Trinity

I thought I would write out and share some of the info from my forum on the Trinity at ETV. His Truth is precious, especially in the midst of tragedy, confusion, and trial. Cling to Jesus. He is our joy. 

Love you all.

- Jesse.

"I wanna live, I wanna breathe, to search out your heart and all of your mysteries" - Phil Wickham

God the Father and Humanity

The God revealed in Scriptures is a Father who loves humanity, his sons and daughters (Gen 5:1-3; 6:1-6; Deut 32:6; Is 1:2; Mal 2:10, etc.).

The signicance and purpose of human beings is relationship to this Father. Humanity was created to enjoy the Father through receiving the creation in thanksgiving and joy.

This relationship between God and human beings was meant to glorify God by proclaiming his Truth. When the sons and daughters of God flourish in their relationship with their Father we are living proclamations that he is a good Father of love and holiness. That is part of what it means that we are created in his image. It means that we are testimonies, witnesses, words, messages; our lives are designed to be living sermons with one message, "God is our Father and he loves us, satisfies us, gives us joy, etc." And this is the Truth.

But humanity has indulged in pride. We have believed the lie that we could in ourselves achieve some sort of happiness outside of relationship to the Father who gives and loves. We believed that we could build a tower to heaven in our own strength rather than in the infinite strength of God the Father, the Creator of heaven and earth.

Instead of receiving creation in thankfulness so that our relationship with the Father might flourish, we have "exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen" (Rom 1:25).

Sin is relational. The significance, meaning, or purpose of rules and law is the opportunity to be in relationship with God. We must not understand sin as merely breaking rules, but as severing relationship with the Father and as finding our joy, satisfaction, or security outside of him and his will and wisdom.

We must understand the weight of our sin. When we backbite, gossip, believe the lies of our insecurity, indulge in dehumanizing activities like pornography or sex-trafficking, lie, deceive, murder, steal, etc., we are declaring "this is what God is like." 

But God is not like that. We have becoming walking lies.

That is why the Scriptures are filled with so much talk about the wrath of God.

"The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the Truth" (Rom 1:18) 

God the Son

But God's Truth still remains. He is still a loving Father.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). 

Even though his identity is wrapped up in the actions and lives of human beings who have rejected him as their Father, he still remains a Father.

In fact, he was a loving Father even before he created human beings.

When Jesus prays in John 17:24, he says, "Father... you loved me before the creation of the world."

Before God created anything, the Father and Son loved each other. The Beloved Son has always existed with the Father as the Proof, the Message, the Truth, the Word; he speaks the message, "God is a loving Father, here is the proof, here is the Beloved Son!"

When only Yahweh existed, he was still love and relationship for all eternity.

If Allah existed apart from creation he would be alone. That is why Yahweh is an entirely different God than Allah.

God the Spirit

And God is not simply a Father and a Son. There are many father-son relationships that are broken and awful.

But God the Father and the Son have eternally existed together in the Spirit of Love. God is love. That is part of his essence.

The Spirit exists as a third person, distinct from the Father and the Son. 

The Father, Son, and Spirit have forever existed in perfect love and union. If any one of these three persons did not exist, God would cease to be who he is most essentially, namely, a loving Father. Each of these three persons finds their identity in the others. If God were not a Son he would not be a Father. If God were not the Spirit of Love he would not be a Beloved Son. If God were not a loving Father he would not be a Beloved Son.

God's holiness, his faithfulness, his glory, his beauty, his compassion, his goodness, and all of his attributes are the fruit of this relationship of Love.

The Cross

Human beings become walking lies. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23). In our sin we trample on the image of God. 

But "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).

The Eternal Truth of God which forever existed in the Beloved Son of God has become a human being. Now there is a human being who does uphold the Truth that God is a loving Father. He trusted in his Father. He submitted to the Father's will in obedience and endured the cross "for the joy set before him" (Heb 12:2). 

Jesus demonstrates the love of God most clearly on the cross.

"In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10).

Jesus' cross was not a business exchange; he did not endure the torcher and pain of the cross because we did something nice for him, or because we loved him so much, or because we offered him something in exchange for what he did; he simply did it because he loved us.

When we do something nice for another person simply because we will get something in return, this is not love. But when we love someone simply because we love them and enjoy seeing their well-being, this is love. That is what the love of God is like. And that is why the cross is the most clear, perfect demonstration of the love of God.

That is why Paul says "far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Gal 6:14). 

The New Testament writers were adament. They are essentially saying, "You want to know what God is like? Look to the cross of Christ, look at his love poured out for sinful human beings who have rejected him. This is the only way to know God."

The cross reveals the Truth of God. And human beings are helplessly seperated from knowledge of the True God without this revelation.

"And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols" (1 John 5:20-21).

Aristotle figured out that there was a God without the Scriptures which pointed to Christ. He figured out that everything has a cause, and every cause has a preceding cause, and since there must be a First Cause, this must be God. He called this the Unmoved Mover.

But how do we know that the Unmoved Mover is a God of Love? 

Reason cannot teach us these things. We must look to the Revelation of God at the cross of Christ to know that God is certainly the infinite God of Love.

Do not be deceived. Reject the idols. Look to Jesus. He is the True, Living God. Cling to the Scriptures because they point to Jesus. Cling to Jesus.