Stuck in the Middle

Clowns to the left of me,
Jokers to the right, here I am
Stuck in the middle with you.
From "Stuck in the Middle" by Stealers Wheel

OK, this is a bit tongue in cheek, but I thought it was a good way to begin this post. I am going to be taking at least a two week break from blogging on A Trinity of 3, and quite frankly, this may be the last post. Next week is finals, and then some time off to reflect on next steps.

It has been an interesting journey. Those of you who stopped by, I thank you. Those who stopped by and read some posts, I thank you. Those of you who stopped by, read some posts and commented, I thank you all the more.

Studying the Word is profitable, you never come away less than what you came to the Bible with. I find this study in trinitarian theology to have been profitable as well.

We might say that God SPIRIT is everywhere creation is not. For those who are Christians, redeemed by Christ’s death at Calvary, finite creation constitutes an enormous crib over and around which the Triune God hovers, affectionately caring for his own. All creation will someday recognize the greatness and beauty of God, together with the unfathomable debt it owes to the Almighty for its existence, preservation and provision of salvation in Jesus Christ. The deep comprehension of our indebtedness to God may be our primary role as his creation.

Dr. J. Scott Horrell's Class Presentation -Trinitarianism

We are deeply indebted to the Triune God for our very existence. As far as I can tell, we can never pray too much to Him, give Him too much praise and worship, spend too much time studying, reflecting on and trying to emulate His attributes. It is never time that is not personally enriching, it is never not edifying.

Nevertheless, there is no more blessed glory than that glory given by one member of the Holy Trinity to the other, each wholly comprehending and exalting the magnifificence of the other.

Dr. J. Scott Horrell's Class Presentation - Trinitarianism

However, we can never approach the Godhead in depth and richness of emotion, love or community within. But it sure is fun and self revealing to try.

A Trinitarian Worldview - Part VII: Love and Forgiveness; Time and Space

The last part of my worldview review deals with areas that can tie you up in knots because of what can appear to be contradictions. But as we have stated before, can we really expect as finite beings to fully fathom the infinitely divine?

Can a perfectly just and holy God forgive? Yet we know Him as a merciful and gracious God. How can He maintain His holiness and yet extend us such grace? If He is holy and just He cannot forgive, but if He is merciful does He lose His moral absolute?

²⁶he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Romans 3:26 (NASB)

He is God and He is both the just and the justifier of those who believe in Him. He can do it because He has chosen to do so. Rather than question, I would have us be thankful. For quite frankly, the alternative is none too encouraging to entertain.

God is both within and outside of time and space. He was before time and space (that is, he was before the creation that He Himself created). He created all, but His participation and sustaining of creation means that in the end, it has no end, because He has deemed eternity for us.He has entered into history of His own choosing and as such, can give us the everlastingness we need for eternal existence. There can be none without Him.

Can you think of other points you and I need to ponder about the glorious God we serve?

He is the biggest of ideas and well beyond even that. In the scope of all history, He is the metanarrative that makes a short story out of all else.

A Trinitarian Worldview - Part VI: The Imago Dei in Relationships

How does the Trinity impact our worldview of relationships? How are we to take the attributes of the Godhead and candle our actions within our spheres of activity?

Looking at three areas: family, church and society you see some commonalities that enable you to develop a trinitarian worldview in a way that can be used consistently across your relationships.

Starting with family, you need to start with marriage. The marriage relationship most closely models the Trinity of all human relationships. You seek to make the other partner known within the context of the marital bond, which should be the strongest of all human bonds. You look to communicate with each other in the most intimate, honest and vulnerable of fashions. You enjoy each other in companionship, fellowship and friendship. You make audible expressions of love, expressions of pleasure and make known your desires to please each other. You give honor to your mate, you give gifts.You work with and for each other, you seek to submit yourself to your partner knowing the same is being done for you. You become part of each other, learning to trust and abide in each other during good times and bad, pleasure and pain, success or suffering.

You see in the marriage relationship all these coming through when one honors a partner the way the Three within the One give honor to each other. As you step into familial relationships, these become writ large on a family unit, you may lose the marital intimacy between a man and wife, but these actions are still there in a God honoring family situation.

As you move to the church setting you continue to stress the honor of others, less intimate perhaps, but with a continued mutuality. In providing glory to God and a witness to a Christian walk, these continue into societal relationships in general.

In all of these you look to avoid headship abuse, a leader must have a servant's heart, an attitude to servitude in order to effectively model biblical leadership. There should be willing submission to leadership not hostility in having to submit. If the honor and trust inherent in the Trinity are showing forth in human relationships, that should not be a burdensome ask. There should be an honoring of biblically based law and orderliness. Anarchy is not God glorifying.

As you look at your relationships, are you modelling these behaviors. Are you willing to take the first step towards a trinitarian view of how you can be a part of a bigger whole in joy and peace with God?

A Trinitarian Worldview - Part V: Being Relational

Our personaity, who we are, is grounded in who God is. We are persons, we are relational because God is a personal, relational God. You have heard it said that you are what you eat. It is more appropriate to say we are who He is:

²⁶Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

²⁷God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

²⁸God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Genesis 1:26-28 (NASB)

What does that mean for us? We hold certain characteristics as a result of being mad ein His image to rule over the creation He made. As a result of this we are:

• Creative: we enjoy the visual and performing arts, we enjoy making things
  
• Communication: we dialogue in community, speaking and listening to each other
  
• Objective: we engage in the study of science and history
• Emotive: expressing joy, sadness and anger
• Mortal: Unlike an eternal God, we live through cycles of birth and death. But I feel we must in order to look up to the divine form our positions as fragile and mortal and in need of His protection
  
• Friendly: we seek out and engage in community
• Intimate: we look for and cherish romantic and sexual relationships. However, they can only reach the full potential designed by God if fulfilled in the man and woman marraige bond. This comes closer to the intimacy felt within the Trinity than any other human relationship can.
  
• Just: we seek to exercise justice, but hopefully tempered with mercy
• Discerning: we can distinguish between fantasy and reality (well, most of us can most of the time)

As we engage in these characteristics we are more or less like God in how we carry them out, depending on our individual characters and the circumstances we find ourselves in. But it is clear that we are wired to be relational, both with God and with each other. God is self-sufficient, we are not. But then, God is three persons in one essence and we are not.

Are there one or more of these that really click with you as bringing closer in relationship with God because you feel you model them more as He would have you rather than less?

A Trinitarian Worldview - Part IV: As Long As You End Up at God

One of the things I have been thinking about a bit is the differences in trinitarian views looking at it from the western church or the eastern church perspective:

• The western perspective is to view the Trinity with emphasis on the Oneness of God. Essentially looking at the Godhead from the unified essence that is God, looking out from the One into the Three.
• The eastern perspective is to view the Trinity with emphasis on the three Persons of the Godhead and their relatedness to each other. Essentially looking at the Godhead more from the roles each of the three persons of the trinity take on in constituting the One, looking in from the Three into the One.

That has ramifications on what might get stressed in a worldview one would take. A western perspective would focus more on God's sovereignty and the predestination that is inherent in His sovereignty. An eastern perspective would focus more on human freewill and how it relates to God.

I have to admit there are parts of each view that I like. I like having a totally sovereign God that predetermines the course of events. it allows me to place the utmost value that affords me: my fate and future in the hands of a sovereign God who is merciful, wise, just and gracious. But I also like the focus to be on how I relate to God because it puts some burden on me to explore my feelings to and my obedience with the will of God.

However you approach it, you should wind up in the center with a Triune God, the God of the Bible, our God in all His divine glory. if you do not, I feel you are doing something off kilter.

As you view how you approach your view of God, do you feel more the western or eastern influences of the picture of the Trinity?

A Trinitarian Worldview - Part III: God Before Us or Without Us

One concept I have been pondering is the fact that God as a divine, eternal being, existed before Creation. Even before He created everything ex nihilo, out of nothing, He was.

Tertullian: “…before all things God was alone, being his own universe,
location, everything. He was alone, however, in the sense that there was
nothing external to himself.” Adversus Praxeas 5

Tied into the fact of God's self existence is His self-sufficiency. He did not need us, yet He created us. I think it is testament to His love and grace that He would choose to share Himself with us. I wonder if given the chance to create out of nothing, we would do the same? I hardly think so.

It occurred to me that in His eternal existence prior to creation, the proper view would have been one of pantheism. God is everything and everything is God; because God is the only thing. Maybe unitheism? But I digress.

The point I wanted to make was that thinking about the fact that accepting that God always was, and was before creation, is a call to faith in the divine:

• We really do not know how much we do not know about God
• We must believe that, as a gracious and loving God, He has revealed all we need to know of Him as we live our lives on this earth
• Whatever our conceptions about God, we probably color them with our human conceptions, and the divinely infinite can never be totally understood nor explained by the finite.

God was giving when He did not need to, a clear indication to me that we are to be giving of ourselves as well.

If you were to describe the reason(s) God created us, what would you say they are?

A Trinitarian Worldview - Part II: Some Groundrules

I'd like to lay out some of the basics of what it means to hold to a trinitarian worldview. At least, what it means to me. Here are a few of my thoughts:

• You have to hold to the Triune God of the Bible. You need to believe in the Imago Dei (see yesterday's post) and that our basic personalities and the dignity of the individual are grounded upon the bedrock of the fact that we are made in the image of God. You have to approach the world believing in Christian monotheism.
  
• You have to hold that God is the center of everything. I am not talking pantheism where God is everything and everything is God. But you have to believe in His sovereignty, His total control of Creation. If He is not your reason for living, you are missing something.
• You have to hold that God is bigger than everything. He is outside of creation in His transcendence, He is within creation in His immanence, but He is not everything and everything is not Him.
• You can never completely emulate Him, but you must not stop trying. We are to run the good race, we are to finish strong. God knows we cannot get there without Him, but He wants us to try anyway.
• While God is the center of it all, our focus is on His Son. He saved us, we are to be like Him to the extent we can.

I'd like to hear what you have for some groundrules to a Trinitarian worldview which I beleive is the appropriate Christian worldview that one should hold to.

A Trinitarian Worldview - Part I: Imago Dei

I would like to begin what I believe will be a series of posts on a trinitarian worldview with the concept of the Imago Dei, the Image of God. Simply put, Imago Dei asserts than we are made in the image of God.

²⁶Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." ²⁷God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Genesis 1:26-27 (NASB)

I believe it is important to start with this fact because if we are created in His image, we should share some of His attributes, even if we are imperfect in our sinful nature. Our worldview should be shaped by who we are in relationship to God.

Who are we? In the broadest of senses we are:

• Capable of thought, reasoning, voluntary activity. We are emotional, we can love, hate, grow angry, happy or sad. We are relational, we seek out others in community, we seek out our Creator in praise and worship.
• Capable of creative activity. We look to learn, to build, to make new things out of old things. We fall short of being able to create out of nothing, but we are driven to create nonetheless.
• Capable of dominion. We seek to control our environment, others and often at our peril, our God.
• Capable of thought beyond this life, Unlike animals who are in the moment at all times, we can look beyond today and even tomorrow. We can plan and anticipate, and even ponder eternity.

These are attributes that mirror, although dimly, our divine Creator. In them we can have an anchor, a bedrock to which to build our faith and trust in the face of a very uncertain and ever changing world of shifting values and priorities. In the face of all that we have an immutable standard to which to candle our thoughts and actions.

But it is the very things He bestowed on us to make up be in His image that can be the root of our destruction. In our sin, we often think and act against God, taking the gifts He has given us and try to come out from under His sovereign will. So what should we be looking to model in our behavior?

• Life living. Do not look to become dead to your humanity but embrace it. Life is meant to have joy, it just isn't meant to have sinful joy. Look for the pleasures of creation in the way the Creator intended.
• Self giving. Give of yourself to others: through the church, through the community, through mission. Too many times we take the opportunity to take. Give and be refilled by the Spirit, blessed by the Lord.
• Communal. Seek out community, do not be a loner. Sure your time alone with God, your table for two. Jesus prayed alone often, but then he returned to people refreshed.
• Equality. As we are all created in His image, none are better than another.
  
• In depth. Look for lasting and deep friendship and fellowship. Sink in to peoples lives, sink into prayer with God. Do not skim along the surface.
  

Are there other aspects/characteristics/attributes you see in us under the Imago Dei?

Praying to the Trinity

I have to thank Dr. Wayne Grudem and his Systematic Theology for being the inspiration behind this post, I always enjoy dipping in to the wisdom contained between the covers of that scholarly work.

I start off with the statement that we pray to God not that He know what our needs are (He knows them better than we do, both our real needs and our desires which we often pray up to Him as our needs). We pray to Him to express our trust, to increase our trust, to have love for Him and fellowship with Him, to be part of the eternally important work of His kingdom.

I will not get into the effectiveness of prayer other than to say I am convinced of it. We pray, the Spirit often intercedes, God certainly hears and responds to our prayers. Often not as we had hoped, but He responds. Another topic for another day.

I wanted to focus on the following. Who are we to pray to? Obviously God. But to God as one essence or to the persons of the Trinity?

We are often taught to pray in the name of Jesus. Does this mean we are to pray only to Jesus. I do not believe so, but we are to pray under His authority. As our Mediator, our prayers can come before the Father and be heard with the authority of His Son. Makes for pretty powerful praying.

So then are we to pray only to the Father?

I do not believe so. Jesus in Hebrews 2:17 is a "merciful and faithful high priest" and as He is God it would seem appropriate to pray to Him. The Holy Spirit is clearly involved in our praying as noted in Romans 8:26-27, praying as we often do not know to pray as we should. As sin can grieve the Spirit as noted in Ephesians 4:30 it would seem that prayer would bring glory and joy to the Spirit.

You can take an approach of praying to the Father in the name of the Son with the intercession of the Spirit. But I believe you can search your heart and pray at times to Jesus or the Spirit for They are God as is the Father.

How do you approach the Trinity in prayer?

Harmony of the Trinity

I want to spend some more time looking, in a different translation, at the passage I put up last week:

⁵But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' ⁶But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. ⁷Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:⁹concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; ¹⁰ concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; ¹¹ concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

¹²"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. ¹⁴He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵ All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

John 16:5-15 (ESV)

There is such harmony in the work of the Trinity. The Son walked the earth in ministry. When He returned to the Father (see John 14 for a discussion of His father's house and His return to it), the Spirit will come to be a comfort and a guide, an advocate and a counselor. One became the incarnate God to reveal the Father to us; one came to draw us to the Father through the Son.

More than just refuting the modalistic view of God, this passage shows His perfection through the harmonious relationship amongst the economic trinity. An incredibly rich relationship; never to be fully understood nor replicated by humanity, but always to be strived for.

The Oneness of God comes through ("All that the Father has is mine..."), the threeness of God comes through (Father, Son and Spirit). Distinct persons working in an inseparable essence. Harmony of purpose, economy of function. I see it all in these 11 verses.

Are there other passages of Scripture that you look at to give you the comfort of who gGod is and how He works within the Godhead?

The Two Natures Of Jesus

In my book, to believe in the Trinity is also to believe in the two natures of Christ in one person. A hypostatic union, a presence of both the divine and human natures of Jesus in one person is a difficult concept to understand as once again the divine nature comes up against human thoughts and words. To go further, you can explore enhypostasis in which the human nature of Jesus is sustained by His divine nature; or anhypostasis in which the human nature of Jesus would not exist without His divine nature.

Even in the Old Testament, Jesus is clearly seen:

⁶For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.
Isaiah 9:6-7 (NASB)

To put it another way, there is no Jesus the man without God in the person of Jesus. Another mystery along the lines of one God, three Persons, distinct yet inseparable. It gets even more difficult to grasp:

⁵Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,

⁶who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,

⁷but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

Philippians 2:5-7 (NASB)

This passage describes what is referred to as kenosis, the voluntary, self-emptying act by Jesus in assuming human nature. Yet He is still God. For even in His human form, Jesus in His public ministry did not always suppress His deity. He raised the dead, healed the blind, the deaf, the sick. He did things that clearly proclaim Him as God.

There has never been anyone as incredibly complex as Jesus, because God has never walked the earth as man other than through Jesus.

I often wonder if it is the teachings of Jesus that so offend so many; or is it many cannot countenance the fact that a man lived who was so much better than they could ever be because He was God.

I would love to hear what you think.

Jesus Affirms the Trinity

⁵"But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?'

⁶"But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.

⁷"But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.

⁸"And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;

⁹concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;

¹⁰and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me;

¹¹and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

¹²"I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

¹³"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.

¹⁴"He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.

¹⁵"All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.

John 16:5-15 (NASB)

In this short passage of Scripture, Jesus makes it clear that God is three persons. I do not believe you can read this and accept a modalistic view that God is one God in three manifestations, appearing as circumstances warrant. God in three persons are existing at the same point of time. I think this passage also helps support a view of an economic Trinity (a view that explains how the three persons in the Godhead relate to each other and the world, each having a different role). I cannot hold to the belief that God manifests Himself as Father in creation, Son in redemption and Spirit in regeneration; a modalistic approach adopted within Oneness Pentecostal belief.

Yet there are many who hold to such belief. Is it clear in your mind that God is three persons in one essence or do you follow the line of reasoning that there is a Oneness to God that allows multiple manifestations in dealing within creation?

Silence Is Not Necessarily Golden

Their silence upon a point deemed important, undeniably demonstrates that the Apostles
never entertained any such notion [of the deity of Christ or a Trinity]; neither did
they require any such belief of the first Christians; and it lies upon you, as a sincere
Christian, to show what right Christians had, who lived several hundred years after
their days, to make that necessary to salvation, which Christ and his Apostles never
made so.

Joseph Priestly, in Tracts, 1:182 (London: Unitarian Society, 1790) cited in Leonard Hodgson, The
Doctrine of the Trinity (London: Nisbet and Co., 1943) 221.

This is why you need to proclaim your belief in the Trinity. A mistaken belief that silence is assent to a position. In this case that the Apostles did not think Jesus was God. I do not necessarily agree that there was silence:

¹³Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"

¹⁴And they said, "Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets."

¹⁵He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"

¹⁶Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Matthew 16:13-16 (NASB)

This is a clear declaration of the deity of Christ by Peter.

²⁷Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing."

²⁸Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"

²⁹Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."

John 20:27-29 (NASB)

I think this a clear declaration of the deity of Christ after the resurrection by Thomas.

My point is that you can never state this concept too boldly nor too frequently. There is clear declaration within passages of Scripture, but some will maintain that silence on the part of the Apostles was uncertainty or disbelief.

The question is, how do you do it effectively? Any ideas?

God of the Omnis

There are many attributes you can use to describe God. I want to focus on a few of them to help us focus on the Trinity:

Omnipotent - God is all powerful, sovereign.

Omniscience - God is all knowing all the time.

Omnipresent - God is everywhere at once.

God of the Omnis. He covers everything, everywhere, always.

These attributes in themselves can be looked at as a trio of sorts. As you study these more, deeply reflect on them, you find it harder and harder to separate them from each other. They are distinct attributes that can be discussed individually, but they really begin to make sense when they are looked at together. They sort of become a circle of logic and reasoning: God cannot be all powerful if He is not all knowing; God cannot be everywhere if He is not all powerful; God cannot be all knowing all the time unless he is everywhere at once.

This is not an analogy of the Trinity, but a way to look at God's attributes that mirrors how you can look at the members of the Trinity. Individual persons, but they would not be entirely who they are if not of the one essence. I do not know about you, but it helps me a little better to understand the nature of the intra-Trinitarian relationship to think of it terms like this when think of His attributes.

There is enough evidence in the Bible to support the Trinity, as I discussed yesterday it may just be too much for us to process effectively.

Mystery of the Trinity

Mystery is not absence of meaning, but the presence of more meaning than we can comprehend-Dennis Covington

Do you believe that statement?

As I ponder the difficulties people may have with accepting the Trinity as the bedrock of your understanding of God, it occurs to me that this statement speaks volumes about us as individuals.

We would prefer to think that a mystery represented something that not enough information and meaning was not available to solve the enigma, as opposed to having too much information to be able to comprehend. I do not think we can easily admit to something being above our pay grade so to speak.

Our problem with our perception of God is a problem of pride of self - Andy Coticchio

Forget about all the theology for a minute or two and think about yourself. Think about times that you faced an issue, a problem, a concept that the information available was voluminous, seemingly overwhelming to you. Wasn't there that brief moment when you said to yourself, I do not have what I need to grasp this, to solve this, to understand this?

Now multiply that many fold and take on the meaning of the divine. Don' t you want to state that you lack all the necessary information to process to an understandable conclusion?

You can probably admit that the Trinity is not entirely understandable. But can you admit that it is entirely you fault?

Or are you going to blame God?

Our problem with our perception of God is a problem of pride of self.

God on Good Friday

As I reflect on the meaning of today in the context of my faith, what happened about 2000 years ago as God incarnate walked the earth and suffered for humanity in a way humanity could not suffer for itself. two thoughts cross my mind that I will reflect on throughout the day as I go about my business:

Jesus could not have suffered so much for us without the support of the other members of the Trinity.

Jesus would not have suffered so much if He were not separated on the Cross from the other members of the Trinity.

Without the full love and support within the Triune Godhead, I do not see an incarnate Jesus coming down and dying on the Cross.

Without the full love and support within the Triune Godhead, I do not see the suffering and sacrifice sufficent to atone for our sins that the separation of the Cross caused for Jesus. The sacrifice would not have had the meaning it did, if not for the loss He suffered in making it.

This great suffering was the doorway into His greatest triumph, He travelled through it alone to reunite within the lov eof the Trinity.

More Thoughts on How Do We Approach the Throne

A couple of quotes from my readings that stimulated some thoughts on my part (That's a good thing, I guess):

"Our faith in Christ and our living fellowship with Him would be the same even if we had no knowledge of any such transcendent fact [as the Trinity] and even if that fact itself were different."
F. D. E. Schleiermacher in The Christian Faith

"The Trinity is a matter of five notions or properties, four relations, three persons, two processions, one substance or nature, and no understanding"
Bernard Lonergan

I find these somewhat witty and sarcastic (two prideful attributes I often seek to emulate usually to my own disaster), but thought provoking in what they say about the average Christian.

Are we coming before the Throne without an accurate picture of who our God is? Is it even possible to have that accurate picture given the complexities of the essence of the divine Triune God?

What is it that resides in our mind's eye as we picture our God, who he is and what we seek form Him?

Goes God listen any less when we really do not understand Him? Or does He just love us all the more for our attempt?

More on The Importance of the Doctrine of the Trinity

One of my readers made a comment previous blog post wanting to explore a little more deeply about why the divinity of Christ was necessary for the atonement to be sufficient.

I wanted to try and address that here a bit more.

The point that Grudem was making is that either Jesus is eternal deity or He is a created being. If He was created, does He become part of the creation marred by the sinful fall of man?

Grudem's point is that it if difficult to see how a created being could offer sacrifice in full propitiation for divine wrath? Could any creature, no matter how great the standing in the order of creation, save us from our sins?

I guess you could argue that there are aspects of creation outside of the heavenly realm that are not marred by a sinful humanity. There is the heavenly realm, populated of angels. But aren't demons no more than fallen angels? Is there an essential, elemental goodness, a perfection within the angelic realm that would allow perfect sacrifice on our behalf.

As I think about it, anything in creation can be subject to pride and arrogance and fall into sin. Satan, the greatest of angels did, and took a third of the angelic host with him.

The point is nothing within creation can stand the rigors of divine wrath and satisfy it fully. It takes a transcendent being, standing outside of creation to do that. And that can only come from the divine Creator. Hence, Jesus must be God to fulfill the requirements of divine wrath.

How Do You Come Before The Throne?

We covered the practice of hesychastic prayer, from hesychasm, an Eastern Orthodox method of contemplation developed by Gregory of Palamas in class recently. The prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” is repeated over and over in a rhythm of breathing and meditation in order to arrive at communion with God.

⁶"But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
Matthew 6:6 (NASB)

This is the basis for the practice, a drawing into self for deep reflective, contemplative prayer. But I must admit, that what confuses is the following:

⁷"And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.
Matthew 6:7 (NASB)

The warning against meaningless repetition makes me wary of the repetitive nature of hesychastic prayer.

Bottom line, I do not know enough about either the practice or the hearts of those who practice it to be in a position opine about whether doing it is being obedient to the commands of our Lord.

But it does raise some questions that I think we can address:

• How do you approach deity in prayer?

• What does prayer mean to you?

• Do you have a formula that you feel works well and is approrpriately respectful of what is transpiring when you pray?

I be interested to hear what you have to say.

Trinity in the Bible - Part III:New Testament Teachings in the Epistles

Quite frankly, teachings in the Gospel accounts should be more than sufficient to state the case for the existence of the Trinity. But I wanted to take one more post to describe what is in some of the New Testament Epistles:

⁴There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;

⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism

⁶one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

Ephesians 4:4-6 (NASB)

¹⁴how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, ⁽cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Hebrews 9:14 (NASB)

²according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.

1 Peter 1:2 (NASB)

<sup>2By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;

1 John 4:2 (NASB)

20But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,</sup>

^{21keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.}

^{Jude 20-21 (NASB)}

^{Four authors of the epistles: Paul,Peter, John, Jude; 5 is you think Hebrews is other than Paul, make clear references to the members of the Trinity.}

^{There is no doubt in my mind, how about you?}

^{Do you find any nuances in the Epistles or in the Gospels that are different from each other?}

^{Are there other passages that you look to to reveal and define the Trinity for you?}

Trinity in the Bible - Part II: New Testament Teaching in the Gospels

Yesterday we discussed some Old Testament references to the Trinity, today we look at the New Testament. You would expect the references to be more obvious and plentiful. I believe you would be right:

¹⁹"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

Matthew 28:19 (NASB)


²¹Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened,

²²and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, "You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased."

Luke 3:21-22 (NASB)

³⁴"For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure.

³⁵"The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.

John 3:34-35 (NASB)

These are three pretty clear indications of the Trinity, in each passage you can see the three distinct persons in the essence of the Holy Trinity.

There are others you may wish to identify (I would love to see what you have come up with). I think it would be hard to deny that the Trinity is laid out clearly in the Gospel. It would also be hard to deny that it is much clearer in the Gospel accounts than Old Testament teachings. There are still the Epistles to look at next time.

What are your thoughts on this? Is the evidence persuasive to you? Can you see any way to deny it?

Trinity in the Bible - Part I: Old Testment Allusions

You might think that since the Trinity fully involves Jesus in it, discussion in the Old Testament would be lacking. I think that perception is quite wrong.

It makes sense if you consider the fact that the Old Testament points to Christ; and as an eternal being, Jesus was present for all the Old Testament events, He was there. So where does one find Him? Here are some allusions to the Trinity:

²⁶Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
Genesis 1:26 (NASB)

²²Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"
Genesis 3:22 (NASB)

⁷"Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another's speech."
Genesis 11:7 (NASB)

These are just three from Genesis, but you can see the concept of the plurality within the essence of God from the very beginning of the Bible. Some might argue that this is the "royal" we; that God is speaking royally, as human kings would do. However, there are no passages of such royal speaking when human kings are depicted in the Bible, so i do not place any stock in that argument.

Can you think of other Old Testament passages that speak to this? Do you agree that these refer to a plurality in God, if not specifically of the Trinity itself?

Please let me know what you think!

The Importance of the Doctrine of the Trinity

My thanks up front to Dr. Wayne Grudem for the excellent exposition of this that you can find in his Systematic Theology or Bible Doctrine. The difference between the two is that Bible Doctrine was more written for the serious lay person as opposed to student or scholar. Both are excellent, either is worth reading and studying.

Grudem makes very impactful points on the importance of the Trinity:

• Essential for the atonement - If Jesus is not fully God, it would be hard to see how His death was sufficient to cover our sins.
• Essential for justification by faith - If Jesus is not fully God, hard to see how one could place total faith in Him.
• Essential for worship - If Jesus is not fully God, hard to see why we would pray to Him and offer Him worship.
• Essential for divine salvation - If Jesus is a created being, salvation would be based on the works of a created being, not God alone.
• Essential for a personal God - With no Trinity, there are no interpersonal relationships within the being of God to model His relationship with us upon.
• Essential for unity - If there is no perfect plurality and unity within the Triune Godhead, hard to accept that there is a perfect unity within a diverse universe.

Grudem caps it with the statement that the doctrine of the Trinity is at the heart of the Christian faith.

Do you disagree with any of the six points above?

Do you feel more strongly about some rather than others?

Why do you think Grudem focuses more on Jesus than the Father or the Holy Spirit in laying out his argument?

Any additional points you would like to add?

I would love to know!

Accepting False Teaching

Yesterday I mentioned some of the heresies the church has experienced during it's existence, some of which fuel what I believe to be false teaching today (I think Jehovah's Witnesses have roots in Arianism).

What is it that drives people to develop or follow a false teaching?

Is it pride and arrogance? Is it ignorance? A desire to be a people pleaser? (That last term comes from the sermon my pastor did yesterday).

What do you think motivates false teaching about the Trinity and what can be done about it?

How do we speak the truth with love (Ephesian 4:15) to win people to Christ without being prideful and arrogant ourseves, without being incompetent about it?

My Favorite Heresy

OK, I do not have a favorite heresy but catchy blog post titles attract readers.

What I want to ask is there a theological position that has been held to be heretical that you struggle with? Ever had doubts about what is called heresy, thinking it made some sense?

As far as the Trinity goes, let me briefly describe a few of them:

• Arianism-the Father created the Son (the only begotten Son), and created all else through Him.
  
• Modalism-God is one Person who appears in three different modes depending on times and circumstances.
  
• Sabellianism-God as Father in Old Testament, Son in the Incarnation, Holy Spirit after Pentecost.
  
• Adoptionism-God adopted a human Jesus, deified Him at some point and made Him Lord over all.
  
• Subordinationism-Jesus is eternal and divine, but not equal to the Father
  

These are the briefest of summaries. We could go on, both on the details of each position and coming up with even more positions. Another topic for another day, maybe.

Does it trouble you that any of these are held to be false?

Do you have a favorite heresy?

Weekends Off

A Trinity of 3 will not post on weekends from here on in. Need time to reflect and recharge. See you all Monday with a new post.

What is the Trinity? (Part II)

Is the Trinity a hierarchy? Is the Trinity co-existent, co-equals?

If one was to make an argument for a primary partner, a first amongst equals, I think one would have to argue for the Father to fill that role. I say was to make or would have to argue because the concept of leadership thought of in human terms cannot be expected to fit into a divine relationship. Yet there are intriguing passages in Scripture that would lead you to believe a hierarchy is there:

saying, "Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done."
Luke 22:42 (NASB)

In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus clearly indicates a desire (and a struggle with complying) to fulfill the Father's divine will over that of His. In this case, I believe it to be His human will that is struggling against the Father's will, Christ in His divinity would in my mind have the same will as the Father. But that may be a point we could debate.

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
John 14:26 (NASB)

In the Upper Room Discourse, Jesus seems to indicate that the Father is directing the activity of both the Son and the Spirit. They may be on equal terms, but the Father appears to have primacy here.

But there are many passages that indicate the equality that exists amongst the Trinity:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
John 1:1-2 (NASB)

Here is one of many indicating the side by side nature of the Trinity in the relationship of Jesus to the creation. '

What are your thoughts about it? Is there a hierarchy? A primacy to the Father? Is there an equality, that doing the will of one member of the Trinity is a free and voluntary action by another member?

The Holy Spirit is Not a Silent Partner

Getting your mind around the concept of the Holy Spirit has got to be even harder than grasping the concept of the Father and the Son.

It sounds a little like the divine example of a double negative:

"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
John 4:24 (NASB)

OK, God is spirit. But here we are talking about God, not just the Holy Spirit. In this passage, it appears that the Trinity, not just the Holy Spirit is being talked about. But wait, there's more:

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
Matthew 28:19 (NASB)

Clearly, the Holy Spirit is a person within the Trinity, God is spirit, but is also the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The use of the term spirit is a way to describe the unity (God is spirit) but also the diversity (the Father, Son and Holy Spirit) within the Godhead.

So, the term spirit refers to God as a divine entity, and the Holy Spirit, as a distinct member within the Trinity. There is no passivity to the Holy Spirit; while there are no words spoken in scripture by the Holy Spirit, there is a clearly active person within the Trinity embodied in the Holy Spirit:

The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and ^C)">the Spirit of God ^D)">was moving over the surface of the waters.
^{Genesis 1:2 (NASB)}

In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;
Romans 8:26 (NASB)

The Spirit was there at the creation, the Spirit was there to aid and comfort, instruct and encourage when Christ returned to the Father. A very active member of the Trinity.

Not speaking, but not silent either.

In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;
Romans 8:26 (NASB)

Not speaking, but not silent either. Some times, the only way with something to be said on our behalf.

How else have you pictured the Holy Spirit in your readings through Scripture?

What do you have to say about this not so silent partner in the Trinity?

One of the Things That Bothers Us About God

Laurie, in a comment yesterday mentioned both John Piper and Jonathan Edwards and a concept of God knowing and having perfect knowledge of His own glory and a desire to share that with us.

As we were made in His own image as noted in Genesis 1:27, it is clear from the beginning of Scripture that we are to share in that relationship, to know that joy, as God in triune form knows it.

My thought for today is going in a different direction: do some of us reject God because we cannot fully experience the knowledge of that love fully as sinful human beings, and in our pride and arrogance we reject what we cannot fully have?

Are we moving away from the bliss of the perfect fellowship of a divine relationship because we cannot experience it fully, in all it's manifold complexity as finite beings?

Are we that impatient that we would walk away from eternal peace because we cannot experience it in the here and now?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

How Close is Close?

As I think about the closeness of the members of the Trinity, I realize I can never have a human relationship that is as close as the Trinity has within itself.

But I wonder how close is close? When I try to think about the closeness, the thought that pops into my mind first is separation:

At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" which is translated, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?"
Mark 15:34 (NASB)

This is a cry of a man who feels the full, complete and total separation from God, that crushing feeling awaiting all who do not turn to Jesus and place their faith and trust in Him alone as Savior. It is a feeling none of us have experienced and by the grace of God never will. But it is a complete separation for Jesus as a man of the unity He feels within the Trinity as God.

William Young, in his book The Shack, has an incident where the main character in a discussion with God the Father notices the scars of crucifixion on His wrists, scars also borne by the Son. This is a picture that does not sit well with me for in my mind for it negates for me that separation from the Father that proved incredibly painful for the Son to bear. It intimates a sharing of the physical pain, a closeness that I believe needed to be broken on the Cross in order for Christ's sacrifice to be completed. This passage in the book, along with the Scripture verse above, paint the picture of defining closeness by the pain separation brings about.

What are your views of the closeness of the Trinity? Are there other Scripture verses called to mind as you think abouyt that closeness? Are there other books you have read that touch upon that topic for you?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Are Your Relationships Divine? (Part II)

I also wanted to explore the relationship between the members of the Trinity and the effect that has on how we approach our own relationships.

After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased."
Matthew 3:16-17 (NASB)

You see the clear love of the Father for the Son, the obedience of the Son to the Father.

For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.
John 3:34-35 (NASB)

You see the clear trust between the Father and the Son.

So Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you." And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit."
John 20:21-22 (NASB)

You see clear reliance between members of the Trinity.

Do you see other qualities in Scripture that defines the relationship between the Trinity?

How does this play out in the forming of human relationships? We cannot completely replicate the behavior engaged in by the divine, but how close can you come, and at what cost?

Are Your Relationships Divine (Part I)?

A couple of the earliest comments on the blog talked about the relationship of the members of the Trinity to each other, as well as the model of relationship that the Trinity is to us.

I'd like to explore that a bit more with you. What exactly does that mean to each of us?

First, some Scripture on the relationship of the members of the Trinity to each other.

A divine relationship means working in harmony:

When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me. John 15:26 (NASB)

I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but
you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. John 14:16-17 (NASB)

The members of the Trinity clearly work towards one purpose.

Have you thought of the Trinity in this fashion before? Are your relationships about this kind of community, about working together to achieve a goal?

Is there other Scripture that you turn to when your thoughts turn to this aspect of the Trinity?

What is the Trinity? (Part I)

The is the first of what I expect to be many posts explaining the Trinity. Please go to the attached site if you want a fairly easy explanation (as if a simple explanation really exists) of the Trinity with some illustrative Scripture.


Come back and let me know your thoughts, and if you know of other sites we should explore, please leave a link!

Hello To All

This is the inaugural post of a new blog, one that will explore people's view of the Trinity, the Triune God of Christianity.

I am interested in your input, whether you believe or not, to this tenet of the faith all Christians hold dear.

So here is the first question I would like to explore:

Lots of people are confused or put off by some of the basic concepts of Christianity. One of these is the Trinity, the doctrine that there is one God, but three persons. Each one individual, wholly distinct, yet unified as one substance.

This is not an easy concept for anyone to grasp, even those who hold entirely to the Christian faith have trouble with it.

So I ask, when you think of the Trinity, what is the first thing that comes to mind?

Please let me know what you think and let's discuss.