FATHER, SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT: RELATIONSHIPS, ROLES AND RELEVANCE, by Bruce A. Ware

A Brief Book Summary from Books at a Glance

About the Author

Bruce A. Ware (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is professor of Christian theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has written numerous journal articles and books including God’s Lesser Glory and God’s Greater Glory.

Overview

Bruce A. Ware explains the doctrine of the Trinity in terms of the roles and relationships of each Person to the others. He applies the personal properties and the dynamics of the relationships within the Trinity to his readers. The Trinity, then, is unfolded as both transcendent doctrine and practical day-to-day help in this volume.

Table of Contents

1. Beholding the Wonder of Our Triune God: Importance of This Doctrine
2. Beholding the Wonder of Our Triune God: Historical Overview
3. Beholding the Wonder of the Father
4. Beholding the Wonder of the Son
5. Beholding the Wonder of the Holy Spirit
6. Beholding the Wonder of the Triune Persons in Relational Community

Summary

Chapter 1
Beholding the Wonder of Our Triune God: Importance of This Doctrine

To introduce the importance of studying the doctrine of the Trinity, Bruce A. Ware sets out the basic implication of God’s revelation: if God revealed himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, he did so because this would be important, for one reason or another, for our faith and our understanding of God. Just like it is between husbands and wives, there may be things we need to know about each other that are hard to understand at times. That does not make them any less important, however. God is in relationship with himself in unity and in diversity, and this offers a model to us for human life and relationships.

There are ten additional reasons why understanding the Trinity is important:

1. The Trinity is one of the most important distinguishing doctrines of the Christian faith and so deserves careful study, passionate embrace, and thoughtful application.
2. It is central and necessary for the Christian faith to be what it is.
3. Worship of the true God consciously acknowledges the relationship and roles of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
4. The Christian life of prayer acknowledges the trinitarian roles as we pray to the Father, through the Son, and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
5. The Christian’s sanctification is rightly understood and enriched when seen as the work of the triune God.
6. The triune relationships of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit cause us to marvel at the unity of God.
7. The triune relationships of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit cause us to marvel at the diversity within the triune God.
8. The triune relationships of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit cause us to wonder at the social relationality of the triune God.
9. The triune relationships of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit cause us to marvel at the authority-submission structure that exists eternally in the three Persons of the Godhead, each of whom is equally and fully God.
10. The doctrine of the Trinity – one God existing in three Persons – provides one of the most important and neglected patterns for how human life and human relationships are to be conducted.

Chapter 2
Beholding the Wonder of Our Triune God: Historical Overview

As we have indicated, knowing God is important, and understanding something of the Trinity is crucial for that personal knowledge. This involves looking at what Christians through the ages have confessed about the triune God. Such historical awareness…

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