The Father’s Voice: Reclaiming a Neglected Aspect of the Doctrine of the Trinity

Abstract

While the New Testament records that all three persons of the Trinity become perceptible to the human senses in the “fulness of time,” doctrines of the Trinity frequently follow Augustine's example in On the Trinity by focusing only on the visible appearances of the Son and Holy Spirit while leaving the trinitarian significance of the Father's voice unexamined. This essay seeks to make good this paterological deficit by asking, “What does the Father's voice reveal about the Father's unique hypostatic identity and the purpose for the sake of which the Father sent the Son and Spirit in the fullness of time?” It answers the question by means of the theological interpretation of scripture focusing on the place of John 12:28 in the Gospel of John.