Love can only be worked out or experienced in the context of a relationship. Love, by definition, requires relationship. If God really is Love through and through, then relationship has to be at the heart of who he is and what he does. Love cannot exist in a vacuum. God exists and has always existed in a wonderful and complete relationship with himself and through himself.
The Bible tells us that God is one. And yet within in One-ness he exists in relationship. He expresses himself through three different persons - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. How God can be one, and yet three is perhaps one of the biggest mysteries there is and I doubt we can ever fully get our heads around that one as humans. I have come across a couple of helpful analogies, though I am sure they don’t completely describe it.
One is of the substance H20. H20 can be water, it can be steam and it can be ice. It is the same substance, yet it finds expression in three different ways. Another one is the make-up of a person. A person is one being, and yet he or she is made up of mind, body and soul. You can talk about a person’s mind, their body and their soul as separate things. And yet you cannot, whilst a person is physically alive, separate a person into those three elements. They are one, even though they are not the same thing.
If God is Love, if his essence is Love, the he has to exist within a relationship. It is precisely because he expresses himself as Father, Son and Spirit, that God is able to be LOVE. The different expressions and facets of his being are totally united, identical in character and in attributes - Love.
God’s character is what describes what he is like, what motivates him, what defines him, what makes him who he is. If God is indeed Love, then his motivation can only ever be Love.
God’s attributes are the things he can do that reflect his power: He can do anything he chooses to do (he is omnipotent), He can know anything he chooses to know that is knowable (he is omniscient), and He can be anywhere he chooses to be (he is omnipresent). If God really is Love, then everything he is able to do and he does do, everything he chooses to know, everywhere he chooses to be, his very power, are also saturated and defined by perfect and complete LOVE. And so he is good.
Fantastic. We can't fathom His love or even begin to understand why He allows some things and performs powerful healing miracles.
ReplyDeleteUlrike, great post, thank you.....I have recently heard that the current teaching about the Trinity is very different to the Hebrew understanding. We think of 'one' being an individual thing/item/person. The Hebrew meaning for 'one' is one people, tribe, nation, family and so they have no problem with the 3 in 1 idea. This very poor illustration I use is 1x1x1=1 and as imperfect as this is, it show the that each component part is the some of the all.....Jesus isn't a man....but man-God.......Spirit isn't a nice tingly feeling down your back (hairdryer) ....but God........The Father isn't remote and unloving....but God.
ReplyDeleteAnyway enough ranting, good post, keep it up....and for a laugh look at my blog....steve
Thanks Steve. I might use that one!
ReplyDelete