Theological Term of the Week: Perichoresis

perichoresis 
A term (from the Greek) used to express the intimate union of the three persons in the Trinity as they mutually indwell or interpenetrate each other in the one being of God. Also called circumincession or coinherence.

• From scripture: 

  I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. (John 17: 20-21 ESV)

  So Jesus said to them,“Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” (John 5:19 ESV)

  For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 2:10-11 ESV)

• From Systematic Theology by Robert Letham, page 108:

  Athanasius and the Cappadocians brought to the forefront the idea of the full mutual indwelling of the three persons in the one being of God. Although [the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed] does not use the idea, it is entailed by all that [the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed] openly expresses. It follows from the homoousial identity of the three and the indivisible divine being. Since all three persons are fully God, and the whole God is in each of the three, the three mutually contain one another.

Learn more:

1. Kevin DeYoung: Theological Primer: Perichoresis
2. Ligonier Ministries: Perichoresis

Related terms:

• essence
• Cappadocian fathers
• Trinity

Filed under Trinity

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Theological Term of the Week: Modalism

modalism 
The unorthodox teaching that “there is only one person in God who represents himself in the roles of the three persons.”1 Rather than a Trinity consisting of three distinct persons who are coexistent, there is one person who reveals himself at different times in three different modes (or forms, roles, or manifestation). Also called Sabellianism. Modalistic monarchism and patripassionism are types of modalism.

• From scripture we see that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are distinct from one another and interact with each other: 

  And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17 ESV)

• From the Athanasian Creed:

  25. And in this Trinity none is afore or after another; none is greater or less than another.
  
  26. But the whole three persons are coeternal, and coequal.
  
  27. So that in all things, as aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.
  
  28. He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity.

• From Systematic Theolog by Robert Letham, pages 97-98:

  Until the early fourth century there were two potentially deviant tendencies affecting the church’s grasp of the Trinity. The first of these was modalism, which blurred the distinctions of the three persons. In the third century, Sabellius held that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit were merely ways in which the one God revealed himself, like an actor taking on different roles. He maintained that the only God, Father in the Old Testament, had become the Son in the New and sanctified the church as Holy Spirit after Pentecost. The three were successive modes of the unipersonal God. Consequently, Christ was merely an appearance of the one God but did not have any distinct identity of his own. With modalism, God’s revelation in human history as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit did not reveal who he is eternally, and so Christ gives us no true knowledge of God. Moreover, the effect was to undermine God’s faithfulness, for we could not rely on him is what he disclosed of himself in Christ did not truly reflect who he eternally is. Indeed, for those determined to maintain the unity of God and resist anything savoring of a dual or threefold god, there was a constant danger of regarding the Son and the Spirit as identical to the Father, as appearances of the one God at different times. Tertullian countered modalism in his book Contra Praxeas, calling those who held this position “monarchians,” who insisted that God’s rule (monarchia) was one. Later, Paul of Samosata was condemned on these grounds at the Council of Antioch in 268.

Learn more:

1. Theopedia: Modalism
2. Simply Put: Modalism
3. Got Questions: What is modalism?
4. Blue Letter Bible: Does the One God Have Three Different Modes?
5. Tabletalk Magazine: The New Adventures of Trinitarian Heresies

Related terms:

• adoptionism
• Arianism
• Trinity

1 From The Christian Faith by Michael Horton, page 997.

Filed under Trinity

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Theological Term of the Week: Eternal Sonship of Christ

eternal sonship 
The teaching that the second person of the Trinity has existed eternally as the Son, so that the relationship between God the Father and God the Son has always been a Father-Son relationship. 

• From scripture:

  … but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world … . (Hebrews 1:2, ESV)

  But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law … . (Galatians 4:4 ESV)  

• From the Belgic Confession:
  

  Article 10: That Jesus Christ is true and eternal God.

  We believe that Jesus Christ, according to his divine nature, is the only begotten Son of God, begotten from eternity, not made nor created (for then he should be a creature), but co-essential and co-eternal with the Father, the express image of his person, and the brightness of his glory, equal unto him in all things. He is the Son of God, not only from the time that he assumed our nature, but from all eternity, as these testimonies, when compared together, teach us. Moses saith, that God created the world; and John saith, that all things were made by that Word, which he calleth God. And the apostle saith, that God make the worlds by his Son; likewise, that God created all things by Jesus Christ. Therefore it must needs follow, that he, who is called God, the Word, the Son, and Jesus Christ, did exist at that time, when all things were created by him. Therefore the prophet Micah saith, His goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. And the apostle: He hath neither beginning of days, nor end of life. He therefore is that true, eternal, and almighty God, whom we invoke, worship and serve.And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. 

• From In Understanding Be Men by T.C. Hammond, page 96:

  A modern opinion, which has received a certain amount of credence among some Christians, contends that the term ‘Son’ is applicable only to our Lord’s human nature, and therefore it is incorrect to say that He was eternally the only begotten Son of God. It is contended that the Logos was eternal, but that the Logos became a Son only when He was incarnate of the blessed virgin Mary. There is one passage of Scripture that seems to directly contradict this opinion. Hebrews 1:8 reads: ‘But of the Son he says, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.”’ And indeed the language in the first chapter of St. John’s Gospel points in the same direction. Speaking of the Logos, John says ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father’, where the term ‘Logos’ and the term ‘the only Son’ are applied to the same person without any suggestion that there is a period of time in which one term would not be applicable.

  Opinions of this sort need to be strenuously resisted because, however unintentionally, they disparage the authority which attaches to the Person of the Son of God.

Learn more:

1. Got Questions.org: What is the doctrine of eternal Sonship and is it biblical?
2. Theopedia: Eternal Sonship of Jesus
3. Kevin DeYoung: Primer: Eternal Sonship
4. Sam Waldron: A Defence of the Doctrine of the Eternal Sonship

Related terms:

• adoptionism
• Arianism
• deity of Christ
• eternal generation of the Son
• Trinity

Filed under Trinity

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Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured as a Theological Term of the Week? Email your suggestion using the contact button in the navigation bar above. 

Clicking on the Theological Terms button above the header will take you to an alphabetical list of all the theological terms.