Who speaks to you all today saying,
The Trinity is a unique being. No other god in the history
of gods lives up to Him nor can compare to Him, not just because they are made
up, either.
You see, if you want to make up a god or a religion, you
simply make one god. That is simplest. If you only have to deal with one god,
then that makes life easy, especially when you have to deal with him, for even
if he is temperamental, at least he is not always changing.
It is in this way that you also consolidate authority. If
there is only one god then he must have a representative and you are it; on top
of the world, giving orders, raking in the cash profits.
If you want to be truthful about the world you live in, you
go in for multiple gods, not just one. Multiple gods may be harder to deal
with, but it explains the world much better than just one. With multi-god
religion, you have a god hiding in just about everything you can imagine. If
you want something you just need to go to that god and deal with it once.
If you need water, you go to the water god. If you need
luck, the luck god. Mercy, the mercy god and so on. The only drawback is, no
god is more true than another. So you may serve the god of the mountains, but
the water god could be angry with you and erode you away. Or fire/water, etc.
If you want the easy life and a short trip to the top of the
religious-leader ladder, the one thing you don’t do is create a god too complex
to understand and/or follow, such as the Trinity. If you want gobs of servants
and boatloads of cash, what you don’t do is say people have to believe in the
Trinity.
Likewise, as said God, if you want followers, you make it
easy. You don’t create humans and then talk to yourself in the third-person
plural saying, “Let US make man in OUR
image” (Gen. 1:26). Then, when things go south, don’t double-down and say, “Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man
has become like one of US in knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:22).
You also do not cause certain things to be written regarding
an incomprehensible plurality saying things like, “The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre…as three men…” (Gen.
18:1-2) and “The Lord rained fire down
from the Lord” (Gen. 19:24) and “My
Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand” (Ps. 110:1).
And we, Christian believers, having had the fullness of God
revealed to us, still think this way. Though we would not admit it, we want God
doing certain things at certain times and not doing things at other times. We
want Him close, but not that close; we want Him far away, but not that far
away.
Repent. You don’t understand God. You can’t make sense of
the depth of His riches, wisdom, or knowledge. You can’t make heads or tails of
His judgments or His ways. What is He thinking? How can I make Him see my
perspective? What sort of offering can I bribe Him with?
Our problem is that God has revealed Himself. Our problem is
that God has answered all these questions for us, in His Son. Our problem is we
do not want to hear what God has to say about it all.
Our problem is our greatest asset.
Let me explain.
God has revealed Himself. We see this as a problem because
it means that our entire view of the world is wrong. It means that God is Who
He says He is and not what we care about or think of. Now, we must see the
universe as ruled by one, true God Who is also three persons and that is
impossible for us.
We think we can be the first to create neat things, but God
did it first. We think we can be the first to create perfect laws to order and
unite, but God did it first. We think we can be the first to make the perfect
deal with local deities and have all the best for ourselves, but God made the
perfect offering first.
Jesus says, “we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.”
“We speak”: Jesus is double-speaking here. He is talking
about us and He is talking about Himself, for when He speaks it is “we”:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. “We speak” and all things are created. “We speak”
and our words come into being and create what they say.
This “we” is a Trinity word, thus when Jesus speaks of what
“we know” and what “we have seen”, He is talking about all things, but most
especially His depths of His riches, wisdom, and knowledge which is Christ
Crucified for the forgiveness of sins.
Our problem is our greatest asset, because our problem is
sin and Christ has come for sinners. Not just to forgive them, but to reveal
all things to them: His plan, His purpose, and His Will. Nothing is hidden from
those who walk by faith.
This means our sins are forgiven His way. This means that
there is a Way, a Truth, and a Life. This means that salvation is not dependent
on me nor is it worked out with my cooperation or completed with my
understanding. I would never die for an enemy.
We do not revel in our problem of sin, neither do we
celebrate it. With the Spirit of the Triune God dwelling in us, we are ashamed
of it and horrified by it. For, even though we still think that there are local
gods/spirits and that one god is easier to understand than a triune one, God
comes to dwell with us.
And He is unique. None other that has ever claimed the title
of “god” has done what this Triune God has done. Thus, it is in specific ways
that He does His work of salvation. He creates, redeems, and sanctifies all in
how He describes and, conveniently enough, has caused it to be written down.
So that, when we open Scripture and wonder Who God is, the
Athanasian Creed comes from that inquiry. When we open Scripture and wonder how
to act, the holy 10 Commands appear. When we open Scripture and wonder how to
contact/please/appease/bribe or any other form of communication with God, the
Church is created before our eyes.
In the Creeds, God gives us lofty ideas and thoughts,
transcending time and space, conquering all evil, and shining as light in the
darkness. In His Church, all those ideas become reality. And just like Her
Lord, the Church doesn’t change.
The same Gospel is preached. The same Sacraments
administered. The same salvation offered. With a Triune God in charge of all
things, you get a specific, narrow way to redemption. He excludes what He has
not done and since Jesus is a part of this Trinity, the Word He says, the Work
He does, and the Person He offers is the one, true way.
What we know, speak of, and bear witness to is only, always our
own sin, failing at each step of the path of righteousness. What Jesus knows,
speaks of, and bears witness to is that in spite of us, while we were yet
sinners, He, the Triune God, making all things and remaking all things,
renewing men in the true image and icon of God, suffered and was crucified.
Before we called, He answered. Before we thought, He
created. Before we acted, He saved. Before we understood, He was Himself and
created all things for our good, even when we don’t understand; ESPECIALLY when
we don’t understand.
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