In the past century it has become popular to use the term missio Dei, Latin for “the sending of God” or “the mission of God,” to explain mission as the work of God. Yet the concept of missio Dei is not new. It is rooted in the fifth-century teaching of Augustine of Hippo (354–430) on the divine sendings of the Son and the Spirit.¹See Augustine, On the Trinity, books 2–4. It was also used by the sixteenth-century Dutch theologian, Gisbertus Voetius (1589–1676), author of the first comprehensive Protestant theology of mission, to distinguish God’s activity in mission from all subordinate human activity.²Jan A. B. Jongeneel, “The Missiology of Gisbertus Voetius,” CTJ 26 (1991): 47–49; cf. Ronaldo Lidório, Theology, Piety, and Mission: The Influence of Gisbertus Voetius on Missiology and Church Planting (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage, 2023). More recently, German missiologist Karl Hartenstein used missio Dei in 1934 to distinguish God’s mission activity from the role of the church.³Karl Hartenstein, “Wozu nötigt dei Finanzlage der Mission,” Evangelisches Missions-Magazin 79 (1934): 217–29; trans. by John G. Flett and Henning Wrogemann, Questions of Context (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2020), 75. The term was popularized at the International Missionary Council in 1952 and further developed by Lutheran theologian Georg Vicedom in 1958.⁴See David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1991), 389–90. Since then, missio Dei has become a concept used widely across many theological traditions.⁵For diverse examples, see: Vatican II, Ad Gentes (Rome: Holy See, 1965), 1.2; Darrell L. Guder, ed., Missional Church (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 4–5; and Thomas Schirrmacher, Missio Dei: God’s Missional Nature (Bonn: Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft, 2017).

The contemporary meaning of missio Dei is somewhat ambiguous, however, cluttered with many divergent definitions and applications. Its popular usage today within a wide range of traditions has stretched this concept into conflicting and even questionable directions. At the root of this divergence are conflicting methodologies: some see mission as a divine attribute, describing God as missional;⁶See Bosch, Transforming Mission, 390. others use missio Dei as the hermeneutical key or framework for all of Scripture;⁷See Christopher J. H. Wright, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2006), 17. still others use the missio Dei concept more precisely to describe God’s salvific work within the world as distinct from the evangelistic witness of the church.⁸For example, see Brian A. DeVries, You Will Be My Witnesses: Theology for God’s Church Serving in God’s Mission (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2024), 7–11. Though still a helpful theological concept for missiology, the present ambiguity surrounding missio Dei is unhelpful and urgently calls for precise clarification.

This problem of ambiguity can be solved, in my opinion, by returning to the Augustinian roots of the missio Dei concept and by grounding our contemporary use of this term in classic Trinitarian doctrine. The solution is not simply to add more qualifiers or nuances to our own divergent uses of the term. Rather, we must dig deeper into the rich history of time-tested Trinitarian teachings.⁹A return to Trinitarian theology is needed because, as Flett has argued, “The seemingly disparate range of missio Dei’s evident and lamented problems all derive from the single base of its deficient trinitarianism” (John G. Flett, “Missio Dei: A Trinitarian Envisioning of a Non-Trinitarian Theme,” Missiology 37.1 [2009]: 6). See also John F. Hoffmeyer, “The Missional Trinity,” Dialog 40 (2001): 108–11; and Darren Cronshaw, “Missio Dei Is Missio Trinitas,” Mission Studies 37 (2020): 119–41. Most popular uses of this term are built on Western Liberal Theology or on Barthian Theology.¹⁰For example, see Chul-ho Youn, “Missio Dei Trinitatis and Missio Ecclesiae: A Public Theological Perspective,” International Review of Mission 107 (2018): 225–39. But we must start further back to develop our understanding of missio Dei from the theology of Augustine, Aquinas, and the Protestant Reformation. It goes without saying that the missio Dei concept must be defined according to God’s self-revelation, and it must be used by the church only in ways that are consistent with Scripture.

To that end, therefore, we will examine three areas of classic Trinitarian doctrine that relate directly to mission: the two divine sendings, the eternal council, and God’s external work. Inferences drawn from each of these foci will suggest several preliminary reflections for contemporary missiology. My goal is to help us refine and reapply the missio Dei concept within the framework of an orthodox doctrine of the Trinity. A retrieval of time-tested Trinitarian teaching will guard the term missio Dei from misuse and will guide us into further applications of this important concept. It will also help us better understand the church’s evangelistic witness as a holistic participation in the Triune God and his mission.

1. The Two Sendings of God

Scripture teaches that the eternal God sends both the Son and the Spirit into the world. Though not often a foregrounded theme, these divine sendings are mentioned deliberately at significant points, operating as it were behind-the-scenes, throughout the biblical narrative. The Father sent the Son: “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem …” (Gal 4:4; cf. John 3:16; 1 John 4:14). The Father also “sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts” (Gal 4:6; cf. Luke 24:49; John 14:26; 15:26). Likewise, Christ often mentioned his divine commission during his earthly ministry (e.g. John 17:3, 8, 18, 21, 23, 25) and he commissioned his witnesses following the same pattern: “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.… Receive the Holy Spirit” (20:21–22). Thus Scripture speaks of these two divine sendings in the history of redemption: the Father sent both the Son and the Spirit of his Son.

The doctrine of these divine sendings, also called divine missions, is the logical starting point for a biblical understanding of the missio Dei concept. As already noted, Augustine writes of these missions in The Trinity, building on the theology of pre-Nicene fathers.¹¹Augustine, The Trinity 2.4.6–5.10; 4.19.25–21.32; cf. Fred Sanders, The Triune God, New Studies in Dogmatics (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016), 94. His theology was further developed by Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) in Summa Theologiae, a foundational work for the Trinitarian theology of theologians who followed.¹²Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, 1.27–43. See also Gilles Emery, The Trinitarian Theology of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007); and Dominic Legge, The Trinitarian Christology of St Thomas Aquinas (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017). More recently, renewed interest in these divine missions is proving valuable for guiding our reflection on related issues in contemporary missiology.¹³See Fred Sanders, The Deep Things of God, 2nd ed. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017); Torey J. S. Teer, “‘As the Father Has Sent Me, Even So I Am Sending You’: The Divine Missions and the Mission of the Church,” JETS 63 (2020): 535–58; and Adonis Vidu, The Divine Missions: An Introduction (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2021).

A retrieval of this classic Trinitarian theology gives us orthodox language to explain the origin of missio Dei in the divine missions of the Son and of the Spirit. With the universal church, we worship one God in three persons, confessing that the three divine persons are all subsistences of the one divine substance simultaneously. The eternal divine essence is the Father begetting the Son, the Son being begotten of the Father, and the Spirit proceeding from both the Father and the Son. We also confess that the external operations of the Trinity are undivided: “as Father and Son and Holy Spirit are inseparable, so do they work inseparably.”¹⁴Augustine, The Trinity 2.7. As the patristic dictum affirms: opera Trinitatis ad extra indivisa sunt. Yet, while “the operations pertaining to the sendings are common to the three, the missions are distinct and proper to the individual person.”¹⁵Vidu, Divine Missions, xv.

To that end, consider three distinctions that help us explain these two missions. First, theologians have distinguished between God’s being and God’s activity: the ontological or immanent Trinity refers to God’s immutable internal relations and divine attributes, while the economic Trinity refers to the activity of the three Persons with regard both to his internal divine council and his external works of creation and redemption.¹⁶Alternatively, theologians distinguish the Triune God (theology) from his works (economy), using categories of the processions, missions, and appropriations. See Ryan M. McGraw, A Mystery Revealed (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage, 2023), 14; and Thomas Joseph White, The Trinity: On the Nature and Mystery of the One God (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2022), 547–87.

Similarly, we distinguish the eternal processions and the divine missions. The eternal processions, as relations within the immanent Trinity, are the eternal begetting of the Son from the Father and the eternal spiration of the Spirit from the Father. Each of the divine missions, as activities of the economic Trinity, flow from these eternal processions as created effects: the incarnation of the Son, who is sent by the Father, and the outpouring of the Spirit, who is sent by the Father and the Son.¹⁷“A mission represents the extension of a procession. Like a solar flare, it is a prolongation of the eternal dynamism of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit into creation, a new manner of divine existence in the world.” Yet, these divine processions and missions “are not two different realities but one regarded from two different points of view” (Vidu, Divine Missions, 46, 61). Thus the divine processions are eternal and immutable, while the divine missions are temporal and for the purpose of salvation.¹⁸“Hence ‘mission’ and ‘giving’ have only a temporal significance in God; but ‘generation’ and ‘spiration’ are exclusively eternal; … for the Son may proceed eternally as God; but temporally, by becoming man, according to his visible mission, or likewise by dwelling in man according to his invisible mission” (Aquinas, Summa Theologiae 1.43 a2). This second distinction is necessary to explain how the eternal and immutable God can enter into the time and space of his creation in order to reveal himself covenantally for the redemption of fallen creatures.¹⁹“The distance between God and the creature is so great … [it was necessary for] some voluntary condescension on God’s part, which he hath been pleased to express by way of covenant” (Westminster Confession of Faith 7.1).

Following Augustine and Aquinas, we also distinguish between visible missions and invisible missions.²⁰See Aquinas, Summa Theologiae 1.43 a6; cf. Augustine, The Trinity 4.5.28. The Son’s visible mission was his incarnation to accomplish redemption, coming from the Father and returning to the Father (John 13:3); and the Son’s invisible mission is his mystical union with his people in all ages. The Spirit’s visible mission was his various manifestations throughout redemptive history, most notably the rushing wind and tongues of fire at Pentecost (Acts 2:1–4; cf. Matt 3:16; John 20:22); and the Spirit’s invisible mission is his outpouring to apply redemption, experienced by all believers across all ages as his indwelling grace and empowering presence. This distinction is important, among other things, for ministry today: Christ lives in us and we in him, even though we were not with him visibly as ethnic Jews living during the first century (1 John 1:1–3). Likewise, the same Spirit indwells and empowers us today, even though we do not physically experience Pentecost Day phenomena like rushing wind or tongues of fire.

The doctrine of these divine missions helps us define missio Dei, as well as the church’s participation in it, using language consistent with the whole of Scripture.²¹As Vidu observes, it is surprising that contemporary definitions of missio Dei have not been built on this theology of divine missions (Divine Missions, 67). As the doctrines of Christology and Pneumatology must logically flow from and be shaped by Trinitarian theology, so also our missiology—the study of God’s mission—must be built upon and shaped by this same theology. In view of this fact, therefore, consider three implications of this doctrine for contemporary missiology.

First, mission is the work of God, rooted eternally in his being and enacted temporally within created time and space. As noted in the introduction, contemporary missiologists have correctly used the term missio Dei to express this point: mission is primarily the activity of God. Ultimately, mission is not the work of the church or any human agency. Our Triune God is the author and finisher of mission.²²Calvin Theological Seminary professor Samuel Volbeda notes, “It is encouraging to know that the end of missions has been planned as well as its beginning” (“The Biblical Doctrine of Missions,” unpublished lecture notes [circa 1945], 19–25). However, it is not proper to say that God is missional. South African missiologist David Bosch expresses this common view, saying: “mission is not primarily an activity of the church, but an attribute of God. God is a missionary God.”²³Bosch, Transforming Mission, 390. But this language is not precise enough. While the first part of his statement is correct, the second part confuses the distinction between God’s attributes and God’s activities. According to classic Trinitarian theology, the divine sendings, unlike the eternal processions, are activities of the economic Trinity that are enacted in time and space. Mission is a temporal work of God; it is not an eternal divine attribute. Using the term missional to describe God’s eternal being muddles our understanding of missio Dei.

Second, the structure of missiology is thoroughly Trinitarian. The term missio Dei could be replaced with the term missio Trinitatis, to highlight the singular will and plan of the Triune God and his two divine sendings. The Father is not sent; rather, he does the sending. So there are two divine missions, not three. The Son is sent into the world by the Father to do the will of the Triune God, and he returns to the Father having accomplished redemption. The Spirit is sent into the world, by the Father and the Son, to apply redemption and to gather the church into fellowship with the Triune God. These two divine missions flow from the divine processions and they act according to the divine council. Missiology proper is not based on or defined by ecclesiology or historical theology, and certainly not by contemporary pragmatic or contextual factors. Instead, biblical missiology must be structured by this doctrine of divine sendings (the focus of this section) as well as the divine council and external work of God (the next two sections). Further, according to this structure, the missions of the Son and of the Spirit are enacted in a specific order: first, the Son’s mission and, then, the Spirit’s mission flowing from it.²⁴Vidu notes the danger of reversing this order: Karl Rahner, Fredrick Crowe, and Amos Yong, he writes, “represent a growing movement to reverse the order of the two missions, such that the Spirit’s mission is constructive of the incarnate personhood of Christ.” But “the biblical description of the Spirit’s mission clearly orders it to the Son’s mission” (Vidu, Divine Missions, 73–75). Moreover, the divine missions always cooperate with and complement each other.²⁵Our use of missio Dei must not present them as disconnected or discordant in any way. Pentecostal missiologist Amos Yong keeps the sendings together using the language of Irenaeus (130–202), who spoke of the Logos and Pneuma as “two hands of the Father,” but still promotes inclusivism by arguing that the outpouring of God’s Spirit on all flesh (Acts 2:17) is a broader concept in soteriology than the particular atoning work of God’s Son (John 17:9). See Amos Yong, Beyond the Impasse (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003), 43; and The Spirit Poured Out on All Flesh (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005), 81–120.

Third, God’s mission is temporal and enacted across the timeline of world history. The origin of God’s mission is the divine sendings, planned before creation in the divine council but enacted temporally within time and space. God’s temporal missions will end, after the gospel has been proclaimed to all nations, when the Spirit has gathered all the elect into the matured church, and when the Son has destroyed all opposition and consummated the kingdom (Matt 24:14; 1 Cor 15:24–28; Eph 4:13). The end of God’s mission is enjoyment of the beatific vision of his radiant glory, in which his redeemed people will participate in the future age, once the missions of his Son and his Spirit are fully accomplished.²⁶Vidu, Divine Missions, 88–100. As Scripture reveals, the mission activity of both the Son and the Spirit (both visible and invisible) take place temporally between the creation and the final judgement. The entire revelation of God’s mission is set out on this timeline; each of the various stages and steps of their missions are charted against this background.²⁷German missiologist Walter Fretag wrote, “The whole meaning and purpose of history and the trajectory of salvation in history are accomplished in and by means of mission,” cited in John G. Flett and Henning Wrogemann, Questions of Context: Reading a Century of German Mission Theology (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2020), 83. Thus the activity of missio Dei must be defined within this eschatological timeline, and our own present place in it is located at a point on this same timeline, in reference to us as a past (the already fulfilled), present (the now), and a future (the not yet).

2. The Eternal Divine Council

In addition to revealing the two divine sendings, Scripture also teaches that our Triune God planned his mission before he created the world.²⁸This divine council is eternal, that is, outside of time with a temporal outworking. Yet Scripture also describes it as logically existing before the creation (Eph 1:4). Hence it is both eternal and prae-temporal (not simply prior within time, as in pre-temporal, yet still logically before). See Joel R. Beeke and Mark Jones, “The Puritans on the Covenant of Redemption” in A Puritan Theology (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage, 2012), 237 n. 1. Psalm 2:6–9 speaks of this pretemporal divine plan:²⁹In the foreground, Psalm 2 speaks of the Davidic covenant (2 Sam 7:14). Yet New Testament exegesis focuses on its Christological fulfillment and intra-Trinitarian dialogue (Acts 4:25–26; Heb 1:5; 5:5; Rev 19:15).

“‘As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”
I will tell of the decree:
The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’”

This dialogue between the Father and Son is crucial to our subject for several reasons: It gives us language for defining the intra-Trinitarian dialogue. It describes the setting of God’s mission within the context of the nations raging against his Christ (Ps 2:1–3; cf. Gen 12:3; Dan 7:13–14; Rev 11:15). It announces beforehand essential aspects of the progressively-revealed promise of the Father to the Son (Ps 2:8; cf. Gen 3:15; Ps 72:8; Isa 49:6; Acts 1:8; 1 Pet 1:10–12). It also indicates Christ’s victory and final judgment, the last step of the Son’s visible mission (2:9; cf. Dan 2:34–35; Rev 12:5; 19:15). Psalm 2 must be central to our understanding of missio Dei, not least since it had great significance for the missiology of the apostles (cf. Mark 12:7; Luke 22:69–70; Acts 1:8; 4:25–30; 13:33).

This Old Testament passage is a preview of God’s plan of redemption, made before the creation, which was more fully revealed in Scripture once the Son “sat down” after completing the penultimate step of his visible mission (Heb 1:3). The New Testament gives us many more references to the divine council (Eph 1:11; 2 Tim 1:9; Titus 1:2; 1 Pet 1:20; Rev 4:11). We still do not know all the details of God’s mission plan (Deut 29:29), but Scripture makes it clear this plan was determined before creation within the divine council.

The doctrine of this divine council helps us understand the overarching plan of missio Dei. As with the divine sendings, classic Trinitarian theology gives us orthodox language with which to define missiology in relation to this foundational concept. For a summary of this doctrine, we turn to the teaching of Protestant theologians who further developed the Trinitarian theology of the patristic fathers in this decisive area.³⁰This section builds on the theology of Francis Turretin (1623–1687) and Petrus van Mastricht (1630–1706), as well as Herman Bavinck (1854–1921) who synthesizes them and others (such as Hermann Witsius).

According to these theologians, the prae-temporal council is the eternal “purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph 1:11). It is God’s eternal plan and good pleasure; the action of the Triune God, encompassing both his internal works of the divine decrees (opera ad intra) and his external works of creation, providence, and redemption (ad extra).³¹Petrus van Mastricht, Theoretical-Practical Theology, trans. Todd M. Rester (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage, 2021), 3.1–7. God’s council is prae-temporal, logically situated “before the foundation of the world” (Eph 1:4; cf. 3:11; Matt 25:34; Acts 2:23; 2 Tim 1:9; Rev 13:8). Though this council includes God’s predetermined plan for “all things” (Prov 19:21; Isa 14:24–27; Dan 4:24), in Scripture it “has reference mainly to the work of redemption,”³²Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, ed. John Bolt, trans John Vriend (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006), 2.344–345. a fact that is important for our understanding of missio Dei, as will be noted in the next section. The purpose or end of this council is ultimately the realization of the beatific vision: “to the praise of his glory” (Eph 1:14; cf. Rom 11:36; Eph 3:21; 1 Tim 1:17; Rev 1:6).

The divine decrees are the internal works of God, rooted in God’s eternal foreknowledge and foreordination, that direct his external works, and that are made visible to us in the course of world history.³³Francis Turretin says the decrees “are nothing else than the counsels of God concerning future things out of himself.” See The Institutes of Elenctic Theology, ed. James T. Dennison, Jr., trans. George Musgrave Giger (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 1994), 1.311–322; cf. Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 2.372–374. God’s decrees are eternal, unconditional, all-wise, immutable, and universally effective.³⁴Mastricht, Theology, 3.8–23. They include God’s plan for predestination, the creation and governance of the world, and redemption.³⁵Much attention regarding these decrees has focused on their logical order and on predestination. While important, this discussion should not eclipse or exclude study of how missio Dei is rooted in the eternal council and divine decrees. For a helpful study in this area, see Jacob D. Rainwater, “‘Before the Foundation of the World’: The Covenant of Redemption and Trinitarian Action” (PhD diss., Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2023). The intra-Trinitarian dialogue in Psalm 2 reveals some details of this plan; many more details are revealed through the missions in history of the Son and the Spirit. Thus, we describe God’s mission of redemption as planned in advance by God’s council and predetermined by his decree.

The pactum salutis, also called the covenant of redemption or counsel of peace, is the “intra-trinitarian agreement among Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to plan and execute the redemption of the elect.”³⁶J. V. Fesko continues, “The covenant entails the appointment of the Son as surety of the covenant of grace who accomplishes the redemption of the elect through his incarnation, perfect obedience, suffering, resurrection, and ascension. The covenant of redemption is also the root of the Spirit’s role to anoint and equip the Son for his mission as surety and to apply his finished work to the elect” (The Trinity and the Covenant of Redemption [Fearn, UK: Mentor, 2016], 132). This agreement, made within the eternal council, is an expression of the Triune God’s singular will (voluntas Dei) and decree of redemption and is a logical explanation for how the divine processions relate with the divine missions. The eternal decree is God’s will of all things, including the elect’s salvation, and the pactum salutis is God’s will concerning the entire work of salvation.³⁷“From a trinitarian perspective, there is and must be, given the terms of the older orthodoxy, an essential identity of the decree and the pactum” (Richard A. Muller, “Toward the Pactum Salutis: Locating the Origins of a Concept,” Mid-America Journal of Theology 18 [2007]: 61). This doctrine helps to explain Scripture’s intra-Trinitarian dialogue (Isa 49:6; John 17), expressed in covenantal language (Ps 40:7–8 // Heb 10:5–10; Ps 110:4 // Heb 7:20–23), which is foundational for God’s covenant of grace that is progressively revealed to us across biblical history. This agreement was made in eternity but enacted in time and space.³⁸Bavinck writes, “The pact of salvation, however, further forms the link between the external work of God toward salvation and what he does to that end in time. The covenant of grace revealed in time does not hang in the air but rests on an eternal, unchanging foundation. It is firmly grounded in the counsel and covenant of the triune God…” (Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 3.215); see also Turretin, Institutes 2.177. As in Psalm 2, Scripture presents it as a covenantal agreement between the Father and Son (Isa 42:6; Zech 6:12–13), with the Spirit also participating in this agreement for the redemption of God’s people (Isa 11:1–2; 42:1; Acts 2:33).³⁹Mastricht writes, “Likewise the Holy Spirit, as the consummator of all things, through whom the Trinity executes all things, and as the emissary, consents and executes the agreements, distributes his gifts among the elect … and regenerates” (Mastricht, Theology 4.16); see also J. V. Fesko, “The Covenant of Redemption and the Ordo Salutis,” The Master’s Seminary Journal 33 (2022): 5–19; and Rainwater, “Covenant of Redemption and Trinitarian Action,” 50–100 and 217–53.

Therefore, God’s overarching plan of mission, as decreed by the Triune God in this divine council, is the pactum salutis, the pretemporal agreement which determines God’s external work in the world, throughout the history of redemption, to save fallen sinners. Thus, piecing it together from our limited perspective, we can delineate the logical sequence in which the pretemporal mission plan would be enacted, in created time, by the eternal triune God.⁴⁰The Scripture verses listed here are not intended to be proof texts but simply noteworthy references for each point. Before creation, the Father chose his elect people from all nations as a bride for his Son (Eph 1:4). The Father will send his Son into the world to accomplish redemption (Gen 3:15; John 3:16–17). The Father will anoint the Son with the Spirit for his visible mission (Isa 42:1; 61:1–3). The Son will do the Father’s will, making atonement for his elect (John 17:4). The Father will honor the Son (John 17:5; Phil 2:9–11). The Father will send the Spirit by the Son to indwell the elect and to empower them for witness (Luke 24:49; John 15:26). The Spirit will gather the elect from all nations, to consummate the covenantal marriage, and to bring them into perfect Trinitarian fellowship (1 John 1:3–4; Rev 7:9). Thus the missions of the Spirit and the Son will accomplish the Father’s eternal plan, all “according to the purpose” of the triune God and “to the praise of his glory” (Eph 1:5–6, 9, 11–12, 14).

This doctrine of the divine council also helps us explain key biblical passages related to God’s mission.⁴¹Contemporary missiology has largely overlooked the relationship of missio Dei and covenant theology. See John H. Kromminga, “The Relationship of Covenant and Mission in the Reformed Tradition” in The Covenant and Missions (Farmington, MI: Missionary Internship, 1984); and Davi C. Gomes, “The Source of Mission in the Covenant of Redemption” in A Covenantal Vision for Global Mission , eds. Paul Wells, Peter A. Lillback, and Henk Stoker (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2020), 3–19. For example, Christ’s prayer in John 17 is an intra-Trinitarian dialogue that reveals the deep relationship of the Son to the Father. In light of the pactum salutis, we see this dialogue at the end of the Son’s visible mission as his personal mission report to the Father who sent him: “I … accomplished the work that you gave me to do” (John 17:4). The Spirit’s outpouring, seen in the same light, is simply the next step in the eternal decree of redemption: the Father honors the Son when his visible mission is accomplished, and then “the promise of the Father” is sent into the church to continue the Son’s invisible mission (Luke 24:49). The completion of the Son’s visible mission to Israel also triggers the radical expansion of gospel witness to all nations as a direct fulfilment of the Father’s eternal promise to the Son: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isa 49:6), a dogma of missiology that Paul fully understood (Acts 13:46–48; Rom 15:8–9). God’s missional plan was once a “mystery hidden for ages” but has now been revealed to the church “by the Spirit” (Eph 3:4–11), as we will consider in the next section.

The plan of God’s mission, therefore, was determined by the divine council and, more specifically, directed by the Triune pactum salutis. Before considering the historical enactment of this plan, consider three implications of this doctrine for contemporary missiology.

First, God’s mission of redemption is the hermeneutical key to biblical history.⁴²Christopher Wright makes a strong case for a missional hermeneutic in The Mission of God, 24–32. The term missional is helpful when used as a hermeneutical lens for Scripture, similar to Christological or covenantal, a method of interpretation for the whole revelation of God’s redemption plan. The storyline of Scripture must be charted on the timeline of God’s temporal mission of redemption. Creation sets the stage; it is the cosmic theater in which God’s glory will be displayed. The tragic fall of Adam into the state of depravity is the universal problem that God’s mission remedies. The history of redemption tells the story of God’s mission across the pages of Scripture:⁴³See DeVries, You Will Be My Witnesses, 27–110. It progressively reveals the Father’s plan. The Old Testament prepares for Christ’s coming, while the Gospels slow the pace in order to focus on the details of the Son’s visible mission. Then the rest of the New Testament expands this vision, beginning to tell the story of the Son’s Gentile mission as empowered by his Spirit. Thus the systematic study of Trinitarian missiology must guide our understanding of redemptive history and biblical eschatology.

Second, the scope of God’s mission has always included people from all nations. Though the Gentile mission was radically expanded only after Pentecost, the salvation of people from all nations was not a subsequent or secondary plan made after Israel had failed but an essential part of God’s eternal plan to bless all families of the earth (Gen 12:3; Gal 3:8). Hence it is no surprise to find occasional glimpses of God’s grander plan scattered across the Old Testament (Num 14:21; Isa 56:7; Hab 2:13–14). From before the beginning, God’s universal desire was that people from all nations would be his people and that he would be their God (1 Pet 2:9–10; Rev 21:2–3). Thus, mission did not start in the New Testament after the Great Commission.⁴⁴For the historical context and canonical continuity of the Great Commission and Pentecost, see Harry R. Boer, Pentecost and Mission (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1961), 83–84; and Richard R. DeRidder, Discipling the Nations (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1971), 170–96. It is true, Ascension and Pentecost mark the point on the missio Dei timeline when the witness of the church was greatly empowered and when the Gentile mission was radically expanded. But our definition of missio Dei must start much further back, in time with the first gospel promise (Gen 3:15) and in eternity with the pactum salutis. Furthermore, mission is not merely God’s reaction to Adam’s sin and the international rebellion that ensued (Ps 2:1–6).⁴⁵The pactum salutis “manifests God’s redemptive plan as eternal and as something far more than a reaction to the problem of sin” (Muller, “Toward the Pactum Salutis, 15). It is true that the gospel promise, first revealed in the garden after the Fall, is the remedy for Adam’s sin. But God’s decree of redemptive mission was planned before time, along with his other decrees of predestination and creation. From before the beginning, God had already decreed to save rebellious sinners from every nation. Thus, our Triune God of sovereign grace laughs at all international rebellion since he has already given the nations as an inheritance to his Son (Ps 2:4; Matt 28:18), and since his eternal plan of mission will soon be accomplished when “every tongue confess[es] that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:11).

Third, the message of God’s mission is gracious salvation in the face of pending judgment. It is helpful to view gospel proclamation through the broader lens of the divine decrees. The divine decrees include the final judgment of Christ, since God’s mission will be finished only after his vengeance is poured out upon all those who reject his Son (Ps 2:9; cf. 2:12; Rev 19:15). From this perspective, we see the gospel is a sincere offer of salvation to fallen sinners who face certain judgment (Ezek 33:10–20). The revelation of the Triune God’s plan to save sinners—this mystery now made public—is the good news that we proclaim to sinners in their fallen state (Gen 3:15). Stated differently, the pactum salutis was not required for God to destroy the wicked since his decrees of predestination and creation were enough to justly condemn sinners. But his covenantal plan of redemption and the divine missions were required for our gracious God to save guilty sinners and also “to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier …” (Rom 3:26). The gospel reveals God’s righteousness, and gospel proclamation vindicates him (Rom 1:16–17; 1 Tim 3:16). Thus, missio Dei is much more than merely the one-time sharing of an anthropocentric message about how God wants to bless you or about the importance of human flourishing.

3. The External Work of God

Popular uses of missio Dei usually have in view God’s activity in the world to accomplish his mission. We started further back for this study in order to ground our definition of missio Dei in the classic Trinitarian doctrines of the two divine sendings and the eternal divine council. Now we can develop our definition of missio Dei by reflecting on God’s external work in the world and, specifically, on the purpose of his mission. Paul’s teaching in Ephesians brings together many of these themes: “making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, … things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph 1:9–11); and “so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord” (3:10–11).

God’s mission in the world, also called missio ad extra, is the external outworking of his internal plan. This mission was predestined before the foundation of the world “according to the council of his will.” It was announced in the world, first by God himself with the covenant promise (Gen 3:15; 12:1–3), and then “through the church” by means of gospel witness (Rom 10:14–17; Gal 3:8). God’s mission was progressively revealed in redemptive history, “the mystery of his will” now “set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time” (Eph 1:9–10). God’s global mission progresses along the trajectories of the missions of the Son and the Spirit. The Son came down from the Father and returned up to the Father, having redeemed his church as a bride. The Spirit was sent by the Father through the Son and will return to the Son and Father, having gathered the church into Triune fellowship. Pentecost is the mid-point of missio Dei, occurring at “the fullness of time,” marking the end of the Son’s earthly ministry and the outpouring of the Spirit into the church. God’s mission in the world will end when God’s eternal redemptive purpose is fully accomplished.

What is the purpose of God’s mission? Paul’s refrain in Ephesians 1 gives us the ultimate answer: God’s purpose is to glorify himself (Eph 1:6, 12, 14). There are two ways to answer this question more fully. We can look back to the pretemporal council and divine decrees: God’s missional purpose is the plan that would be enacted to redeem his elect people. Or we look forward to the end goal of mission: God’s missional purpose is the consummation of restored covenant fellowship with the Triune God in glory. Each of these answers, though from different perspectives, correspond completely, since our eternal and immutable God has predetermined the end from before the beginning. Before a more detailed answer to this question, however, we turn once more to Trinitarian theology and its outworkings to ensure that our definition of missio Dei is precisely consistent with the language of Scripture and sound doctrine.

First, we must distinguish between God’s external works of creation and regeneration. These divine works are distinct from each other, though both are the outworking (opera ad extra) of God’s council and divine decrees (ad intra). The relationship between the two is a point of much discussion.⁴⁶Bavinck is helpful here, seeing “re-creation is not a system that supplements creation, as in Catholicism, not a religious reformation that leaves creation intact, as in Luther, much less a new creation, as in Anabaptism, but a joyful tiding of the renewal of all creatures,” quoted in Jan Veenhof, “Nature and Grace in Bavinck,” Pro Rege 34.4 (2006): 15. For our purpose, we simply note that God’s creative work produced nature as a theater to display his glory, and God’s redemptive work reveals his grace within this context. God’s work of creation produced a “very good” nature that once perfectly displayed God’s glory, but this creation was soon corrupted with sin by the fall of Adam. God’s work of redemption is not opposed to nature but remains distinct from it with the different purpose of revealing God’s grace within it, specifically after the fall, in order to restore it and thus consummate God’s original plan for it.⁴⁷“Grace is opposed not to nature, only to sin.… Grace restores nature and takes it to its highest pinnacle” (Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 3.557); cf. Turretin, Institutes 1.29–30.

Second, the divine missions of the Son and the Spirit are enacted within the created order. God’s good creation, now groaning under the curse for Adam’s sin, is the context within which God performs his mission. Aquinas viewed the divine missions as the outworking of God’s redemptive work, not as part of his creative work: “Divine missions are the work of sanctifying grace, which is ‘above and beyond’ the ‘one common mode.’”⁴⁸Aquinas, Summa Theologiae 1.43.3. Aquinas confuses the nature-grace relationship and overemphasizes sanctifying grace. See Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 3.574–579. The Protestant Reformers affirmed Aquinas’s teaching of the divine missions as operating distinct from creation but also corrected its focus with Augustine’s theology.⁴⁹Augustine viewed grace “as that which liberates and controls nature” (On Nature and Grace 2.42.1). God’s redemptive work, which is distinct from his creative work and logically following it, is temporally enacted within the creational context, eschatologically recreating and consummating it. Therefore, using the Reformed nature-grace paradigm, we describe missio Dei as God’s redemptive work, a work that is distinguished from his creation (and governance) but that takes place within the context of the corrupted creation.

Third, God’s mission accomplishes both the recovery of sinners, in contrast to Adam’s fall, and the consummation of covenant fellowship, in continuity with God’s creational goal. The covenant of grace, the outworking of the pactum salutis, is God’s remedy for Adam’s rebellion. The inability of Adam and all his posterity to obey God’s original requirements proved the need for a better covenant with better terms and a better mediator. Scripture presents God’s mission as juxtaposed with Adam’s sin. After the fall, the Triune God took action to save fallen sinners from the consequence of their sinful rebellion. As depravity, creational decay, and damnation are the consequences of Adam’s disobedience, so likewise redemption, re-creation, and glorification are the consequences of God’s mission (Rom 5:12–21). Thus, while God’s mission is executed within fallen creation, its goal is much grander than merely creation renewed.⁵⁰Summarizing Bavinck’s views, Veenhof writes, “Grace militates against sin in the natural, but it does not militate against the natural itself; on the contrary, it restores the natural and brings it to its normal development, i.e., the development intended by God” (“Nature and Grace,” 19). Veenhof adds: “The redemption by grace of created reality, the reformation of nature, is not merely repristination, but raises the natural to a higher level than it originally occupied” (“Nature and Grace,” 22). Restoration of creation is a direct consequence of this work, but the end goal of God’s redemptive mission is greater: restoring fallen sinners into covenantal fellowship and consummating the kingdom to the praise of his glory.

Stated concisely, missio Dei is the Triune God’s work within the world to save fallen sinners. God’s mission is his redemptive work that takes place within the creation, after the fall and in contrast to Adam’s sin, until the day of salvation has ended (2 Cor 6:2; Heb 3:13), and according to the eternal purpose of God’s will (Eph 1:11).

We are now ready to summarize the multi-dimensional purpose of God’s mission in Trinitarian perspective. God’s missional purpose is described throughout Scripture with various aspects and dimensions.⁵¹The Scripture references in these two paragraphs are not intended to be conclusive proof-texts but rather listed only as examples of these many nuances of God’s missional purpose. The purpose of the Father’s sending includes being worshiped by people from all nations (Ps 22:27; Mal 1:11); making a name for himself among the gods (Isa 45:22; Rom 9:17); destroying all opposition and rebellion (Ps 2:9; Rev 19:11–21); and filling the earth with his glory (Num 14:21; Ps 72:19). The purpose of the Son’s mission is multifaceted, including to obey and glorify the Father (John 17:4); to “show God’s truthfulness” and confirm God’s promises (Rom 15:8); to save his people from their sins (Matt 1:21); to establish the kingdom and “to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8); and to send the Spirit and inaugurate the Gentile mission (Matt 28:18–20; Acts 1:8). The purpose of the Spirit’s mission includes glorifying the Son and declaring God’s truth in the world (John 16:13–15); applying redemption in the elect (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6); empowering the church for bearing witness (Luke 24:49; Eph 2:22); and gathering God’s people from all nations (Isa 56:6–8; Rev 7:9).

Viewed together, Scripture displays the Triune God’s mission as a multi-layered revelation of his eternal plan that will soon be fully accomplished (Rom 16:25–27). We still see it dimly on this side of glory, but we can depict it as a series of concentric layers, moving out from the center toward a grand all-encompassing vision.⁵²For further reflection on the visio Dei, see Sanders, Deep Things of God, 72–76; and Vidu, Divine Missions, 80–87. From personal to universal, the purpose of God’s mission is to save fallen sinners; to build his church by gathering his people from all nations; to renew creation and fill the earth with his glory; to consummate covenant fellowship in the eternal kingdom; “to unite all things” in Christ and “to put all his enemies under his feet” (Eph 1:10; 1 Cor 15:24–28); all of which is for the praise of his glory (Eph 1:14). With God’s external work of mission in view, consider the following implications of this doctrine for contemporary missiology.

First, this Trinitarian definition of missio Dei clarifies how the church today should participate in God’s mission. Mission is God’s work within the world; the church merely bears witness to it. God’s people, having been called out of the world as objects of his grace, are then sanctified in the world as his agents who must bear witness to Christ. The church participates in God’s mission according to his design and commission: as the Son was sent by God into the world for redemption, so the church (analogically) is sent into the world to bear witness to this redemption (John 20:21–22).⁵³As Teer concludes, “the sending of the Son by the Father to accomplish salvation and the sending of the Spirit by the Father and the Son to apply salvation to believers. The Son and the Spirit are sent out into the world (exitus) that they may draw redeemed humankind back into participation in the divine life (reditus). Then, having been reconciled to the Father through the Son by the Spirit, believers are called to participate in God’s mission in the world; as the church, they are sent out (exitus) to preach the gospel and, thus, beckon the lost world to return to God (reditus). In so doing, the mission of the church joins—analogically—the Trinitarian agential chain that is the missio Dei” (“As the Father Sends Me,” 557). As such, the human agency of the church cannot “advance missio Dei” any more than it can “hasten the end” or even “grow the church.”⁵⁴Much contemporary literature uses missio Dei imprecisely and in ways that are inconsistent with the language of Scripture. Human agency can never be more than subordinate to and dependent upon the Triune God and his mission work. For a classic corrective, see J. I. Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1961). Nor should the church try to duplicate the work of Christ or his Spirit.⁵⁵C. S. Lewis wrote, “Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else” (Mere Christianity [New York: Macmillan, 1952], 177). Yet no mere Christian or church can ever become “a little Christ” in the world to any extent close to Christ’s unique ministry in his incarnation. Rather, Christians bear witness in the world to Christ, proclaiming the excellences of his unique person and mission. In this way, Christ continues his invisible mission through his Spirit-empowered agents. See the Southgate Statement, “Affirmations and Denials Concerning World Mission,” Themelios 45.1 (2020): 108–35. The church simply bears witness to Christ as co-witnesses with his Spirit. In view of God’s grander missional purpose, the church’s witness is much more limited and focused: to demonstrate life in the Spirit of Christ (Rom 8:9–11; Gal 5:22–25); to bear witness to Christ among all nations (Acts 1:8); and to make known publicly the manifold wisdom of God (Eph 3:10).

Second, the purpose of God’s mission defines and focuses the world-facing activity of the church. The witness of the church includes evangelism, apologetics, global gospel partnerships, church planting, compassion ministries, biblical counseling, cultural engagement, gospel worship, gospel suffering, and the many other activities that faithfully bear witness to Christ. The goal for each of these activities should be aligned with the higher purpose of God’s mission. For example, the church does not promote public good merely to increase human flourishing, but rather so that unbelievers will recognize and “glorify God” (1 Pet 2:12). Nor do we engage in interreligious dialogue merely to seek common good or social peace, but we dialogue with adherents of other religions for the purpose of evangelistic witness (Acts 17:16–17). Likewise, creation care is not essential to the evangelistic witness of the church, even though it may be good to steward wisely the resources God has given us. Obeying the cultural mandate often aids gospel witness, but it remains ancillary, since the purpose of God’s redemptive mission is the salvation of sinners for eternal glory, not merely the preservation or renewal of his creation, and since the church has a higher mandate, a commission to bear witness to Christ among all nations (Isa 43:8–12; Matt 28:18–20).⁵⁶As God’s redemptive work is executed within the context of God’s creative work, so also the church’s gospel mandate is more focused within the wider context of the cultural mandate given to all humanity. The effects of Adam’s fall can only be remedied by God’s redemptive work in Christ. See Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert, What Is the Mission of the Church? (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2011), 208–19. Gospel witness is the primary activity of the church in the world because our highest goal is perfected worship for God’s glory, as directed by God’s missional purpose.⁵⁷As John Piper famously wrote, “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t.” Let the Nations Be Glad (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993), 11.

Third, faith in the final outcome of God’s external mission is the greatest motivation for our gospel witness. Missional hope is the joyful anticipation of the future success of God’s mission; it is inspired by a spiritual vision of God’s redemptive mission (Eph 3:9–13), built on Scripture’s promises of Christ’s coming kingdom (Phil 2:9–11), and anchored in the unchangeable character of God’s eternal purpose (Heb 6:17–18).⁵⁸See DeVries, You Will Be My Witnesses, 246–53. This hope in the God of mission, in turn, stimulates prayer for the advancement of God’s cause in the world and arouses the church to various activities of faithful witness. All other motivations for gospel witness must be evaluated by and subordinate to this vision of God’s glory as the eternal outcome of his mission.

4. Concluding Reflections

Consider several concluding reflections from this study for contemporary missiology and Christian witness. First, a Trinitarian theology of God’s mission corrects many of the present ambiguities and divergent definitions surrounding missio Dei. Adding more qualifiers or nuances to conflicting uses of the term is not the solution. Rather, we must return to time-tested Trinitarian teachings to redefine our missiology more precisely according to God’s self-revelation in Scripture.

Second, a Trinitarian theology of God’s mission provides a reliable foundation and framework for contemporary missiology. The basis and structure of our missiology must be thoroughly Trinitarian. The divine sendings of the Son and the Spirit explain the origin of God’s mission, while the divine council and pactum salutis help us comprehend the whole plan of God’s redemptive mission. Mission is the work of the Triune God, rooted eternally in his being and enacted temporally across the timeline of world history. God’s salvific mission, as the outworking of the covenant of redemption, is the hermeneutical key to Scripture. Furthermore, God’s external work of mission, accomplished and applied across the history of redemption, highlights the eternal purpose of God’s mission and helps us align our participation in it.

Mission as an academic subject is often treated as an area of practical theology or sometimes as a subset of ecclesiology. Much missiology today focuses almost exclusively on subjects related to the church’s participation in God’s mission (missional ecclesiology, evangelistic strategies, apologetic methods, and intercultural ministry including contextualization). While these studies can be very helpful, they must be grounded in the doctrine of God and controlled by Trinitarian theology (missio Dei, Christology, and Pneumatology). The study of mission, therefore, should start with the doctrine of God, originating from the two divine sendings, shaped by the divine council and covenant of redemption, and defined as God’s external work of salvation within human history.

Third, a Trinitarian theology of God’s mission clarifies the role of the church within the mission of our Triune God. Mission is God’s redemptive work within the world; God’s people merely participate in it.⁵⁹The phrase “mission of the church” can be misleading since it mentally conflates the distinct activities of God’s mission and the church’s witness. To increase clarity, therefore, I suggest using the term mission to refer to God’s redemptive purpose and activity in the world and the biblical term witness to describe the church’s world-facing calling and activity. DeVries, You Will Be My Witnesses, 16–17; cf. Stroope, Transcending Mission: The Eclipse of a Modern Tradition [Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2017), 370–72. The role of the church, as defined by God’s mission, is to bear witness to Christ as co-witnesses with his Spirit, testifying publicly to what God has done, is doing, and will do in the world. The Triune mission must also delineate and focus the church’s participation. While the church’s witness may involve many diverse activities—such as apologetics, global partnerships, church planting, compassion ministries, cultural engagement, etc.—the goal and methodology for each of these activities must be aligned with the higher purpose of God’s mission.

Finally, a Trinitarian theology of God’s mission stirs up confident conviction and enduring passion for mission.⁶⁰As Philipus J. Buys asserts, “a Reformed understanding and conviction of missio Dei will ensure that the missional vision of the covenant of redemption … stirs up a heartfelt vision, conviction and passion for missions and the glory of God in the lives of theological students.” “The Roots of Missio Dei in the Reformation, and Its Implications for Theological Education,” In die Skriflig 54.2 (2020): 2. The mission of our Triune God will be accomplished fully and without fail, all to the praise of his glorious grace! Our God of sovereign grace has already given the nations as an inheritance to his Son, and soon all peoples will confess that Christ is Lord, to the eternal glory of God. The church’s faithful gospel witness has often been ignited and inflamed by a clearer vision of God’s glory and this confident hope in the ultimate success of the Triune mission.

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