CFTE2 - One God in three persons

In Volume I of this Course, we learned that Theology means “Treatise on God.” However, treating on God can have two meanings: 1) What God is in Himself; 2) What God is in relation to His work.

“Theology,” in its most proper or formal sense, involves investigating what God is in Himself. This is logically where all biblical-theological study must begin to establish itself on firm foundations. If we placed Volume I before the treatise on God, it was only to analyze the authentic sources that give us access to the knowledge of this true God, as He Himself has seen fit to reveal Himself in His Word. Therefore, Volume I dealt with the meaning of Theology, as well as Revelation, both General through the works of His hands, and Special through His personal message, as recorded in the Holy Scriptures or Holy Bible.

The study of this present volume is of utmost importance for understanding our evangelical faith. Not only because all truly biblical Theology must be “theocentric” (which would seem like a truism if there weren't those, from different angles, who seem to deny it), but because our concepts about the nature of God, about His attributes, about the divine persons, decisively influence the ideas we form about all other theological problems. If our concepts about the Being of God are not correct, then the ideas we form about the rest of the theological problematic will also not be clear. On the other hand, if, in the light of Scripture, we acquire a clear idea of the essential character of God, of His infinite perfections and of His Triune Personality, everything else becomes clear and placed in its proper place. Man, sin, the Incarnation and the Atonement, carried out by the Son of God, salvation, grace, the Church, the end of times, etc., can only be understood in their proper measure when one has delved into the knowledge of the infinite holiness, the infinite love, the infinite justice, and the infinite mercy of that God-Father who "is for us," of that God-Son who "is with us," and of that God-Holy Spirit who "dwells in us."