day thirty-two: the trinity at work on the cross

How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! (Hebrews 9:14)

"The very essence of the Godhead, that God is one God eternally existing in three Persons, who are joyfully and eternally united in a holy fellowship, could never have been apprehended apart from this great work of redemption. Theologians like to distinguish between the ontological Trinity and the economical Trinity. The ontological Trinity refers to who God is in his essential being; the economical Trinity refers to how this essential nature works itself out in the mighty acts of God.

No act of God in all of history could have been better designed to display the wonder of the ontological Trinity than the work of redemption. In this work, we see how the Father relates to the Son, planning out a mighty task for him alone to accomplish (John 10:18), delighting in his perfect obedience to that plan (Luke 3:22; John 10:17), and rejoicing to glorify him as the only Redeemer and Mediator between God and men (John 17:5; I Timothy 2:5), the unique and marvelous God-Man, the One who alone holds the keys to Death and Hell (Revelation 1:18), the Possessor of the only Name which is above all names (Philippians 2:9-11). We see how the Son delights to render perfect obedience to the Father, giving glory to him (John 4:34; 17:4; I Corinthians 15:25-28). We see how the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, and how his delight is to testify, not of himself, but of Christ (John 14:16-17,26; 15:26). The very nature of God is Trinitarian.

And we could never have understood the ontological inter-Trinitarian relationship as we do now, if God had not displayed himself economically through redemption: the Father planning, the Son accomplishing, and the Spirit applying that blessing which contains in itself all blessings (cf. Ephesians 1:3-14)."

- Nathan Pitchford