What is the work in the salvation of men of each of the three persons
the Trinity?
Salvation is the work of the
entire Godhead; it is a trinitarian act for the elect of God. God the Father is
the architect, planner, and Holy Father of salvation. Jesus, the Son, is the
enactor, fulfiller, and Redeemer of salvation. God the Holy Spirit is the
applier, regenerator, and completer of salvation.
First, God
the Father in salvation, plays a crucial role. He wears many hats in salvation,
which all find their basis and beginning in eternity past. God the Father is
the one who elects His chosen people unto salvation. Election is the sovereign
act of God by which He has chosen some to be saved, sanctified, and glorified.
(Romans 8:29-30; 33; Colossians 3:12, Titus 1:1, Ephesians 1:4). Next, God the
Father is the one who satisfied for the payment of judgment against sin. God is
the one who is propitiated towards, by the Son. Propitiation is the act of
God’s justice for sin being met. God poured out His just and holy wrath on His
Son on the cross and was satisfied for the salvation of the elect. Next, God is
the one who justifies the sinner. Justification is the legal declarative act by
which God has declared the believer to be righteous through the alien
righteousness of Christ perfect life imputed upon them. (Romans 5:1) We have
been declared righteous by the substitution of Christ, so God is able to save
us from His wrath. (Romans 5:9) This justification come to the believer through
faith alone. Another act of God in salvation, is His adoption to His family.
After God justifies the sinner, He then adopts Him in His love. The believer
becomes a child of God when he receives Christ for salvation (John 1:12, Romans
8:15-17). All the rights and privileges of being a son of God belong to the
believer. He becomes an heir to eternal life (Romans 8:17). After God adopts
us, He also reconciles the sinner to Himself. Reconciliation is God’s act of
making His enemies His family. Our sin put us in rebellion against God, but
Christ’s death on the cross made it possible for us to be brought into
communion with God (Romans 5:10-11, 2 Corinthians 5:18, 1 Peter 3:18). God the
Father also sanctifies the believer at salvation. The act of God in sanctification
at salvation is the act by which God separates the believer unto holiness
(Hebrews 10:10). The final act of God the Father in salvation is the gift of
eternal life and the glorification of the elect. Eternal life is God’s gift to
those who believe and are saved (Titus 3:4-7). It is the promise of living
forever in heaven with God (1 John 2:25). The final act of salvation, in which
we as believers have a new body and perfect nature. This is the completed act
of sanctification and the state in which believers will be in the eternal state
(Jude 24, Romans 8:29-30). These are the parts that God the Father plays in the
salvation of His elect.
Jesus
Christ, God’s Son plays the second crucial role in the salvation of the elect.
What God the Father, God the Son, and the God the Spirit planned before time
and covenanted together to accomplish, the Son came to the earth, to die a
substitute, be raised from the dead, and accomplish the plan of salvation
perfectly. First, Jesus is the righteousness that every believer is imputed by
God (1 Peter 3:18). Christ lived a life of perfect obedience to God and as a result
of his perfect obedience, the many will be made righteous through what Christ
accomplished. Next, Jesus went to the Cross and substituted Himself for the
elect by taking the punishment of their sin and making an atonement for them.
As one for the most beautiful verses in all of the Bible declares, “for our sake
He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the
righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). In the penal substitutionary atoning
sacrifice of Jesus, He made a propitiation to the Father for the elects sin. As
Christ was satisfying the justice of God and the judgement against sin, He
redeemed the elect from the slave market of their bondage to sin. Redemption
refers to Christ’s paying the price that our sin demanded, both in His perfect
life and in His substitutionary death. Jesus’ death redeemed us from (brought
us out from under) the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13) and made possible our
adoption. (Galatians 4:4-5) Jesus paid the whole demand of God’s law against
us. After Christ mission for the elect was finished on the Cross, he died and
was buried in a tomb. After 3 days, Christ was raised from the dead, as part of
His mission for the elect. Through His resurrection, He secured life eternal
and victory over sin, Satan, and death for the elect for all eternity. Christ
now sits next to His Father, having accomplished the mission He came on, to save
God’s elect, and intercedes for the elect to His Father (Hebrews 7:25). Jesus
perfectly accomplished His mission of saving the elect.
God the Spirit plays the
third crucial role in the salvation of the elect. God
the Spirit applies the work of the Son and the plan of the Father. First, the
Spirit regenerates the dead sinner, and brings them life, desires, and
affections for God (John 3:3-8). Regeneration describes the act by which God
makes a spiritually dead person alive and imparts to them a new nature so that
the person can now accept the free-gift of life. (Titus 3:5) It is entirely an
act of God. This is what Jesus describes to Nicodemus as being “born again.”
(John 3:5) At the moment of regeneration, faith is also given to the person as
a gift from God, so that they have the necessary requirements for salvation. Next
the Spirit works out salvation in the elect through a number of other ways. He
convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment. (John 16:8). He indwells the
believer at salvation. (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19; Romans 8:9, Ephesians 1:13,
John 14:16-17). He baptizes us into the body of Christ, which includes giving
us supernatural gifts for use in His church. (1 Corinthians 12:13). He
sanctifies us and continually drives us towards holiness. Sanctification also
describes the process by which believers are made more and more like Christ (2
Corinthians 3:18). This means sanctification first, is a declarative imputed
act upon the elect at conversion (God the Father) yet is also a second act the
believer and God the Spirit live in a synergistic act together for the remained
for the believers life. (I believe sanctification is both a work of God in a
believer and the responsibility of a believer. A Christian must seek to live
holy. (1 Peter 1:16) He must also seek to walk in obedience to the Spirit so
that the fruits of the Spirit are developed in him (Galatians 5:16-23)). Lastly
the Spirit secures God’s salvation in us. He seals us. (Ephesians 1:13-14) The
Holy Spirit indwelling us as at salvation will last. His presence in us is the
guarantee that we will live with God in glorification. God the Spirit full
applies and completes, perfectly to the end, the salvation God the Father plans
for His elect.
Salvation is a beautiful act of the Triune God. God
covenant within Himself to redeem a people to themselves. This majestic act is
done by all three persons of the Godhead, in perfect covenant union within
themselves all for the glory of their glorious name and the good pleasure of
their will.
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