Jack Greenoe

sufficient to state that theology and ethics enjoy an interdependence. Obviously, God's identity and character establish the parameters for right and wrong behavior, yet human behavior must clearly square with theological beliefs. Biblical theology must inevitably be the foundation for one's recognition of ethical behavior, while the glory of the triune God must be the ultimate goal of ethics. Thus, sound ethics require sound doctrine. Theologians who have been impacted by the Enlightenment of centuries past and the resulting postmodernism of contemporary times have elected to combat the decline of ethical norms within their respective time frames. Yet, how individual theologians "rightly divide" Scripture should dovetail into their theological systems. As science eclipsed religion during the time span leading into the Modern era, ethical writings are confronted with new opponents such as moral relativism that can cloud theological leanings unless conscious efforts are made to remain orthodox. This paper will establish an orthodox structure of the ethical attributes and responsibilities of each member of the Trinity. It will examine how certain of these attributes are unique to members of the Trinity and how some are reflected in humanity. It will also examine the relationships between the ethical responsibilities of the Trinity and ethics as manifested in the lives of followers of Christ. This paper will employ various writings of Augustine (354-430 A.D.) and Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758). Finally, it will also examine the roles of each member of the Trinity, and discuss the simplicity, excellence, relationships, and examples within the Trinity by these two writers. The project will ultimately demonstrate that Edwards remains to this day a premier thinker among evangelicals almost four centuries later, and his reproduction of Augustinian thought in his examination of the ethics of the Trinity, though not without occasional divergence, remains clear despite the scrutiny of contemporary scholarship. THE ETHICS (MORAL ATRIBUTES) OF THE TRINITY Clearly, any study of God's attributes, whether moral or purely theological in nature has necessary limitations.1 Part of God's transcendence and omniscience demands the fact that human attempts to intimately explore the depths of God will ultimately fail.2 There are arguably a dozen (or so) Scriptures that explicitly and specifically mention all three persons of the 1 Traditionally, a list of the attributes of God would include familiar aspects such as omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience, immutability, immanence, eternality, self-existence, simplicity, etc. This paper will focus on His moral attributes. 2 Rom 11:33-36.