Euthyphro's
dilemma goes like this: ""Is the pious loved by the gods because it is
pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?""
This has been a problem for theists in general.
In other words, is God good because he follows a moral system of good higher than himself? Or does he not follow a moral system of good, and is therefore not good?
Euthyphro's dilemma really is a problem if your God is Allah or the Unmoved Mover. But if your God is Yahweh who is Father, Son, and Spirit, then this question reveals an incredible answer.
The Hebrew Bible reveals Yahweh as a Father who loves his children (Gen 5:1-3; Deut 32:6; Mal 2:10; etc.).
Yahweh is a good Father. He is not evil. So the second horn of the dilemma is denied by Scripture; Yahweh is good. He is not capricious. He is consistently good. He is a loving Father.
But does this mean that he submits to a law higher than himself? Are we caught on the second horn of the dilemma? If he is a loving Father, doesn't this mean that he submits to some sort of standard above himself?
The Scriptures are also clear that God is self-sufficient. It was not necessary for him to create heaven and earth or humanity for God to be God. God has been a loving Father for all eternity. God himself is the relationship between the Father and Son.
For God the Father to be God the Father he must have a Son. For a father to be a father there must be another person who qualifies him as a father, namely, his son. So God is a Father and he is a Son. These two persons are one God, yet they are distinct from one another.
But this relationship between Father and Son is a good, loving relationship. It is not an abusive or neglectful relationship. So doesn't this mean that God still appeals to a higher standard, some source outside of himself which qualifies this relationship as a good relationship?
No, because the Holy Spirit is God. The goodness of the relationship between Father and Son - this standard, this thing which qualifies the nature of their relationship - is himself God; it is not something outside of God which must exist with God for God to be God; he is a person distinct from Father and Son, and yet he is God, and God is one.
Theologians have always recognized this.
Jonathan Edwards says, "This [The Spirit] is the eternal and most perfect and essential act of the Divine nature, wherein the Godhead acts to an infinite degree and in the most perfect manner possible. The Deity becomes all act, the Divine essence itself flows out and is as it were breathed forth in love and joy. So that the Godhead therein stands forth in yet another manner of subsistence, and there proceeds the third Person in the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, viz., the Deity in act, for there is no other act but the act of the will."
C.S. Lewis describes the Spirit like this in Mere Christianity: "The union between the Father and the Son is such a live concrete thing that this union itself is also a Person. I know this is almost inconceivable, but look at it thus. You know that among human beings, when they get together in a family, or a club, or a trade union, people talk about the ‘spirit’ of that family, club, or trade union. The talk about its ‘spirit’ because the individual members, when they are together, do really develop particular ways of talking and behaving which they would not have if they were apart (this corporate behavior may, of course, be either better or worse than their private behavior). It is as if a sort of communal personality came into existence. Of course, it is not a real person: it is only rather like a person. But that is just one of the differences between God and us. What grows out of the joint life of the Father and Son is a real Person, this Person is in fact the Third of the three Persons who are God."
Barth says the same thing: "This relationship between Father and Son does not yet exhaust the reality, the nature of God... it is the Father and Son together who clinch the unity of God a third time in the Holy Spirit."
The three persons within the Godhead are distinct from each other and qualify each other so that God is who he is most essentially, namely, a loving Father. If these three were three different gods who just hangout together, none of them would be a self-sufficient god.
But Yahweh is self-sufficient and he is one. The Trinity is really the only possibility here.
This has been a problem for theists in general.
In other words, is God good because he follows a moral system of good higher than himself? Or does he not follow a moral system of good, and is therefore not good?
Euthyphro's dilemma really is a problem if your God is Allah or the Unmoved Mover. But if your God is Yahweh who is Father, Son, and Spirit, then this question reveals an incredible answer.
The Hebrew Bible reveals Yahweh as a Father who loves his children (Gen 5:1-3; Deut 32:6; Mal 2:10; etc.).
Yahweh is a good Father. He is not evil. So the second horn of the dilemma is denied by Scripture; Yahweh is good. He is not capricious. He is consistently good. He is a loving Father.
But does this mean that he submits to a law higher than himself? Are we caught on the second horn of the dilemma? If he is a loving Father, doesn't this mean that he submits to some sort of standard above himself?
The Scriptures are also clear that God is self-sufficient. It was not necessary for him to create heaven and earth or humanity for God to be God. God has been a loving Father for all eternity. God himself is the relationship between the Father and Son.
For God the Father to be God the Father he must have a Son. For a father to be a father there must be another person who qualifies him as a father, namely, his son. So God is a Father and he is a Son. These two persons are one God, yet they are distinct from one another.
But this relationship between Father and Son is a good, loving relationship. It is not an abusive or neglectful relationship. So doesn't this mean that God still appeals to a higher standard, some source outside of himself which qualifies this relationship as a good relationship?
No, because the Holy Spirit is God. The goodness of the relationship between Father and Son - this standard, this thing which qualifies the nature of their relationship - is himself God; it is not something outside of God which must exist with God for God to be God; he is a person distinct from Father and Son, and yet he is God, and God is one.
Theologians have always recognized this.
Jonathan Edwards says, "This [The Spirit] is the eternal and most perfect and essential act of the Divine nature, wherein the Godhead acts to an infinite degree and in the most perfect manner possible. The Deity becomes all act, the Divine essence itself flows out and is as it were breathed forth in love and joy. So that the Godhead therein stands forth in yet another manner of subsistence, and there proceeds the third Person in the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, viz., the Deity in act, for there is no other act but the act of the will."
C.S. Lewis describes the Spirit like this in Mere Christianity: "The union between the Father and the Son is such a live concrete thing that this union itself is also a Person. I know this is almost inconceivable, but look at it thus. You know that among human beings, when they get together in a family, or a club, or a trade union, people talk about the ‘spirit’ of that family, club, or trade union. The talk about its ‘spirit’ because the individual members, when they are together, do really develop particular ways of talking and behaving which they would not have if they were apart (this corporate behavior may, of course, be either better or worse than their private behavior). It is as if a sort of communal personality came into existence. Of course, it is not a real person: it is only rather like a person. But that is just one of the differences between God and us. What grows out of the joint life of the Father and Son is a real Person, this Person is in fact the Third of the three Persons who are God."
Barth says the same thing: "This relationship between Father and Son does not yet exhaust the reality, the nature of God... it is the Father and Son together who clinch the unity of God a third time in the Holy Spirit."
The three persons within the Godhead are distinct from each other and qualify each other so that God is who he is most essentially, namely, a loving Father. If these three were three different gods who just hangout together, none of them would be a self-sufficient god.
But Yahweh is self-sufficient and he is one. The Trinity is really the only possibility here.
