The good news is that the Father’s creation, ruined by the Fall, is being redeemed by Christ and restored by the Holy Spirit as the Kingdom of God on earth. This revelation of God’s Triune Lordship in the gospel is not just a set of theological beliefs. It’s also a way of seeing God and all things, a biblical worldview, so we will know, love, serve, and worship God as Triune Lord in all areas of life.

This is the good news that our God reigns[1] over all things through the Lord Jesus Christ and by his Holy Spirit. It’s the good news that our Triune God is Lord.[2] The Bible associates three ideas with God’s Lordship: authority, control, and presence.[3] These lordship attributes are unique reflections of God’s attributes of omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence, through which God reveals to us who he is and what he does.

In the biblical history of God’s mission for the world, he reveals unique aspects of his Triune Lordship in his person and work as Creator, Redeemer, and Restorer[4]:

• God the Father reveals his supreme authority as Lord in his creation of all things.

• God the Son reveals his sovereign control as Lord in his redemption of all things.

• God the Spirit reveals his transforming presence as Lord in his restoration of all things.

Although we are identifying particular lordship attributes of individual members of the Trinity, it’s important to see these attributes as forming a unit, not as separate from one another. Remember that God is “simple” in a theological sense, meaning he is one and not made up of parts. So there is a sense in which all of God’s attributes involve one another, including these three lordship attributes.[5]

This revelation of God’s Triune Lordship in the gospel gives us a way of seeing God and all things we call Triperspectivalism. We define Triperspectivalism as multiple perspectives rooted in the biblical doctrine of the Trinity that apply God’s revelation in Scripture to all areas of life.

Triperspectivalism sees the revelation of God’s Triune Lordship in the gospel – the good news of who God is and what God does as Triune Lord in creation, redemption and restoration of fallen humanity and the world. 

See the Spirit’s Transforming Presence as Lord in Restoration

The Scriptures teach that God the Spirit, through his transforming presence as Lord, applies the redemptive work of the Son by restoring all things lost in humanity and creation because of the fall.

When Jesus ascended to the right hand of God the Father in Heaven, he and the Father poured out his Holy Spirit on his Church, to make God’s invisible kingdom visible on earth, not only in human hearts, but in every sphere of life until it reflects the order of heaven.[6]

This is the good news that the Father's creation, ruined by humanity's sin, is being redeemed by Christ and restored by His Holy Spirit as the Kingdom of God on earth. Through God’s Spirit, God gives his new community, the Church, the forgiveness of sin, a new record of Christ’s righteousness, a new heart, and a new world when Jesus returns.[7]

God will bring heaven down to earth. And God’s transforming presence that was lost in the garden will be regained in the new heaven and new earth. The Apostle John writes, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” (Rev 21: 3)

We call this the existential perspective through which we see the Spirit’s transforming presence as Lord in the restoration of all things. 

[1] When the Apostle Paul encourages followers of Jesus to proclaim this good news, he quotes the prophet Isaiah, “As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’” (Rom 10:15) What is this good news? In Isaiah 52:7 we read, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’”

[2] More than 7000 times in the Bible God reveals himself as Lord. So if we want to know the God of Scripture, we must know him as Lord. The name Lord is a personal name that tells us about God’s nature, what he is like.

[3] For an in-depth study of these concepts, see A Theology of Lordship Series (4 Volume Set) by John M. Frame, published by P&R Publishing.

[4] Likewise, in the first part of the Apostle’s Creed, the Father’s supreme authority over all things is presented as “God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.” In the second part of the creed, the Son’s sovereign control in the redemption of all things is presented as a description of his person and work. And the final part of the creed, which ends with the coming “resurrection of the body and the life everlasting”, is a description of God the Spirit’s transforming presence in the restoration of all things.

[5]  For example: 1) The Father’s supreme authority over creation is displayed in the Son’s sovereign control in the redemption of fallen creation and the Spirit’s transforming presence in its restoration. 2) The Son executes his sovereign control in redemption in submission to the supreme authority of the Father’s plan for creation by the Spirit’s transforming presence in its restoration. 3) The Spirit’s transforming presence in the restoration of fallen creation is the application of the Son’s sovereign control in its redemption in submission to the supreme authority of the Father’s plan.

[6] Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck summarizes the essence of this good news in the phrase “grace restores nature.”

[7] In this new world God promises to restore everything that was lost in the Fall—including not only our broken relationship with God but also our broken relationships with ourselves, with others, and with all of creation.