Trinity Week – Tuesday

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said: “Let there be light!” – Genesis 1:1-3.

These are the very first words in the Bible, the revealed Word of God. They treat of the very first things that happened. And these words contain the very first revelation of the Holy Trinity. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” This is the Father. “And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters,” upon the dark, watery, and still unformed mass of the earth. This is the Holy Ghost. “And God said.” This is the Son. This is not a mere speaking of God, but a Speaker distinct from the Father, the Son. This is not a mere word of God, but the essential, personal Word, the Son. He spoke. Does this seem to you a forced interpretation of Scripture? Thrusting as it were, a foreign sense into it? Take the first words of the Gospel of St. John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him” (John 1:1-3). Do you see? The Word by which, in the beginning, all things were made, is not merely a word of the almighty God, but it was in the beginning, and was with God, and was God. This Word that was God was with God. Do you see here two Persons in God? And you have already seen the third Person. Who was this personal Word that was God? John writes: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

This Word which was in the beginning, and was with God, and was God, through whom all things were made, is the Son, the only-begotten Son of the Father, who, in the fullness of time, became man and our Savior. He is called the “Word” because God in Him reveals Himself outwardly to us, just as through Him He also created the world. O yes, Scripture, from the beginning and everywhere, teaches the mystery of the Holy Trinity, setting before our eyes and hearts this Triune God, who “so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

PRAYER – Almighty, eternal God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: I thank Thee from my inmost heart that, through Jesus Christ, Thou hast, as a loving Father, revealed  again and again Thy being and Thy will. Continue to bestow Thy grace upon me, I implore Thee, that, with all Christendom, I may continue to know, honor, and praise Thee as my Creator, Redeemer, and Savior, who livest and reignest from everlasting to everlasting. Amen.

Father, in whom we live, in whom we are and move;

all glory, pow’r, and praise receive, for Thy creating love.

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O Thou incarnate Word, let all Thy ransomed race;

unite in thanks with one accord, for Thy redeeming grace.

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Spirit of holiness, let all Thy saints adore;

Thy sacred gifts and join to bless, Thy heart-renewing pow’r.

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Eternal, Triune Lord, let all the hosts above;

let all the sons of men record, and dwell upon Thy love.

(Hymn 241, st. 1-4; TLH)