Holy Spirit

This week on Theology on the Go, our host, Dr. Jonathan Master is joined by Dr. Richard C. Barcellos. Dr. Barcellos is pastor of Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Palmdale, CA. He has over 25 years of pastoral experience. He received a B.S. from California State University, Fresno, M.Div. from The...

An overview of the Trinity ought to include a variety of elements. The synopsis might begin with a statement concerning God's incomprehensibility and our creaturely need for revelation. It ought to cover the doctrine of divine simplicity. God's triunity should also be part of that discussion. And...

Why don’t we immediately see God the Holy Trinity jumping from the pages of Old Testament scripture? It is a sincere question a Muslim, a Jew and even a newer Christian all may ask. Reading the Old Testament by its own light, not by the light of the New, may push us to regard God as an...

Let me pose a question: while meditating on God are we sufficiently Trinitarian? I don’t mean do you believe in or confess the Trinity. Many would happily check the box marked “Trinity." However, having confessed it, many of us quite frankly do not know what difference it makes. Using Galatians 4:4...

Some years ago, J. Ligon Duncan, chancellor of Reformed Theological Seminary, declared in a sermon at the historic First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, MS that God was “not an undifferentiated monad!” Precisely so. The God of Scripture is Triune: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is a Triunity ...

In the history of the Church her doctrines have been understood and organized through seven distinct yet interrelated topics or categories: Scripture, God, Man, Christ, Salvation, Church and Last Things. These distinct yet inseparably related doctrines reveal that the doctrine of the Trinity is the...

I have a question for you. Can existence be separated from attributes? Perhaps a definition or two is in order. My guess is that you know what it means to exist. But what is an attribute? An attribute is a quality, feature, or characteristic about a person or thing. So, for example, think of a fire...

Why does my church - the mourning widow, the lustful high-school jock, the overworked dad, or the tired homeschooling mom - need to relish in the doctrine of God’s Simplicity? Why do I as a pastor have a duty to ground my people in this seemingly obscure doctrine? Before I answer I want to briefly...

It is an ironic point not lost on many theologians that the doctrine of divine simplicity is not so simple. To study the doctrine you must be prepared to welcome an expansion of your theological vocabulary. Every time I read or listen to something on simplicity I frequently pause and consult a...

God cannot learn anything new. Perhaps that is a new idea to you? The church, when it has been sound and orthodox, has always confessed this (see the WCF 2.1). It is an implication of at least two of the Triune God’s incommunicable attributes: simplicity and omniscience. Omniscience simply means “...