Augustine once said of the Trinity, “In no other subject is error more dangerous, or inquiry more laborious, or the discovery of truth more profitable.”1
For many people, the “laborious” nature of trinitarian inquiry proves too high. It is preferable for them to, as one preacher joked, kick Deuteronomy 29:29 as far down the field as possible instead of searching for all that can be known in Scripture.
And it’s easy to understand why many people choose this method when it comes to the Trinity. Augustine is right that inquiry into the Trinity is a formidable task. It requires exegesis of multiple texts of Scripture, an understanding of numerous theological terms, and avoiding various historical errors.
But we all have to start somewhere. So in this blog post, I want to wade into the laborious task of trinitarian theology by explaining one key theological term: inseparable operations.
The doctrine of inseparable operations teaches that all three persons of the Trinity perform every work of God in creation. Or, we could say negatively, no divine person is left out of any divine work. John Owen explains, “The several persons are undivided in their operations, acting all by the same will, the same wisdom, the same power. Every person, therefore, is the author of every work of God because each person is God.”2
Because God is one in essence, He is one in will and power. And one way we see God’s oneness in will, power, and essence demonstrated is in the fact that individual acts of God’s power are attributed to all three divine persons.
This may seem complicated, but it arises naturally from Scripture. Consider the question “Did the Father, the Son, or the Spirit raise Jesus from the dead?”
Paul says in Galatians 1:1 it was the Father “who raised Him from the dead.” But Jesus said in John 10:17–18, “I lay My life down so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.” Then 1 Peter 3:18 states that Jesus “was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit” (cf. Rom. 8:11).
Therefore, to the question, “Was it the Father, the Son, or the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead,” the answer is “Yes.” The fact that Scripture attributes this one divine work to three divine persons indicates that the act of resurrecting was performed by all three persons.
We see this same pattern with other divine works as well. Creation was performed by the Father (Gen. 1:1), the Son (John 1:3; Heb. 1:2), and the Spirit (Gen. 1:2; Job 26:13). Augustine argues, “The Father made the World, the Son made the world, and the Holy Ghost made the world. If three Gods, then three worlds.”3 But because there is one world, the best conclusion from Scripture is that creation is one act performed indivisibly by all three persons.
At this point, you may be thinking “Sure, creation, the resurrection, and a few other works are performed by all three divine persons. But should we really say that all divine works in creation are performed by all three persons?” To answer this question, we can look to the words of Christ Himself.
After Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath in John 5:8, the Pharisees accused Him of violating the Sabbath (v. 16). In other instances, Jesus responded to the Pharisees by telling them that their Sabbath codes were illegitimate or by defending the type of work he did (Matt. 12:9–14). But here He responds by pointing out who it was that performed the work.
In verse 17 He says, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.” Jesus makes two statements here that fueled the Pharisee’s ambition to kill him (v. 18). First, Jesus called God “My Father,” which implied that he is of the same nature as God and therefore “equal to God” (18; cf. 1:1, 14, 18).
Second, Jesus said that His Father “is working until now.” The word “working” here carries the idea of a continuous action which began in the past. This is why the various English translations say that the Father “is working” (NASB, ESV), “is always at work” (NIV, NLT), “is still working” (CSB), or “has been working” (NKJV). Each translation tries to communicate the same idea from the original text: there is some work that the Father continuously does.
But what is this “work” that the Father has been doing? He has been sustaining all things. God created the world in Genesis 1 and has been sustaining it since then, even on the Sabbath (Neh. 9:6; cf. Acts 17:28). God must work on the Sabbath because He sustains creation. The Jews understood and accepted this—so far, so good. But then Jesus adds, “and I Myself am working.”
By saying this, Jesus implied that His own work is same work as the Father’s. He includes Himself in the continuous, sustaining work of the Father. Just as the Father had been working continuously “until now,” so also the Son has been working “until now.” Just as the Father created the world and has been sustaining it since then, so also the Son created the world and has been sustaining it since then (John 1:3; Col. 1:16–17). Greek scholar B.F. Westcott says, “The form of this sentence is remarkable. Christ places His work as co-ordinate with that of the Father, not as dependent on it.”4
The Jews understood Christ’s claims of equality with the Father and try to kill Him for it (v. 18). This threat leads to His response in verse 19, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.”
The first half of this verse—“the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing”—has been used by various heretics to argue that the Son is subordinate to the Father or generally impotent. But is that what Jesus intended to communicate?
His point is not that He lacks ability, but that He never works separately from the Father. John Gill explains,
He neither does, nor will, nor can do any thing alone or separate from his Father, or in which he is not concerned; nor any thing without his knowledge and consent, or contrary to his will: he does every thing in conjunction with him; with the same power, having the same will, being the same nature, and equal to each other: for these words do not design weakness in the Son, or want of power in him to do any thing of himself; that is, by his own power: for he has by his own word spoken all things out of nothing . . . but they express his perfection, that he does nothing, and can do nothing of himself, in opposition to his Father, and in contradiction to his will . . . the Son cannot do so, being of the same nature with God, and therefore never acts separate from him, or contrary to him, but always co-operates and acts with him.
The second half of verse 19 confirms this: “For whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” “Whatever” is a statement of quantity. “In like manner” is a statement of quality. Jesus says that He does everything the Father does in the same way. There is no division of labor among the persons of the Trinity. Each person does every work as God, not as subordinate causes or means.
This argument, first stated in verse 17 and now expanded in verse 19, makes perfect sense in context. The Pharisees were accusing Christ of breaking the Sabbath (v. 16). In response, He claims that everything He does, the Father does. So, if they have a problem with what Jesus does, they also have a problem with what the Father does. Therefore, it is impossible for the Pharisees to criticize the Son’s work without criticizing the Father’s work because they do the same works. They cannot honor the Father while dishonoring the Son (v. 23).
Inseparable operations must be true for two reasons stated in this post. First, Scripture attributes individual divine works to multiple persons. While it doesn’t attribute every divine work to every divine person, it does so consistently enough to set a pattern for our theology. Second, Jesus taught that He does every single work that the Father does. Even if an individual divine work is never explicitly ascribed to the Son, we know from John 5:17 and 19 that He performed that work.
This brief explanation of inseparable operations is far from comprehensive. Many questions are left unanswered: Can we still distinguish between the divine persons if they do the same works? If so, how? If the three persons all perform every divine work, how is it that only the Son is incarnated?
These are good questions that deserve careful consideration. But for now, it is enough to affirm with Scripture that God is triune and all His works bear the marks of that triunity.
Recommended Resources
The Trinity: An Introduction by Scott Swain
The Works of John Owen, Volume 3
“Pursuing Unity on Triunity” video and handout by Mike Riccardi
References
[1] Augustine, On the Trinity in A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, First Series, ed. Philip Schaff, trans. Arthur West Haddan (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1887), 3:19.
[2] John Owen, A Discourse Concerning the Holy Spirit, in The Works of John Owen (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2018), 3:93.
[3] Augustine, Homilies on the Gospel of John, in The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, ed. Philip Schaff, trans. John Gibb and James Innes (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1956), 7:135.
[4] B.F. Westcott, The Gospel According to St. John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975), 84.