Read JOHN 4:19–26

In the article “Love the Lord with All Your Voice,” theology professor Steven R. Guthrie argued that singing should be regarded as a “spiritual discipline— an important practice in Christian spiritual formation, and a means of growing in the life of faith.” Rather than being an act of expression, worshipful singing begins as an act of imitation; for example, by learning to sing the psalms until their words become our own.

Just as the entire Trinity is involved in the gospel and its proclamation, so also is the entire Trinity involved in worship. We see this in today’s reading, which is part of the well-known narrative of Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well. She might have raised the topic of where to worship as a distraction, since it was a known bone of contention between Jews and Samaritans. But Jesus, as He always did, took the opportunity to say something worthwhile and redemptive.

“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship him in the Spirit and in truth” (v. 24). God is the only worthy recipient of our worship, including all three Persons of the Trinity. The Spirit Himself enables our worship, which must be coupled with truth, that is, with the revelation of God in Christ. We cannot make God in our image, though many today try.

Interestingly, Jesus identified Himself directly here as the Messiah (v. 26), seemingly the only time He did so prior to Passion Week. This might be because the Samaritans, who accepted only the Pentateuch as Scripture, did not have the same political messianic expectations as the Jews did because they did not know messianic prophecy. Though she lacked both status and access to all the Jewish Scriptures, Jesus revealed more about His identity to this sinful Samaritan woman—and her life was transformed.

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Hopefully tomorrow you will have the opportunity to sing praise to God—but you don’t have to wait for a church service! Even those of us who can’t carry a tune can still bring glory to God through musical praise. In response to the Trinity’s transforming power through the gospel, take time today to worship through song.

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Read JOHN 16:12–15

According to theologian Peter J. Leithart, the term perichoresis, which means “mutual indwelling,” is used to describe the interrelationships and the inner life of the Trinity; that is, the love and unity that characterize the Three-in-One. He also suggests that since “created things were intended to communicate something about God . . . we might discover perichoretic fingerprints—traces of the Trinity— throughout the creation.”

Another theological term for this is circumincession, defined as “the reciprocal existence in one another of the three Persons of the Trinity.” Though impossible for us to understand completely, this doctrinal term helps us to grasp the point of today’s reading. Jesus said that when the Spirit comes, His words would not be His alone but also the words of the Father and the Son (v. 13). This again confirms the essential unity and mutual indwelling of the Three-in-One. They have one will and speak with one voice.

Specifically, the Spirit receives from the Son what He will make known to the disciples and to us (v. 14). In doing so, He glorifies the Son, which is exactly in line with the rest of His ministry. Furthermore, the Father has made all that belongs to Him the Son’s as well. Since He is the sovereign Lord, everything does belong to Him, including words (v. 15). Therefore, the words of truth from the Spirit ultimately come from the Father and the Son as well. This is why the church’s ministries of preaching and teaching the Word can be effective only by the Spirit.

As quickly as we have differentiated the three Persons of the Trinity and their respective roles in the work of salvation, just as quickly must we reaffirm their essential unity and shared divine attributes. “Who is like you, LORD God Almighty?” (Ps. 89:8). No one!

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To help our finite minds better understand the Trinity, theologians create terminology, artists paint masterpieces, and poets craft sonnets. One powerful example is “Sonnet XIV” from the Holy Sonnets by John Donne, which begins, “Batter my heart, three-person’d God; for you / As yet but knock; breathe, shine, and seek to mend.”

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Read JOHN 15:26–16:11

In God’s Prayer Book: The Power and Pleasure of Praying the Psalms, Ben Patterson explains prayer in light of the Trinity: “The organic union of the Body of Christ is rooted in the loving union of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Together, the ‘community’ of God helps us pray. In fact, we are drawn up into the communion of the Godhead when we pray. Jesus, the Son, teaches us to pray to the Father and intercedes for us as we do. The Spirit also helps us to pray, as something of a translator [Rom. 8:26].”

Praying with us is part of the Spirit’s work. Today’s passage describes His work even more fully. When He comes, the “Advocate” or “Spirit of truth” (15:26) will, in addition to His work in the church and in individual believers, undertake three main tasks in the world (16:8–11). First, He will prove the world wrong about sin. Unbelievers don’t think they’re so bad. They don’t like the idea that they stand condemned and need a Savior. But the Spirit convicts them of their sinfulness and of their urgent need for God’s great love, shown in the gift of His Son.

Second, the Spirit will prove the world wrong about righteousness. Unbelievers think their own goodness is enough. Don’t they do their best? Are they really so bad? But the Spirit teaches them that their own self- righteousness is entirely inadequate. For eternal life with God, we need the redemption and righteousness of Christ.

Finally, the Spirit will prove the world wrong about judgment. Unbelievers are living according to the world, a system which seems normal and fine to them, but which is satanic and puts them in danger of hell. The Spirit can show them Christ, the only way to life.

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Just as part of the Spirit’s work is to testify about Christ, so also is it part of our work (15:27). What’s your testimony? Through what faith-building stories have you testified recently to the work of God in your life? And when you talk about such things, is the focus on you or on God? Rejoice in the privilege of telling what God has done!

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Read JOHN 14:25–31

Human memories are not reliable. We might think we remember what happened, or we equate our own interpretation of events with the truth. We might forget inconvenient facts. Our memories are finite and fallible—and very often self-serving as well!

In today’s reading, Jesus promised His disciples that their eyewitness memories would be assisted and guaranteed by the Holy Spirit (v. 26). This means the Gospel accounts of the life of Christ are trustworthy beyond anything based on merely human memory. We can believe He really said the words and did the actions we read in Scripture. God has made sure that His revelation of Himself in Christ is recorded in a wholly true and accurate way.

This is one reason the Spirit was sent by the Father at the request of the Son. As we saw yesterday, the Spirit has come to be our advocate or helper, to indwell and empower us for holy lives (vv. 16, 26). He will be with us forever (v. 17), working out the truth of the gospel in our lives and in the world.

What else do we learn about the Trinity in this passage? The Father is “greater” than the Son in the sense that He is the originator or planner of salvation (v. 28). The Son will obey the Father “to the point of death,” demonstrating complete love and submission (v. 31). In the face of the news of His impending death, however, Jesus also comforted His disciples with the news that He will come again (v. 28). Before that day, Satan will cause suffering and try to oppose the gospel, but he will fail, and Christ will complete His victory over the “prince of this world” (v. 30).

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Go back through John 14 and make a list of the blessings that we are promised through the Trinity. Examples include an eternal dwelling with God, the love of God, and peace that transcends the world’s understanding. As you review your list, praise the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for His inexhaustible supply of good gifts in your life.

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Read JOHN 14:1–14

Many people today say they are spiritual but not religious. The positive side of this is that they recognize that people are more than just material or physical beings. The negative side is that they tend to focus on their personal feelings or emotions, either rejecting the idea of absolute truth or reserving for themselves the right to pick and choose what those truths might be. Such people essentially put themselves in the place of God.

By contrast, Jesus proclaimed a truth that grates on the ears of modern spirituality: He and He alone is the way to the Father. John 14, where we’ll spend three days, is part of the Upper Room discourse, Jesus’ teaching following the Passover or Last Supper prior to His crucifixion. In today’s reading, He comforted His disciples with a promise. He was going to His Father’s house to prepare a place for them (vv. 2–3).

How close is the relationship between the Father and the Son? “No one comes to the Father except through me” (v. 6). To believe in the Son is to believe in the Father (vv. 1, 11). To know the Son is to know the Father (vv. 7, 9). The words and work of the Son are the words and work of the Father. They are “in” one another— utterly unified as Persons of the Godhead (v. 10). The Father’s power—the gift of the Holy Spirit is implied here and explicitly revealed in the verses following—will also be available to the followers of the Son (v. 12).

The Father sent the Son and the Son reveals the Father. The incarnate Son is the one and only way the Father has made for us to come to Him. Faith in Christ alone is the way to salvation!

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This passage provides us with some practical encouragement for our prayers. We are to pray to the Father in the name of the Son, for His glory, and we have direct access to God’s power through the indwelling of the Spirit (vv. 13–14). Praying for God’s will to be done is a prayer that is always answered “yes” (see Matt. 6:10).

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Read MATTHEW 11:25–30

In Beholding the Glory: Incarnation Through the Arts, Trevor Hart wrote of the necessity of Christ becoming human: “[I]n order for God to transfigure our broken humanity it was necessary for him to lay hold of it in all its brokenness. . . . He redeemed it [our humanness] through a moment to moment Spirit-filled obedience, offering his humanity to his heavenly Father in a continuous sacrifice of praise and worship which culminated in the cross and resurrection.”

The Incarnation gives us a glimpse of the shared purpose of the Trinity, which is key to understanding Jesus’ mission of redemption. As He proclaimed in today’s reading, the Father is revealed in the Son. As John had reflected in the prologue to his Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (1:1). When “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14), it was the best possible revelation of God—because the Word was God!

The Father and the Son have perfect knowledge of one another. The Father reveals the Son to whomever He chooses, and the Son reveals the Father to whomever He chooses. Israel’s religious leaders were not included, for they had failed to respond in faith to clear signs that the Messiah had arrived. Jesus called a motley band of followers that included several fishermen and a tax collector!

Verses 28 to 30 are well known, but how do they connect in context to the Father-Son relationship? When the Father reveals the Son, and the Son reveals the Father, and we respond to God’s grace in humble faith. Note that this response gives us rest. God does not call us to achievement-driven anxiety or works-oriented legalism but to peace and calm.

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Praying the words of Scripture can enrich our lives; people have prayed the psalms and other Scriptures for centuries. Beginning with Jesus’ prayer in verse 25, thank God for His self- revelation in His Son. Thank Him that you received His grace. And thank Him that salvation provides rest, peace, and assurance rooted in God’s love.

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Read JOHN 5:16–30

When God spoke to Moses in the burning bush and called him to liberate His people, Moses had some doubts and questions: “What is your name?” The Lord responded, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you’” (Ex. 3:14).

“I AM” is God’s name. Anyone using that name is declaring that he or she is God. In today’s reading, Jesus infuriated the Jewish religious leaders by claiming equality with God (v. 18). Though they refused to acknowledge His identity or the source of His authority, Jesus embraced their “accusation” as true and explained the all-encompassing authority and perfect unity existing between Himself and His Father.

The Father and Son are unified in will (vv. 19, 30), in love (v. 20), in power (vv. 21, 25–26), and in authority (vv. 22, 27).

The Son does not act as a maverick but does just as the Father does. The Father loves the Son and has fully revealed to Him His plan of salvation. God alone holds power over life and death, but that power belongs equally to the Father and the Son, revealing both to be God. Similarly, God alone has the authority to judge, but He has entrusted that prerogative to the Son, and expects everyone to honor and worship the Son equally with Himself (v. 23).

One result of this relationship is that it’s the Father’s will that all people should look to the Son for eternal life (v. 24; see John 6:40). The idea that God holds life and death in His hands includes not just power but also essence. That is, God is “life in himself” (v. 26)—a quality that the Father has granted to and shares with His only begotten Son.

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We can rejoice in our certain hope of resurrection! We who trust in His name—the name of the One with resurrection power and all authority to judge eternal destinies—will rise to life, not through any merit of our own, but thanks to Christ’s redemptive sacrifice. Sing or listen to music that celebrates the resurrection today.

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Read LUKE 4:14–21

The entire Trinity is involved in the work of salvation. As Philip Graham Ryken and Michael LeFebvre explain in Our Triune God: Living in the Love of the Three-in-One: “God plays the symphony of our salvation in three movements. Each movement is associated with a different Person of the Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. First, there is the work of God the Father in administering our salvation. The Father is the one who organizes and oversees the plan of salvation. Second, there is the work of God the Son in accomplishing our salvation. Jesus is the one who died on the cross for our sins and rose again to give us eternal life. Third, there is the work of God the Holy Spirit in applying our salvation. The Spirit is the one who takes what Jesus Christ has done and makes it ours. This is the plan, and the triune God has been working it out since before the beginning of time.”

We can see this beautiful truth in the fulfillment of messianic prophecy. Near the start of His public ministry, Jesus taught one Sabbath in His hometown synagogue in Nazareth. For the Scripture reading, He chose verses from Isaiah that described the Messiah as anointed by God, filled with the Spirit, and bringing good news of healing and freedom (vv. 18–19; Isa. 61:1–2). Stunningly, He then proclaimed, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (v. 21).

Jesus was filled with the Spirit (v. 14). He had been anointed by His Father and sent to bring the good news of salvation to a spiritually dead world. Miracles such as healing the blind helped validate His claims. He Himself was the fulfillment of the Father’s plan of redemption, and His arrival indeed heralded “the year of the Lord’s favor”!

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Today, thank God—the Three-in-One—for the symphony of your salvation. Include thanks for His love that is the foundation for the work of salvation, the sovereign plan of the Father, the person and work of the Son, and the indwelling of the Spirit. Also ask God to show you how to live today in a way that reveals His love and salvation to others.

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Read MATTHEW 4:1–11

During Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, both He and Satan quoted Scripture. What made the difference? Hermeneutics, a term meaning “interpretation.” Satan misrepresented Scripture’s meaning and tried to twist it to his own ends, while Jesus accurately and faithfully interpreted Scripture, remaining righteous and obedient. With the help of good biblical hermeneutics, He chose truth over falsehood and obedience over sin.

We might wonder why the Spirit led the Son into the wilderness for this important episode. Facing off against Satan was the other half of the launch of Jesus’ public ministry, the complement to the Father and Spirit’s affirmation at His baptism. This was not a one-time test, as the spiritual battle would continue throughout Jesus’ life (see Luke 4:13). Satan completely opposed Jesus’ mission of redemption, just as today he wars against God’s work of salvation in our own lives (see 1 Peter 5:8).

We should be encouraged that Jesus faced temptation, just as we do (see Heb. 4:15). It’s particularly encouraging that He was led into this situation by the Holy Spirit, which meant it was not outside the will of God. We, too, should be led by the Spirit (Rom. 8:14). Even when confronting direct temptation by Satan and His own physical hunger, Jesus did not give in. He was instead filled with the Holy Spirit—again, just as we should be—and perfectly resisted Satan’s deceit.

Tellingly, God the Father is referenced in each of the three Scriptures quoted by Jesus. The Son trusted His Father’s words (v. 4). He would never attempt to manipulate Him or force His hand (v. 7). God alone is worthy of worship (v. 10). To bend the knee to any other, for any reason, would be faithless and sinful.

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How can we fight against temptation like Jesus did? Like Him, we should know the Scriptures! Solid hermeneutics enables us to choose truth over falsehood and obedience over sin. We should also remember our identity in Christ and what it means— we are now free to resist sin and to live worthy of the gospel to which we have been called (see Eph. 4:1–6).

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Read MATTHEW 3:13–17

We believe, wrote fourth-century theologian Athanasius, “in one God, Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord, Jesus Christ, his only-begotten Son, and in one Holy Spirit; one God, known in the holy and perfect Trinity, baptized into which, and in it united to deity, we believe that we have also inherited the kingdom.”

At the baptism of Jesus, all three Persons of the Trinity were distinctly and powerfully present. Jesus, the Son, came to be baptized by John. This represented the climax of the Baptist’s ministry, though he hesitated (v. 14). After all, a sinless man did not need baptism to signify repentance from sin. Jesus, however, asked to be baptized to signify His consecration to the will of His Father and the launch of His public ministry (v. 15).

John, as we know, was filled with the Holy Spirit even before his birth (see Luke 1:15). It’s reasonable to infer that he knew his cousin’s true identity as the Messiah and Son of God through a revelation from the Spirit. When John baptized Jesus, the Holy Spirit descended “like a dove” (v. 16), a form symbolizing purity and innocence.

In addition, the voice of God the Father spoke from heaven: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (v. 17). Love is part of the inner life of the Trinity. Since love must have an object, from eternity there must have been Someone for God to love. In this sense, God being more than one Person was perhaps inevitable, though still mysterious.

On this occasion, alluding to Psalm 2:7 and Isaiah 42:1, God publicly identified, affirmed, and encouraged His Son as He began His mission of redemption (see 1 John 4:8–9).

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Before His ascension, Jesus instructed us to make and baptize disciples in the name of the Trinity (see Matt. 28:19). For the church, baptism signifies discipleship, a public commitment to following and obeying Christ. Baptism reminds us that we identify with the death and resurrection of our Lord and, like Him, are consecrated to doing the will of our Father.

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Read MATTHEW 1:18–25

What does it mean to say that God is a Trinity? One source offers a concise definition of this important doctrine: “The one God exists in three Persons and one substance, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is one, yet self- differentiated; the God who reveals Himself to mankind is one God equally in three distinct modes of existence, yet remains one through all eternity.”

The Trinity is at the heart of the Christmas story. Just as all three Persons played distinctive roles in the lives of Zechariah and Mary, so also all three are present in the story of God’s intervention with Joseph. Intervention was needed because Joseph, as one might expect, just couldn’t believe his fiancée’s story of a virgin conception.

The Father once again sent an angel, this time in a dream, to tell Joseph it was true. Joseph responded in faith, which was consistent with his character.

He was, after all, faithful to the Law and a true worshiper of God. He received the angel’s message as authoritative because He knew that God had both the right and the power to do the impossible.

The angel also told Joseph that the baby in Mary’s womb was the Messiah, come to save people from sin (v. 21). More than that, He was Immanuel, “God with us,” the second Person of the Trinity (v. 23). God’s presence with His people always signifies His covenant faithfulness and love.

Mary’s pregnancy was the work of the Holy Spirit (v. 18). Since God is the great, self-existent I AM, it could not have been otherwise. This also fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy of a virgin birth (Isa. 7:14), which was authorized by the Father and inspired by the Spirit (v. 22). The entire Trinity participated in the birth of Christ— acting as separate Persons, but one in essence and purpose.

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Many good theological sources are available to learn more about the Trinity. In addition to the recommendation in this month’s “Theology Matters” column, another brief article that covers basic biblical truths in a clear, concise manner

is “What is the doctrine of the Trinity?” by Matt Perman, found on the Desiring God website.

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