Trinity and Incarnation

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In this lesson we will introduce the two most important doctrines of the Christian faith, Trinity and Incarnation, and we will do so by studying two passages of Scripture, Isaiah 6 and John's gospel. As we study these two passages, we will learn the following:

1. God is personal, and being personal is a reflection of God's triune three-in-one nature, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
2. God the Father is God in his otherness, his hiddenness, his transcendent being prior to his revealing himself by speaking, acting, or appearing. Further, the Father is the origin of all things. He speaks the world into being, creating it out of nothing. Speech, actions, and visible manifestations come forth from him, above all, he sends forth his Son to save us from sin and death.
3. The actions, words, and appearances that come forth from the Father are God the Son. As God speaks, he does so in an incarnational manner by speaking, acting, and appearing at specific times and places. This is expressed in the doctrine of the Incarnation.
3. When God speaks, acts, or appears, we are called to respond by faith and obedience. As we respond, we interact with God and each other. There is a give and take of speech and action with God and among believers. As this happens, God the Holy Spirit is at work, enabling a living interaction with God.
5. All this is the work of one God. God is one.
6. In thinking of God, it is appropriate to associate certain characteristics of God with certain persons of the Trinity, although all three persons of God are involved in each of God's words and deeds. For example, God the Father is the creator of all things since he is the origin of all. Yet, at the same time, the world was created through Jesus Christ (John 1:10), and by the power of the Spirit the world is renewed according to his nature revealed in Jesus who came forth from the Father. This association of certain of God's characteristics and acts with a particular person of the Trinity is called the doctrine of appropriation.

Your next step is to read Isaiah, chapter 6. Here are some introductory ideas.

Isaiah 6 describes how God called Isaiah to be a prophet and gave him the essential message he was to convey to the people. In general, among biblical students, it is thought that the event of Isaiah's call occurred in the year 740 B.C. As you can see from the Biblical Timeline, Isaiah lived after the fundamental saving events of the Old Testament -- the liberation from Egypt, the giving of the law and the forming of a covenant, and life in the Promised Land. Further, he lived in Jerusalem, not long before the Assyrian invasion which destroyed the Northern Kingdom in 722 B.C. The Assyrians also conquered the Southern Kingdom, Judah. They ruled its people and demanded yearly tribute. Isaiah, like many of the great prophets, announced that these impending devastations were the judgment of God for the sin of breaking covenant with God. Isaiah's prophecy proved true. The gift of the land was revoked, and major portions of it fell into the hands of the Assyrians. This judgment, described in Isaiah 6:11-13, was fulfilled in Jesus Christ who suffered God's judgment on the cross for our sin.

Our interest here, however, is not so much Isaiah's message, or his immediate historical circumstances, but what God is like when he speaks or appears. To that end, our emphasis will be the first eight verses of Isaiah 6 which are as follows,

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the hem of his garment filled the temple hall. Seraphim stood above him; each had six wings. With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly. And one called to the other and said, "Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh Sebaoth, his glory is the fullness of the whole earth." Then the pivots in the doors in the foundation shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said, "Woe is me, for I must be silent; for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King Yahweh Sebaoth." Then one of the seraphim flew to me, a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it and said, "If this touches your lips your guilt is taken away and your sin covered." And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I, send me!" And he said, "Go and say to this people ... "(1)

Please read this several times and notice the following points.

1. Isaiah saw the one Lord, the one King, Yahweh Sebaoth. The text does not say that Isaiah saw several lords or kings. No, Isaiah saw one Lord, the one King, the one true God. There are many powerful forces of all kinds, spiritual and otherwise, but only God reigns supreme, the one that Isaiah saw and heard in the temple. God is one.

2. When Isaiah saw and heard God, he did so at a particular time and place, in the temple during the year that King Uzziah died. While in the temple he experienced God by means of realities given to the senses, things heard and seen. Here are some of them: the temple itself, smoke from the altar, its burning coals and tongs, the temple's foundations, pivots of the doors, and two titles, "Lord" and "Sebaoth" (meaning "of hosts"), as well as the Hebrew proper name for God, "Yahweh," normally spoken by the temple priests to invoke the presence of God. Within the holy of holies of the temple, hidden from view, Yahweh was invisibly seated above the ark of the covenant and between two winged beings which may have inspired Isaiah to hear the winged seraphim chanting to the glory of God.

3. As Isaiah saw and heard the sights and sounds of the temple, he, at the same time, saw and heard God. This happened in two ways. First, God was immediately real and present to him in the earthly temple, for the sights and sounds of the temple revealed the living God present in them. The temple, the altar, the shaking pivots of the doors, the smoke, the word "Yahweh," all made God real and present to Isaiah in the temple. Further, as he stood in the temple, he heard the voice of the Lord speaking to him so that the Lord's voice was present to him in the temple, where the word "present" means something local that had effects on Isaiah. In this way God became present upon earth, speaking and revealing his glory by means of things seen and heard.

Second, these same sights and sounds revealed God in his high, holy, and transcendent sense where "transcendent" means utterly unlike and beyond any created reality. The smoke which hid the Holy One, his being high and lifted up, the shaking of the foundations, the chanting of the seraphim, their eyes covered to avoid seeing the intense holiness of God, Isaiah's awful sense of his and his people's uncleanness, his only being able to see the hem of the Lord's garment and not God in his fullness, and the solemn, holy, divine name Yahweh Sebaoth, while expressing God's objective presence in the temple, also denoted God in the high, awesome, and hidden sense.

Further, it is understood that the One who spoke to Isaiah was the high, hidden, and holy One. The words Isaiah heard came forth from Him. The high and holy One was the origin and source of the words. Furthermore, the high, holy One's words had power, final and decisive power. They governed the destiny of nations, so that once spoken, they came true and created history, the devastation of Israel.

Doubtless Isaiah came to the temple many times, but the holy, transcendent God remained silent and hidden from view. In the year that Uzziah died, however, he revealed himself in a particular place, in the temple, and by means of things given to the senses in the temple. There he became present, speaking and visible, and by his words and awesome local presence, revealed his transcendent, hidden, and divine glory.

How can the holy, transcendent God who speaks from heaven be both high and lifted up, and at the same time, locally present in the temple? Here we must introduce something of the Hebrew understanding of the word "word." According to the ancient Hebrew understanding, the words spoken by a person are "considered to be one of the most typical and most influential extensions of human personality, across space and across time."(2) From a biblical perspective, the same holds true for God. He sends forth his Word, or speaks words, and these words are God himself in verbal form, the extension of himself, active and creative upon and within the earth. These words are spoken from heaven, but once spoken, they become present and active upon earth. This will become clearer when we study John's gospel and learn that the Word, God's spoken words, are God, God in verbal form. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. .... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, ... "(John 1:1, 14).

4. As God spoke and appeared to Isaiah, he entered into a personal relationship with Isaiah. God spoke, Isaiah replied, and God spoke again. Not only that, Isaiah knew that he had seen and heard God. We can know when we are addressed by God. As Isaiah heard and saw God, he entered into a living, personal interaction with God in which he came to know God. Isaiah heard the words, "Whom shall I send and who will go for us?" and he replied, "Here am I, send me!" That is, on the basis of encountering God, Isaiah was called to respond in faith and obedience. Faith is not believing that something exists we have never encountered, but believing that the One we have encountered is the Lord, the One who requires obedient response.

God then gave Isaiah a message, and the authority to proclaim that message to the people. As Isaiah spoke God's words to the people, they encountered God as well. They responded to him, entering into a relationship with God, a relationship in which the people refused to repent. Further, and this will become clearer as we study the words and deeds of Jesus, the prophetic words that Isaiah spoke were the words of God, and thereby created the events they proclaimed. It is not simply that Isaiah foresaw what would happen and reported it. No, he was given a message, and the message, by the power of God, created the events the message proclaimed. This is because God involves human beings in his creative activities, and when they receive and proclaim his words, their human words reflect God's words and create history. Among other places, this can be seen in Jeremiah 1:10 where God says to Jeremiah, "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant." In other words, as Jeremiah spoke the words of God, he, Jeremiah, would overthrow or plant kingdoms and nations.

Further, the passage reflects what we may call an eschatological aspect, that is, the revelation of the consummation which will occur at the end when God is all in all (First Corinthians 15:28). As the seraphim chanted, "Holy, Holy, Holy is Yahweh Sebaoth, his glory is the fullness of the whole earth," Isaiah saw that all creation would be transformed by God as revealed in the Word. Otto Kaiser, in his commentary on Isaiah comments on this eschatological aspect with these words, "In heaven there is no mention of how the world is, but the world is addressed in terms of its consummation."(3) In other words, when heaven is opened and God is seen and heard, it becomes clear that his glory will, in due time, fill all things.

We may summarize the foregoing in four points like this:

1. God is one, the one Lord, the King, the Almighty, the origin of the words spoken to Isaiah, the power that rules the world and directs history.
2. This God is high and exalted above all things. Before he speaks and appears, he is silent, hidden in heaven. According to Scripture, God is so exalted, so powerful, and so unlike all other things, that he created the cosmos out of nothing.
3. The high, exalted One can speak his words, or send forth his Word, becoming present in a particular place. When he appears and speaks, he is there, present, active, God in that place, speaking, and appearing as God. He is God in heaven, and yet, at the same time, he is God upon earth, and what was heard and seen upon earth reveals the exalted One in heaven.
4. As God becomes present, he enters into a personal relationship with those he has addressed, a relationship of listening, speaking, and acting. He is God as those who hear and see him interact with him, and they are empowered to speak the message they received when they heard and saw him. In this way, others can know God because of the message.

In short, the one God is God in three related ways – God in heaven the origin and creative power over all, God upon earth speaking and appearing, revealing the One in heaven, and God interacting with and empowering those who see and hear him. The one God is God in three related ways.

We are going to understand something of the mystery of the Trinity by means of an analogy. We can know God in a way that is analogous to the way in which we know persons.

1. Each person we know is one person.
2. They are not high and exalted like God, but if they wish, they do not need appear or speak to us. They can remain hidden from us, and even if we see them, they need not speak. By their character as those who remain silent or hide themselves, they show that they are persons.
3. They can appear before us and speak, and we can see and hear them through our senses. As they speak and appear, they are themselves, the one person, appearing, speaking, and active, and this reveals their hidden, silent selves. We know them in their speaking and acting as personal.
4. As they speak and act, we speak and act in return. A living relationship is formed, and in the power of that relationship, we speak and act together as we know each other. We know them as we interact together, and that knowledge is personal.   Furthermore, as we interact with others, they affect us. We can carry their words to others, and these others can know them even if they never met them.

In a similar way, God is personal. Like us, he need not speak or appear. Rather, he is hidden in heaven, and he is God in his hidden form. We are hidden from each other when we are in different places. This is true of God, but there is more. God is not only in heaven and we on earth, but God's very being is radically unlike ours. He dwells in light unapproachable. He creates out of nothing. Isaiah could only see the hem of his garment, the seraphim covered their eyes. His essence is beyond our knowing. Nevertheless, he condescends to take forms we can understand, accommodating himself to us. He speaks and appears, similar to our speaking and appearing. As he speaks and appears, he sends forth his Word in connection with things received by the senses, the sights and the sounds of the temple, or the words and deeds of Jesus. As he does so, his appearing and speaking are God. As he speaks and appears, he reveals his hidden thoughts and feelings, and we can enter into a personal relationship with him, a relationship of mutual listening, speaking, and acting. Further, as we proclaim the words that God has given us, these words create history. Above all, the words given in the revelation of Jesus Christ, create the Kingdom of God on earth. For this reason, it is of supreme importance that we receive the words and deeds of Jesus, and this in the context of the entire biblical revelation as lived in the church and world.

Our next step is to connect what we have learned from Isaiah with God's revelation as known in Jesus Christ. In the section on Scripture, Introduction to Scripture, it was stated that any biblical passage "must be understood in reference to Jesus Christ as revealed in the gospels." One of the great early Christians, Saint Augustine, stated the matter like this, "What the Old Testament has, the very same the New contains; but that which lies there as under a shadow is here brought forth into the open sun. Things there prefigured are here performed."(3) In other words, what we discover in Isaiah on the personal nature of God will, in the gospels of the New Testament, be clearly stated and "brought forth into the open sun."

What we learned in Isaiah was summarized in these words, "In short, the one God is God in three related ways – God in heaven the origin and creative power over all, God upon earth speaking and appearing, God interacting with and empowering those who see and hear him. The one God is God in three related ways." We are now going to consider aspects of John's gospel. As we do so, we will learn that "God in heaven the origin and creative power over all" is God the Father. "God upon earth speaking and appearing" is God the Son, and "God interacting with and empowering those who see and hear him" is God the Holy Spirit. "The one God is God in three related ways" is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The ancient tradition of the Church, as well as evidence within the gospel itself, is that John, the Son of Zebedee, wrote John's gospel.(4) John was a disciple of Jesus, walking with him daily, witnessing his words and deeds, and therefore, his gospel is eye-witness testimony. John, of course, did not write down everything that Jesus said and did. In his words, "Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were everyone of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that could be written" (John 21:25). Like the writers of the other gospels, John chose what he wrote, and he summarized, omitted, organized, and interpreted what Jesus said and did in order to clearly set forth the great saving work of Jesus Christ the messiah of God. For this reason, we need to look at the overall structure of John's gospel, as well as individual passages, for in this way we can grasp the overall pattern of the revelation given to John.

Please read John's gospel and as you read, notice these points.

1. John's gospel begins with a prologue, 1:1-18. In the prologue the reader learns that the Word of God is God and with God, 1:1. In Hebrew thought, the background of John's gospel, the Hebrew word for "word" means word, event, and deed. According to John 1:3-4, God the Word is also light. This means that God appears. When God speaks, acts, or appears, his words and deeds are God the Word, the light, in audible and visible form.

2. According to 1:14, God the Word, the light, became flesh in the man Jesus, visible and audible to the senses in a way similar to God becoming present to Isaiah in the sights and sounds of the temple. This means that Jesus is God the Word. There is God in heaven and there is God upon earth. As will be shown shortly, God in heaven is God the invisible Father. The transcendent Father sends the Son who is God the Word upon earth, the man Jesus. Since Jesus is God the Word upon earth sent from the Father, the words and deeds of the man Jesus are the words and deeds of the hidden Father in heaven. This is expressed in many ways in John's gospel. For example, Jesus will say, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise" (5:19). Or, Jesus will say, "For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak" (12:49) See also 5:17, 19-21, 26, 36, 8:26, 28, 10:30, 37, 12:49-50, 13:3, 14:10, 24, 31, 16:15, 17:11, and 18:11. Since the words and deeds of the man Jesus are the words and deeds of God the Father, Jesus reveals the Father.

3. As the Son reveals the Father, he reveals the Father as the origin of all things, not only of Jesus' words and deeds, but also, of all things, of life and of eternal life. For example, in John 3:35 Jesus proclaims, "The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand," which is to say, that the Father is the source of "all things." Or in John 5:21 Jesus proclaims, "For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will." Or again, when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he addressed his prayer to the Father, the source of all life (11:41). Or, when Jesus speaks of feeding on his body and blood, he states, "As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me" (6:57). That is, the source of all life is the Father, and this life is given to the Son who gives life to all who come to him. Additional verses can be found in 3:35, 5:19, 26, 36, 6:32, 37, 40, 57, 65, 8:28, 10:18, 11:41, 12:28, 50, 13:3, 14:13, 16, 26, 15:26, 16:15, 23, 26, and 17:1, 5, 24. For this reason, theological reflection on these verses and many more have led the church, by appropriation, to assign creation, the beginning of all things, to the Father. According to 1:3, all things were made through Jesus Christ, meaning that he reveals the purpose and right order of creation.

4. This Word, incarnate in Jesus, revealed the transcendent God, God the Father who is not truly known until the Word comes forth from the Father (1:18). It is recognized throughout the text that the Father is hidden in heaven. As stated in John's gospel, "No one has seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known (John 1:14). The "only God" refers to Jesus, the one who makes known the transcendent Father who cannot be seen. Or, Jesus will say, "And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent" (5:37-8). See also 6:46, 8:19, 38, 16:3. Since the Father is unknown, his voice never heard nor his form seen, Jesus, the Word incarnate, was sent from the Father to reveal the Father (1:14, 5:36-7, 6:27, 32-33, 44, 57, 8:16, 18-19, 27-28, 42, 10:18, 30, 36, 12:49, 16:27-28, 17:25, 20:21).

5. The Father is God. In John's gospel the words "Father" and "God" are often used in place of one another (3:17, 3:34, 6:27, 6:29, 6:45-46, 8:42, 13:3, 16:27-28, 20:17).

6. Jesus, the Word incarnate, is God (1:1 and 1:14, 1:18, 10:30, 20:28 and the "I am" statements of 8:24, 8:28, 8:58 and 13:10).(5)

7. Once the prologue has established that Jesus is the Word of God incarnate, the remainder of the gospel sets forth the words and deeds of Jesus as the words and deeds of God. These words and deeds fall into two sections. The first section, John 1:19-12:50, the Book of Signs, are miraculous deeds of Jesus understood as the works of God. There are seven signs. These seven deeds are interpreted by Jesus' teaching, and at times comments from the evangelist himself, so that the words and deeds of God depend upon and mutually interpret one another. The second section, the final sign, is the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus (John 13:1ff), narrated in the final chapters of John's gospel. This is also interpreted by Jesus' words, as well as by the words of the evangelist himself.

8. As these signs take place, visible and audibly given to the senses, one not only knows God active upon earth, but the signs themselves point to the glory of the transcendent, holy God, just as the local sights and sounds of the temple revealed the glory of God to Isaiah. Among the signs given by Jesus, the most significant is the resurrection where Jesus appeared to his disciples. In the resurrection, Jesus asked the disciple Thomas to put his fingers in the places where the nails entered Jesus' hands, and to put his hand where the spear had pierced his side. Thomas did so and exclaimed, "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28). In other words, things given to the senses, touch, sight, and hearing, revealed the transcendent God.

9. The final section, crucifixion and resurrection and its teaching, contains a number of significant affirmations. These are best seen by simply reading the text. Here are some of the important ideas for our present purposes, along with some references.

a. Jesus will leave this world and return to the Father. For a short period his disciples will no longer hear or see him, and then he will return to them (13:7, 14: 18, 14: 28, 16:7, 16:16, 16:19, 16:28, 17:11). This absence, a period in which God the Word is no longer speaking or visible, is a moment in the dynamic of God's speech and silence, his appearing and his no longer being visible. In a similar way, Isaiah did not always see and hear God when he was in the temple.

b. Jesus' death and resurrection took place at the time of Passover (13:1). He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (1:29). God's message to Isaiah was judgment, yet this judgment fell upon Jesus, the sacrificial lamb of God.

c. Having taken away sin by his death and resurrection, Jesus imparts the Spirit, empowering the disciples to do his deeds and giving them the authority to forgive sins (20:21-23). In a similar way, the seraphim took a coal from the altar and purified Isaiah's lips so that he could proclaim the words of God.

d. The Spirit will remind the disciples of everything that Jesus has said and done (14:15, 14:26, 15:26, 16:10, 16:14-15). That is, after Jesus death, resurrection, and ascension, the Spirit will enlivened the disciples' memories of Jesus' words and deeds so that they continue in relationship with him even though he is no longer physically present. The Spirit also empowers disciples to do the deeds of Jesus (14:12-14, 15:7, 15:16, 6:23). Further, as the disciples proclaim the words of Jesus to others, and do his deeds, those who hear and see the apostolic witness and deeds, and receive the Spirit making those words and deeds a living reality, are brought into a living relationship with the risen Jesus. This is because the words and deeds of Jesus, when truthfully conveyed by the apostles and empowered by the Holy Spirit, convey the person of Jesus in audible and visible form. Words are an extension of the person across space and time.

This point requires further comment. Consider this quotation by Arnold Come describing the ancient Hebrew way of understanding sense impressions,

... perceptions are not mere images received from the senses and retained by the mind. Rather they are imprints of the thing or being perceived, and they carry some of the actual substance of the perceived into the perceiver. Or from the other perspective, the imprint that one makes upon another carries something of one's very self into the other. And even after the immediate contact is broken, the one is still in a sense present and operative upon the other. Indeed, a man is in truly significant contact only with that which actually enters into his soul. It is that which he really knows, it is that which really affects him and which he can act upon.(6)

In the Hebrew understanding, to hear, see, or touch another person is to receive something of that person into one's soul. There the person lives on even after visual or auditory contact between the two persons is broken. From that perspective, we carry within us something of the life of those we have seen and heard. Even more, we can receive the life of those we have never seen or heard if others bear testimony to them, making them real to us by their testimony. Let us see how this is expressed in John's gospel.

God, the one God, the Father, who created the universe out of nothing and will bring it to conclusion on the last day, sent his Son, God the Word, to become incarnate in the man Jesus. This man spoke and acted, and the disciples and others received Jesus' words and deeds so that Christ lived in them. Jesus' words and deeds, however, were also the words and deeds of God the Father, so that God the Father came to live in the disciples in the person of Christ, and therefore, the disciples came to know God the Father. This is expressed in the passages which speak of Jesus, the Father, and the disciples as living in each other, that is, receiving each other through their words and deeds, being faithful to one another and loving each other. "Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you" (John 14:19-20) See also 14:10-11, 14:17, 15:4-7, 9, 11.

Further, when John proclaimed the words and deeds of Jesus in the written form of the gospel, and when other persons read his gospel, believed it, received the Spirit, and put it into practice, the gospel narrative carried the person of Jesus into them, forming Christ in them and establishing them in relation to God as known in Christ. As was the case with Isaiah, belief in this context does not mean believing something to exist that has never been encountered. Rather, as one meets Christ by means of the biblical narrative, one chooses to respond by believing that Christ is the Lord, worthy of our obedience, love, and praise. Therefore, once Jesus has described to the disciples how they will live in him and he in them, he goes on to say in subsequent verses how those who hear the words of the disciples, believe them and live them, will be in Christ as well, and through Christ, living in the Father. "I do not ask for these only [that is, only the disciples], but also for those who will believe in me through their word [that is, the apostolic testimony], that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me" (John 17:20-21). See also 17:26.

e. This intimate relationship between Father, Son, and believers, made possible by receiving Jesus and the Spirit is described in various ways. Jesus and the Father make their home with the disciples (14:21-23, 15: 1-8, 16:15, 16:22, 16:27, 17:20-26). The disciples know Jesus, the Father, the Spirit, and each other. This is a personal knowledge of love (10:14, 14:9, 14:17, 14:21, 14:23, 15:9-13, 17:26, 21:15-17).

f. The Spirit is given by or from the Father (14:16, 14:26, 15:26). The Spirit is also spoken of as given by Jesus who baptizes in the Holy Spirit (1:33). Or Jesus breathes the Spirit on the disciples (20:22), or sends the Counselor who is the Spirit (16:7). In various ways the Spirit is from the Father and the Son as discussed in the lesson, Introduction to Scripture. Theological reflection on these and many other biblical passages show that the Spirit is God.

g. As the disciples and the readers of John's gospel receive the gospel message given to their senses, and as they receive the Spirit and obey the gospel message, they enter into an ongoing relationship with each other and with God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And as they know God, they receive eternal life. "And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (17:3). Just as Isaiah saw and heard that the glory of God would, in due time, fill the whole earth, believers in Jesus come to know that his resurrected power conquers all things, and therefore, they will indeed receive eternal life. See also 3:15-16, 36, 4:14, 5:24, 6:27, 40, 54, 10:28, 12:25, 17:2-3.

There is a trinitarian and incarnational pattern in John's gospel. God, the Father who created the heavens and earth, the one who will make a new heaven and earth at the end of time, sent his Son, God the Word, to become incarnate as the man Jesus who then spoke words and did deeds. These words and deeds are human words and deeds, and they are also divine words since God the Word took flesh as the man Jesus. These words were received by the disciples, enabling them to live in an intimate relationship of love with God the Father and Son. They, under the power of the Holy Spirit, did the works of Jesus and conveyed his message to others. Those who received the apostolic testimony and deeds, as much now as then, and received the Spirit enlivening these words and deeds, receive Christ and make their home with the Father and the Son. Such persons are given eternal life with God. Their sins are forgiven through Christ's atoning death, and by the power of his resurrected life, they defeat the world, sin, and the devil. They enter into an inheritance of love, beginning in this life and consummated in the life of the world to come.

We may now summarize what we learned from Isaiah, rephrasing it in light of John's gospel.

1. God is one, the almighty, transcendent Lord, the Father of Jesus Christ.
2. This God is the Father, high and exalted above all things. Before he speaks and appears, he is silent, hidden in heaven, the creator and origin of all things.
3. The high, exalted, hidden God the Father sends forth his Word, becoming present in a particular place, that is, taking flesh as the man Jesus. When God appears and speaks as Jesus, he is there, present, active, God in that place, active, speaking, and appearing as God. He is God the Father in heaven, and yet, at the same time, he is God the Son upon earth, and what was heard and seen upon earth reveals the high, exalted One in heaven. He is these as one God.
4. As God becomes present, he enters into a personal relationship with those he addresses, a relationship of listening, speaking, and acting. He is God the Spirit as those who hear and see him interact with him, and they are empowered to speak the message they received when they heard and saw him. In this way, others can know God because of the message.

These associations of the Father with God's remoteness, the Son with God present and active, and the Holy Spirit as God in personal interaction of speech and deed are true by appropriation or by emphasis. In one sense, God the Word was also hidden in heaven, prior to being sent to be God on earth. As it says in John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." That is, before the creation of the world, God the Word was with God, that is, in heaven and not on earth. Or again, when the Word became incarnate in the man Jesus, Jesus as God the Word or Son spoke and interacted with those around him, a quality that characterizes the work of the Holy Spirit. There are not, in other words, three separate Gods, one remote in heaven (the Father), one on earth (the Son), and one enabling interaction with God (the Holy Spirit). There is one God, so that whatever is true of one of the triune persons, is, in some sense, true of all. Therefore, we should add one more qualifying point.

5. The associations of God in his remoteness with the Father, the Son as God active and speaking on earth, and the Spirit enabling a dynamic relationship with God and others whom he addresses, are true by appropriation or by emphasis. There is one God, not three, yet one and only one in a three-fold personal way.

More could be said on this important subject. At this time, however, I would like to set forth one more important idea, along with a corollary. The church, after some centuries of reflection on Scripture, came to understand that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human. He was and is fully God because God the Word became incarnate in Jesus Christ. He was and is fully human because the incarnation did not erase, displace, or obscure Jesus' human nature, but rather, preserved and glorified it. These insights were expressed in the phrase that Jesus Christ was one person with two natures, the human and divine. These two nature are inseparable and form one single person. This doctrinal truth was affirmed in the Council of Chalcedon, A.D. 451, and can be found on this website, Council of Chalcedon.

One corollary of these developments was the affirmation of the communicatio idiomatum, the recognition that, in reference to Jesus Christ, the attributes of his divine nature could be affirmed of his human nature and conversely. For example, Mary was the mother of the human nature of Jesus. Or, to express the matter in terms of attributes, one attribute of Jesus' human nature was the motherhood of Mary. By the communicatio idiomatum, the motherhood of Mary was also an attribute of his divine nature so that Mary was the mother of Jesus' divine nature, that is, Mary was the mother of God. This was expressed in the phrase, theotokos, that is, the "God-bearer." Or, one attribute of Jesus' human nature was that he spoke and acted, and therefore, by the communicatio idiomatum, these same words and deeds were an attribute of his divine nature, so that God spoke and acted as Jesus spoke and acted. We affirmed this in our study of John's gospel as given above.

The communicatio idiomatum, however, is not a general property of existence. It is only true of Jesus Christ as revealed in his Kingdom, and it carries with it a profound implication. For example, in worship the words and deeds of Jesus' human nature are set forth in the words and deeds of Scripture reading, preaching, and Holy Eucharist. By the communicatio idiomatum, the words and deeds of Jesus' human nature, rendered in the words and deeds of worship, are words and deeds of God so that God speaks and acts in Scripture reading, preaching, and Holy Communion. In worship, God becomes present as he was in the temple when Isaiah saw and heard him, or present in the words and deeds of Jesus as experienced by those who perceived God at work in him. The difference between the human words and deeds of worship on the one hand, and the Incarnation on the other, is that the words and deeds of worship are not original. They are derivative. If they are to reveal God, they must truthfully reflect Jesus Christ, growing out of him as branches grow out of the vine. Further, true worship must be empowered by the Holy Spirit. We saw both these factors in our treatment of John's gospel, points d) and e) given above. Or, as stated by Jesus, "But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him" (John 4:23).

What has been said here on worship is true of all forms of Christian service and ministry. In so far as this ministry truthfully reflects the words and deeds of Jesus and is empowered by the Spirit, Jesus establishes his Kingdom here on earth. That Kingdom was established in Jesus' public ministry, sealed by his death, resurrection, and ascension, is lived and proclaimed today by believers, and will be consummated when Jesus comes again. Through these forms of ministry, lost human beings meet the living God, enter into a relationship with him and other believers, and taste the Kingdom of God even in this life. What a blessing!

More could be said here on the doctrine of the Trinity and the Incarnation. This will suffice, however, to enable us to go forward. What we have studied here will provide a theological foundation for virtually everything -- our understanding of Scripture, of ministry, of worship, of Christian fellowship, of evangelism, all of these will be seen as ways in which God, by his Word and Spirit, enters into a personal relationship with people, and by means of that personal relationship, makes his home with them.

Questions for Discussion

1. God is the Holy One, exalted, the King, the Lord Almighty. As Lord and King, our lives depend upon him. He must be honored above all. What can you do to make your relationship with God the most important relationship in your life?
2. God speaks to us in a variety of ways. For example, God can slowly communicate his nature to us through a study of Scripture, almost without our being aware of it at the time. Or, sometimes he speaks suddenly and dramatically as he did to Isaiah. Tell of a time God showed himself to you through Scripture, or of a time when he spoke to you suddenly as in the case of Isaiah. How did that happen? How were you changed by God coming to you?
3. Tell of a time in your life when God seemed far from you, hidden and remote. Did you cry out to God at that time? Did he speak to you, or did he remain silent?
4. Tell of a time when God appeared, spoke to you, or did something in your life.
5. When God appeared and spoke to you, how did you respond? Did you speak to him in return? Did he give you a message or call you to do something? What effect did this have on your life?
6. There are many gods, deities, forces, powers, spirits, forces of nature, social powers such as sex, power, and money, in this world. All these powers belong to the created world and Christians can worship none of them since God transcends them all, creating all things out of nothing and revealing himself by his Word, Christ Jesus the Lord. Have you, or members of your family or community, ever worshipped, obeyed, and followed any of these powers? If so, help each other to repent and commit yourself to Jesus the Lord and Savior of all.
7. Some would believe that salvation is attained by ceasing to exist, by merging with the infinite all, or escaping from the wheel of time, or from the illusion of having a distinct self that seeks and desires. This is monism, and an example of this perspective, Friedrich Schleiermacher, claiming to be Christian, is found on this website. This differs from the Christian faith in that salvation for Christians is given by personally knowing God as known in Christ Jesus. In knowing Christ, the distinct self never disappears but is saved by loving and being loved. Do you, or other members of your family believe that salvation is given in any other way than in Christ Jesus and him alone? If so, pray about this matter and ask the Lord to show you how to turn to Christ and him alone, thereby making a clear witness to the Lord Jesus.

Endnotes

1. This translation was taken from the Otto Kaiser's study of Isaiah. Otto Kaiser, Isaiah 1-12, translated by John Bowden, (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1983), 117-8.
2. Arnold Come, Human Spirit and Holy Spirit (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1959), 61.
3. Kaiser, Isaiah 1-12, p. 127.
4. Quoted by Anglican theologian, Richard Hooker. Richard Hooker, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Volumes I, II, and III, collected by John Keble (Ellicott City: Facsimile Reprint by Via Media, Inc., 1994), V.xx.6. I have slightly modernized Hooker's English.
5. Two excellent books on the gospels, and John in particular, as eyewitness accounts: Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2006), and Craig L. Blomberg, The Historical Reliability of John's Gospel, (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2001).
6. See Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John, Vol I, I‑XII, The Anchor Bible, (New York: Doubleday, 1966), 533-38.
7. Arnold Come, Human Spirit and Holy Spirit, 116.

The Rev. Robert J. Sanders, Ph.D.
February, 2011

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