This lecture emphasized the eternal relationship between the Persons of the Godhead as a model for the Christian life. How does this understanding of the trinitarian relationship affect your role as a believer within the body?
In Genesis 1:24, God says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...” This is an incredibly profound statement! For placed within the very substance of man, God has imprinted something of his divine nature. Something of his character. Something of his essential essence. Although there are some infinite attributes, such as His omnipotence and omniscience, that God has not imparted on us, we are, nevertheless, “begotten” of God and have received somethings beautiful, glorious, and astounding from His core nature. But what has He given? In what way are we His children? The answer, obviously lies within God Himself—within his very Being. For God cannot pass on to us that which he did not originally possess. Therefore, all those attributes that we have inherited from God find their abundant origin within the Godhead—within the Trinity.
Consider love for instance. It is an attribute that cannot be expressed in isolation. A man living alone on a dessert island cannot express or receive love anymore than he can play a solitary game of tennis. Both require another person to find their fulfillment. Therefore, if God was not trinitarian in nature, as some have claimed, where would love originate? Where would love be before the creation of the Universe? How could God impart on us this most beautiful and wonderful attribute if love was not originally part of his divine nature? But, thankfully, the most glorious and striking news for all humanity is this: God loves Himself!—deeply and passionately. Not as modern popular psychology defines “self love” as merely “self-affirmation” or “self-esteem.” But God’s intra-Trinitarian love is an inexpressible joy, humble submission, glorious communion, and inexpressible satisfaction between the Persons of the Trinity. How is God’s self-love gloriously good new for us? Simply because of this: a fallen and hurting world can know that love is not a “tacked on” attribute or a “side benefit” of God. Love is, in fact, at the very center of God’s character. The apostle writes in 1 John 4:8, “God is love.” And in Romans 5:8 Paul writes, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The love and sacrifice that the Son displayed on the cross was no “coerced”, “tacked on,” or “side benefit” of God’s character. The cross was a natural expression of God’s innate self-love massively overflowing onto his creation.
Now let us consider humility. Although the Son was equal to the Father in power (“All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made”—John 1:3), glory (“He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature”—Hebrews 1:3), and essence (“ He is the image of the invisible God”—Colossians 1:15), Jesus showed divine humility by fully yielding to the Father’s will (“not my will but your be done”). This humility was demonstrated throughout his life by His incarnation, facing the scorn and mockery of his own creation, and even dying on the cross like a criminal. And when Christ washed his disciple’s feet, he gave us a vivid demonstration of how we are to show deference and service to each other out of love; and thereby demonstrating this core aspect of the Trinity. In Philippians 2:3-11, Paul writes:
“Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.Just like love, humility finds its root within the Trinity. Therefore, our calling to be humble is not an “external” calling that exists simply because of God’s “external” verbal command. It is a calling that comes from the central and intrinsic nature of God.
Posts
