iv. Teachings in the Life of the Apostolic Church. —The Trinity was not a theory from without, but part of the gospel, life, work, and worship of the
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Apostolic Church. It lived in devotion long before it appeared in theology. The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were as much part of Church life as body, soul, and spirit were elements of every be- liever’s life. They are not introduced or explained, but everywhere taken for granted and present. No man can share NT worship without using Trinitarian forms. This natural and incidental yet constant reference to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in Apostolic Churches presupposes just such a development as our study has indicated. The later and clearer statements are always in full agreement with what had been sree taught. What the first disciples received from esus went far beyond what is recorded in the Gospels ; it went far beyond all that He said or did; for after His ascension they became conscious that Jesus was not only a teacher, but Saviour and Lord, and im- parter of the Holy Ghost. The teachings and work of Christ in Apostolic experience expanded much more rapidly than they could have done in any process of merely natural development. The order, too, of growth is just what we should expect: new teachings of Jesus about God as Father, then the teachings of Apostles about the Son, and, last of all, the full reference to the Holy Spirit. This order repeats itself in the history of doctrine which took form in the Nicene Creed. Through the words of Jesus, the Synoptic Gospels, St. Paul, Hebrews, St. John, and the Acts, there runs a harmonious and growing representation of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus sets Himself as Son above all the servants of God (Mt 213°, Mk 121-9, Lk 322) ; He 1"? gives the same doctrine in theological form, declaring the Son above all created beings ‘ God for ever and ever.’ St. Paul presents an intermediate view, in which God and His Christ are central (1 Co 1°, 2Co 1°, Gal 18, Eph 12); but puts it at once in vital union with the Trinitarian conception of God as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (2 Co 13%, Eph 31416) The Acts shows historically that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were inseparable from the life and thought of believers; while the Fourth Gospel presents the same teaching as the cul- mination of NT theology (167-2), (For further indications of doctrinal growth, cf. the articles GOD IN NT and Hoty Spirit in vol. li.). These early disciples knew that there is an infinite eternal God (2 Co 417-38, ] Tj 17); they knew also that He is personal, and personal only as Father, Son, and Spirit. How the Infinite can be personal is ever a mystery ; to Apostolic men the threefold personality of the infinite God was no greater mystery than any personality of the Infinite. They also knew that there is ‘a God of Absolute Right, the Supreme Lawgiver, the Holy Father in heaven (Jn 174, Ro 7% 12 Rev 48); on the other hand, they knew that God had broken through His own law, and, by His revelation in the Son and Spirit, opened heaven and poured supernatural grace and blessing upon men (Ro 3% 4°, 1 P UES), Their practical experience found that this person- ality of the Father, and the mediating personalities of the Son and the Spirit, were indispensable to fellowship with God through grace and faith, and in the struggles against sin. Illustrations of this practical Trinity may be seen (1) in the equipment of the Apostles, (2) the establishment of the Church, (3) the work of Missions, (4) the test of sound Doctrine, and (5) the nature of Christian Worship.
(1) The risen Lord gave His commands no more directly to the Apostles, but through the Holy Ghost (Ac 1’). As inseparable as the Father and the Son appear before the Crucifixion, just as inseparable appear the Son and the Spirit after the Resurrection. To the Son as mediator of the Father, and to the Spirit as mediator of Father and Son, the Apostles turn as to the source of all power and authority.
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