CHAPTER XXVI: I. THE doctrine of the Trinity lies at the foundation of that of

I. THE doctrine of the Trinity lies at the foundation of that of Christ's Person.

That doctrine is that three persons subsist in one divine nature. It was one of these persons, and not the divine nature itself, that became incarnate.

1. It was not the Godhead that became incarnate, but one of the persons of the Godhead.

2. It was not the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit, but it was the Son alone.

3. It was not God abstractly and unitedly, but God personally, the Word that was with God, and that was God, that was made flesh.

4. It was not, therefore, that which was common to the three persons that assumed our nature; but it was that which, in the economy of the Trinity, is distinguished from the others.

5. It was, therefore, not the divine nature or essence, but a person who subsists in that divine nature equally with the others, yet who is distinguished, in his relation to that divine nature, from the other persons of the Trinity.

The doctrine of the Trinity is therefore essentially involved in that of the Person of Christ. It is because of the fact of individual personality in the divine Being, by virtue of which, though his nature and essence and being are so one that he is one God, he is yet three-fold, that personal distinctions also exist, and that one person, who is God, can become incarnate without involving the incarnation of the other persons.

Personal distinctions in the Trinity are not necessary to the incarnation of God, but are to that of a divine person.

They are also necessary to the work which Christ performed. Were God only one person, he could not manifest rule, and yet empty himself of it; could not send, and yet be sent; could not be lawgiver, and also voluntary subject; could not make atonement, and yet receive it; could not pour out wrath, and yet endure it.

The Scriptures, therefore, persistently teach, not that "God came," "was sent," "was made flesh," but that God "gave his only-begotten Son," "sent his Son not to condemn the world," "sent forth his Son made of a woman," "sent his only-begotten Son into the world," and that "the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world." Indeed, the first