September's Theme: Home

I planned to introduce this month’s them last week, but I worked scraping, sanding and painting the back deck instead. So here we are, close to the middle of the month, and I’m just getting around to this.

The title of this post has probably already tipped you off to September’s theme here at Rebecca Writes. Yes, a couple of times a week, I’ll be posting something that’s related to the idea of home. 

I’m inviting you to join me. Just put up a blog post connected to the topic of home and leave the link to your post in the comments here or email it to me. Poems, photos, lists, stories, you-name-it, it’s all welcome. Every Tuesday and Friday for the rest of September, I’ll post a collection of the submitted home related posts.

The illustration, by the way, is from Virginia Lee Burton’s The Little House, the story of a little house that found a home.

Yet Another Sale at Monergism Books

But hurry! The offer ends at 11:59 pm this coming Friday.

For the next three days, you can receive another 10% off the already low prices on everything in stock at Monergism Books.

Here’s how to get a 10% discount on your order.

1. Sign in to your customer account. You must be a registered customer for your coupon to work. If you are not already registered, simply register with username and password before you place your order.

2. Select at least $25.00 worth of books

3. After you click “Check Out” a page will appear called “Your Shopping Cart”. Below the shopping cart type the text September08 in the “Coupon or Promotional Code” box. Click “APPLY”

4. 10% of your total will automatically be removed from your order.

5. Select a shipping method.

If you’ve been thinking about ordering books, why not do it now and save?

Theological Term of the Week

Defining a term used in defining the Trinity

person
Used in regards to the Trinity: center of consciousness or expression; personality;  “a distinct subject which regards himself as ‘I’ and others as ‘You’”¹; a “who”²—but not a separate, independent individual.

• From the Bible:

  To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood…. (1 Peter 1:102 ESV)

• From the Belgic Confession, Article 8, The Trinity:

  In keeping with this truth and Word of God we believe in one God, who is one single essence, in whom there are three persons, really, truly, and eternally distinct according to their incommunicable properties— namely, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father is the cause, origin, and source of all things, visible as well as invisible. The Son is the Word, the Wisdom, and the image of the Father. The Holy Spirit is the eternal power and might, proceeding from the Father and the Son. Nevertheless, this distinction does not divide God into three, since Scripture teaches us that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit each has his own subsistence distinguished by characteristics—yet in such a way that these three persons are only one God. It is evident then that the Father is not the Son and that the Son is not the Father, and that likewise the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son.

  
  From Francis R. Beattie, The Presbyterian Standards, Chapter IV:
  

  1. The Godhead subsists in three persons. The names of these three persons are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. These three are properly called persons, because in the Scriptures the qualities of personality, such as individuality, intelligence, and free agency, are ascribed alike to these three. In other words, self-consciousness and self-determination, the elements of personality, are applied in the Scriptures equally to the three persons of the Godhead. The Father stands first in the order of being and operation. Hence, he is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding. Uniformly he is spoken of as first in order. The Son always stands second in order, and is eternally begotten of the Father. He is, and ever has been, the only-begotten and well-beloved Son of the Father. The Holy Ghost, or Spirit, always stands third in order, and is represented as eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son, for he is called alike the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of Christ. On account of this order of subsistence and operation, they are called the first, the second, and the third persons of the Godhead. But this does not denote that there is any inferiority of essence, or any limitation of attributes, in any of the three persons. It is only meant that there are eternal and abiding relations subsisting between the three persons, in the indivisible essence of the Godhead.

  2. The second point relates to the peculiar property pertaining to each person.  …These personal properties are to be carefully distinguished from the divine attributes already described. The attributes qualify either the essence, or the modes of the activity of the essence. The personal properties are possessed by the three persons, and modify them separately. The attributes pertain equally to all the persons, while the properties pertain only to each of the several persons in order. This distinction must always be kept carefully in mind.

Learn more:

1. James White: Loving the Trinity
   
2. Christian Research Institute: Is the Trinity Biblical?
3. John Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 1, Chapter 13, Section 2 and Section 6
4. John Piper: How Do You Understand the Trinity? (mp3)
   
5. James White: The Biblical Truth of the Trinity (mp3)

¹ What Is the Doctrine of the Trinity? by Desiring God Staff.
² Loving the Trinity by James White.

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion, and linking back to your blog when I do.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.