Some Deep, Theological Thoughts on the Trinity...
While the rest of the U.S. is asleep, I am thinking about the Holy Trinity. So, I decided to blog about my thoughts.
It is my nature to try to understand things. While I know I will never fully comprehend God, it does not stop me from trying!
So first, I was contemplating the Trinity in this way (keep in mind there are flaws to this thinking, which I will explain afterward):
Because we as Christians claim that our Trinitarian God is One (and we are monotheistic)...we begin all our thoughts on the Godhead with the person of the Father - the God who first revealed Himself to the Jews and their patriarchs. We know that this God revealed Himself more personally to the world through the man, Jesus Christ. In fact, we believe that Jesus was (and is) God, incarnate (in human flesh). Hebrews tells us that He (Jesus), having lived a human life, among humans, within the constraints of human time and the natural laws of physicality, can identify with the human situation in all of its details.
So I was thinking about the Person of Jesus, the Son, as a "measure" of God (that He took from Himself without detracting from Himself, as a representative measure of the whole of Himself), that He made to become human; then, after this measure of the immortal Person who is Life willingly lived a mortal life and then laid it down and experienced human death, (He) returned to the "rest" of God and the experience became incorporated into who the one God (whom we call the Father) is.
I was thinking about the Person of the Holy Spirit as the life-force - the personality, the will, the character, the power - of God. He gives us of this Holy Spirit, so that we then become "infused", if you will, with His character, power, etc. In this way, the Holy Spirit could be imagined as, not a separate "God", but as the substance of the One God.
In this way, the Scripture at Jesus' baptism (where the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus in the form of a dove, and the voice of God is heard to declare, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased") could be understood as God telling us that His human...subidentity?...is our perfect example for living in obedience to Him, the image of a son being what He wants for all His creation - to receive of His Spirit (the Spirit of adoption - Romans 8) and live in familiar relationship with Him.
It could explain other Scripture references to the Three Persons as well, without harming them...but it could NOT explain the Scripture in Genesis where God says, "Let US make man in OUR image."
So then, all my deep theological thoughts were shattered and I was back to square one.
I could have lived with the idea that the contemporary emphasis on divine community was wrong - after all, it could be just a nice, fuzzy-feeling "charismatic" hype.... But alas, it holds its own before my critical scrutiny. The divine Trinity does indeed seem to live in perfect community and actual relationship with each other. And this being so, though there are three Persons to this Godhead worshiped by Christians, these Persons are so united in purpose, in will, in love, in...everything...that They cannot but be described as "One".
And so, the idea is that, in order to reflect the God in whose image we are made, we as humans are to live in such oneness with each other.
But because of sin, this is impossible.
So, what are we left with? Is there no hope for godly community amongst us?
I believe there is hope. But the hope is not in us being "one" with each other. It is in us being "one" with God. When I become one in will, purpose, love, etc., with God...and so do you...then we will live in community with each other that reflects God rightly.
I guess my whole point is, rather than try to right everything that is wrong with everyone else, we as Christians need to focus on our own individual relationships with God. When they are perfect, then our relationships with each other are more likely to veer more near to perfection.
It is my nature to try to understand things. While I know I will never fully comprehend God, it does not stop me from trying!
So first, I was contemplating the Trinity in this way (keep in mind there are flaws to this thinking, which I will explain afterward):
Because we as Christians claim that our Trinitarian God is One (and we are monotheistic)...we begin all our thoughts on the Godhead with the person of the Father - the God who first revealed Himself to the Jews and their patriarchs. We know that this God revealed Himself more personally to the world through the man, Jesus Christ. In fact, we believe that Jesus was (and is) God, incarnate (in human flesh). Hebrews tells us that He (Jesus), having lived a human life, among humans, within the constraints of human time and the natural laws of physicality, can identify with the human situation in all of its details.
So I was thinking about the Person of Jesus, the Son, as a "measure" of God (that He took from Himself without detracting from Himself, as a representative measure of the whole of Himself), that He made to become human; then, after this measure of the immortal Person who is Life willingly lived a mortal life and then laid it down and experienced human death, (He) returned to the "rest" of God and the experience became incorporated into who the one God (whom we call the Father) is.
I was thinking about the Person of the Holy Spirit as the life-force - the personality, the will, the character, the power - of God. He gives us of this Holy Spirit, so that we then become "infused", if you will, with His character, power, etc. In this way, the Holy Spirit could be imagined as, not a separate "God", but as the substance of the One God.
In this way, the Scripture at Jesus' baptism (where the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus in the form of a dove, and the voice of God is heard to declare, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased") could be understood as God telling us that His human...subidentity?...is our perfect example for living in obedience to Him, the image of a son being what He wants for all His creation - to receive of His Spirit (the Spirit of adoption - Romans 8) and live in familiar relationship with Him.
It could explain other Scripture references to the Three Persons as well, without harming them...but it could NOT explain the Scripture in Genesis where God says, "Let US make man in OUR image."
So then, all my deep theological thoughts were shattered and I was back to square one.
I could have lived with the idea that the contemporary emphasis on divine community was wrong - after all, it could be just a nice, fuzzy-feeling "charismatic" hype.... But alas, it holds its own before my critical scrutiny. The divine Trinity does indeed seem to live in perfect community and actual relationship with each other. And this being so, though there are three Persons to this Godhead worshiped by Christians, these Persons are so united in purpose, in will, in love, in...everything...that They cannot but be described as "One".
And so, the idea is that, in order to reflect the God in whose image we are made, we as humans are to live in such oneness with each other.
But because of sin, this is impossible.
So, what are we left with? Is there no hope for godly community amongst us?
I believe there is hope. But the hope is not in us being "one" with each other. It is in us being "one" with God. When I become one in will, purpose, love, etc., with God...and so do you...then we will live in community with each other that reflects God rightly.
I guess my whole point is, rather than try to right everything that is wrong with everyone else, we as Christians need to focus on our own individual relationships with God. When they are perfect, then our relationships with each other are more likely to veer more near to perfection.
My friend Alex commented the following:
ReplyDelete"Just to back up what you said about unity..."And so, the idea is that, in order to reflect the God in whose image we are made, we as humans are to live in such oneness with each other."... that is why Paul said in Hebrews10:25 not to forsake being put together (like a puzzle)... and he talks about unity again when speaking about the gifts in Ephesians chapter 4:11-13
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
unity will cause the Church to become perfect
HOW AWESOME IS THAT!!!...
...it's awesome what you find out when you read the Greek... Cause people always assumed the woes assembling there was eclasiah... Or however the Greek word for church is spelled... But the litteral translation for the word denotes assembly as in 'some assembly required' it's not don't forsake coming together it's don't forsake being put together..."