What does it mean to declare Christ King?
Greetings to one and all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the glory of the Holy Spirit in the abding will of the Father Eternal. This is my first post in some time. I got away from blogging for a bit, but now I feel the definite need to return. There is no better occasion than today November 20th, 2011 the Sunday in which the eccumenical (universal) church celebrates Christ the King. I have spent some time in great contemplation of this question the last few months with a great deal of prayer and meditation time and now I feel prepared and inspired to share my personal reflections, in a series of posts, on what it means to declare Christ King in life. Much of what is written may be intensely personal, reflecting my own personal struggles, and may or may not speak to what the reader is experiencing in his or her own journey. Please feel free to disregard that which does not speak to your heart, adopt that which does and ask me questions or provide comment on that which seems confusing or troubling. I will be much more diligent in my updates and responses that I have in the past. If I am in compliance with what i believe the Holy Spirit desires and expects here, this series of writings will be intense, challenging and, in many instances, life-changing.
Only those who are willing to ask serious questions of themselves and their faith and wish to enter into a fully-committed relationship with Jesus Christ are encouraged to enter this journey. No holds will be barred or punches pulled, although, as previously stipulated, many will be self-inflicted. The intent here is to grow spiritually beyond mere admiration of Jesus and an overly-sentimental, romanitcized "love" that accepts a responsibility-free grace into a citizen of the Kingdom; a fully-obedient and responsible servant of the True King who takes the demands the King has made as the absolute "law of the land." Of course, in order to obey the decrees of the King, we have to know what they are and we will, therefore, be engaged in deep study of the biblical mandates of discipleship.
It will be easy to agree with much of what is written and even easier to at least find the biblical teachings admirable if somewhat impractical. What will prove very difficult indeed will be to take the King at his word, determine that the commands of the King were not for another time or another place, decide we belong more to the Kingdom of Eternity than to our political affiliations, and actually, and soberly make every effort to implement the demands of discipleship; the requirements for citizenship in the "Kingdom of God." I warn you now, preconceptions and "pet" philosophies (particularly those related to finance and property) may need to be crucified along this journey. These posts will not be another "Sunday School" affirmation of the "American"ism, consumerism, Capitialism, evangelicalism, or many other "ism"s. Many will find the demands of the Gospel radical, anarchistic, and downright unappetizing. Many always have. What we must absolutely resist, however, is the urge to "spiritualize" that which calls into question our values and practices; rendering the Gospel of Jesus Christ a book of pretty platitudes and impossible ideals. I invite my reader to dare to take the demands of Scripture seriously especially where we are outside the boundaries of Kingdom ethic. These writings will not be an evangelical treatise telling unbelievers how to be saved, they will be a heart-felt plea from one disciple to another, telling those who think they are "good enough," who depend upon a grace unrealized in personal experience, sitting quite unwrapped and unused on a forgotten shelf in the heart, how to be saved.
So, if you dare to delve deeper into the demands of the King Jesus Christ than you ever have, if the prospect a realized righteousness and a zero-tolerance sin policy does not absolutely terrify you, if deliberately making time to spend in the presence of the King and being faithful to worship through all that you are and all that you have, and all that you will ever be, dying to your own ambitions, schemes, plots and plans in order to live to eternity is not a matter of disgust and unreasonableness, then I invite you to join me on this trek. There will be missteps and false starts I assure you, but taking Jesus at his word and daring to live by those words, emulating and not just admiring his earthly life, will enable each of us to claim tht elusive and coveted title "disciple." The posts will begin within the next few days. Remember always to get a steaming cup of your favorite coffee, get comfortable in your favorite chair, and join me on this potentially life and faith changing road.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
The Truth about Trinity, part 2: Question 2
Greetings to one and all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,the Holy Son, through the power of the Holy Spirit and to the glory of God the Father eternal, amen. Well, friends, this writing is already generating quite a little buzz and I am deeming it necessary to possibly redouble my efforts to get more information out sooner. I maintain my promise to be thorough and to provide answers to seekers and critics alike. This topic may be the single most crucial to adopting appropriate faith and pracrtice because it speak to centrality not periphery. I am presenting what is probably the main instruction of the Bible itself, the personhood and character of Almighty God and His relationship to humanity. I do not entertain for even a moment that anything I write here can create faith or make Trinity reasonable to all persons. What I hope to accomplish is two-fold. First, I would like to prevent the dubious and the recent convert from being convinced by persons and forces, that are either mistaken or outright diabolical, that there is no logical, biblical evdience for the truth of Holy Trinity. Second, I would like to begin a dialogue with persons who are not already steeped in false doctrine as taught by various groups that claim "Christianity" with no historical or theological underpinning to support the claim. The church, from its foundations shortly after the resurrection of Christ, has always held Trinity as essential Christian doctrine as evidenced by the Christian creeds that came out of various eccumenical councils, which were themselves based upon writings of important Christian teachers of the first and second century including the Didache, Polycarp, Irenaeus, Ignatius, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Justin Martyr who had themselves been taught by the Twelve (excluding the deceased Judas iscariot of course)original apostles of Christ, which were themselves based upon the truth revealed in the canon of Holy Scripture.
In that vein, I will soldier on. Today I will answer one of the most serious, and mistaken, challenges used by critics to confuse the minds and hearts of the vulnerable who have not been long or seriously steeped in the study of Holy Scripture with qualified, Spirit-filled teachers. I believe today's writing will be challenging, stimulating and eye-opening. So kick your shoes off, take your place in your favorite chair with a steaming cup of coffee and let's continue our exploration together with God's blessing.
Question 2: If "Trinity" is true and essential doctrine why doesn't it appear in Scripture? Isn't "Trinity" just a made-up human concept promoting polytheism (the belief in many gods) that the Scripture itself condemns?
Answer: Let me take the second question before the first. Christianity does not claim a "separate" existence of the father , the Son and the Holy Spirit, we teach that these are three separate, equal and harmonious Persons within the same God. As I stipulated in the original post, John declares that God IS love and, by definition of love, a solitary person cannot be love. John's teaching in his epistles, if we are to accept the New Testament (Greek canon) as fully authoritative Scripture precludes the understanding of God as a solitary being. The Trinity is somewhat demonstrated in teach human person. every human consists of three primary dimensions that all construct the same person. Each human has a body, a soul (psyche, seat of emotion, existential life, consciousness, describer the soul as you will) and a spirit (the unique eternal portion breathed into man at creation [Genesis 2:7] that determined every human being would exist forever, the greatest passage that refutes the notion of both "soul-sleep" and annihilationism [the belief that the wicked will simply cease to exist and that there is no eternal Hell]). Yet, if we acknowledge this construct of the human teaching to be correct we must also realize that only someone being either genuinely or unitintentionally ignorant would claim that the proponent of the three-form human person is suggesting three different persons. The teacher is obviously discussing the make-up of a single person. Obviously this is an analogy, but I stipulate it as a good one as it describes what makes a complete human. Each part may be described in detail and yet the fullness of the human creature can only be understood as all three parts in unison.
Taking this concept into the eternal realm of God it can quickly be grasped what Chrsitian Orthodoxy means when God is described as simultaneously Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These are not three different beings that are discussed but a relational whole that comprises the complete revelation of the Divine nature. Each person may be discussed in detail but can only be fully understood as three parts or Persons in harmonious unity which make up the whole of the One. each person is relationally integrated and would be the palest shadow of reality understood apart from the whole.
What the Bible condemns as idolatry is the worship of false gods which have no basis in reality and seek to distract people from the work of the One True God. They are as wholly "different" from God as one human is from another. They do not have the same substance, essence, reality or purpose. Therefore, do not entertain any nonsense about Trinitarians being polytheists regardless of how eloquent or well-indoctrinated the accusation appears. it is "smoke and mirrors."
Now as to the first question I will provide both a short and a long answer. The short answer is that Holy Scripture is drenched with Trinity and anyone who claims otherwise is either ignorant of the nature of biblical teaching or less than fully truthful. The short answer, of course, leads to the longer explanation which follows.
What the person who claims that Trinity does not appear in Scripture alludes to is that there is no explicit Trinity. They tell you that you can scour the Scripture and you will never find the word "Trinity" in the Bible and that much is true. "Therefore," they claim, "there is no Trinity, case closed!" However, I will demonstrate that in their eagerness they have slammed the door too quickly!
What these folks have failed to realize is that there are two forms of revealed truth in Scripture explicit and implicit. For instance, if I am writing an article and I state that Mr. James Anybody (made up name) is married to Judy Anybody, on June 23rd, 1976 that would be an explicit teaching. However, if I was to say that Mr. James Anybody's wife gave an important speech on Monday, there is an obvious implication that My Anybody was at some point married even though I have not explicitly stated that a marriage took place. It would be nonsensical to suggest that Mr. Anybody must be single in light of the second statement because I never provided my reader with a wedding anouncement. The teaching of Trinity in Scripture is just such a teaching; it is implicit or implied throughout the biblical record.
Right at creation itself in Genesis 1 we have an implicit teaching of Trinity, particularly when it is taken in conjunction with the creation stories contained in the book of proverbs and in the prologue of John's gospel. In Genesis 1 God speaks all things into being and the Spirit (Ruach in Hebrew) of God sweeps over the waters. In Proverbs we are presented with the Word (Wisdom) that God spoke. In Proverbs 3:19 we are told that Wisdom was the agency of God's creation. That is to say that all things were created by the Word spoken. The fact that God operates through the Word clearly implies that the word is a part of God then same way that if I say that you are reading this writing through your eyes it would be ridiulous for you to assume that your eyes are something other than a part of you.
In Proverbs 8:2-36 Wisdom is presented as a sapient being. She calls to the people and instructs in truth. She gives kings powerand advice. She was the first "created." The Hebrew verb for "created" is heavily nuanced. It is clear from the verb that Wisdom is NOT a part of creation because everything made uses a different verb entirely that means "manufactured." The Hebrew word chosen for wisdom's creation is used amost exclusively for human beings and it has a procreative understanding. Wisdom is "fathered" by God when there is no manufactured thing existing, through His Spirit as His agency, the third part of God.
So, Let's recount where we are now. We have God who has eternally fathered Wisdom, Wisdom the eternally begotten God and the Holy Spirit by whom God the Father sired Wisdom. Okay, but where does Jesus fit in? This is where John fills in. In John 1:1 John stipulates that the Word, Wisdom (Sophia in the the Greek), was in the beginning, that he was with God and that he was God. There is one prominent group that has claimed that the last portion should be translated as "a god" but that is grammatically unsupportable in the Greek. The phrase is something called a predicate nominative clause and the definite article "the," while appearing before "Word" and not "God" nonetheless applies to both. "God" in Greek often appears without a definite article even though it is clear that it is the God of the covenant that is being referenced as I can indicate to any interested persons in Scriptures from the same book translated in this group's Bible where "God," appearing without a definite article, has been translated to be the God of the covenant. The standards of translation for this group are inconsistent at best. Every notable translation has translated that the "Word was God." I promised to stay away from grammar as much as possible but this case had to be made because it is one that this group regularly uses to confuse those unschooled in biblical language.
John then makes it crystal clear in verse 14 that in the course of time the eternal Word became flesh and dwelled among us. In verse 14 he stipulates that he is the only Son who is "full" of grace and truth, sharing God's glory. Jesus, according to John, is not an angel, a prophet or a good man, but the Incarnate Word (Wisdom) of God; eternally Son eternally sired by eternal Father. The implication again is that the agency or means of this procreative act is the Holy Spirit.
At Jesus baptism, see Matthew3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22 and John 1:29-34, There is the voice of the Father from heaven who declares the Son and the Spirit who descends on him like a dove. This is an implicit teaching from all four gospels of the Trinity being present at the event even though the word Trinity is never used.
Note Paul's teaching in Romans 1-7. Particularly, the fomulaic use of God and Jesus in verse 7 as dual bestowers of grace and peace. In verse 8, Paul thanks God through (agency) Jesus Christ. In John 14:8-13 when Philip asks to see the Father, Jesus declares that anyone who has seen him (the Son) has seen the Father. He claims exclusive mutual relationship with the Father, that they dwell in each other, and (verse 13) that the Father receives glory through the Son. In verses 25-31 Jesus declares that God will be sending to believers the Holy Spirit (person, note "he" pronoun) in the name of the Son, to uinstruct concerning the Divine Trinity and remind them of Jesus' teachings. Jesus himself is the agency of this promised deliverance in John 20: 21-22. In an act of divine power, he breathes on the apostles (Holy Spirit, Ruach in Hebrew, is "wind, breath and Spirit" simultaneously) and he told them earlier that the Holy Spirit would derive from God alone.
This smattering of Scripture is by no means exhaustive, but hopefully it shows you how to read Scripture for implicit evidence of Holy Trinity, which is no less truthful or reliable than explicit evidence. Until my next posting, May our Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy eternally-begotten Son of God, fillyou with His peace, through the power of the Holy Spirit and in accordance with the will of the Father Almighty, One God in Three Persons, now and forever, amen.
In that vein, I will soldier on. Today I will answer one of the most serious, and mistaken, challenges used by critics to confuse the minds and hearts of the vulnerable who have not been long or seriously steeped in the study of Holy Scripture with qualified, Spirit-filled teachers. I believe today's writing will be challenging, stimulating and eye-opening. So kick your shoes off, take your place in your favorite chair with a steaming cup of coffee and let's continue our exploration together with God's blessing.
Question 2: If "Trinity" is true and essential doctrine why doesn't it appear in Scripture? Isn't "Trinity" just a made-up human concept promoting polytheism (the belief in many gods) that the Scripture itself condemns?
Answer: Let me take the second question before the first. Christianity does not claim a "separate" existence of the father , the Son and the Holy Spirit, we teach that these are three separate, equal and harmonious Persons within the same God. As I stipulated in the original post, John declares that God IS love and, by definition of love, a solitary person cannot be love. John's teaching in his epistles, if we are to accept the New Testament (Greek canon) as fully authoritative Scripture precludes the understanding of God as a solitary being. The Trinity is somewhat demonstrated in teach human person. every human consists of three primary dimensions that all construct the same person. Each human has a body, a soul (psyche, seat of emotion, existential life, consciousness, describer the soul as you will) and a spirit (the unique eternal portion breathed into man at creation [Genesis 2:7] that determined every human being would exist forever, the greatest passage that refutes the notion of both "soul-sleep" and annihilationism [the belief that the wicked will simply cease to exist and that there is no eternal Hell]). Yet, if we acknowledge this construct of the human teaching to be correct we must also realize that only someone being either genuinely or unitintentionally ignorant would claim that the proponent of the three-form human person is suggesting three different persons. The teacher is obviously discussing the make-up of a single person. Obviously this is an analogy, but I stipulate it as a good one as it describes what makes a complete human. Each part may be described in detail and yet the fullness of the human creature can only be understood as all three parts in unison.
Taking this concept into the eternal realm of God it can quickly be grasped what Chrsitian Orthodoxy means when God is described as simultaneously Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These are not three different beings that are discussed but a relational whole that comprises the complete revelation of the Divine nature. Each person may be discussed in detail but can only be fully understood as three parts or Persons in harmonious unity which make up the whole of the One. each person is relationally integrated and would be the palest shadow of reality understood apart from the whole.
What the Bible condemns as idolatry is the worship of false gods which have no basis in reality and seek to distract people from the work of the One True God. They are as wholly "different" from God as one human is from another. They do not have the same substance, essence, reality or purpose. Therefore, do not entertain any nonsense about Trinitarians being polytheists regardless of how eloquent or well-indoctrinated the accusation appears. it is "smoke and mirrors."
Now as to the first question I will provide both a short and a long answer. The short answer is that Holy Scripture is drenched with Trinity and anyone who claims otherwise is either ignorant of the nature of biblical teaching or less than fully truthful. The short answer, of course, leads to the longer explanation which follows.
What the person who claims that Trinity does not appear in Scripture alludes to is that there is no explicit Trinity. They tell you that you can scour the Scripture and you will never find the word "Trinity" in the Bible and that much is true. "Therefore," they claim, "there is no Trinity, case closed!" However, I will demonstrate that in their eagerness they have slammed the door too quickly!
What these folks have failed to realize is that there are two forms of revealed truth in Scripture explicit and implicit. For instance, if I am writing an article and I state that Mr. James Anybody (made up name) is married to Judy Anybody, on June 23rd, 1976 that would be an explicit teaching. However, if I was to say that Mr. James Anybody's wife gave an important speech on Monday, there is an obvious implication that My Anybody was at some point married even though I have not explicitly stated that a marriage took place. It would be nonsensical to suggest that Mr. Anybody must be single in light of the second statement because I never provided my reader with a wedding anouncement. The teaching of Trinity in Scripture is just such a teaching; it is implicit or implied throughout the biblical record.
Right at creation itself in Genesis 1 we have an implicit teaching of Trinity, particularly when it is taken in conjunction with the creation stories contained in the book of proverbs and in the prologue of John's gospel. In Genesis 1 God speaks all things into being and the Spirit (Ruach in Hebrew) of God sweeps over the waters. In Proverbs we are presented with the Word (Wisdom) that God spoke. In Proverbs 3:19 we are told that Wisdom was the agency of God's creation. That is to say that all things were created by the Word spoken. The fact that God operates through the Word clearly implies that the word is a part of God then same way that if I say that you are reading this writing through your eyes it would be ridiulous for you to assume that your eyes are something other than a part of you.
In Proverbs 8:2-36 Wisdom is presented as a sapient being. She calls to the people and instructs in truth. She gives kings powerand advice. She was the first "created." The Hebrew verb for "created" is heavily nuanced. It is clear from the verb that Wisdom is NOT a part of creation because everything made uses a different verb entirely that means "manufactured." The Hebrew word chosen for wisdom's creation is used amost exclusively for human beings and it has a procreative understanding. Wisdom is "fathered" by God when there is no manufactured thing existing, through His Spirit as His agency, the third part of God.
So, Let's recount where we are now. We have God who has eternally fathered Wisdom, Wisdom the eternally begotten God and the Holy Spirit by whom God the Father sired Wisdom. Okay, but where does Jesus fit in? This is where John fills in. In John 1:1 John stipulates that the Word, Wisdom (Sophia in the the Greek), was in the beginning, that he was with God and that he was God. There is one prominent group that has claimed that the last portion should be translated as "a god" but that is grammatically unsupportable in the Greek. The phrase is something called a predicate nominative clause and the definite article "the," while appearing before "Word" and not "God" nonetheless applies to both. "God" in Greek often appears without a definite article even though it is clear that it is the God of the covenant that is being referenced as I can indicate to any interested persons in Scriptures from the same book translated in this group's Bible where "God," appearing without a definite article, has been translated to be the God of the covenant. The standards of translation for this group are inconsistent at best. Every notable translation has translated that the "Word was God." I promised to stay away from grammar as much as possible but this case had to be made because it is one that this group regularly uses to confuse those unschooled in biblical language.
John then makes it crystal clear in verse 14 that in the course of time the eternal Word became flesh and dwelled among us. In verse 14 he stipulates that he is the only Son who is "full" of grace and truth, sharing God's glory. Jesus, according to John, is not an angel, a prophet or a good man, but the Incarnate Word (Wisdom) of God; eternally Son eternally sired by eternal Father. The implication again is that the agency or means of this procreative act is the Holy Spirit.
At Jesus baptism, see Matthew3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22 and John 1:29-34, There is the voice of the Father from heaven who declares the Son and the Spirit who descends on him like a dove. This is an implicit teaching from all four gospels of the Trinity being present at the event even though the word Trinity is never used.
Note Paul's teaching in Romans 1-7. Particularly, the fomulaic use of God and Jesus in verse 7 as dual bestowers of grace and peace. In verse 8, Paul thanks God through (agency) Jesus Christ. In John 14:8-13 when Philip asks to see the Father, Jesus declares that anyone who has seen him (the Son) has seen the Father. He claims exclusive mutual relationship with the Father, that they dwell in each other, and (verse 13) that the Father receives glory through the Son. In verses 25-31 Jesus declares that God will be sending to believers the Holy Spirit (person, note "he" pronoun) in the name of the Son, to uinstruct concerning the Divine Trinity and remind them of Jesus' teachings. Jesus himself is the agency of this promised deliverance in John 20: 21-22. In an act of divine power, he breathes on the apostles (Holy Spirit, Ruach in Hebrew, is "wind, breath and Spirit" simultaneously) and he told them earlier that the Holy Spirit would derive from God alone.
This smattering of Scripture is by no means exhaustive, but hopefully it shows you how to read Scripture for implicit evidence of Holy Trinity, which is no less truthful or reliable than explicit evidence. Until my next posting, May our Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy eternally-begotten Son of God, fillyou with His peace, through the power of the Holy Spirit and in accordance with the will of the Father Almighty, One God in Three Persons, now and forever, amen.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
The Truth about Trinity, Part 2: Questions and Answers
Greetings to one and all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Son, through the power of the Holy Spirit and to the glory of God the Father eternal, worshipped together As One God in perfect harmony, now and forever, amen. This writing is the second part in the series discussing God as Holy Trinity. In the first section, I provided both a definition of God as Trinity and the reason for accepting Trinity as biblically sound. Now, I want to go one step further and encounter some of the commonly asked questions concerning Trinity and some objections from other groups that may claim to be Christian, yet are in error on essential doctrine that corrupts their understanding of God, their world view, and the plan of salvation. The questions presented here are by no means exhaustive, and if along the way, you have questions I have not addressed, please feel free to send them along. I will be more than happy to answer any serious questions posed from a reasonable approach to scripture. So now, grab a cup of your favorite coffee, kick your shoes off, take yur place in your favorite chair and let's continue, with god's blessing, our exploration into Holy Trinity.
Question 1: Is this really neccesary? I mean all that doctrine stuff is fine for theologians and seminarians but it just creates fights in and out of the church. Don't I just need to just love Jesus and let my pastor worry about the rest?
Answer: On the surface, this question does seem quite reasonable. After all, Christian doctrine does create conflict both within the family of God and, most certainly, with the outside world. It can create tensions with those we are trying to evangelize, particularly if they have had involvement with other groups who do not share Christian understandings.
Yet, there are several reasons I will suggest that right doctrine is essential to right faith. First, let me discuss the issue of conflict. there are several key scriptures that speak to this issue. First, we shall turn to the Old Testament, consider Deuteronomy 6:4 and following. Deuteronomy 6:4 is the base doctrinal statement of the Old Testament and God's people are commanded to keep His teachings in "your heart and in your soul" (verse 6b, NKJV). Verses 7-8 further contend that the truths are to be taught to children and that it is to be spoken of and contemplated at all times. We are warned to observe doctrine because we are to reverence Him, serve Him, and cling to Him; marrying ourselves to His name (verse 13, taking vows or oaths, as described here, are parallel to the "vows" taken at marriage). Further, we are warned against going after "different gods" (verse 14) "because the Lord you God is a jealous God among you (verse 15, NKJV both).
From the beginning, the people of God have existed in a marketplace of competing ideas, competing ideas, and yes, competing deities. The difference is that there is only One True God who has genuine power and He Himself commands in the Holy Scripture against accepting false doctrines. The consequences of embracing false doctrines, or even tolerating them to be taught unopposed with a sort of tacit acceptance are dire. God, in verse 15b, declares that His anger will be aroused and the offenders will be utterly destroyed. Obviously, Scripture makes it clear that right doctrine is the foundation of right relationship and that the latter cannot be obtained without the former.
In the New Testament, we receive even greater warnings concerning the marketplace of ideas. In his enumeration of the spiritual gifts in Ephesians 4, Paul plainly states that the gifts work together for one purpose, correct doctrine. At the least, he declares them a protection against "every wind of doctrine (verse 14, NKJV)" and "the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting (Verse 14b). Paul also warns in I Timothy 4:1-2 that there are those who depart from genuine faith "giving heed to deceiving spirits and the doctrines of demons (NKJV)." He further commands in verse 7 to reject fables through Godly intellectual exercise. In 2 Timothy 2 Paul declares against two false teachers, Hymenaeus and Philetus by name, who have a cancerous message that is spreading like a wildfire and others to depart the faith through their lies. In Titus 2, Paul argues that sound doctrine leads to sound conduct.
The writer of Hebrews also warns in 13:9 to avoid being taken away from the truth by many strange doctrines. Peter is the most condemnatory of false teachers, false doctrines and their consequences in the entire second chapter of his second letter. The bottom line here is that what we believe concerning God and the things of God carries eternal weight. If our doctrine is not correct then our entire lives may be wrongly ordered. In the apostles own day, many falsehoods proclaiming truth had already arisen to attempt to divert the fledgling church from the genuine truth. How much more is this true today? We do not live, as Christians, in a vacuum. Neither do we live in a world of competing or complimentary truths, although this is the prevalent thinking among the most "enlightened." We live in a world controlled by the greatest liar and hater that history has ever known. His ways are so very subtle that humanity, in their own pride and vanity, are convinced that his greatest deceptions are actually the greatest triumphs of their own intellects and "compassion." The greatest lie is a twisted truth and the prince of this world is the father of all lies. Genuine doctrine is absolutely essential to genuine faith and practice. Without it, would-be disciples are vulnerable to every "new and improved" doctrine that will ultimately steal their souls.
Question 1: Is this really neccesary? I mean all that doctrine stuff is fine for theologians and seminarians but it just creates fights in and out of the church. Don't I just need to just love Jesus and let my pastor worry about the rest?
Answer: On the surface, this question does seem quite reasonable. After all, Christian doctrine does create conflict both within the family of God and, most certainly, with the outside world. It can create tensions with those we are trying to evangelize, particularly if they have had involvement with other groups who do not share Christian understandings.
Yet, there are several reasons I will suggest that right doctrine is essential to right faith. First, let me discuss the issue of conflict. there are several key scriptures that speak to this issue. First, we shall turn to the Old Testament, consider Deuteronomy 6:4 and following. Deuteronomy 6:4 is the base doctrinal statement of the Old Testament and God's people are commanded to keep His teachings in "your heart and in your soul" (verse 6b, NKJV). Verses 7-8 further contend that the truths are to be taught to children and that it is to be spoken of and contemplated at all times. We are warned to observe doctrine because we are to reverence Him, serve Him, and cling to Him; marrying ourselves to His name (verse 13, taking vows or oaths, as described here, are parallel to the "vows" taken at marriage). Further, we are warned against going after "different gods" (verse 14) "because the Lord you God is a jealous God among you (verse 15, NKJV both).
From the beginning, the people of God have existed in a marketplace of competing ideas, competing ideas, and yes, competing deities. The difference is that there is only One True God who has genuine power and He Himself commands in the Holy Scripture against accepting false doctrines. The consequences of embracing false doctrines, or even tolerating them to be taught unopposed with a sort of tacit acceptance are dire. God, in verse 15b, declares that His anger will be aroused and the offenders will be utterly destroyed. Obviously, Scripture makes it clear that right doctrine is the foundation of right relationship and that the latter cannot be obtained without the former.
In the New Testament, we receive even greater warnings concerning the marketplace of ideas. In his enumeration of the spiritual gifts in Ephesians 4, Paul plainly states that the gifts work together for one purpose, correct doctrine. At the least, he declares them a protection against "every wind of doctrine (verse 14, NKJV)" and "the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting (Verse 14b). Paul also warns in I Timothy 4:1-2 that there are those who depart from genuine faith "giving heed to deceiving spirits and the doctrines of demons (NKJV)." He further commands in verse 7 to reject fables through Godly intellectual exercise. In 2 Timothy 2 Paul declares against two false teachers, Hymenaeus and Philetus by name, who have a cancerous message that is spreading like a wildfire and others to depart the faith through their lies. In Titus 2, Paul argues that sound doctrine leads to sound conduct.
The writer of Hebrews also warns in 13:9 to avoid being taken away from the truth by many strange doctrines. Peter is the most condemnatory of false teachers, false doctrines and their consequences in the entire second chapter of his second letter. The bottom line here is that what we believe concerning God and the things of God carries eternal weight. If our doctrine is not correct then our entire lives may be wrongly ordered. In the apostles own day, many falsehoods proclaiming truth had already arisen to attempt to divert the fledgling church from the genuine truth. How much more is this true today? We do not live, as Christians, in a vacuum. Neither do we live in a world of competing or complimentary truths, although this is the prevalent thinking among the most "enlightened." We live in a world controlled by the greatest liar and hater that history has ever known. His ways are so very subtle that humanity, in their own pride and vanity, are convinced that his greatest deceptions are actually the greatest triumphs of their own intellects and "compassion." The greatest lie is a twisted truth and the prince of this world is the father of all lies. Genuine doctrine is absolutely essential to genuine faith and practice. Without it, would-be disciples are vulnerable to every "new and improved" doctrine that will ultimately steal their souls.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
The Truth about Trinity
Greeting to one and all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to the glory of the Father Almighty. I have created this blog to discuss various topics in order to introduce many to Orthodox Christian doctrine (that doctrine which has been held to be correct by disciples of Jesus Christ from the beginning of the church), to reinforce that doctrine and make practical suggestions for how to live out discipleship in the contemporary world (particularly how we can experience discipline in the middle of hectic schedules) and enable those already familiar with Orthodox concepts and practices to be able to teach those principles to others as well as to be able to present a logical and cohesive defense to those who challenge our most sacred truths.
As my father always taught me, it is best to begin at the beginning. In that vein, I have decided to make the topic of my first few posts the conception of God Himself from the Orthodox point of view of God's self-revelation within Holy Scripture. Ask a vast majority of people who are members or regular attenders of a mainstream Christian church and they will most likely tell you that Trinity is perhaps the most essential Christian doctrine. Yet, these self-same disciples often cannot, if asked, articulate what it means for God to be in Trinity and still less demonstrate through their worship pracitice any value of the concept they determine to be essential to belief. Not only individual Christians, but often Sunday worship, particularly in low sacramental congregations, is devoid of any real appeal to the God who reveals Himself in Three Persons. This lack of teaching within the church has often led the well-meaning to adopt peculiar notions and erroneous positions about Trinity that have gone unchallenged. Maybe, even as you read this post you may realize that you may not be able to provide an explanation of Trinity if asked or that maybe one person of God, usually the Son, to the exclusion of the complete Personhood of God.
If you do find yourself in either category there is no shame to be had. It is my hope that what is written here will provide you with a useful resource to discuss the truth about Trinity and to incorporate Trinity into your worship practice to access more of God's presence and power. I will begin with a first post of an articulation of Trinity from an Orthodox standpoint as established in the creeds of historic Christianity, in the second I will be answering some common questions posed from those who are disciples of Christ and denials from those who are outside Orthodox belief, and the concluding blog of this series will concern itself with common misunderstandings of the nature and relationship of Trinity. This will be the first of many topics to come and I invite everyone to grab a cup of coffee, relax in your favorite chair and be prepared to grow in faith and practice.
So, to begin, what does Trinity mean from a biblical standpoint as the Orthodox church established? Trinity means that the One God described in the canon of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament; Deuteronomy 6:4) is expressed in Three individual, harmonious Persons that are not separated in job function, authority, power, or substance (actual make-up), but only in relationship. Relationship is the key to understanding Trinity and the primary character and motivation of God.
First John chapter 4 is crucial to understanding Holy Trinity, and this chapter will be explored in some length, along with John's gospel, in subsequent blogs to clarify much of what the early church believed concerning Holy Trinity. But for the purpose of this post and understanding relationship not as divine activity but as core to the divine character we will examine a phrase in verses 8 and 16. Again, you can find these verses at the back of the Bible in the letters or epistles of John, not in the gospel.
The key phrase in both verses is John's strenuous (strenuous, because he repeats it) assertion that God is love. Notice that the author in both verses does not say God is loving or that God has love. He declares that God is,in fact, love. Without engaging in too much language detail, although I will provide the linguistic reason from the Greek gladly for anyone who asks, let me say that it is impossible by the rules of the language to reverse the statement and say that love is God. The apostle John makes it very distinct that God is love. You may be asking why I am making such a big deal out of what appears to be a tiny phrase. Long story short, it is a big deal.
In both Greek and English, love is a relational word. A single person could in no way "be" love. Neither could a non-sapient (unthinking, unfeeling) object be love. This one small phrase has GIANT implications. The use of the word as a divine attribute leaves little option other than to acknowledge that John is stipulating that the One God (John is a Jew and is not departing from the base credal statement of Deuteronomy 6:4) of the Hebrew Bible consists of several persons who are "love." In other words, John is saying that the One God consists of a Godhead of multiple (Three, in fact) persons who are in perfect agreement and relationship with each other. No one personality dominates any other and power is equilaterally shared in triangular form. All persons of the perfect relationship known as God are to be equally adored and worshipped, equally respected and equally obeyed. Each person has a unique relationship with the target of the love relationship, the human creation, but that is a lesson for another time.
Thank you for joining me for this first post. If you found its information helpful and useful, please feel free to recommend it to your family, friends and churches. If you have questions or comments, feel free to leave them and I will respond as soon as possible. Check back every couple of weeks for new installments. May each of you be blessed in the name of the Holy Son, who is together One and worshipped with the Holy Spirit and the Father Almighty, amen.
As my father always taught me, it is best to begin at the beginning. In that vein, I have decided to make the topic of my first few posts the conception of God Himself from the Orthodox point of view of God's self-revelation within Holy Scripture. Ask a vast majority of people who are members or regular attenders of a mainstream Christian church and they will most likely tell you that Trinity is perhaps the most essential Christian doctrine. Yet, these self-same disciples often cannot, if asked, articulate what it means for God to be in Trinity and still less demonstrate through their worship pracitice any value of the concept they determine to be essential to belief. Not only individual Christians, but often Sunday worship, particularly in low sacramental congregations, is devoid of any real appeal to the God who reveals Himself in Three Persons. This lack of teaching within the church has often led the well-meaning to adopt peculiar notions and erroneous positions about Trinity that have gone unchallenged. Maybe, even as you read this post you may realize that you may not be able to provide an explanation of Trinity if asked or that maybe one person of God, usually the Son, to the exclusion of the complete Personhood of God.
If you do find yourself in either category there is no shame to be had. It is my hope that what is written here will provide you with a useful resource to discuss the truth about Trinity and to incorporate Trinity into your worship practice to access more of God's presence and power. I will begin with a first post of an articulation of Trinity from an Orthodox standpoint as established in the creeds of historic Christianity, in the second I will be answering some common questions posed from those who are disciples of Christ and denials from those who are outside Orthodox belief, and the concluding blog of this series will concern itself with common misunderstandings of the nature and relationship of Trinity. This will be the first of many topics to come and I invite everyone to grab a cup of coffee, relax in your favorite chair and be prepared to grow in faith and practice.
So, to begin, what does Trinity mean from a biblical standpoint as the Orthodox church established? Trinity means that the One God described in the canon of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament; Deuteronomy 6:4) is expressed in Three individual, harmonious Persons that are not separated in job function, authority, power, or substance (actual make-up), but only in relationship. Relationship is the key to understanding Trinity and the primary character and motivation of God.
First John chapter 4 is crucial to understanding Holy Trinity, and this chapter will be explored in some length, along with John's gospel, in subsequent blogs to clarify much of what the early church believed concerning Holy Trinity. But for the purpose of this post and understanding relationship not as divine activity but as core to the divine character we will examine a phrase in verses 8 and 16. Again, you can find these verses at the back of the Bible in the letters or epistles of John, not in the gospel.
The key phrase in both verses is John's strenuous (strenuous, because he repeats it) assertion that God is love. Notice that the author in both verses does not say God is loving or that God has love. He declares that God is,in fact, love. Without engaging in too much language detail, although I will provide the linguistic reason from the Greek gladly for anyone who asks, let me say that it is impossible by the rules of the language to reverse the statement and say that love is God. The apostle John makes it very distinct that God is love. You may be asking why I am making such a big deal out of what appears to be a tiny phrase. Long story short, it is a big deal.
In both Greek and English, love is a relational word. A single person could in no way "be" love. Neither could a non-sapient (unthinking, unfeeling) object be love. This one small phrase has GIANT implications. The use of the word as a divine attribute leaves little option other than to acknowledge that John is stipulating that the One God (John is a Jew and is not departing from the base credal statement of Deuteronomy 6:4) of the Hebrew Bible consists of several persons who are "love." In other words, John is saying that the One God consists of a Godhead of multiple (Three, in fact) persons who are in perfect agreement and relationship with each other. No one personality dominates any other and power is equilaterally shared in triangular form. All persons of the perfect relationship known as God are to be equally adored and worshipped, equally respected and equally obeyed. Each person has a unique relationship with the target of the love relationship, the human creation, but that is a lesson for another time.
Thank you for joining me for this first post. If you found its information helpful and useful, please feel free to recommend it to your family, friends and churches. If you have questions or comments, feel free to leave them and I will respond as soon as possible. Check back every couple of weeks for new installments. May each of you be blessed in the name of the Holy Son, who is together One and worshipped with the Holy Spirit and the Father Almighty, amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)