The Trinity and Salvation
In a previous article (“The Trinity and Creation”), we set our gaze upon the beauty of creation, which reflects the creativity, power, beauty, and wisdom of the triune God. But it’s also important for us to understand that if we could gather with believers from every tribe, tongue, and nation, from every century of the church’s history, we would hear one great cry echoing through eternity: “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Rev 7:10).
So when we open our Bibles, we discover that this salvation is not merely a work of the Father, the Son, or the Spirit, in independent isolation. But rather, like creation, the work of salvation is the harmonious, unified, gracious act of the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Each person of the Trinity—distinct, yet truly and equally God—graciously acts in bringing about the salvation of sinners. And the more we marvel at their work, the more our hearts are drawn into deeper communion with the God who saves. So let’s take a closer look at this breathtaking reality together.
The Grace of the Father: Predestining the People of God
When we consider salvation, we must begin with the Father’s sovereign grace. The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 1:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace…” (Eph 1:3–6).
Before the first star glistened its light in the cosmos, before Adam ever breathed, before you or I were born, God the Father, in love, chose a people to redeem. His choice was not based on our worthiness, nor on His foreknowledge of our future decisions. Scripture teaches clearly that it was “according to the purpose of His will”—completely and utterly flowing from His sovereign grace.
As Paul declares in Acts 13:48: “As many as were appointed to eternal life believed.” Not one more. Not one less. Every one whom the Father appointed came to believe—and all because He graciously chose to set His love upon them.
Charles Spurgeon captured this beautifully when he said:
“Is it wrong for God to give grace? If it be right for Him to give it, is it wrong for Him to purpose to give it? Would you have Him give it by accident? If it is right for Him to purpose to give grace today, it was right for Him to purpose it before today—and, since He changes not—from eternity.”[1]
Take a moment to let this truth settle on your heart: If you are in Christ today, it is because God the Father, in His infinite mercy, chose to save you, by His grace, before the foundation of the earth was laid.
The Grace of the Son: Propitiating the Wrath of God
Yet election alone does not save. Our sin demanded justice; God’s holiness demanded satisfaction. And so the Father, in His great love, sent the Son to accomplish redemption.
As the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 3: “God put [Christ] forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith…” (Rom 3:25).
Propitiation. This is a word rich with meaning, and it describes the satisfaction of God’s holy wrath through a substitutionary sacrifice. Christ bore the punishment we deserved. The eternal Son of God—coequal and coeternal with the Father—entered into His own creation. He lived a life of perfect obedience, fulfilling the righteous demands of the law. And then He willingly gave Himself up to death, enduring the full measure of divine wrath at the cross.
As John MacArthur explains:
“God determined what sacrifice would propitiate Him. God determined what sacrifice would satisfy, placate and appease Him. And God determined that it would be the sacrifice of One who is perfect, and therefore He was limited to one Person in the entire universe—one who would become a man and die for man and vindicate God’s justice: His Son. And so it pleased God to bruise Him (Isaiah 53:10) because God is not only angry and vengeful over sin, He is also merciful, gracious, and forgiving. Here is the principle of substitution. God demanded to be satisfied and God determined that the death of His Son would be that satisfaction. The death of Christ was the satisfaction of divine justice.”[2]
The cross is not the Father against the Son, nor the Son persuading a reluctant Father to love. It is the Triune God, united in purpose and overflowing in mercy, accomplishing redemption for His people. So when we behold Christ upon the cross, we see love—love that bears wrath, love that satisfies justice, and love that secures forgiveness.
And the only fitting response to this love is to bow in worship, trust completely in the finished work of Jesus, and praise the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength.
The Grace of the Spirit: Regenerating by the Power of God
But even with salvation accomplished, it’s vital to recognize that our dead hearts could never and would never embrace Christ on our own. Left to ourselves, we would continue in darkness. Thus, the Holy Spirit—the third person of the Trinity—moves in power to apply salvation.
Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3: “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God… That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:5–6).
This is the work of regeneration. It is a sovereign, supernatural work of God. Like the wind, the Spirit moves where He wills, breathing life into dead souls. He illumines darkened minds, softens hardened hearts, and grants the gift of faith.
As Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 2:13: “God chose you as the first fruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.”
It is the Spirit who awakens the heart to see the beauty of Christ. It is the Spirit who implants a new nature, causing us to delight in righteousness and hate sin. And it is the Spirit who seals us, sanctifies us, and guarantees our inheritance.
And so we marvel at the triune nature of our salvation: The Father plans, the Son accomplishes, and the Spirit applies—each person of the Trinity working inseparably, yet distinctly, to bring about the miracle of salvation.
Responding to the God Who Saves
To meditate on the Trinity’s work in salvation is to be drawn into adoration. It is to see the heart of God displayed in glorious unity and diversity.
The Father elects in sovereign grace.
The Son redeems through His atoning death.
The Spirit regenerates, sanctifies, and secures.
And all of this—from first to last—is “to the praise of His glorious grace” (Eph 1:6).
So today, let your heart be stirred anew. Marvel at the love of the Father who chose you. Rejoice in the sacrifice of the Son who redeemed you. Give thanks for the Spirit who gave you life.
And together, with all the saints of every age, let us join the heavenly chorus:
“Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” (Rev 7:12).
References:
[1] Charles Haddon Spurgeon. The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit: Sermons. United Kingdom: Passmore & Alabaster, 1856. 538.
[2] John MacArthur. “The Sacrifice that Satisfied.” Grace to You. Sept. 1, 2002. https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/62-10/the-sacrifice-that-satisfied