Credo
19 Jan 2026
Christianity teaches a unique salvation where God takes the initiative to save humankind from the plight of sin. This initiative is not a historical afterthought in response to the Fall of humankind in Adam, but is grounded in a pre-temporal plan of the God who is sovereign over history. The apostle Paul declares that God’s plan of salvation has been revealed in the life and work of Christ. In this plan of salvation, God
“chose us in him [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will…which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Christ” (Ephesians 1: 4-5, 10).
According to the plan of salvation – described as the Counsel or Covenant of Redemption in the Christian tradition – the Father sends the Son into the world with a specific mission. The Son agrees to execute the Father’s will and accomplish the task entrusted to him, that is, to bear divine penalty for sin by his death on the cross. This was necessary because reconciliation between God and sinners cannot ignore the holiness of God which is God’s settled opposition against anything sinful and evil. Sin must be punished because divine justice must be upheld. The substitutionary and atoning death of Christ on the cross opens the way for sinners to be justified (declared righteous) while maintaining the justice of God.
Critics of substitutionary atonement on the cross mischievously describe it as “a form of cosmic child abuse – a vengeful Father, punishing his Son for an offence he has not even committed.” This criticism is misguided. In truth, God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). The Father did not spare his own Son but delivered him up for us all (Romans 8:32). On the other hand, the Son was not coerced as he voluntarily accepted the punishment of sin on the cross. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends” (John 10:15, 15:13). The Father sends the Son who accepts his mission to accomplish redemption by laying down his life to save sinners (John 5:36-37; 6: 38-40; 10: 17-18). Redemption is applied when believers are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14). The process of salvation from start to finish is the harmonious work of the Trinity. The charge that substitutionary atonement incriminates a vengeful Father inflicting punishment against his innocent Son is unfounded, if not misguided, in the light of a trinitarian soteriology.
The plan of redemption determines not only the results, but also the means which guarantee the results. The justification of believers by the blood of Christ (Romans 5:9; 1 John 1:7) and the Holy Spirit’s work of sanctification are the means in the accomplishment of God’s eternal decree which foreordained that those who receive Christ may be conformed to the image of his Son and be glorified in him.
“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:29-30).
There is no need to search out the secrets of God’s hidden counsel of predestination for assurance of salvation. Those who have entrusted their salvation to Christ are assured of their election in Christ. There is no greater assurance of salvation than the realization that our experience of salvation progresses inexorably as God does everything “according to the counsel of his will” (Ephesians 1:11).
The process of salvation is the unfolding accomplishment of God’s eternal plan of salvation. Reformed theology describes the plan as the “covenant of redemption” which emphasizes the spirit of “agreement” which is an essential component of any covenant. Hence, each of the three persons of the Trinity agrees to discharge his specific role in the covenant as they implement the plan of salvation. Non-Reformed theology describes the plan of salvation as the counsel of redemption which emphasizes the decree or unified will of the Trinity in accomplishing the plan of salvation. Regardless, the execution and consummation of the counsel or covenant of salvation confirm the unity of will and inseparable operations of the persons of the Trinity.
This raises the question why the cooperation among the persons of the Trinity in executing the plan of salvation does not entail separation of the three persons with three separate wills. This would result in the error of tritheism. However, a proper understanding of the Nicene Creed would help avert this error. According to the Nicene Creed, the one eternal God comprises three persons (hypostasis), that is, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit who share the same undivided essence (ousia) and eternally enjoy equal power and dignity. The three persons are distinguished from one another by their “relations” with one another.
Specifically, we must distinguish the eternal “processions” among the three persons within the Trinity from the temporal “missions” of the work of salvation by the Trinity. The diagram below illustrates the processions and missions of the Trinity.
The processions refer to the internal life and distinct relationships which distinguish the three divine persons. The Father is distinguished as Father because he begets the Son, and the Son is distinguished as Son because he is begotten. The Spirit, similarly, is distinguished from Father and Son inasmuch as he is ‘spirated’ as the Spirit of communion of Father and Son.
The missions refer to the temporal sending of the divine Son and the Spirit into creation for the work of providence, revelation and salvation. The Father sends the Son while the Spirit proceeds from both the Father and Son. The missions, manifesting outwardly in time as the economic Trinity (the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit each performing their distinct roles in salvation history) truly reveal but does not exhaustively reveal the immanent Trinity (the eternal relationships within the Godhead).
Since there is no division in divine essence, the eternal processions among the three persons within the Trinity do not lead to three separate centres of consciousness, willing and acting independently of one another. The Father, Son, and Spirit together with one unified knowledge and will decreed the plan of salvation, even as the execution of the economy of redemption involves differing contributions from the Father, Son and Spirit in their missions. Hence, the unity and inseparable operations of the three persons as they execute the plan of salvation.
In sharing one will, the persons of the Trinity work harmoniously with one another in the ad extra (external) work of God in creation and salvation. The Father sends the Son into the world who accepts his role not according to his place in the procession, but according to his mission to the save those who believe in him. The Holy Spirit in his mission applies the achievement of Christ’s work on the cross to gather the elect into the body of Christ, the Church. There is equality and unity between the one sent and the one sending as the temporal missions mirrors the eternal relationships within the Godhead.
To conclude, the persons of the Trinity together, with one will decreed how each person carries out his distinct mission in accomplishing the divine plan of salvation. There is then no hint of or place for tritheism in the covenant. Salvation is planned and executed by the One Triune God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Dr Ng Kam Weng is Research Director of Kairos Research Centre in Kuala Lumpur. Previously, he had been a fellow at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies and a member of the Center for Theological Inquiry at Princeton University. From 1989 to 1992 he taught at the Malaysia Bible Seminary Graduate School. He has a PhD from Cambridge University.