The Excellent Wife

A few weeks ago I mentioned being introduced to Martha Peace in a Links and Resources post.  Since then, I have listened to all of her podcasts and picked up her book, “The Excellent Wife.”  I am pretty sure I have listened to her podcast on having a gentle and quiet spirit at least 5 times and I will probably listen to it several more!  It is by far the best teaching I have heard on what it means to have a gentle and quiet spirit.  

I am also loving reading her book.  It is blowing my mind and I so wish that I had read this before I ever met Hal and I am sure he does as well!  I was able to get a copy at Lifeway and I am sure most Christian book stores have it.  I will probably be sharing a lot from this book over the next few weeks.  If you are looking for a book or study I encourage you to pick it up!

I wanted to share this closing paragraph from Chapter 4.  This chapter focuses on a wife understanding God’s pattern for marriage.  I love how it reinforces the pattern of submission and order we see in the Trinity.

“Because our natural tendency is to “self,” it is important to be daily in God’s Word which is “living and active” and “able to judge the thoughts and intentions of (your) heart” (Hebrews 4:12).  The Holy Spirit will use the Holy Word of God to convict you at your deepest level so that your motivation in your relationship with your husband may be for the glory of God instead of the glory of self.

“In your relationship with your husband, God wants you to communicate in love and experience a righteous intimacy through sharing thoughts, present and future desires, aspirations, goals, struggles, and spiritual insights.  He wants you to be open, honest, and transparent.  Your words are to be edifying.  Your tasks sacrificial. Your motive for the glory of God. Remember that your pattern for the oneness is the Trinity. He wants you to be not only to be holy like the Lord Jesus, but He also wants you to help your husband become as much like Him as is possible.  Your becoming more and more like Jesus is the process of progressive sanctification.  You and your Christian husband helping each other become more like Jesus is the process of mutual sanctification.”

Exploring the Trinity: Part 4 The Holy Spirit

Who is the Holy Spirit? How does the Holy Spirit work in our lives?

Salvation

We talked earlier this week about the role that the three members of the Trinity play in salvation. The Holy Spirit’s work in salvation is to call a sinful, spiritually-dead person into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Sanctification

Have you ever wondered that if all three members of the trinity are fully God, which means they are holy, why is the Spirit the only one that has the word “holy” in front of their name? Is it because the Spirit is more holy than the Father or the Son? 

The Spirit is holy, but no more than the Father or the Son. Perhaps it is called the Holy Spirit because one of the main works of the Holy Spirit is to make us holy by acting as a sanctifier in our lives.

“But just as the he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’ ” 1 Peter 1:15-16

Theologian R.C. Sproul defines sanctification as the process of being made holy or righteous. (2) The Holy Spirit aids in the process of believers becoming more holy. We must also participate. 

Counselor

The word helper can also mean “comforter” or “counselor.” These words come from the Greek word paraclete. In the ancient world, a paraclete was someone summoned to give assistance or help in the court of law. The Holy Spirit fulfills the role of paraclete in a believer’s life in a couple of different ways.

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever ... the Spirit of truth.” John 14:16

“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all of these things and will remind you of everything I said to you.” John 14:26

Intercessor

The Holy Spirit helps in our prayers. When we don’t know what to say or how to say it, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. When we refer to the Holy Spirit as a paraclete, this also shows us that the Holy Spirit is a comforter. 

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness! We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words can not express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.” Romans 8:26-27

Power

It is because of the Holy Spirit that we as believers have the power to be a witness for Jesus Christ and share the Good News of the Gospel message.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8

We may be tempted to think of the Holy Spirit as a power or force, but the Holy Spirit is the third PERSON of the Trinity whom we can have a real relationship with.

“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” 2 Corinthians 13:14

It goes against our human logic to think about a relationship with anything named “Spirit,” but as the third PERSON of the trinity, it is possible! The Holy Spirit is a real, powerful person. 

We only covered a few of the roles or ways that the Holy Spirit is present in our lives. The verses below list additional ways the Holy Spirit impacts our lives.

Isaiah 44:3, Mark 13:11, John 7:37-39, Acts 1:5, 8, Romans 8:9-11, Romans 8:14, Romans 8:26-27, 1 Corinthians 2:10-14, Titus 3:5-7, 1 Peter 1:2

Source

Questions to Ponder:

What is present in my life that is hindering the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit?

Will I stop viewing the Holy Spirit as a power or force and see the Holy Spirit as the powerful third PERSON of the Trinity? Will I spend time cultivating that relationship?

Exploring the Trinity: Part 3 The Son

Who is Jesus? What do we know about Him? What was His role? We may often think of Jesus in a manger or on the cross, but we know less about Him as our high priest/mediator and the incarnate Word of God. 

From Scripture we know that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary (Matthew 1:18-23) and that He perfectly revealed and did the will of God when He took upon himself human nature and lived His life without sin. We know that Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life and that no other human has lived a perfect life and met every requirement of God’s law. By fulfilling His purpose and coming to earth in human form, He was able to become a sacrifice for our sin. 

You may have heard the term High Priest, also called an advocate or mediator. Jesus serves as our High Priest before the Father. He mediates before the Father and explains that we are worthy because of His sacrifice.

When we say that Jesus is the Incarnate God, we are saying that Jesus, who is God, took on a human nature. Just like it is hard to think about each member of the Trinity being fully God and yet there is one God, it is hard to think that Jesus was fully human and fully God. Although it is hard to wrap our human minds around this truth, it is a very encouraging and comforting truth in our Christian life.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’

 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

 “‘He will command his angels concerning you, 

 and they will lift you up in their hands, 

 so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. (Matthew 4:1-11)

I know what you are thinking … of course it was easy for Jesus not to sin, He is God! Although Jesus is fully God and fully man, when He faced temptation, He faced it in the same manner as you would. He faced it as a human. Jesus didn’t overcome temptations in a divine way, but used the same outlets that you as a believer have to overcome temptation: the Holy Spirit and God’s Word. Each time that Satan came at Him with an attack, Jesus used specific Scripture to respond. Jesus did not use anything to overcome Satan’s temptations that a believer today does not have access to. 

Source

Questions to Ponder:

How do I view Jesus? Do I view Him only as a baby in a manger or do I view Him God incarnate the second person of the Trinity?

Do I know enough of God’s Word to be able to fend off the attacks of the enemy?

Exploring the Trinity: Part 2 The Father

Source

Does your brain hurt? Has thinking about the greatness and majesty of the Trinity worn you out? Take a breath! We have learned a lot about the mystery of the Trinity in just the first day! 

The doctrine of the Trinity is a foundational doctrine of the Christian faith. If you feel overwhelmed like you just can’t figure it all out … that’s OK! Our human minds will never be able to fully understand everything about God, including the Trinity, but it does help for us to study this doctrine. It shows us who God is and what He is like. It shows us how we can relate to Him and how He can relate to us. 

Today, we are going to look more in depth at the Father and the roles that each member played in creation as well as the role each plays in a believer’s salvation. 

We learned yesterday that each member of the Trinity is fully God and has all the attributes of God. Each member of the Trinity is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. The only distinction between the members is the ways they relate to each other and to creation. They are “equal in being but subordinate in role.” What exactly does this mean? The Father is the head of the Trinity, and the Son and the Holy Spirit are subordinate to the Father. The Holy Spirit is subordinate to the Son.

As women, we can’t pass over this truth of the Son and the Holy Spirit being subordinate to the Father without us also talking about how that applies to our marriages. What a great reminder and example to us as women to see this subordinate relationship. It can be seen as a reflection of our marriage relationship. That we as women are equal in being to our husbands but subordinate in role. We can take this lesson one step farther when we look at how Jesus humbled himself when He came to earth. Even though He is the second member of the Trinity, He became subordinate to the Holy Spirit, who was the third member of the Trinity. In His Incarnation, He put himself under the Holy Spirit. He obeyed the Spirit, even to His death on the cross.

Creation:

The members of the Trinity are eternal. There was never a time that they did not exist. Because we know they are eternal, we can know that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were present at creation. Let’s look at each of their activities or roles in creation.

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.’ ” Genesis 1:26

God uses the plural verb “us.” Although the word “Trinity” isn’t used here, theologians and church fathers unanimously agree that this plural use of the verb is referring to the Trinity.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him noting was made that has been made.” John 1:1-3

“But in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.” Hebrews 1:2

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Genesis 1:1-2

These passages show us that all three members of the Trinity were present at creation. The Father originated, planned, and directed creation (Genesis 1:1). Jesus was the agent that actually carried out creation (John 1:3 & Hebrews 1:2). The Holy Spirit can also been seen “hovering over the waters” at creation (Genesis 1:2).

Salvation

“For God so love the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

“For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.” John 6:38

“Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” John 3:5-6

The Father planned and directed the way for man to be reconciled to God, or in a simpler way the Father planned and directed salvation for mankind (John 3:16). Jesus was the agent or way that salvation was carried out (John 6:38).The Holy Spirit is given to the believer at salvation (John 3:5-6).

Author Wayne Grudem says this of the Father: “The role of commanding, directing, and sending is appropriate to the position of the father, after whom all human fatherhood is patterned.” How incredible that we can look to the Trinity as a pattern for earthly fatherhood. We can see that the Father is the head of the Trinity, and we can see how He relates to the Son and the Holy Spirit. Some of us have had positive experiences with our earthly fathers. We have seen this pattern modeled in our families. Others of us have not had the same experience. We may have had a Father who left us or let us down, but God offers fatherhood to anyone who trusts in Jesus Christ as the Savior for their sins. 

Questions to Ponder:

Has my view of submission changed after learning about the submission of the Son and the Holy Spirit to the Father? How can I apply this truth about submission to my life?

If you are a Christian, how will you thank your heavenly Father today?

Exploring the Trinity: Part 1

Today is our first day to dive into the Trinity.  This post will help explain what we are up to this week.

What is the Trinity?

There isn’t one specific passage in Scripture that spells out what the Trinity is. It can be seen from Genesis to Revelation, and all of Scripture testifies to its truth. We will look at many of these passages this week. I won’t be able to talk about each one, but I do encourage you to take the time to look them up. They build upon what is mentioned here.

The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the deep mysteries of God. Whether you are hearing the word for the first time or haven’t heard it since children’s church, it is hard for us to wrap our finite human minds around this deep truth. 

What is the definition of the Trinity? 

 It means that God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God. (1)

What does it really mean to say that God is a Trinity? 

What it means to say that God is a Trinity can be explained by looking at the words essence and person. Essence answers the question “What are you?” Person answers the question “Who are you?” So when can say that God is a Trinity, we are saying that God exists as “one essence” (God) and “three persons” (Father, Son, Spirit). The Trinity is made up of 3 “who’s” and 1 “what.”

How can one person be three distinct persons?

Source

Some may falsely say that God isn’t three distinct persons, but that He plays three different roles and is really the same person. That He just takes on different roles as needed. The Bible clearly indicates that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three distinct persons.

When we read Mark 1:10-11, we can see the three distinct persons of the Trinity.

“As Jesus (Son) was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit (Holy Spirit) descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased. (God the Father)” Mark 1:10-11 NIV

So what does it mean then that the three persons of the Trinity are distinct? It means that the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father. They are all three distinct from another, yet they are all fully God.

You may be thinking ... how can each part of the Trinity be fully God, yet there is only one God? So maybe each part of the Trinity is one-third of who God is, but God is not a circle you can divide into three parts. All three parts, Father, Son, and Spirit, are 100% God!

I know—it seems that I have lost my mind because it sounds impossible to say that each member of the Trinity can be 100% God. It goes against everything that we have ever learned about math! We can also see this when we look at the character of who God is. We can’t divide God into pieces or percentages.

Incorrect View Correct View

God God

Mercy—10% Mercy—100%

Judge—20% Judge—100%

Love—30% Love—100%

Wrath—40% Wrath—100%

Colossians 1:19 tells us “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Him (Jesus).” 

The three persons of the Trinity are fully God. There isn’t a difference in their attributes or essential nature, they are each fully God and have all the attributes of God. Each member of the Trinity is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. The only distinction between the members of the Trinity is in the ways they relate to one another and to creation. They are “equal in being but subordinate in role.” (1) 

Source

Questions to Ponder:

How does the truth that God’s character isn’t something we can divide into equal parts (10% justice, 10% love, etc.) change the way I view Him?

How do I view each member of the Trinity? 

The Trinity

Source

I heard a quote recently that reinforced my desire to study doctrine/theology and have a solid understanding of why I believe what I believe.

“Wimpy theology makes wimpy women.”  John Piper

Last month we started off talking about the reasons to study doctrine and then we began our study with the Authority of God’s Word. This week we are going to take a look at the doctrine of the Trinity. These posts won’t be as easy to read. This doctrine is deep and requires us to pray for a clear understanding. It will probably seem more like you are studying for an exam, but hang in there and learn with me. We don’t want to be wimpy women! We want to be strong women of God. 

Ask God to help give you understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity so that you more fully understand who God is and how you can relate to Him. 

See you tomorrow.