Inseparable Operations of the Trinity

Eucharistic Meditation

In Christian theology, there is a doctrine called the “inseparable operations” of the Trinity.

This doctrine teaches that the external works of the Trinity in creation and salvation history are undivided. Simply put, God is one and acts as one. To believe otherwise is to become a functional tritheist, believing, for example, that the Father alone creates, the Son alone saves, or that the Spirit alone sanctifies. But the orthodox and biblical doctrine of inseparable operations insists that all three persons of the Trinity perform every work of God in creation. As the great Athanasius of Alexandria once taught, “the Father does all things through the Word and in the Holy Spirit. In this way is the unity of the Holy Trinity preserved.”

And so, as a test case this morning, we could ask, “Who raised Jesus from the dead?” Was the resurrection the work of the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit? And the answer would be, “Yes.”

For we are told in Galatians that the Father raised Him (1:1). In the Gospel of John, Jesus claims that He both lays down His life and takes it up (10:17–18). And 1 Peter teaches that Christ was made alive by the Spirit (1 Pet. 3:18). In this, we see that the resurrection was a glorious, undivided work of our magnificent Triune God. And so it is with all of His good works.

Therefore, on this Trinity Sunday, come to the Lord’s Table and receive not just the work of the Son, but “the Three-in-One and One-in-Three.” Come to the Father, through the Son, and by the Holy Spirit.

Come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.

This communion meditation was given on May 31, AD 2026, at King’s Cross Church Downtown in Moscow, Idaho.