The Use of the Old Testament in the New Testament
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 64, No. 1 – Fall 2021
Editor: David S. Dockery
By Scott R. Swain. Wheaton: Crossway, 2020, 155pp., $15.99
Published as one of the short studies in systematic theology, The Trinity: An Introduction is designed to serve theologians, pastors, and laypersons in “seeking to review the main contours of Trinitarian teaching” in the Bible (p. 20). Scott R. Swain, president and professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, meets the needs of all the readers by drawing “the basic ‘grammar’ of Scripture’s Trinitarian discourse,” which leads ultimately to the goal of learning how to praise, worship, and rejoice in the triune God (pp. 19-22).
Swain asserts that the readers must learn to read fluently the Bible’s primary Trinitarian discourse (p. 27). In relation to the basic pattern of the Bible’s Trinitarian discourse, Swain examines three patterns in the baptismal formula in Matthew 28:19: (1) affirming the existence of the one God; (2) identifying the three persons with the one God; and (3) distinguishing the three persons from each other (pp. 28-34).
In connection with the basic grammar of scriptural Trinitarianism, Swain considers three types of texts: (1) inner Trinitarian conversation texts, which means that “only the persons of the Trinity can make known the persons of the Trinity” (Matthew 3:16-17 and Mark 1:10-11); (2) cosmic framework texts which “set the entire cosmos, as well as the entirety of God’s work within the cosmos, in relation to the Trinity” (Genesis 1:1-2:3 and Matthew 3:16-17); and (3) redemptive mission texts, which are related to the “sending or mission of the Son (and the Spirit) to fulfill God’s redemptive purpose” (Mark 12:1-12 and Galatians 4:4-7) (pp. 38-50). From these observations, Swain proposes three important conclusions, which serve as the subjects for the rest of the chapters in the book.
The first conclusion is clarified by the statement in Deuteronomy 6:4: “The Lord is one” (p. 53). Swain explicates one God in his “unity of singularity” and his “unity of simplicity” (p. 53). This concept of “God alone” and “not composed of parts” in his being and attributes, Swain claims, is the oneness of God affirmed by the Bible’s basic Trinitarian grammar (p. 54). Thus, divine simplicity makes all of the one God’s external works indivisible (p. 59).
The second conclusion comes with the distinction of the three persons of the triune God in chapters four through six: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The characteristic of each person of the triune God shows the uniqueness of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, while maintaining undivided cooperation by the unique relationship of the three persons.
The fatherhood of God is primary, unique, and transcendent, which means God’s fatherhood is the pattern and unique model for every creaturely fatherhood in heaven and earth, not vice versa, and also transcends all creaturely limitations (pp. 70-71). Similar to the fatherhood of God, the sonship of the Son is primary, unique, and transcendent as well; namely (1) all other sons come into existence “fashioned after the Son’s divine filial likeness”; (2) in relation to the Father, he is the only begotten Son; and (3) the Son’s begetting is beyond the manner of creaturely begetting (pp. 78-79).
The distinctiveness of the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus Christ as the Father’s beloved Son; moreover, it is the Holy Spirit who draws God’s people to confess Jesus is Lord (p. 91). Unique to the Holy Spirit is his procession from the Father and the Son (pp. 97-98). Swain, by naming God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each of whose identity is derived from the relational origin within the triune God, shows how each person of the triune God is distinctive in the works of one God.
The third and final conclusion of the basic grammar of biblical Trinitarianism comes with the external operations of God, not like his internal operations in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Swain affirms “what is true of God’s being is true of God’s action as well,” which means God’s divine simplicity operates in a threefold order within undivided and inseparable works of God (pp. 108-9). Such an external act of the three persons is manifest in both appropriations and missions (pp. 110-19).
The last chapter of the book deals with the ultimate end of the triune God’s work, which is internal and external. Scripture pictures the triune God as a builder who creates and sustains a home for union and communion with his redeemed children. Swain, however, asserts “the triune God himself, and the triune God alone, is the ultimate and final end of his sacred house-building project, of the marriage of Christ and his bride, and of the union and communion between the triune God and his people” (pp. 123-24). Finally, pursuing God alone in his works benefits God’s beloved children (p. 127).
Swain seeks to unravel the mystery of the doctrine of the Trinity based on the “grammar” of Trinitarian discourse, which is exposed by Trinitarian textual patterns. The manner of unfolding the biblical Trinitarianism in context focuses ultimately on God alone and his glory while not disregarding some critical contemporary issues. This short, but substantive volume, will serve to lead theologians, pastors, and laypersons to the true worship of God the Trinity. I am pleased to recommend this excellent book.
