From J. C. Philpot's Daily Portions
August 6 "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the
Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit--and these three are one." 1 John 5:7 A spiritual knowledge of the Trinity lies at the
foundation of all vital godliness. To know Father, Son, and Holy Spirit by
special teaching and divine revelation, is the sum and substance of
spiritual religion, and is eternal life; according to the Lord's own
testimony, John 17:3, "And this is life eternal, that they might know you
the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." Thus, sooner or
later, the Lord leads all his people into a feeling acquaintance with, and
divine reception of this glorious mystery; and thus they come to know the
Father's electing love, the Son's redeeming work, and the Spirit's inward
testimony; and that these Three are One. But how opposed to nature, sense, and reason is this
glorious mystery; and how they all rise up in rebellion against it! How can
Three be One or One be Three? nature asks and reason argues. And yet the
babes receive and believe it. For take away the doctrine of the Trinity, and
all their hope is gone in a moment. How can we rest upon Christ's atoning
blood, if it is not the blood of the Son of God? or upon his justifying
righteousness, if not the righteousness of God? Or how could we be kept,
led, taught, and guided by the Holy Spirit, if he too was not a divine
Person in the Godhead? Thus we come to know the mystery of Three Persons in the
Godhead, by feelingly receiving into our hearts the work of each with power;
and yet we know that these Three are but one God. It is this inward
reception of the truth in the love of it which holds up the soul in a storm.
We are often tossed about, and ready to say, "How can these things be?" But
we are brought up by this deep-rooted feeling, as the anchor brings up the
ship in the gale, that we are undone without it. If this mystery be removed,
our hope must be removed with it; for there is no pardon, peace, nor
salvation, but what stands in, and flows out of, an experimental knowledge
of the Three-One God.