The "trinity" is one of the most sacred and cornerstone beliefs of the Christian faith...but is it true? If you're not familiar with the term "trinity" I'll try and give a brief run down (though to be honest I still don't understand very well, even after attending a church with "trinity" in the name for several years). As with anything, there are various view points and ways of describing it, but in a nutshell the "trinity" states that God is one deity, composed of three distinct persons...Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is argued however that these are not three separate gods, for each one represents God in totality. One is three, but each of the three is equal to the one all by itself...somehow. So in math it would be something like this I guess,
1=3
3=1
1+1+1=1
and,
1÷3=1
Now I may have only passed Algebra II by the skin of my teeth, but I'm pretty sure none of the above mathematical statements work. In other words, the "trinity" really makes no sense. And oddly those that advocate it usually admit that. The justification? "Well its just how God is, because He's higher than us. You're not supposed to get it". And if there is one thing I've learned about statements like that, is that they are nothing more than giant rainbow-colored tarps draped over the elephants in the room of religion. Nobody really gets it or understands exactly why it is true, so rather than actually test its validity, we just explain it away with theological gibberish. This is probably why every time I've asked someone to explain the "trinity", or read a scholars opinion on it, its always just a confusing garbled mess of words that really don't add up to anything at all(which looking at the math above, seems to show why). I was reading one theologian's definition last night, for example, and I honestly thought he was trying to weave such a confusing web of ideas, as to purposefully make the lay person go "yeah, well, he used a bunch of big words, so I guess he must know what hes talking about!". Please understand, I don't say this to poke fun at people that believe in the "trinity"(after all, I believed it myself), but rather to be honest about how I've come to see the idea.
Anyway, now that I've told you a bit about the "trinity", I want to begin talking about the view that I am coming into by quoting Colossians 1:15(a), which states,
[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God...
Simple enough, right? Yet it sparked a divine revelation in me in regards to what the Father, Son and Holy Spirit actually are. In regards to Jesus, it simply means that His purpose was to be a tangible, visible, and audible representation of God to mankind. In this respect, what Jesus actually was/is goes well beyond the apostle Paul's analogy of an "image", but since no one had any idea what a video or hologram was back then, I think it was the best term he could use (haha). I also have a curious feeling that Paul used that term to allude to the creation of man story in Genesis 1:26, which states,
And God saith, `Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness
I always thought this meant we were made to look like God the Father, but how are you made to look like something that is (according to Col 1:15) invisible? However, if Jesus is the image of God, it seems to make a bit more sense what we have been modeled after; Jesus is the archetype for humanity. And really this goes back to the second part of Colossians 1:15(b) which calls Jesus the "firstborn of all creation". Jesus was, in some sense, in existence before Adam and is what Adam was made "in". This is affirmed in verse 16 which says, "because in [Jesus] were the all things created...all things through him, and for him, have been created". I feel this is key to understanding not only what Jesus is, but also what we are and our relationship to Him.
So I suppose the million dollar question is "Is Jesus God"? To which I answer: in a sense, yes, in another sense, no. If Jesus is the "image" of God, then he can not logically be God simultaneously. If my mother shows a picture of me to someone and says "thats my son, Eric", the person seeing it perfectly understands that I am not literally that thin piece of paper with a colorized image on it. The picture is just a photographic capture of all my features. In a similar way, Jesus the man is not literally God, However, Jesus perfectly represents God(as perfectly as one could represent God in our physical realm, anyways).
This is why Jesus could rightly say "He who has seen me has seen the Father"(John 14:9). But Jesus himself is not God the Father, otherwise how could He say "the Father is greater than I"(John 14:28)? Or how could He say that "concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only"(Mat 24:36)? According to the "trinity", the Son, the Father and the Holy Spirit are "coequals", but to be equals one cannot logically be greater or wiser than another. To be equals one cannot be the "head" of another, as we are told God is the head of Christ in 1 Corinthians 11:3. And to be equals, one cannot be made subject to the other, as we are told Christ is made subject(or literally "put under") to God as we are told in 1 Corinthians 15:28. So while the man Jesus displays God by His words and actions, His unique nature causes Him to be limited in providing an all-encompassing display of God. It's still confusing to me, but I think its fair to say that Jesus is sort of like a divine pair of 3D glasses, if you will. Humanity previously had the words of the prophets and the Jewish religion that provided humanity with an intro to God. But God, being an invisible spirit, was still probably a hard to grasp concept for them(afterall sometimes He was a burning bush, other times a pillar of fire or cloud, it was all rather mysterious) making it hard to really have relationship with God or understand Him truly. So the Son of God comes upon our eyes and upon our hearts, and projects a previously hard-to-look-at, red, and blue reality, into an image we feel is right in front of our faces so that we can begin to grasp who God is and how personal He is. Christ is our way of seeing God in a new way, within our reality.
I've always liked Carl Sagan's simple illustration of the 4th dimension, and have heard it related to Jesus before. I'll post it here if you want to see it,
You could say that human existence is in "flat land" while the apple is God in Christ, displaying His image for us to know and follow. God in totality cannot be fully realized in our world, but Jesus is our glimpse at Him, His characteristics and plan.
This makes Jesus's existence really quite unlike anything else, and while I dont think the "trinity" paints it completely accurate or logical, I don't wish to diminish the complex miracle that He is. Jesus is the logos, or reasoning/expression of God (translated as the "Word" in scripture) combined with a human embryo, which gives the logos of God a physical vessel by which to display Himself to mankind and speak His will for us. Perhaps one could say Jesus's persona is literally the logos of God, which according to John 1:1, was with God in the beginning and yet was God. To be honest, I'm still figuring out what the Hades that even means exactly, but I think the idea of Jesus being a combination of a man and God's logos actually gives some weight to the mainstream idea of Jesus being "fully God, yet fully man". That never made sense to me previously, but now I think it simply means the logos (which is God) embodies Jesus(which is a man).
It is symbolic of the divine union that God has always had in mind for Him and humanity. Jesus was the original design from which Adam was created, but then God allowed sin to temporarily disrupt the union between God and man. God did this in order that man attempt to live a holy life according to God's law; a feat that was also meant to fail and to show us that we can never do enough good things to overcome our fallen condition and separation. So God sends His logos into our physical dimension to teach us, to show us a new and beautiful picture of Himself and to ultimately fulfill the law(because He was perfect), so that our salvation from sin and separation would not be based on our actions but on Christ's sacrifice on the cross. This has paved the way for Gods new covenant of humanity, in which those awakened to the truth become "one, as [the Father] and [Jesus] are one"(John 17:22) and ultimately will come to completion within all of humanity, at the time when God becomes "all in all"(1 Co 15:28)
I enjoyed the read bro! A further study would perhaps go into just exactly what is the Holy Spirit which to Trinitarians is the 3rd part of their Trinity concept. The concept of the Trinity doctrine is complex without a doubt, but properly undering just who God is and who Jesus is and what the Holy Spirit is is a gigantic task, but personally I find the Trinity doctrine to be false scripturally and logically. As expected, such a thought would offend mainstream Christianty, but it is not to the disfavor of God, but just exposing yet another traditional doctrinal error concocted by men. I would go into all of my argument for my position, but this is your blog and don't want to take the focus off the message here. I will say this.. there is 1 God (the Father) and 1 Lord (the Son) see 1 Cor. 8:5-6.
ReplyDeleteTruth and Peace,
Blake.
My thoughts on the Trinity, exactly. Well said!
ReplyDeleteThe trinity does not have to be such a daunting concept. At the basic core it's simply the face of God or the way we see him and relate to him. Just as a woman can be a mother, sister, daughter, wife and friend. God relates to us on different levels for a number of reasons. God the father is just that, the fatherly figure that serves as creator and guider. Jesus, the son, is the physical form of God and the earthly relation. And the Holy Spirit is the form of God that inhabits us and lives through us.
ReplyDeleteI guess for me it's always been pretty cut and dry and as I said above just the different ways that I can experience and relate to God.
Hey Eric, this is a wonderful post! I have spent the last few months getting after this topic and I have come to largely the same conclusions you have! I loved the 4D video clip too--really helpful. The one conviction I have come to is that Jesus is "not God" but as you said in the beginning, the archtype of all mankind. Also, in the Bible when it says He created all "things," things is an add in and so I find more evidenece that through Jesus, the Firstborn, all BEINGS were made, whether in heaven or on earth. In John 1:1 as well as 1:18, if you study the interlinear, I believe you can make an argument that two "gods" are being spoken of. A deeper study of "god" in Hebrew and Greek is not necessarily deity but also ruler or judge. In both passages, there are two "theos" represented, but in both verses, only one has a definite article, representing divinity. As you can tell in 1:18, God cannot be in His own bosom, but in Greek this is "a god" not "the God." Same in 1:1: In the beginning was the word, and the word was toward THE God, and (a) god was the word. In John 10:33 when the Pharisees are accusing Jesus of making Himself out to be "God," there is no article so in eesence, they were saying, "You are making yourself out to be A god." This is why Jesus answered the way He did in vs. 34-36! Thanks for this great post.
ReplyDeleteMary, that is similar to how I used to look at it and while I agree its not as confusing, the problem comes in when you talk about one "role" of God dying, while the other is still alive, or like I said one submitting to the other or not knowing things that the other "role" or "ego" knows. If a wife literally dies, she doesnt have another form of herself off somewhere being a friend simultaneously or something. So I mean biblically you run into all this stuff that simple analogies dont really work with
ReplyDeleteWorkable solutions found in analogies can arguably be made from those who believe there is one God and from those of the Trinitarian persuasion that believe God is three and yet one, but it really boils down to being true to the Scriptures and logic. The Scriptures say that Christ is out of God, but this is not so with God.. although the Christ has clearly been chosen to re-present the one and only invisible God which is Spirit (Holy and Spirit). Logically, God could not be invisible and yet visible at the same time as the Christ and yet all the while the Christ is in communication with the invisible God which He (Christ) Himself calls not only superior to Himself but also calls God His God! As far as the Holy Spirit (or Spirit of God or rather God the invisible spirit) would also be the Christ which would have to mean that Jesus Christ (if only in a sense) would have impregnated His own mother, preposterous! There is one God (which is a Holy Spirit) and one Lord (Jesus Christ). The Jewish people from whom Christianity owes it's roots worshipped and continue to worship one God, this is not a coincidence. Blessings
ReplyDeleteYour Friend.
Jesus was created. He was born just like you and I were. The Word impregnated Mary, and the Word became flesh. He didn't create all, God did, with Jesus as the cornerstone. That's the only way John 1:3 makes sense, any other way and you're reading your theology into it. The Jews didn't consider the name the Son of God equal with God. They understood it to mean someone specially chosen by God.
ReplyDelete"When he has done this, then the son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all." 1 Cor 15:28
First, all things being made through Jesus doesn't mean made by Jesus. Jesus was the centerpiece of the whole creation, everything had to do with him. To read that things were made through him, and about him, and to interpret that as BY him, is to misunderstand what is being said.
In the beginning was The Word. God spoke the Word. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth.
He spoke and it was done. Over time in our concept. There is no time in His concept. Man, was created as a being to be in Christ from the very beginning. Christ was the centerpiece of it all. He came from God's seed. But God is one.
I think I'll have to subscribe to you blog now.