A Brief Book Summary from Books At a Glance
By Jenny-Lyn de Klerk
Table of Contents
Introduction: Here Be Dragons?
1. What Was God Doing Before Creation?
2. Creation: The Father’s Love Overflows
3. Salvation: The Son Shares What Is His
4. The Christian Life: The Spirit Beautifies
5. “Who Among the Gods Is Like You, O LORD?”
Conclusion: No Other Choice
Overview
Reeves’ Delighting in the Trinity is about “growing in our enjoyment of God and seeing how God’s triune being makes all his ways beautiful” (9) by learning about who God is and what he has done as Father, Son, and Spirit, and how this sets him apart as an eternally loving and good God.
Summary
Introduction:
Here Be Dragons?
Reeves explains that many Christians think the doctrine of the Trinity is cold and scientific when it is actually warm and devotional. He claims that “God is love because God is a Trinity” (9). Therefore, learning about the Trinity will actually help Christians love others better in practical ways. Though the Trinity is a mystery, that does not mean we cannot know true things about the Triune God; the concept of the Trinity is not dangerous but beautiful. Though the word Trinity is not in the Bible, it is a biblical idea. Furthermore, the Trinity is not a secondary doctrine but is essential for orthodoxy and salvation because it is the Triune God who loves and saves. Without the Trinity, Jesus is not God and thus not able to save. Those who push back against this doctrine show that they are not starting with who God really is but who they thought God was. God as only one essence and not three Persons is an entirely different kind of god, as seen for example in Allah, the god of Islam.
Chapter 1
What Was God Doing Before Creation?
Reeves explains that though it is legitimate to define God as the Ruler of creation based on what is shown in natural revelation, making this his primary identity implies that he would have always had a creation to rule over. Furthermore, if God is primarily a Ruler then this does not leave much room for relationship because it makes God primarily the punisher of the one who breaks his rules. Thus, it is significant that God is something even more basic than the Creator— he is most fundamentally a Father. This is seen in what God did before creating the universe, namely, love. Even before creation, God has always been a Father, which is someone who “gives life,” “begets children,” (24) and loves. This shows that God has always been loving because the only way God could love is if he has someone to love. Thus, God the Father is the eternal Father of the eternal Son, who is also God. Furthermore, the Father loves the Son by the Spirit. In Reeves’ words, “it is all deeply personal: the Spirit stirs up the delight of the Father in the Son and the delight of the Son in the Father, inflaming their love and so binding them together” (29). This is seen in passages like Matthew 3:16-17, Romans 5:5, and Genesis 1.
[To continue reading this summary, please see below....]The remainder of this article is premium content. Become a member to continue reading.
Already have an account? Sign In