It may seem a bit obvious to you, but one of the major "findings" in what is known as Speech/Act theory is that we do things when we speak. Speech involves more than just sound utterances proceeding from someone's mouth, but it is a complex and powerful medium that includes both the speaker as well as the hearer. Scholars have divided a speech/act into three parts: the first, known as the locutionary act, is the act of speaking itself. For example, someone performing the speech/act of warning others about a fire in a theater. The next part of speech is known as the illocutionary act. This is the content of the speaking, that is, what it is the speaker says. In our example, it would be the word, "Fire!" Lastly, there is the perlocutionary act. This is the effect or result of the speech/act. Someone yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater would no doubt result in people quickly evacuating the building.
Theologians have sought to use these categories in their understanding of Scripture. For example, since all the acts of God are Trinitarian in nature (each member doing His respective part), it seems helpful to view the Father as the one performing the locutionary act, the Son (the Word) performs the illocutionary act, and the Spirit bringing about what is spoken in the perlocutionary act. This notion is nothing new. Look, for example, at the Belgic Confession of Faith, written in 1561:
The Father is the cause, origin, and source of all things, visible as well as invisible. The Son is the Word, the Wisdom, and the image of the Father. The Holy Spirit is the eternal power and might, proceeding from the Father and the Son.
Biblically, this is clearly seen in the act of creation. The Father said "Let there be...", the Son, through whom he made all things, was the content spoken ("The Word" cf. John 1:1-3), and it was the Spirit who was "hovering over the waters," bringing about that which was spoken (Gen 1:2). With this in mind, we see along with the Ancient church's analogy, that the Son and the Spirit are "the two hands" of the Father. Thus we see that everything the Father does, it is through the Son, by the Spirit.
Michael Horton, in his book Covenant and Salvation, seeks to apply this communicative model to the act of justification. Taking the traditional distinction of the "external" and "internal call" of the gospel, he posits that the external call involves the Father speaking (locution) the content (illocution) of the gospel, which is the Son, to all the world. And the internal call is where the Spirit brings about the results (perlocution) of that word spoken in the lives of the elect by his regenerating power. Thus, the verdict of justification does what it says. When God declares us "righteous" it is not because of any inherent righteousness of our own, for God "justifies the ungodly" (Rom 4:5). But, just as He spoke the world into existence ex nihilo, so also he "calls into existence the things that do not exist," (4:17) i.e. our righteousness.
This way of understanding justification further bolsters the doctrine of salvation by grace alone, since it insists that God's speech/act is not based upon any inherent or infused righteousness or moral abilities in the sinner. Also seeing God's sovereign act of salvation in this communicative model may also help our Arminian brothers understand what we mean when we suggest that God works sovereignly, however not by brute force, as if we were inanimate objects, but spoken to as humans with creaturely integrity.
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