Trinitarian Humilitas

The pursuit of our lives as saints must be for the exaltation and ardent glory of our Triune God. God in his absolute and powerful Divine will has chosen to exist in three persons, Although the mystery of those three separate persons existing as one God is a stretch for our minuscule brains to fathom, we find God in the Old and New Testaments revealing himself as three distinct persons, co-equal in power and might, co-eternal in existence, and co-glorified in purpose. Within the Divine Being we simply call God, God has determined to call himself Father and has assumed role of patriarchal lead in the Trinitarian model, he has also chosen to reveal himself as Son in the second person of his Triune being. Not Son in sense of age or power, but Son in sense of deferred relationship to the leadership of the Father. And God has chosen to reveal his third personage as Spirit, truly fully God, yet willing to submit himself to the authority of Father and glory of the Son, granting all recognition to Father and Son. While on earth, Holy Spirit sent from the Father empowered the humanity of Jesus, the Son revealed, and when Jesus, the Son left earth to join the Holy Father back in heaven, Holy Spirit was sent once again upon those who trusted in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to continue to give them the same guidance as he gave God the Son, Jesus while he was on earth. His guidance manifests itself in four specific ways. 1. He empowered apostles and their close-companions to write God’s will, that is Scripture. 2. He continues to illuminate those God-breathed Scripture by providing conviction, calling, and understanding to both believers (encouragement) and unbelievers (conviction). 3. He manifests himself as a mark of God’s favor upon those who trust Jesus, by manifesting his presence in sanctifying the saint. 4. He gifts the saint with abilities in order to be an encouragement and conviction to others. Certainly there are other ministries of the Holy Spirit, but they are found in some subset of these four.  What is fascinating is the beautiful harmony and unity and even humility in God manifest in the inter-personal relationship of his three persons.  The Son submits to the will of the Father, although being co-equal and co-eternal choosing to humble himself and be directed by the Holy Father in redeeming sinners. The Father himself shows remarkable humility in willingly exalting Jesus, the Son, the place of highest King in heaven and earth. And the Spirit submits to both Father and Son in being willing himself to do the bidding of the Father and to give all recognition to the Son for salvation of sinners. But then as well, the Son humbles himself before the Spirit in being willing to do only as the Spirit of God directs and leads while on earth. The Father is humbled before the Holy Spirit in surrendering creation and regeneration to the work of the Holy Spirit. Whenever I consider the Trinitarian concept of God, my brain cells feel like they are going to explode. Yet it is important to comprehend the absolute unity of humility seen in our three-in-one God. Any humility that we would express is because we as sinners, though fallen now, were created in the image of God. This means that humility is a work of creation that God understood fully well and expressed well  by God himself (as is true of all good attributes). This also means that understanding and expressing humility and most notably willing and happy submission to God and others is only accomplished through the redeeming work of God and the ongoing sanctification as God gradually makes us holy. Submission and humility is not a work of man, because it comes not from man, but from God himself. Therefore, only redeemed people can ever express true humility, and only redeemed people who are growing in grace and holiness whose heart is fixed on the glory and perfection of God, in Christ through the Holy Spirit will have fruit of humility evident in their life. The point? Humility comes from God, not from circumstances, not from trials, not from ease, not from ardent effort on our part.  Yet as our eyes are fixed on Christ in God, and as we are understanding and applying the Spirit empowered Scripture, we will be continually progressing downward in humility. The road of genuine humility begins with recognizing that we have no capability of humility without the supernatural work of a sovereign triune God  (who himself models perfect humility) in redeeming and sanctifying us.