Philip Graham Ryken - Our Triune God: Living in the Love of the Three-in-One

Library of Congress Cataloging-In-Publlcation Data

Ryken, Philip Graham, 1966

Our triune God : living in the love of the triune God / Philip

Graham Ryken and Michael LeFebvre.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-1-4335-1987-1 (tpb) ISBN-10: 1-4335-1987-9

ISBN-13: 978-1-4335-1988-8 (PDF)

ISBN-13: 978-1-4335-1989-5 (Mobipocket)

1. Trinity. I. LeFebvre, Michael. II. Title
BT111.3.R95 2011

231'.044dc22 2010023931

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

It should be obvious that at the center of Christianity is the worship of God. It is from this, glorifying God and enjoying him now and forever, that the Christian life and its various outworkings proceed. The supreme biblical revelation of God is that he is triunehe is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, three Persons in indivisible union. The Trinitarian baptismal formula (Matt. 28:1920) is pronounced over everyone who can be called a Christian.

Yet in the Western church the doctrine of the Trinity has been greatly neglected. For most Christians it is little more than an arcane mystery, of little significance for everyday life. While it may be believed, our knowledge of God is strangely disconnected from the reality of his tri-personal being.

Recent decades have seen a recovery of interest in the Trinity at the academic, theological level. What is vitally needed is for this to percolate through to the pew. Once it does it will transform our faith and shed light on a vast range of areas, while both stimulating and enhancing evangelism.

This book is exactly what is required. Philip Ryken and Michael LeFebvre present this most mysterious and yet crucial truth in a compelling way that should be enlightening to a wide readership. They are faithful to the truth and attuned to the questions raised by believers and unbelievers alike. Their presentation is lucid and readable without cutting corners or sacrificing principles. There is much wise biblical exposition, and the context of worship is persistently stressed, but the authors do not shirk the difficult questions and do interact with the theories of relativity and quantum mechanics and with Islam. If you are looking to grow in your knowledge of God and want a straightforward but intelligent guide to the Trinity, look no furtherthis is it.

I am delighted to commend this volume and pray that it may be instrumental in stimulating the faith, understanding, worship, and Christian lives of all who read it.

To know God is to know him as triune. There is one God in three Persons. Or to express the same truth in a different way, God is three Persons in one beingFather, Son, and Holy Spirit.

This Trinitarian truth is foundational to the worship and the service of God. To know God as triune is to worship him as he is, rejoicing in his very being. We praise the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for having equal, divine majesty, while at the same time honoring each Persons unique personality: the Father is the Father of the Son; the Son is the Son of the Father; the Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son. Out of this worship comes our service, as we show the Fathers mercy and proclaim the Sons sacrifice in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Historically, the church has placed great importance on the doctrine of the Trinity, which has been held universally across the church and around the world. The early church father Irenaeus claimed that apart from the reality of the Trinity we cannot know God at all: Without the Spirit it is not possible to behold the [Son] of God, nor without the Son can any draw near the Father: for the knowledge of the Father is the Son, and the knowledge of the Son of God is through the Holy Spirit; and, according to the good pleasure of the Father, the Son ministers and dispenses the Spirit to whomsoever the Father wills and as He wills.