While
it’s true that mere mortals can’t understand everything about an Eternal God,
there are many things that we can know of His nature. All that can be known of
God is the result of His self-disclosure to us. In other words, we know what He
has chosen to tell us and to show us. No more and no less. We don’t figure this
out on our own. The good news is that God has chosen to reveal Himself to us in
ways that are life-altering when we grasp them.
The
very first thing the Bible reveals about Him is that He exists as a triune
being. He is the Three-In-One God. When Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning,
God,” we are immediately notified of the trinitarian nature of God. The word God is the Hebrew word, Elohiym. The word is plural, denoting
the fact that He doesn’t abide alone. There is a plurality in His very essence.
The first time He is mentioned in Scripture, the thing God chose to show us
about Himself was His triune nature. Don’t underestimate the importance of
this.
Although
the word trinity wasn’t used until
Tertullian coined the term in the late second century, the concept is taught in
the Bible from the very first verse. The reason for discussing this doctrinal
tenet first is because the Trinity is the exact expression of the very essence
of God. If we miss or even marginalize the triune nature of God, it will be
impossible to rightly and clearly articulate anything else that we may say
about Him. How can we be correct in any aspect of understanding Him if we come
from a completely wrong starting assumption?
Some
have grappled with why this emphasis on the Trinity is so important to the
Christian faith. One answer is that the Trinity makes clear the most important
aspect of God that can be known about Him: God
is relational. He does not and cannot exist apart from relationship. Don’t
quickly read past this paragraph without internalizing its meaning and
importance. God is relational. He is
more concerned about sharing His life with others than anything else. This may
be the most important thing you will ever believe about God.
Why
did Jesus come into this world? He answered, “I have come so that they might have life and have it to the fullest” (John
10:10, emphasis added). The incarnation of Jesus Christ is first and foremost
about God coming to us to share His life with us. When Adam was created in the
Garden of Eden, He “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man
became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). God gave life to Adam for a reason. He
wanted to include humanity in the Circle of Love that had always existed among
the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Read
the Genesis narrative and you will find that God didn’t create Adam and Eve,
give them their assignments and then head back to heaven with the knowledge
that His work was done. Our loving Creator made us to joyfully share His life
with us. He isn’t interested in separation from those He created and loves. In
fact, He has refused to allow separation. He made us to live in union with Him
and to find our very lives in Him. More than anything else, God wants us to
know and enjoy Him. The 17th century church reaffirmed this in the Westminster
Confession saying, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him
forever.” It isn’t without importance that glorifying God and enjoying Him are
linked in this commonly accepted confessional statement.
You
may wonder why I am putting forward this emphasis on the relational aspect of
God’s nature. “Of course God is relational,” you may think. “Don’t we all know
that?”
The
answer to that question is yes and no. Yes, we understand at an intellectual
level that God is interested in having a relationship with each of us. On the other
hand, no, most of us don’t really understand the implications of the relational
aspect of His nature.
- Steve McVey
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