Stephen Jones — Trinitarian Theology
b1 — Creation’s Jubilee
Economic Trinity via Three Ages
Jones describes on the “corporate level” (Level Two) three successive dispensations/churches, each corresponding to one of Israel’s three great feasts:
“The Passover-Age Church, or Kingdom, began with Moses at that first Passover, when Israel came out of Egypt. […] It was an era where the Holy Spirit was WITH the people, but not IN them.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, Chapter 6
“The second Church is the Pentecostal-Age Church, which began seven weeks after Jesus’ resurrection, when the Spirit of God was sent on the day of Pentecost. On this day God renewed the Kingdom by giving it greater power and placing the Holy Spirit within the people.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, Chapter 6
“The third Church is the Tabernacles Age Church. At the beginning of this age God will pour out the fullness of His Spirit upon the overcomers.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, Chapter 6
Interpretation: Jones structures salvation history in three successive dispensations corresponding to three modes of the Spirit’s presence: WITH (Passover era), IN (Pentecost era), FULLY (Tabernacles era). The three feasts functionally correspond to the three trinitarian Persons as historical agents — but Jones does not employ explicit trinitarian terminology for this.
Spirit WITH / IN / FULLY
Jones also develops the three-phase Spirit-presence through Noah’s dove imagery (Appendix 2):
“The fact that Noah sent the dove out three times speaks of the three times that the Holy Spirit was to be sent into the earth in history.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, Appendix 2
“The first occasion speaks of the first Pentecost of the Old Covenant at the foot of Mount Sinai under Moses’ administration. The Holy Spirit was sent, but the people fled in fear […]. The ‘dove found no rest’ amidst the sea of people.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, Appendix 2
“The second occasion speaks of the New Covenant at the great Pentecost in the second chapter of Acts. The ‘dove’ in this case had found a single olive sprout in the person of Jesus. […] Yet this was only a tiny portion of the promise, even as an olive sprout was only a little piece of the olive tree.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, Appendix 2
“The third occasion speaks of the unlimited fulfillment, when the Spirit shall be poured out upon all flesh. It shall be the greater outpouring, of which the previous one was only an ‘earnest.’ Once sent, the dove shall not return to the ark, which had limited its movements. His glory shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea (Hab. 2:14).” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, Appendix 2
Additionally from Chapter 6:
“Pentecost gave us only an ‘earnest’ of the Spirit, a downpayment, rather than the fullness. The NASV calls it a ‘pledge.’ Ephesians 1:13 and 14 says, […] ‘who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession.‘” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, Chapter 6
Interpretation: Jones distinguishes three qualitatively different levels of the Spirit’s presence in salvation history. The WITH/IN/FULLY summary is editorial; Jones’ own formulations are “with,” “within,” and “fullness.” This aligns with the economic Trinity: the Spirit operates historically in three phases.
Three Harvests as Trinitarian Structure
Jones argues that the three harvest festivals (barley/Passover, wheat/Pentecost, grapes/Tabernacles) correspond to three successive groups of people who are raised (“squadrons”):
“Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:23, ‘But each in his own order [tagma, or squadron]: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are the Christ’s at His coming.’ […] Paul is saying that we will be raised in three squadrons.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, Chapter 6
“The first ‘squadron’ to be raised from the dead are the barley Overcomers; the second is the Church in general, the wheat harvest.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, Chapter 6
“Three Levels of Fulfillment. The feast days of Israel prophesy on three levels. Level One is the individual personal level. […] The Feast of Passover is fulfilled in us by our justification by faith […]. The Feast of Pentecost is the next step […] our sanctification. The Feast of Tabernacles is the final step […] the fullness of the Spirit and brings us fully into the promise of perfection.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, Chapter 6
Interpretation: The three-levels structure (individual/corporate/cosmic) reflects a trinitarian salvific logic. However, Jones does not explicitly link the three feasts to Father, Son, and Spirit as distinct Persons.
Father-Son Eschatology (1 Cor. 15:28)
Jones cites 1 Cor. 15:24-28 extensively as the climax of the third harvest (grapes):
“Then comes the end, when He delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. […] And when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, Chapter 6 (quoting 1 Cor. 15:24-28 NASB)
Jones’ commentary:
“Only when death itself is banished from the created universe will God be all in all.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, Chapter 6
Jones also presents Gregory of Nyssa’s interpretation of 1 Cor. 15:28:
“When we all are free of evil in imitation of the first-fruits, then the whole mass of our nature will be commingled with the first-fruits and we shall become completely one body which accepts the lordship of the good and of that alone. So that the whole body of our human nature will be commingled with the divine and uncompounded nature; and therein will be achieved in us what is called the subjection of the Son — for the subjection which is established in his body is being rightly ascribed to him who makes this grace of subjection effective in us.” — Gregory of Nyssa, cited in Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, Appendix 3, §42
Jones’ note at §37:
“[NOTE: Gregory here differs from our point of view in that he interprets 1 Cor. 15:23 to mean that Christ is the Firstfruits, followed by ‘Paul’ as an example of those who are Christ’s ‘at the advent.’ Gregory, being a Greek, was apparently somewhat familiar with Israel’s feast days and how they apply to these resurrections.]” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, Appendix 3
Interpretation: Jones endorses the universalist reading of “God may be all in all” as the eschatological goal. The “subjection of the Son” is read pneumatologically via Gregory: the Son-in-his-body (the church) is fully subjected when all humanity has been purified. This constitutes a functionally economic-trinitarian eschatology: the Father is the end, the Son is the means, the Spirit is the instrument of progressive sanctification.