this so likely to happen as when He manifested Himself to His disciples after His resurrection ? The truth is that this passage in Mt. supplies exactly the clue we need in order to understand tlie rapid development of doctrine and the continuity of custom in the early Church. (See Sanday in art. ' God ' in Hastings' DB ii. p. 213, and his Criticism of the Fourth Gospel, p. 218 ; also Scott in art. ' Trinity ' in DB, Ext. Vol. p. 313). But there is this further proof of genuineness, that the language here possesses all the power, concentration, and authority which are everywhere the marks of the true sayings of Jesus. There is not a word in this utterance, from khotiv, to aiavos, which has not been, in all ages, a source of life to the Church. Here the meaning of the life, death, and teaching of the Son of God is translated into a language which appeals to the minds and hearts of all ages of human history, and this in the most Jewish of the Gospels. Moreover, the prophecy here contained is on too large a scale to have arisen naturally out of the life of the Christian community of the 1st centurj'. Not even to St. Paul was granted so wide an outlook upon the history of mankind. This great vision of a world-wide Christianity belongs to the mind of Him w-ho spoke of the Grain of Mustard Seed and the Draw-Net, and taught His disciples to pra^-, ' Thy kingdom come.'
We may, unless our judgments are obscured by critical prejudices, turn to this passage as supplying the needful summary of all those thoughts about God which we have gleaned from the teaching of Christ and the Gospels. The expression els to 6vo/j.a is important : Christian Baptism is to be ' into the name.' The phrase recalls the language of the OT in which the ' Name ' of God stood for Himself as revealed or brpught into relation to men. So the name Jehovah was the sign or mark of the old covenant. Can we fail to gatlier that the name which marks the new covenant is that of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ? In this name is contained the revelation of God which Christ brought to man. It must also be observed that the word is singular, to 6vofia, suggesting the unity of the God- head. The name is threefold, yet it is one.
The doctrine of the Trinity is, then, the summing up of the teaching concerning God which is con- tained or implied in the Christian revelation. It is not a philosophic construction. It Ls not the outcome of abstract discussion upon the Being and attributes of God. In its origin it had nothing to do with logical or dialectical methods, nor did it arise out of the eftbrts of the understanding. Its source is simply the fact of Christ Himself. That amazing and, to the merely scientific intelligence, most mysterious fact, which still, after so many centuries, presents to mankind the old question, ' Who say ye that I am ? ' is the revelation of the Trinity. Jesus Christ manifests God as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
(ii.) The illuminating power op the doc- trine.— When from the position which has now been attained we look back over the life and teaching of our Lord, we find that sudden light is thrown upon much that otheiAvise seems obscure. It is this reflex illumination of Christian experience which constitutes the verification of the doctrine^ a verification which may be traced throughout the whole history of the Church, and which to this day may be discerned in the vitality of orthodox Christianity and its continued value for the religious consciousness of mankind in contrast Avith Deism in all its forms. Here we confine our brief survey to the Gospels, and note the following. At the Annunciation the angel replies to tlie Virgin's question (Lk P^) : ' The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee : wherefore also that which is to be born shall be called holy, the Son of God.' At the Baptism the three Divine Persons are repre- sented : ' He saw the heavens rent asunder and the Spirit as a dove descending upon him ; and a voice came out of the heavens. Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased' (Mk P"- ", also Mt S^"- '^ Lk 321- 22). At the Transfiguration the glory of the Son and His relation to the Father are mani- fested (Mk 9', Mt 17«, Lk O^s).
TRINITY
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But more profound even than such indications as these is the truth that the doctrine of the Trinity underlies the whole movement of Divine providence for the redemption and elevation of man as we have it presented in the NT. Here it is sufficient to note that everywhere in the Gospels, while God the Father is regarded as the ultimate source of all things, both in creation and in redemption, certain special functions are declared to belong to the Son and the Spirit, and yet there is no separation or opposition between the Divine Persons. God the Father is the Creator, yet all things were made by (5id) the Logos, icai x'^r><^ ai-rov ryerero oi-Se Iv 6 ■^'/orep ( Jn 1'). Redemption is the work of the Son : ' The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost " (Lk 19^'^). He came ' to give his life a ransom for many ' (Mk Vj^, Mt 20^). He is the Shepherd seeking the lost sheep (Lk IS*""). But the love which surrounds the sinner from his birth, which remains constant throughout his life of sin, and which receives him into a perfect reconciliation on his repentance, is the love of the Father (Lk 15'^*-). Further, the salvation which is the result of the death of Christ is everywhere presented as the work of Ciod HiuLtelf. Thus is the love of God revealed in Christ, and assurance as regards God's mind and will towards tis attained. The unity of the Divine Persons is the underlying truth of the Atonement, So a^ain, the works of Christ are ' in the Spirit " (Mt 12^), and the Spirit is called by Christ • the Spirit of your Father" (Mt 1<J^). The Son is the means of c-ommunication between man and the Father (Mt 11^, Lk ICF, Jn U« etc.), yet the Spirit is the source of the life which makes this communication possible ( Jn 3*^). Further, the Spirit is the gift of the Father (Lk 11"), and none can come to the Son unless the Father draw him (Jn 6**). It is sufficient to point out, finally, how closely interrelated are the functions of the Three Persons as described in Jn 14-16. The coming of the Paraclete is identified with a coming of the Son (14'*), and the coming of the Son ^vith a coming of the Father (w.*- **). His office is to carry on the work of the Son, which is the work of the Father (16'^ "), in the Church \W'^ etc.) and in the world (16*) after the departure of the Son. It is commonly said that the characteristic work of the Father is creation, of the Son redemption, of the Holy Ghost sanctifieation. The distinction is certainly Scriptural, and yet there is no one of these works in which each of the Divine Persons has not a share. The Trinity in Unity is, to use the old-fashioned language, both ontological and economical.