and finally, there are theological reflections on what we learn of Father, Son, and Spirit. For example, the theme of the Son’s essential equality with the Father is held alongside his utter dependence and submission to the Father. Then there is an exploration of the Father’s gift of his Son as the means of salvation; for both Abraham with Isaac, and Israel at the Passover, animals were only sacrificed in place of the firstborn son. Similarly, as the prophets looked forward to the birth pangs of judgement giving way to the new order, so, as the Son rose from the dead he inaugurated the new world. Then there is the unique relationship of Son and Spirit; the Son is the dwelling place of the Spirit, the new temple. The climactic application of this is, of course, that through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we, as believers, share in the Son’s filial relationship to the Father. And the point of this is mission. As the Father sent the Son, so he now sends us into the world. A whole chapter is devoted to John 17. We are shown that ‘...the ultimate goal of the triune mission is that... [we] might participate in the intra-trinitarian fellowship of love, glory and gifting that existed “before the creation of the world” (17.24)’ (p.177). There is much edifying and stimulating material here, and no space in this review to unpack it. You will have to buy the book! Bill James, © Evangelicals Now - July 2008 |
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