This week I'm studying
1 Corinthians 12:4-11. One of the
outstanding features of this passage is the Trinitarian foundation and ground
plan. Note just verses 4 to 6 :
“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there
are varieties of service, but the
same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone”
(1 Corinthians 12:4–6, ESV) [Emphasis mine]
In Anthony Thiselton's Commentary[1]
he writes,
"These verses were of immense
importance to Athanasius. He believed that Paul's intimate association of the
Spirit with the activity of the Father and the Son 'means that there exists an
essential unity between the three.' (Haykin, the Spirit of God). On the basis of
this passage (12:4-6) Athanasius draws out the profound truth that all persons
of the holy Trinity participate in a unified activity which may be thought of
as the action of the whole Godhead as Trinity.
Athanasius comments on 12:4-6, 'The gifts which the Spirit divides to each
are bestowed from the Father through the Word. For all
things that tare of the Father are of the Son also; therefore those things
which are given from the Son in the Spirit are gifts of the Father. And when the Spirit is in us, the Word also,
who gives the Spirit is in us, and the Word is also the Father.' (Athanasius, Epistles to Serapion) In the exegesis of Athanasius, Paul views the Father as the source
of spiritual gifts (from God); the
Son, Christ as their mediator (through
Christ as Lord); to be 'activated' b the agency of the Holy Spirit (by the Spirit) . . . Only as believers
'share' the Spirit can they experience the love of the Father and the grace
of the Son. Thus in the experience of the believer the persons of the Trinity are
inseparable, even if apart from such experience distinctions of personhood can
be made."
This
is very likely beyond the purpose of Paul's writing but one cannot deny the
implicit and important truth that is exposed.
"Athanasius concludes, 'The Spirit is not outside the Word . . .
And so the spiritual gifts are given in the Triad . . . the same Spirit and the
same Lord and the same God who produces
all and in all ((1 Cor 12:6).'"
Thus
we have this important statement from the Council of Nicea[2]:
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,
and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the
only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God,
Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one
substance with the Father, by whom all things were made . . . And I believe in
the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father [and
the Son]; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified
. . .
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