Sunday's Hymn: Tell Me the Old, Old Story

Tell me the old, old story
Of unseen things above,
Of Jesus and his glory,
Of Jesus and his love:
Tell me the story simply,
As to a little child,
For I am weak and weary,
And helpless and defiled.

Tell me the old, old story,
Tell me the old, old story,
Tell me the old, old story,
Of Jesus and his love.

Tell me the story softly,
With earnest tones and grave;
Remember, I’m the sinner
Whom Jesus came to save:
Tell me the story always,
If you would really be,
In any time of trouble,
A comforter to me.

Tell me the same old story,
When you have cause to fear
That this world’s empty glory
Is costing me too dear:
Yes, and when that world’s glory
Is dawning on my soul,
Tell me the old, old story,
“Christ Jesus makes thee whole.”

—A. Katherine Hankey

 Other hymns, worship songs, or quotes for this Sunday:

• When He Cometh at The Happy Wonderer
• An Invitation To Sinners Only at The Outspoken Tulip
• Good Friday at That I May Know
• For Thou Art With Me at Tried With Fire
• Lord’s Day 25, 2019 at The Thirsty Theologian

Selected Reading

I read (or watched or heard) these recently and recommend them to you.

Scripture

A First Primer on Inerrancy
“The doctrine of the inerrancy of Scripture asserts that the Bible is truthful and accurate, and therefore without error in all that it affirms.” — Fred Zaspel 

How Did the Early Christians View the Books of the Bible?
This is an important truth, and one a lot of Christians don’t know: “[T]he canon wasn’t a late development; it was built into Christianity from the very start.”

Bible

Recommended Expositions on Romans
A whole bunch of lectures/sermons/studies on Romans from trusted teachers/preachers (Monergism).

Government

10 Things to Know about What the Bible Teaches on God and Human Government
I’d call this a Bible-based primer on the place of human government (and our obligation to human government) in a world ultimately governed by God. 

Theological Term of the Week: Eternal Relations of Origin

 

eternal relations of origin
“The way Father, Son, and Spirit relate to one another in eternity: the Father is unbegotten (paternity), the Son is eternally begotten from the Father (filiation; eternal generation), and the Holy Spirit is eternally spirated from the Father and the Son (spiration/ procession).1 Also called eternal personal modes of subsistence.

• From the Athanasian Creed:

The Father is made of none, neither created, nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.

So there is one Father, not three fathers; one Son, not three sons; one Holy Spirit, not three holy spirits.

• From Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof. 

The distinctive property of the Father. The personal property of the Father is, negatively speaking, that He is not begotten or unbegotten, and positively speaking, the generation of the Son and the spiration of the Holy Spirit. It is true that spiration is also a work of the Son, but in Him it is not combined with generation. Strictly speaking, the only work that is peculiar to the Father exclusively is that of active generation.

The eternal generation of the Son. The personal property of the Son is that He is eternally begotten of the Father (briefly called “filiation”), and shares with the Father in the spiration of the Spirit. The doctrine of the generation of the Son is suggested by the Biblical representation of the first and second persons of the Trinity as standing in the relation of Father and Son to each other. Not only do the names “Father” and “Son” suggest the generation of the latter by the former, but the Son is also repeatedly called “the only-begotten,” John 1:14,18; 3:16,18; Heb. 11:17; I John 4:9. 

The relation of the Holy Spirit to the other persons in the trinity. … [The] procession of the Holy Spirit, briefly called spiration, is his personal property. Much of what was said respecting the generation of the Son also applies to the spiration of the Holy Spirit, and need not be repeated. The following points of distinction between the two may be noted, however: (1) Generation is the work of the Father only; spiration is the work of both the Father and the Son. (2) By generation the Son is enabled to take part in the work of spiration, but the Holy Spirit acquires no such power. (3) In logical order generation precedes spiration. It should be remembered, however, that all this implies no essential subordination of the Holy Spirit to the Son. In spiration as well as in generation there is a communication of the whole of the divine essence, so that the Holy Spirit is on an equality with the Father and the Son. The doctrine of the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son is based on John 15:26, and on the fact that the Spirit is also called the Spirit of Christ and of the Son, Rom. 8:9; Gal. 4:6, and is sent by Christ into the world. Spiration may be defined as that eternal and necessary act of the first and second persons in the Trinity whereby they, within the divine Being, become the ground of the personal subsistence of the Holy Spirit, and put the third person in possession of the whole divine essence, without any division, alienation or change.

The Holy Spirit stands in the closest possible relation to the other persons. In virtue of His procession from the Father and the Son the Spirit is represented as standing in the closest possible relation to both of the other persons.

• From The Christian Faith by Michael Horton:

The Father, the Son, and the Spirit do not differ in their divine essence and attributes. However, there are also personal attributes that cannot be shared. For example, the Son cannot be eternally spirated; neither the Father nor the Spirit can be begotten. The Son cannot be the origin of the Godhead, and the Spirit cannot be the incarnate Word.

Learn more:

1. Louis Berkhof: The Holy Trinity
2. Kevin DeYoung: Distinguishing Among the Three Persons of the Trinity within the Reformed Tradition

Related terms:

• economic Trinity
• eternal generation of the Son
• ontological Trinity
• Trinity

Filed under Trinity

1From None Greater by Matthew Barrett, page 250.

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