“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.” 2 Corinthians 13:14
All three persons of the Trinity are named, and each is associated with something particular in the Trinitarian benediction at the end of the second epistle to Corinth. The reader sees the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
Our second vow of communicant membership in the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) asks, “Do you believe in the one living and true God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—as revealed in the Scriptures?”
The doctrine of the Trinity is a practical doctrine, and the center of that practice is found in communion with God.
John Owen says, “There is no grace whereby our souls go forth unto God, but it is distinctly directed unto Father, Son, and Spirit.” (Communion with God, 1.6.) Part of our growth and maturation as Christians, therefore, is learning to grow in fellowship with God; learning to understand something of the distinction in our communion with each person of the Trinity. John Owen’s classic work, Communion With God, is rich in helping Christians understand what it means to live in fellowship with God.
The word communion comes from the Latin communis, meaning that which is common or shared. It also carries the idea of fellowship, or participation. When the believer speaks of communion with God, we are speaking about what is shared in that relationship; what we participate in with God. There is a real relationship that we have with God as Christians and that relationship begins with union with Christ. Union affects our entire lives. Union comes before communion.
Union Before Communion
We are united to Christ: he is the vine, we are the branches; Christ is in us, and we are in Him. We are said to be crucified with Christ and raised with Christ. We are dead to sin and alive to God in Him. Our identity is found in Christ. All of this establishes the foundation: union leads to communion.
The Reformed Presbyterian Testimony says, “Justification is a legal declaration that the sinner is acquitted from the guilt of sin, and is considered righteous before God. Although he is still an unworthy sinner, yet because he is united to Christ, he has Christ’s perfect righteousness imputed to him.” (RPT 11.1)
Communion, then, is seen in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. What is important in that benediction is that it shows different aspects of how we relate to each person of the Trinity. And that communion begins with union.
Communion with the Father: In Love
Sometimes we mistakenly think that the Father loves us because of Christ’s death. That is not correct. The Father loves his people, and therefore he sends Christ. Scripture makes this clear again and again. “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son.” Likewise, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
The Father is the fountain of love. All that we know of God’s love flows from the Father. That love is demonstrated particularly in our adoption. We have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, “Abba, Father.” Adoption reflects a special kind of love. The Westminster Larger Catechism defines adoption as “Adoption is an act of the free grace of God, in and for his only Son Jesus Christ, whereby all those that are justified are received into the number of his children, have his name put upon them, the Spirit of his Son given to them, are under his fatherly care and dispensations, admitted to all the liberties and privileges of the sons of God, made heirs of all the promises, and fellow-heirs with Christ in glory.” (Westminster Larger Catechism, 74.) All of these benefits flow from the love of the Father.
Owen describes this love as eternal, free, unchangeable, and distinguishing. It is eternal; it was set upon us before the foundation of the world. It is free; it is given according to God’s will, not because of anything in us. It is unchangeable; it does not fluctuate according to our condition.
And it is distinguishing; it is set in a special way upon God’s people.
Wilhelmus à Brakel, a Nadere Reformatie pastor and theologian, notes that if we find our love growing cold, the reason is that we have wandered from the source, the fountain. Love proceeds from the Father, and communion with him warms our hearts.
Communion with the Son: In Grace
Communion with the Son, by contrast, is in grace. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is the defining feature of our relationship with the Son of God. Grace is commonly defined as unmerited favor, the free favor of God toward those who do not deserve it. Calvin describes it as the “free favor of God by which he reconciles” us to Himself.
Scripture teaches that from Christ’s fullness we receive grace upon grace. He is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. We are invited to come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find help in time of need. It is striking that Christ calls his throne “the throne of grace.” He could have made it a place of terror, but instead he invites us into fellowship, which is marked by grace.
This grace is the foundation of our communion with Christ. It establishes peace with God, for there can be no communion without peace. This grace is mediated through Christ as prophet, priest, and king. It sustains our entire Christian life. As Owen says, all our communion with God is carried on by “supplies of grace.”
The Christian must remember that everything in the Christian life comes by grace. Not only does grace begin our union with Christ, it sustains our communion with him. Even our obedience and growth are the result of grace at work within us.
Communion with the Spirit: In Comfort
Finally, communion with the Holy Spirit is in fellowship and comfort. In Paul’s benediction, grace and love are spoken of as coming to us, but the communion of the Spirit is already present among us and within us. The Spirit dwells in believers—and comforts us in the Christian life.
Scripture teaches that the Spirit sheds the love of God abroad in our hearts, abides with us, sanctifies us, and grants us liberty. Through him we have access to the Father.
Owen says that our communion with the Spirit “consists in consolation.” The Spirit comforts us, assures us that we are children of God, assists us in prayer, illuminates the Scriptures, and works sanctification in us. He strengthens us in weakness and supports us in trial.
This comfort is experiential. It is something that can be known and felt. At the same time, the Spirit always directs us to Christ. The more we commune with the Spirit, the more our love for Christ grows.
Conclusion
Thus, we see a pattern: we come to the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit. Our communion reflects this pattern—love from the Father, grace from the Son, and comfort from the Spirit.
This has practical implications.
We are called to hunger for the Scriptures, for it is there that we discover the God with whom we have communion. We are called to seek God in prayer, approaching the Father through the Son in the power of the Spirit. The Psalms, in particular, show us communion with God in action and help the Christian meditate on his grace, love, and comfort.
The Christian must be mindful of these realities in communing with God. Many Christians struggle to explain how the doctrine of the Trinity is practical. Yet all Christian truth is practical. The practice of the Trinity is found in communion, growing in our understanding of and participation in this relationship with God. Each of these aspects of communion has a source. The love of God has a source. The grace of God has a source. The comfort of God has a source. Recognizing this is part of living out Trinitarian theology.
The second vow, then, is not merely something to affirm, but is lived out. It calls the Christian to grow in communion with the Father in love, with the Son in grace, and with the Spirit in fellowship and comfort.
Written by Dr. Nathan Eshelman