Praise the Triune Lord

Praise the Triune Lord
Words: Ashton Harat
Music: John Wyeth
Tune: NETTLETON
Meter: 8.7.8.7.D. (R.M.D.)
© 2021 by Ashton Harat

Lyrics

1. God the Father, great Jehovah—
Ancient of Eternal Days.
Before Whom the world in meekness
It’s full homage humbly lays.
Worthy of our praise, our worship,
O that men would praise His Name
For His goodness, for His greatness.
He is evermore the same.

2. Jesus Christ, our gracious Savior,
We will sing our praise to Thee.
How in love you condescended,
Took on flesh, a man to be.
How You suffered in great sorrow—
Gave Your life to pay the price.
Then exalted, rising from death.
Lamb of God—our sacrifice.

3. God the Spirit, we will praise You,
Holy Comforter and Friend.
He our constant guide and helper,
Always near and close at hand.
In the past He spoke to holy men,
Who His words did all record.
He proceedeth from the Father
And the Son—the triune Lord.

4. Holy God—the great Creator,
Everlasting Trinity.
He Who fashioned stars of heaven,
Ever praise and glory be.
He above all kings exalted—
Lord of lords in light arrayed.
Let all glory, laud, and honor,
At Your throne be humbly laid.

Doctrinal Notes

The subject of the Trinity is a very important doctrine of Christianity. That God is One, yet Three, is a difficult concept to wrap our human brains around. Many interesting pictures of Three in One have been postulated, probably the most famous of which is three circles intersecting in a triangular shape. I personally prefer C.S. Lewis’ picture, as given in his book Mere Christianity:

You know that in space you can move in three ways—to left or right, backwards or forwards, up or down. Every direction is either one of these three or a compromise between them. They are called the three Dimensions. Now notice this. If you are using only one dimension, you could only draw a straight line. If you are using two, you could draw a figure: say, a square. And a square is made up of four straight lines. Now a step further. If you have three dimensions, you can then build what we call a solid body: say, a cube—a thing like a dice or a lump of sugar. And a cube is made up of six squares.

Do you see the point? A World of one dimension would be a straight line. In a two-dimensional world, you still get straight lines, but many lines make one figure. In a three-dimensional world, you still get figures, but many figures make one solid body. In other words, as you advance to more real and more complicated levels, you do not leave behind you the things you found on the simpler levels: you still have them, but combined in new ways—in ways you could not imagine if you knew only the simpler levels.

Now the Christian account of God involves just the same principle. The human level is a simple and rather empty level. On the human level one person is one being, and any two persons are two separate beings—just as, in two dimensions (say on a flat sheet of paper) one square is one figure and any two squares are two separate figures. On the Divine level you still find personalities; but up there you find them combined in new ways which we, who do not live on that level, cannot imagine. In God’s dimension so to speak, you find a being who is three Persons while remaining one Being, just as a cube is six squares while remaining one cube. Of course we cannot fully conceive a Being like that: just as, if we were so made that we perceived only two dimensions in space we could never properly imagine a cube. But we can get a sort of faint notion of it. And when we do, we are then, for the first time in our lives, getting some positive idea, however faint, of something super-personal—something more than a person. It is something we could never have guessed, and yet, once we have been told, one almost feels one ought to have been able to guess it because it fits in so well with all the things we know already. ¹

C.S. Lewis

One of the most famous heresies—Arianism—hinges on the truth of God’s Triune character. This belief teaches that Jesus Christ was not God, but merely a created being God called “His Son.” It also taught that the Holy Spirit was not a person, but merely a force—the manifestation of God’s power. This is wrong. It is what I called it just above—a heresy.

Matthew 11:27
All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

John 10:30
I and my Father are one.

John 10:38
But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.

These verses clearly show that Jesus and the Father are One. To demonstrate the personality of the Holy Spirit, allow me to quote one more eloquent than I:

“All the works of the Holy Spirit are such that personality is required. His work in creation (Gen. 1:2), empowering (Zech. 4:6), teaching (John 16:13), guidance (Isa. 48:16; Rom 8:14), comforting, (John 14:26), prayer (Rom. 8:26), convincing the world of sin, righteousness and judgement (John 16:8), restraint of sin (Gen. 6:3; Isa. 59:19; 2 Thess. 2:7), and His commands (Acts 8:29; 13:2; 16:7) make it evident that the Holy Spirit is a true person. A mere influence or emanation does not create, empower, teach, guide, pray, or command. In the history of the church, opponents of the personality of the Holy Spirit have found it necessary also to deny the inspiration and accuracy of the Word of God in order to sustain their teaching.” ²

John F. Walvoord

Thus, the Triunity is a concrete doctrine—one that cannot be compromised. It is a doctrine that should (and does) show the distinction between Christian and non-Christian.

Consequently, the Triune nature of God should be an important part of our doxology. It is my hope that this song will inspire you to marvel at God. He alone is worthy—”Hallelujah!”

1. Lewis, C.S. 1980. Mere Christianity. New York, NY: HarperOne. pp161-162
2. Walvoord, John F. 1958. The Holy Spirit. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House. p6

These quotations are used in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine of the US Copyright Law.