Personal Applications of the Trinity, Part 2

Continuing the series on personal applications we can draw from the doctrine of the Trinity, today we turn our eyes to the Son, Jesus.

While eternally identical in nature with the Father and Spirit, the Son is also eternally submissive to the authority of the Father. He seeks to do the will of the Father and glorify the Father. He humbled himself, even to death on the cross, in order to demonstrate his love for the Father through costly obedience.

Understanding the coexistence of full divinity and full humanity within Jesus is difficult. For example, if Jesus is God, why did he say that only the Father knew the hour of the second coming? Ware explains it this way: "It seems that the answer must be that Jesus Christ, as a man, accepted the limitations of his human existence, including the limited knowledge that goes with living life as a finite human being. In his divine nature, he retained omniscience, but in the consciousness of Jesus, the God-man, he accepted a restricted knowledge so that he would have to trust his heavenly Father."

Said another way, Jesus humbled himself by "pocketing" some of his divine attributes in the incarnation. He did not get rid of them; he willingly suppressed his freedom and right to use them. It seems odd to me that people who have trouble with Jesus not displaying omniscience do not have a problem with him not displaying omnipresence while here on earth.

In his incarnation and earthly mission, the Son submitted himself to the Spirit to fulfill his role as the Spirit-anointed Messiah. Some might offer the rebuttal to the above paragraph that Jesus knew what the Pharisees were thinking and details about the life of the woman at the well. It was through the Holy Spirit, and Christ's dependence on him, that Jesus knew these things. Just as the Spirit revealed unknown things to others in the Bible, such as Nathan (2 Samuel 12) and Peter (Acts 5:1-11), the Spirit revealed these things to Jesus. While the incarnate Son submitted to the authority of the Spirit, the eternal Son holds authority over the Spirit.

So, how can we apply Jesus' example of costly obedience and humble submission. Ware offers these tidbits:

1. In reference to Jesus' submission to the authority of the Father: "Rather than despising authority, or even rather than yielding to authority with a grumbling and begrudging spirit, we learn from Jesus what true submission looks like."
2. In reference to Jesus' submission to the authority of the Spirit during the incarnation: "Marvel at the submission of the incarnate Son to the Spirit over whom he, in his eternal existence as God, had rights of authority."
3. In reference to the amazing harmony of authority and submission within the Trinity: "Relations of authority and submission, lived out in unity and harmony--this is the model set for us by the Trinity, as expressed so beautifully in the life and ministry of Jesus." We should live out our relationships of authority/submission (i.e. husband/wife; employer/employee; father/child; pastor/congregation) in unity and harmony. The Trinity never displays resentment or selfish ambition in their roles and relationship with one another.