I was speaking with my priest and friend about the Trinity last week, and the issue of the third person of the Trinity became the topic. (Yes, such conversations do happen in the real world, and yes, this really did happen.) And so, he says that I should look up the word perichoresis, a concept that he feels describes the Biblical view of the church of the Trinity. The concept of the Trinity is Biblical, is confirmed by the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea in the third century, so that all Roman Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants and Reformed will agree with the concept. Perichoresis is developed more fully in the early eighth century, in an attempt to better describe the interactions of the persons of the Trinity with each other. Of course, there will be the theological children of Kant, Kierkegaard, Finney and Wesley with which to contend, but the historical church at least can get behind this doctrine. And so, I looked it up.
Perichoresis is a word that describes the relationship between the three parts of the Trinity. If we start from its opposite, that is much easier to understand, and then turn that on its head, we will get to this concept. We need first to define some terms. The first term is ousias, which is Greek and means natural essence. In Jesus we have a person who is of two essences, both fully human and fully God. This concept of two essences in one person is called hypostatic union. Another related term is co-inherence, where two essences coinhere in the one person of Christ.
Now, for the reverse, if there is one essence called God, then He exists as three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The word perichoresis is literally a cleaving together, so that the three are cleaved together as one. Since each is of the same substance or same essence as the other two, they would be expected to act in concordance with each other, which is what scripture suggests.
John 17 starts to unfold this relationship of the Father and Son for us in Jesus’ prayer for His elect. 21 …that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. In this passage, we have the Father and Son in each other, and Jesus prays to incorporate His elect into this relationship.
Moving to Matthew 28:19, the Great Commission, we are to go forth and Baptize in the name of the Trinity. Jesus uses the phrase “in the name of” which is an Old Testament phrase that invokes God. By listing all three together, Jesus is saying that all three parts of the Trinity are God. In the same way that the Old Testament views God as a single person, the fullness of the Trinity is revealed by Jesus in the New Covenant. The name of God is a big deal to Old Testament Jews. Jesus invokes this name of God concept to include Himself and the Holy Spirit. This would have been just incredible to hear for the first time as first century Jews.
What does Jesus say about this third part of the Trinity? Let’s go again to John 16. Jesus must leave so that the third person of the Trinity can come. And when He comes, His role will be to convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Why would this be the concern of the Holy Spirit? The answer is the theme of the whole Bible. God is concerned with the reconciliation of man to Himself. God is a just God whose just wrath for our sin must be satisfied; therefore, He has to send a part of Himself to fulfill the Law and be the perfect sacrifice. Finally, He has to send another part of Himself to make sure we understand what has just happened on our behalf and gather those elect to Himself.
Therefore, the word perichoresis describes the relationship of the Father and the Son as an intertwining and cleaving together of their persons with the Holy Spirit enveloping both, infusing both and interacting with both, because the Holy Spirit is of the same essence as both.
One last word to discuss today is paraclete. Paraclete is another Greek word that is used in reference to the Trinity. John is the one who uses the term, both in his Gospel and in his epistles. Starting from Chapter 14 of his Gospel, we learn that the paraclete is the Holy Spirit. The ESV translation is Helper. Next in Chapter 15, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, who bears witness about Jesus. Next in Chapter 16, once again, the Holy Spirit is both the Helper and the Spirit of Truth. What is interesting at this point is a look at 1 John 2:1, in which John implies that Jesus was the first paraclete and now the Holy Spirit is the second from John 14:16 again, the difference is that now the paraclete is the Advocate. Acts 1:5,8 talk about Witnessing to Jesus, while Acts 2:38 brings up an interesting point that I will come back and examine at the end.
So, the Paraclete is the Advocate, the Helper, Spirit of Truth, who bears witness about Jesus. The Paraclete is both Jesus and the Holy Spirit, about whom the intertwining of references concerning judgment persist into John’s Revelations. Jesus is our only Mediator and Advocate. And He sends the Holy Spirit to witness about Himself. The Paraclete is then God, the generous and merciful God who has provided the solution to our eternal damnation through Himself in His three persons.
And finally, what is this “gift of the Holy Spirit” that Luke records Peter dispensing, based upon faith? Let’s break down that theologically dense passage. Peter’s words as translated in the ESV are: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” This is the theology of Peter as clearly stated as it gets. The first part is repentance. We must turn away from our sin. We know that this is not possible without the Helper, but Peter weaves this into the passage at the end. The next part is to be baptized in the name of Jesus. The reason to be baptized is to receive forgiveness of your sins. How this is done is in the name of Jesus. Jews knew that only God forgives sin; therefore, Peter is publically committing blasphemy in the eyes of the Pharisees. Something must have happened to turn this once coward into such a bold proclaimer of Jesus.
The next part is that such persons who repent and are baptized will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. There are at least two levels of looking at this phrase. The gift might be something that the Holy Spirit gives these people such as the ability to do the first two parts, or it might be the indwelling of the Holy Spirit itself as the seal of this belief. I would argue that it is both and I think scripture supports this view.
In the second sentence, Peter talks about the Promise. This is referring to the promise of God to Abraham. It is a direct reference that would have not gone missing to his Jewish audience. What is different is how Peter will interpret the phrase “all who are far off” in just a few chapters hence. Everyone whom the Lord calls to Himself is a lot larger group than the Apostles originally realized. Peter and Paul are the ones who figure this out. James confirms it.
And so in summary, the Trinity is a central doctrine of the church. Our God is of one essence in three persons, all inseparable and yet distinct. Their roles are clearly different, and yet they overlap somewhat in their unfolding the drama of redemptive history for us. The Bible is the story of the greatest rescue mission of all time. It is the story in which we are saved from eternal damnation. The writers, producers, actors and directors are all the persons of the Trinity. The audience is humanity. But some of the audience will receive a back stage pass to meet and greet the company of hosts in heaven.
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