THE DISTINCT PERSONALITY OF THE SON

"For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." -- 1 John 5:7

Being the eternal Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ is a person distinct from the Father and the Spirit. Many deny that there are three distinct Persons in the Godhead. They teach that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are merely different names and offices for one Person, and that Jesus is all three. This "Jesus only" heresy is just as deadly as the denial of our Savior's Deity, for it reduces the whole covenant of grace to a redundant, meaningless play on words.

Jesus Christ our Lord is the express image of the invisible God, and the whole revelation of the triune godhead. He declares, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9). Yet, he is a distinct person from the Father and the Spirit. The Scriptures clearly reveal the distinct personality of the Son. Here are ten points of distinction between the Persons of the Trinity.

1. In the beginning the Word was with God, and the Word was God, in every way equal with, yet distinct from the Father (John 1:1).

2. The Son of God was brought up from eternity with the Father, equal with, yet distinct from the Father (Prov. 8:30).

3. Christ was set up from everlasting by the Father to be the Mediator and covenant Head of his elect (Ps. 89:3, 28; Prov. 8:23; Eph. 1:3; II Tim. 1:9).

4. In the fulness of time the Father sent the Son into the world to save the people he had chosen (Gal.4:4-6).

5. Christ became a propitiatory Sacrifice to make satisfaction for and reconcile the elect to God (Rom. 3:24-28).

6. Our Lord Jesus was declared to be the Son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead (Rom. 1:4).

7. When the Son of God ascended back into heaven, he sat down on the right hand of the Father as his equal, yet as one distinct from the Father (John 20:17; Heb.1:13; Rev. 3:21).

8. Today the Son makes intercession with the Father as our Advocate in heaven (I John 2:1; Heb. 7:25; 9:24).

9. The Holy Spirit takes the things of Christ and shows them to his people in effectual grace (John 16:7-14).

10. And Christ's coming to judge the world shows him to be equal with, yet distinct from the Father(John 5:22).

We worship one God in the trinity of his Sacred Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.