Understanding God - 5

Hello everyone,

Greetings to you in the Name of our Lord Jesus, who has lavished His precious grace upon us. Indeed, He has been good to us all. Your immediate experience may or may not confirm this, but we must accept His Word as the final authority in our lives. With love and prayers, we send you the fifth instalment of our series on "Understanding God". We pray that the Lord will grant us understanding in Jesus Name. Amen.

UNDERSTANDING GOD 5

In continuation of our focus on the Godhead, we are exploring the distribution of roles. It is not a coincidence that we pray to the Father, in the Name of our Lord Jesus, and by the power of the Spirit. Ephesians 2 teaches us that we have access to the Father through Christ, and by the Holy Spirit. On this note, we move on to the specifics.

Division of Roles
We understand, from the Scriptures that the Father initiates the workings of the Godhead, that the Son executes (or carries out) the same workings, while the Holy Spirit manifests them. This is confirmed by the role played by each in the creation of the universe. No doubt, the Father gave the command, while the Word (or the Son) executed it. Although nothing specific is said of the role of the Holy Spirit, we know that, before the command was given, He ‘‘moved upon the face of the waters" (see Gen. 1:1-3, Col. 1:16). No doubt, He was the Power behind the manifestations that followed.

A study of 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 will confirm the above understanding: ‘‘Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God that worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal." As we can see, the operation or working of the gifts is ascribed to the Father (God), while the administration of the gifts is ascribed unto the Son (Lord).
Finally, the manifestation of the gifts is ascribed to the Holy Spirit (Spirit). The implication is that, while the Father initiates the distribution of the gifts, the Son actively distributes (or administers) them. Finally, the Holy Spirit manifests them.

The same understanding is revealed in John 3:16: ‘‘For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’’ The Father initiates the process of salvation, by sending the Son; the Son consummates it by dying on the cross for our sins while the Holy Spirit manifests it by drawing men to Christ, dwelling in them and helping them to live for God.. this helps us to put 2 Corinthians 13:14 in perspective: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all." The grace is ascribed to the Lord Jesus Christ, the love is ascribed to God (the Father) while the communion is ascribed to the Holy Ghost. We know that ‘‘the love" has always been in the heart of the Father, but it took the grace of God, manifested through Christ, to establish it. Likewise, it took the fellowship we have with the Spirit to manifest it.