Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics: The Holy Trinity

by Carl L. Beckwith

This dogmatic resource is based upon the outline and thought pattern of the Lutheran Confessions. The series is strictly and consciously confessional in its presentation of doctrine and its assessment and analysis of modern theological trends throughout the Christian church.From the would you say if someone asked you to explain the Trinity to them? Would you begin with scripture, one of the creeds, or some clever analogy? Perhaps out of fear of saying the wrong thing you wouldn’t say much at all. Things have not always been this way. The Church Fathers and our Lutheran reformers often preached and wrote about the Trinity. Fourth-century theologian Gregory of Nyssa “[W]e believe as we are baptized—for it is fitting that our confession be of one voice with our faith—and we give glory as we believe, for it is not natural that worship make war against faith, but as we believe, so also we give glory. Now since our faith is in Father and Son and Holy Spirit, faith, worship, and baptism accord with each other.”[1] Martin Luther spoke in a similar way. Luther wrote that in baptism “we hear the voice of the Trinity” and there understand that “the whole Trinity works salvation.”[2] In the Small Catechism, Luther encourages us to begin and end each day by making the sign of the cross in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For the Fathers and the reformers baptism, faith, and worship found meaning only in the confession of the Triune God of scripture.Although Christians today pray the Nicene or Athanasian Creed and sing the common doxology without much hesitation, they struggle to explain what the Bible teaches about the Trinity. There is a reason for this. In the period following the Reformation, many questioned the historical truth of the Bible and dismissed the biblical exegesis of the Fathers and reformers. When this scriptural understanding of the Trinity was set aside, all that remained were the creeds and the ingenious explanations of human reason. We live in a peculiar time. We embrace the doctrine of the Trinity but no longer know the history of exegesis that guarded and confessed the scriptural identity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.In my volume on the Trinity, I show how we rightly reflect upon and talk about the Trinity by placing Christ and the Gospel at the center. Next I demonstrate at length the scriptural identity of the Trinity as made known to us throughout the Old and New Testament. Finally, I explain the sound pattern of words used by the Fathers and Reformers to protect and proclaim the scriptural identity of the Trinity. We are the heirs and guardians of a rich tradition. By reclaiming our inheritance, we will confidently confess our Trinitarian faith by boldly proclaiming the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ. As the Fathers and reformers understood, there is no other way to know, worship, and glorify the Holy Trinity.Carl L. Beckwith is professor of church history and doctrine at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. He is the author of Hilary of Poitiers on the Trinity (Oxford University), translator of Johann Gerhard’s Handbook of Consolations (Wipf & Stock), and editor of Ezekiel and Daniel in the Reformation Commentary on Scripture series (IVP). He also serves as the associate pastor of Hope Lutheran Church in Birmingham.

Genres: Theology

548 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 21, 2016

About the author

Carl L. Beckwith (Ph.D., University of Notre Dame) is associate professor of church history at Beeson Divinity School, Samford University. He has authored articles on church history for a variety of monographs and journals.

Reviews

[Jared Mindel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good, I especially enjoyed his discussion of the Lutheran reception of the filioque, divine appropriations, and the relations vs. emanations theory of personal properties.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best theology books I've read; this is top 10 for me.

[James Key · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first time reading Lutheran theology. I really enjoyed this work. Beckwith has clearly spent time refining his thinking by thorough reading of the Great Tradition. He is strong in his Lutheran convictions but never slips into idolising Luther, Melanchthon or Chemnitz as though they were infallible. As someone who has mostly read in the Presbyterian/Reformed world this book was refreshingly different. I particularly liked the sharp epistemological distinctions made in the first section and also the walk through the Old Testament's complex monotheism in Part 2. Overall an excellent work. Even if you know you will disagree with Beckwith's conclusions at points, he will challenge and sharpen you. Highly recommend.

[Milkias Yeheyis · Rating 5 out of 5]

An immense contemporary work on the doctrine of the Trinity from a distinctly Lutheran perspective. I especially appreciated the integration of analogical predication and the centrality of the cross in understanding the nature of God. The scriptural treatment is robust, but where this book truly shines is in its presentation of the Church’s dogmatic reflection. Each word in that section is worth its weight in gold.

This is an absolute masterclass from Beckwith—scholarly, reverent, and theologically rich. I hope it serves as a foundational work for generations to come in articulating the doctrine of the Trinity.

[Konrad Helliesen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Veldig fin intro til en del av diskusjonene rundt treenigheten, og samtidig de klassiske bibelske begrunnelsene. Spennende også der han går i dialog med både oldkirken og moderne filosofis gudsbegrep. Men til tider tung å lese, noe som er uunngåelig med et slikt tema - til gjengjeld er det vel dannende lesning.

[Xavier Tan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read on the Trinity.

A thoroughly Lutheran work, Beckwith is sceptical of how medieval schoolmen (and later theologians as well) separated the doctrines of God and the Trinity and thought that reason can be relied on in the former to arrive at some discussion about God without discussing the Trinity (eg. that He exists). Instead, Beckwith opines that "The very idea that we may talk about God “without respect to the three persons” ought to make any scriptural theologian uneasy." Not being a Lutheran myself, I was a little uneasy when I first encountered this scepticism in Chapter 2, but after going through the bulk of the book and re-encountering it in Chapter 15, I began to empathise more with Beckwith and the desire to guard against misrepresenting God and His attributes by divorcing discussions on God and on the Trinity (and instead using something else, such as attributes that we humans are familiar with, as a foundation for discussions on God instead).

The rest of the book is mostly a defence of the doctrine. After setting out his worldview and methodology, Beckwith puts forward a defence of the Trinity from the Old Testament, the New Testament, as well as a defence of the filioque clause (the procession of the Spirit from the Son). He then discusses the balance between the unity and distinguishing of the person's over the course of 3 chapters, following Augustine and Luther in asserting that the three persons always work together. For example, while the Son alone was born of the virgin Mary, yet this birth was the work of Father (who sent forth His Son), Son, and Spirit (who came upon Mary). The same can be said for creation, Christ's death and resurrection, and the list goes on. An especially insightful discussion and way of thinking of the triune activity of God which, as Beckwith points out, is lacking in modern theology.

Overall, a highly recommended read (even for non-Lutherans)

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

A worthy and thoughtful Lutheran dogmatic study of the Trinity.