The sacraments are, first, signs for God — of what He does rather than what we do. Thus, in the Noahic covenant He announces, “When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant” (Gen. 9:14–15). The Noahic sacrament, the rainbow, is a sign first for God and points us to His action. This is true for the sacrament of the tree of life in the garden of Eden and in its eschatological (end-times, ultimate) fulfillment (Gen. 2:9; 3:22–24; Rev. 22:2, 18–19); for the Passover, which commemorated deliverance from Egypt; for circumcision, which pointed to the new heart to be given in Christ; and, by extension, for the sacraments of the new covenant.

In considering the ways in which the persons of the Trinity operate in the sacraments, we need to be clear on how the doctrine of the Trinity has led the church to understand the works of our three-personed God. We cannot come to clear biblical and theological conclusions on this matter in isolation from the wider context.

The Works of the Trinity are Indivisible

All three persons work together in all that God does. This was a basic principle at the heart of Augustine’s theology, but it was also held by Eastern Trinitarian theologians such as the Cappadocians, and it is a central part of Trinitarian belief. It follows from the fact that God is one undivided being. No one Trinitarian person is less than the whole God, nor is the whole God greater than any one person. Hence, all three mutually indwell one another in the unity of God’s being. Any notion that the Son, say, does things in which the Father and the Holy Spirit are not also directly involved would tear apart the unity of the Trinity. The term role, which has recently come into vogue in some quarters when speaking about the works of the persons of the Trinity, seems to lead in this direction, implying that each person takes on different activities from the others.

The Trinity’s undivided harmony is seen clearly in Scripture. All three persons were integrally active in creation. God created the heavens and the earth, the Spirit of God brooded over the waters, while the Word of God brought all things into existence (Gen. 1:1–5; John 1:3). In the incarnation, the Son was conceived by the Holy Spirit and sent by the Father. On the cross, the Son offered Himself to the Father by the Spirit (Heb. 9:14). The Father raised Christ from the dead by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:10–11), and so on.

Each Work is Peculiarly Attributable to One Trinitarian Person

Bearing in mind the indivisibility of the Trinity in all God’s actions, each work, nevertheless, is peculiarly attributed to one of the three. While the Father sent the Son, who was conceived by the Spirit, it was only the Son who became incarnate, not the Father or the Spirit. Only the Son became man. Only the Son hung on the cross. The Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, was sent by the Son, but it was only the Spirit who came at Pentecost, not the Father or the Son.

God’s Normal Pattern of Work

The three persons work according to a regular pattern in their undivided unity. In creation, providence, and grace, each work comes from the Father through the Son by the Holy Spirit. As John Calvin put it, “It is not fitting to suppress the distinction that we observe to be expressed in Scripture. It is this: to the Father is attributed the beginning of activity, and the fountain and wellspring of all things; to the Son, wisdom, counsel, and the ordered disposition of all things; but to the Spirit is assigned the power and efficacy of that activity” (Institutes 1.13.18). Elsewhere, Calvin refers to the Father as the first cause of all things, the Son as His eternal wisdom, and the Holy Spirit as His power diffused through all things (Calvin’s 1545 Catechism, 19). Since Paul usually reserves the word theos (God) for the Father, Calvin’s claim is borne out by passages such as Galatians 4:4–6: “But when the fullness of time had come, God [the Father] sent forth his Son . . . and, because you are sons, God [the Father] has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts.” It is evident, too, in the baptismal formula “in the [one] name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19).

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