The Most Mysterious Doctrine (Loraine Boettner, 1901-1990)

THE doctrine of the Trinity is perhaps the most mysterious and difficult doctrine that is presented to us in the entire range of Scripture. Consequently, we do not presume to give a full explanation of it. In the nature of the case, we can know only as much concerning the inner nature of the Godhead as has been revealed to us in the Scriptures. 

The tri-personality of God is exclusively a truth of revelation,1 and one that lies outside the realm of natural reason. Its height and depth and length and breadth are immeasurable by reason of the fact that the finite is dealing with the Infinite. As well might we expect to confine the ocean within a teacup as to place a full explanation of the nature of God within the limits of our feeble human minds…We do hope, however, that under the guidance of the Holy Spirit we shall be enabled to set forth the truth concerning it in a plain, simple way—yet as fully as the limitations of our finite minds and language will permit—and to guard it against the errors and heresies that have prevailed at one time or another in the history of the Church… 

Since in the study of this doctrine we are absolutely dependent on revelation (there being nothing else quite similar to or analogous 2 with it in our own consciousness or in the material world), and since the subject of our study is transcendently 3 sacred—that subject being the innermost nature of the infinitely righteous and transcendent God—our attitude should be that of disciples who, with true humility and reverence, are ready to receive implicitly whatever God has seen fit to reveal. 

Since God is the Creator, Preserver, and final Disposer of all things, the One in Whom we live and move and have our being (Act 17:28), our knowledge of Him must be basic and fundamental to all our knowledge. In answer to the question, “What is God?”, the Scriptures reveal Him to us in the first place as a rational 4 and righteous Spirit, infinite in His attributes of wisdom, being, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. In the second place, they reveal Him to us as One Who exists eternally as three “persons,” these three persons, however, being one in substance and existing in the most perfect unity of thought and purpose. It is evident, moreover, that if God does thus exist in three persons, each of Whom has His distinctive part in the works of creation, providence, redemption, and grace, that fact governs His activity in all spheres of His work and, consequently, the doctrine that treats of the nature of His person must seriously affect all true theology and philosophy. Doctrines vital to the Christian system, such as those of the deity and person of Christ, 5 the incarnation, the atonement, etc., are so inextricably 6 interwoven with that of the tri-unity of God that they cannot be properly understood apart from it. 

We should notice that the doctrine of the Trinity is the distinctive mark of the Christian religion, setting it apart from all the other religions of the world. Working without the benefit of the revelations made in Scripture, men have, it is true, arrived at some limited truths concerning the nature and person of God. The pagan religions, as well as all philosophical speculations, are based on natural religion and can, therefore, rise to no higher conception than that of the unity of God. In some systems, we find monotheism 7 with its belief in only one God. In others, we find polytheism 8 with its belief in many separate gods. But none of the pagan religions nor any of the systems of speculative philosophy have ever arrived at a trinitarian conception of God. The fact of the matter is that apart from supernatural revelation there is nothing in human consciousness or experience that can give man the slightest clue to the distinctive God of the Christian faith—the triune, incarnate, redeeming, sanctifying God… 

It may be well to remind ourselves that man’s knowledge of God has been progressive. The most general revelation of the existence of God has been given through nature and is therefore common to all men. The existence of God is an intuitive 9 truth universally accepted by the unprejudiced mind. Man knows himself to be dependent and responsible, and therefore posits 10 the One on Whom he is dependent and to Whom he is responsible. He [ascribes] to this One in an eminent degree all of the good qualities that he finds in himself, and thus comes to know God as a personal Spirit—infinite, eternal, and perfect in His attributes. 11 

The second stage in the revelation concerning the nature and attributes of God was that given through the Old Testament period. There a great advance is made over the revelation given through man’s intuition and through nature, and God is disclosed as particularly the God of grace and the redeemer of sinners.  

The third stage, the one in which at present we are particularly interested, is that given in the New Testament, in which God is represented as existing in a trinity of persons, each of Whom performs a distinctive part in the works of creation, providence, and redemption. As Dr. Warfield 12 has pointed out: 

“The elements of the plan of salvation are rooted in the mysterious nature of the Godhead, in which there coexists a trinal 13 distinction of persons with absolute unity of essence; and the revelation of the Trinity was accordingly incidental to the execution of this plan of salvation, in which the Father sent the Son to be the propitiation 14 for sin, and the Son, when He returned to the glory which He had with the Father before the world was, sent the Spirit to apply His redemption to men. The disclosure of this fundamental fact of the divine nature, therefore, lagged until the time had arrived for the actual working out of the long-promised redemption; and it was accomplished first of all in fact rather than in word, by the actual appearance of God the Son on earth and the subsequent manifestations of the Spirit, Who was sent forth to act as His representative in His absence.” 15

1 revelation – the 66 books of the Bible and the illumination of the Holy Spirit. 

2 analogous – bearing some resemblance. 

3 transcendently – in a manner that goes beyond the range of human experience. 

4 rational – having the mental power of reason.

5 See FGB 230, The Deity of Christ, 219, The Person of Christ, and 227, The Atonement, available from CHAPEL LIBRARY. 

6 inextricably – beyond all possibility of being disentangled. 

7 monotheism – the belief that there is only one God. 

8 polytheism – belief in or worship of many gods. 

9 intuitive – feeling something to be true without the need for conscious reasoning. 

10 posits – affirms the existence of. 

11 See A. W. Pink, The Attributes of God, available from CHAPEL LIBRARY.

12 Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield (1851-1921) – Presbyterian theologian at Princeton Seminary 1887- 1921. 

13 trinal – threefold; consisting in three parts. 

14 propitiation – sin offering that turns away wrath; appeasement. 

15 Benjamin B. Warfield, The Works of Benjamin B. Warfield: Studies in Theology, Vol. 9, 113.

From Studies in Theology, Chapter III, “The Trinity,” used with permission of P&R Publishing Co., P.O. Box 817, Phillipsburg, N.J. 08865. 

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Loraine Boettner (1901-1990): American Presbyterian theologian; born in Linden, Missouri.

Free Grace Broadcaster,  "The Triune God"

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