The Roles of the Godhead

Although many have heard of the tri-unity of God, many have not been told about the difference in the role and function of each Person within the Godhead (a synonymous term for Trinity). There is a complexity that is worthy of observation. There is a method to the madness of God that is often overlooked. If He is the One true Creator and He wants to be known, we must learn His unique nature to appreciate Him. An introduction to the nature of God being three in one was in a prior post.

The three persons of the Trinity are called Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Christ reveals them with this language to help us understand Him in human terms. Yet, God is spirit and therefore is not physical or sexual. The Father doesn’t have a wife and didn’t conceive of the Son. Interestingly, the earthly institutions of marriage and parenting were created by God to point to and describe a shadow of His being Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The way in which the sending and submission of God occur teaches us about how human relationships should function.

In marriage, a man leads the dance and the woman follows, but neither is better than or more valuable than the other. They are also to be unified together walking with God through life. It three becoming one similar to how God already is three in one. In the parental situation, when the child is an adult, they still are to respect their parents although they are on equal ground with them as a grown up in society. There is an authority always meant to be present with the parent yet not to be abused. The one important difference in the parallel of the relationship between the three Persons of the Godhead and human institutions is that God is perfect in love and righteousness whereas human relationships always include sin and pain.

We see from Scripture that the Son always does what the Father tells Him (John 8:28-29). The Father is the One who sends the Son and leads (John 17:18, 20:21). The Holy Spirit always follows the leadership of the Father and the Son (John 14:26, 15:26). So the Spirit never leads the Son or the Father. The Son never leads the Father. There is an order that suits them and is in complete unison.

It may seem confusing. Often the Father is called the 1st Person within the Trinity. Then the Son is 2nd and Holy Spirit 3rd. Although they are ranked in this manner, they are all equal in value, worth, significance, and divinity. Yet, they have always functioned in a particular way and always will. They are good with that. It is who God is.

Many of our human relationships pattern the relationship within the Trinity. They were made to do so. Why is it important to know this? There are hundreds of reasons. Here are a few:

• We can see in parenting that godly parents (like the Father) only ask their children to do what is honorable and lead out of love for them.
• Godly children (like the Son) respect their parents and obey even when they don’t feel like it.
• Godly husbands lead their wife (similar to the Father leading the Son) in a way where she feels completely satisfied with his provision.
• Godly wives follow the leadership of their husband (like the Son follows the Father’s leadership) even when it is not easy.
• Like the Holy Spirit, we can learn that quietly doing the right thing behind the scenes without attempting to draw attention to self goes a long way.

Without these examples from God, we can only go by the imperfect human examples of our family members. At COR, we attempt to observe God with great detail and apply it to our everyday life. We are discussing more about these issues in the weeks ahead at our Sunday gatherings. Will you join us on the journey!