The Trinity

And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Matthew 3:16-17 ESV

       From the First Century to our present age many people have found the biblical doctrine of the Trinity hard to understand. The doctrine of the Trinity recognizes that God is one God, but is also three distinct Person: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In our material existence the concept that God is One, yet He exists as three distinct persons is foreign to us. However, the doctrine of the Trinity is without questions revealed in God's word.

       The biblical term is for trinity is "Godhead" (Greek theiotes) and it is used three times in Scripture: Act 17:29; Romans 1:20; Colossians 2:9. The word "Trinity" is not found in Scripture, which is a theological word Christians use to refer to the Godhead.

       "Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill." (Acts 17:29)

       "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse" (Romans 1:20)

         “For in Christ all the fullness of the Godhead lives in bodily form," (Colossians 2:9)

      The doctrine states that the Godhead, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit consist of three distinct Persons, yet these three are one God. There are many arguments espoused by those that deny the Trinity, but the most prevalent is how God can be One God and at the same time be three Persons?

       In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus gave His disciples the Great Commission stating they were to teach and baptize in the names of the Godhead: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

       Further, 1 John 5:7 states, "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." Just because God did not inspire the writers of Scripture to use the modern word "Trinity" does not mean it is not a biblical truth. Some who object to the doctrine of the Trinity respond noting the Bible does not use the word “Trinity.” However, there are many words and phrases that Christians use to express a biblical doctrine that are not found in the Bible. One is the word "Rapture." The word is not found in Scripture, by the phrase “shall be caught up” the Greek “harpagēsometha" is used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 and means to “catch away” or Latin “rapiēmur”meaning to be snatched away. In fact the word "Bible" is also not found in the Scriptures. Would we dismiss the existence of the Bible because the word is not found in Scripture?

       Those that deny the Trinity are denying the Godhead. They rationalize that it is physically impossible for three distinct persons to be only one. They are both right and wrong. They are right in the sense that it is impossible for us to explain, for this cannot be a reality in our physical/material world. But they are wrong in denying that God is a Triune God. Those that believe this doctrine do so because the Bible clearly teaches monotheism, meaning that God is One God. Yet, the Scriptures unmistakably refer to the plurality of God as existing in Three Persons.

        Most of mankind has no real idea of who God really is. The gods of unbelieving men are small and do not take into account the immensity of Almighty God as He is presented in the Bible. J.B. Phillips wrote a book in 1952 called, “Your God Is Too Small.” He exposed the misconceptions that many have about God in that their understanding of God superimposed upon Him human characteristics. In His greatness and power the Bible says He spoke the universe into existence. God states this truth saying, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." (Hebrews 11:3)

       Believing that God is a man or any material being shows one does not comprehend the true omnipotence (all powerful), omnipresence (present everywhere), omniscient (knows all things) nature of our sovereign God and Creator, nor does he bow in humility to his Creator. Like Satan, the lost man seeks to elevate himself to God's level and above. Therefore many men miss the truth and reality of God's essence because they ignorantly try to perceive Him as being as a physical being as are they. God has revealed Himself to all men in His word the Bible and it would behoove all men to believe what their Creator has said about Himself. Paul stated God's mandate when addressing the unbelieving Athenians as recorded in Acts 17:30: "In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent."

       John said, "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world" (1 John 4:1-3).

       His statement makes it absolutely vital that a person fully believe in the Trinity, which means to accept who and what God really truly is. Because all men are lost in sin, only our supernatural Creator can save this lost and dying world, and only by fully believing God's promise of salvation can one be saved and receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life. The truth of the Trinity is unconditionally tied to accepting Him as who He is.

Malachi

Jesus As A Rebel

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.  If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own.  As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.  That is why the world hates you.”  --John 15:18-19

To start with, you should all know that this article is probably not very well organized, due to the fact that I received very short notice on actually being asked to write it, and then being gone the week after being asked, coincidentally also the week before this was due to be published.  So please don’t judge me too harshly. :)  In fact, a friend, on being asked (frantically) for ideas, suggested I keep it short and sweet: “Jesus is Awesome.  The end.”  I figured neither the editor nor you all would appreciate that, and I’d probably get unceremoniously kicked off staff after just having been welcomed back.  (I'm kidding, if you didn't notice.  About being kicked off, that is.  The rest of it?  All very, very true.)  So here is my slightly more-thought-out idea on the topic of Jesus As A Rebel.  …And I may also go slightly off-topic on some of my points, due to my current lack of brain cells… Please forgive me.

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As Christians today, we often think of Jesus as the one person in the world who has never sinned.  As I explained to my VBS kiddo’s, that means He didn’t ever do anything wrong.  So why is this article titled “Jesus As A Rebel”?  Well, society’s view of Jesus now is very different than it was when He was actually physically here on earth.  As they say, hindsight is 20/20; we have the advantage of having the Bible to read, where we can get more of an inside look at things and see that Jesus really was following the Law (for definition purposes, “the Law” – which shall be capitalized as such to differentiate between it and other laws – are the laws that God instituted back in the Old Testament to Moses and the Israelites) and never sinning, whereas the Pharisees (the religious authority during Jesus’ time) and the majority of the Jewish population saw Jesus as quite radical – according to their religious ideology, societal norms, and also when placed next to their expectations for a savior.

Over time, the Pharisees had added quite a few “little” laws to the Law instituted by God and held them as equally important, not to mention they held to the very letter of the Law – as can be seen in the passage about The Lord of the Sabbath (or at least, that’s the heading in my Bible) in Matthew 12:1-14, Mark 2:23-3:6, and Luke 6:1-11 where the Pharisee’s “complained” to Jesus about his disciples picking heads of grain to eat on the Sabbath because they were hungry.  “This goes against the Law!” was pretty much their argument.  Jesus’s response?  “Here, take a look at how King David – you know, that guy that you all really look up to? – acted in a similar situation.  He did something probably even more unlawful!  He went into the House of God and he and his men ate bread that was set aside only for the Priests!  And you think what these guys are doing is bad…”  (Okay, so not exactly what He said, but pretty close.)  In that very same passage, just a few verses later, we see Jesus being asked by the Pharisee’s if it was lawful to heal a man on the Sabbath.  I’m sure you can guess His response; “If one of your sheep managed to get itself into a pit, wouldn’t you pull it out, even though it was the Sabbath?  And just so you know, if you say yes, you’re implying that you care more about your sheep than you do about another human being.  And we all know you’re not going to say no, because you really care about your property.  Thinking that through, are you sure you even want to be asking me that?”  The last example (there are tons more!) I’m going to share is the time Jesus “literally ‘turned the tables’” as one of my friends put it.  (Matthew 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-17, and Luke 19:45-46)  See, it had become perfectly acceptable (encouraged, even) for different booths to be set up just inside the temple where men sold doves and other sacrifices, as well as moneychangers.  None of these were originally intended to be in the Temple and doing business in God’s house was very disrespectful to its actual purpose, so Jesus literally flipped their tables over and kicked them out.  This is, I think, probably the only time in history where there has been a real display of righteous anger by a human being.¹ Anyway, as you’ve seen, the whole “doing ‘work’ on the Sabbath” thing didn’t go over very well with the religious community.  Nor did the fact that Jesus was using their own laws and the historical figures they respected to show the flaws in their nitpicky² laws.  Oh, and did I mention that He claimed to be God?  You can be sure that went over well.

Obviously, Jesus upset many in the religious sect by His apparent disregard for the rules, but He also upset even those who weren’t very interested in religion.  As they saw it, He rebelled even against what was seen as socially acceptable.  He could often be found around those in society that were seen as the “untouchables”³, such as tax collectors (became rich off of charging you more than you actually owed), Samaritans (imposters from during the Babylonian captivity), prostitutes (the horror!), etc.  Oh, and His disciples!  Some of them were fisherman (not the brightest, you know) and at least one was a tax collector!  Can you imagine how they saw it?  Not only did this man who claimed to be God spend much of his time with these horrid people, but many of his closest friends were listed among them!  And some of those “rules” of his… Not retaliating when someone hit you across the face?  Actually turning to let them hit you on the other side of your face?  That was basically asking the other person to attack you!  What kind of crazy guy was this?

Even more than all that, though, Jesus rebelled against the “popular belief” about who the Savior was supposed to be, what he was supposed to be like, and what his purpose was.  See, though Jesus claimed to be God, and subsequently the Savior, He didn’t really act how the Jew’s thought their Savior would.  They expected a military leader who would free them from the Roman’s rule, but instead of ridding in on a warhorse, He came on a donkey – a sign of peace instead of war. (Matthew 21:1-6, Mark 11:1-7, Luke 19:28-35, and Mark 12:12-16)  Not to mention that He was constantly preaching to “love your enemy” and other things that went directly against that idea.  They expected a King, the Son of David, who would lead them after they were free from Rome, but instead, Jesus talked about a kingdom that was not of this earth.

In the end, Jesus was really just a rebel against mankind’s wrong ideas of what a person should act like.  He wasn’t a rebel in the areas where “behavior” really mattered. He upheld all of God’s laws perfectly, set the standard for how Christian’s should treat each other and those around them, and was the perfect Savior – even if He wasn’t quite what everyone expected.

The Comma Queen

¹I know that many people would disagree with me, but please notice that I’m simply saying that it’s my opinion, not something I know for sure.

²For those of you who didn’t grow up with a dad who uses crazy phrases like “nitpicky”, it means (according to Dictionary.com) “Adj. Overly critical, especially on trivial matters; focused on only trivial aspects.”  Those of you who already knew and are nodding your head in a bored manner, brownie points to you!

³“Untouchables” is actually a level in India’s caste system – these people are the lowest of the low, given the worst jobs, and everyone else literally refuses to touch them because of how “filthy” they are seen to be.  Technically, they aren’t even a level – they are below even that.

100th Post

This is just a post, pointing out that we have reached the nice, round number of one hundred posts.

That is all.

Actually, a few more things.

As summer winds down and fall (and school) begin to kick into gear, we have a few minor changes in our writing department (our only department at the moment).
First off, good news! The Comma Queen has finished her writing intensive course and will be rejoining our monthly rotation of writers! Her first article as a part of that re-introduction will be sometime later this month. Chipper will also be rejoining, but on bi-monthly basis! We're really excited to have them both back!
Next, some melancholy news; Malachi will be the first writer to graduate from The Thought Box (rather than simply stopping writing) and will be heading off to seminary this fall! We are extremely excited to see what God does with his life, and there is still the possibility that he will be able to share some of the things he's learned at seminary with us in the future, so stay tuned.

Just to let you know; the Thursday following the last Monday of the month is still open for volunteer articles, just shoot them to tchthoughtbox@gmail.com.
Or just shoot us an email to let us know how we're doing. Tips for redesigning, topic ideas, what have you. We love getting mail!

Have a great school year!

Leaping Lizard

The Paradox of God

"[The Lord said,] 'Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?'"

Job 38:2

     God (the Father in particular, even more than the other parts of the Trinity) is an incredibly complex person, being and power. One that is incredibly hard to understand. Even impossible to some degree. The reason for this? God's nature and plans can be wrapped up in the idea of a paradox. A Paradox is a statement that can't logical be explained as true or false, or two things that are in apparent contradiction to each other, but coexist. For example, a common paradox is the statement; "This statement is false." By saying that the statement, we can say that the statement is true. But, if the statement is true, then it must be false. Pretty mind-boggling. Science fiction, especially when dealing with time travel, is rank with outrageous paradoxes.

      But God and His nature are not the stuff of science fiction. They are very real and important questions that need to be resolved. I am going to start off by saying, that the very nature of these questions makes them impossible to answer. These are not "either/or" questions, they are "how is this 'and'?" questions. I'm going to touch on the two biggest paradoxes. God created us in His image with free will, but ultimately has "destined us," and finally, God is repeatedly lauded for His Love, but we are warned of his continual Wrath. This might get a little messy, so hang in there.

      I'll start with the paradox of God's Love and Wrath. In Romans 17:19, we are commanded to "not avenge [ourselves], but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,' says the Lord." God's Wrath is so strong, that He reserves the right of vengeance for Himself. On the other hand, in Romans 5:8, we see that God's love is so great that He sent His Son to die for us, before we were redeemed from the sin that brought His wrath upon us.
     God is shown to be full of Wrath, but also of Love. How do these two seemingly contradictory traits coexist in the same being? First, the very two traits are incredibly complex, so much so that there are entire chapters devoted to explaining Love. Our understanding of Wrath is equally limited. God's Wrath has the power to destroy entire cities (Sodom and Gomorrah) and even all life on the face of the earth (the Flood). God's Love has the power to save the worst of sinners (myself for one) and sacrifice His son (who is also a part of Himself on a level I don't have time or skill to adequately explain) for creatures that actively fight against Him. These two traits seem completely contradictory, but they are both extremely important parts of God's character. How can we reconcile these 'opposing' attributes? First, God's Wrath and Love are both extensions of and influncers on His character trait of Justice. Justice is behaving in a way that is morally right. Both Wrath and Love are morally right behaviors, we deserve unrelenting punishment for our sins, but God's Love is equally right. His Love is what enables His wrath. Good parents will punish their children because they love them, in order to make them able to live good and fulfilling lives. God, the Father, is the epitome of a perfect parent. He bestows His Wrath because He Loves us, even in our sinful state.
      Now a question with bigger contention. How can we be created in God's image, and have Free Will (allowing salvation as outlined in Romans 10:9-10), but still be under the control of God's Will (Ephesians 1:5 for example)? How does God orchestrate our Freedom and His Sovereignty? I am not going to offer an answer, and I would ask that the comments not erupt into a Calvinism-Arminianism debate (for why, see an excellent post that a really good friend of mine made on the subject of that debate HERE), but I am going to offer an idea. That both are right and both are wrong. Scripture doesn't explicitly say that God wrote the history of the world before the foundations of the earth, but rather He knew it. That isn't to say that He couldn't, but rather He didn't. Indeed, we see throughout the Proverbs in particular that in order to live our lives in the best way possible, and in spite of our best intentions at times, we need or will follow God's plans. But on the other side of the token, Scripture also tells us that salvation "stands at the door and knocks." God doesn't force the door, or lock it so we can't open it to the gift of salvation. This is truly a paradox. We cannot have the freedom that we see in Scripture, while God still maintains complete omnipotence. But we do.
      How do we rectify this paradox? There is no easy answer. Philosophers and Theologians have been tearing this issue to pieces for millennia. Scripture, I believe, is as clear as our minds can comprehend it to be. My Dad did have some words of advice for me after I read John Piper's The Pleasures of God (which had two chapters on this topic, that were much less than helpful in my pursuit of understanding in this topic). He said that there are two aspects to salvation: our 'work' and acceptance and God's work and gift. While the exact balance between these are incredibly hard to figure out, he pointed out that without the gift, regardless of how influential we are in accepting it, whatever free will we have would be pointless. God's infinite grace needs to be at the forefront of any discussions on any topic, especially one so hard to understand as our role in salvation.

Leaping Lizard

The Holy Spirit: It or He?

"… in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit."

Matthew 28:19

The Holy Spirit is often thought of as just the force or power of God at work in the world, merely His voice, or an influence. But the Holy Spirit is a person, one of the three Persons in the Trinity. And many verses affirm His person. (Note: when I say “person,” I am not referring to a human being, but to a living being rather than a force or energy.)

            Firstly, the Holy Spirit is a person because He is referred to as just that: “He.” John 14:26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things…” (emphases added). John 15:26, “…the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me” (emphases added). John 16:13-14, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (emphases added). These verses use the masculine pronoun “he” (Greek ekeinos) instead of the neuter pronoun ekeino, which would grammatically fit the neuter “spirit” in the Greek language. The Holy Spirit was specifically called a person, not a thing.

            Secondly, the Holy Spirit is a person because He has personality. He thinks (1 Corinthians 2:10), He loves (Romans 15:30), He can be grieved (Ephesians 4:30), He wills things (1 Corinthians 12:11), He teaches (1 Corinthians 2:13), He forbids (Acts 16:6-7), He intercedes (Romans 8:26-27), He guides (Romans 8:14), and He speaks (Acts 8:29; 13:2), to name a few qualities of His person. Also, the word “comforter” or “counselor” (Greek Parakletos) used in John 14:16, 26; 15:26; and 16:7 is a term which speaks of a person who helps or gives counsel to another person.

            Thirdly, the Holy Spirit is a person because if He was merely the power of God (if you allow me to refer to the almighty power of God as “mere”), a number of passages would not make sense. Take Luke 4:14: “Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee.” If the Spirit is simply God’s power, the passage would read, “Jesus returned in the power of the power of God into Galilee,” and that just doesn't make sense. Neither would Romans 15:13. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope,” would translate, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the power of God you may abound in hope.” The same principle applies to Acts 10:38 and 1 Corinthians 2:4.

So the Holy Spirit is a person and not just the power of God. His person can take different shapes and appear to man in different ways, like the tongues of flame in Acts 2:2-4, or a dove in Luke 3:22. And like Jesus is the Son of God and yet fully God, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God and fully God. And although He is not always the first Person to come to mind when one thinks of God, He is nevertheless equal in the Trinity (Acts 5:3,4). All three relate to each other differently and have different roles regarding the world, but all are equal in power and glory.

            I can sincerely affirm the words of Rev. Charles Spurgeon when he said, “But when I come to deal with the Holy Ghost, his operations are so mysterious, his doings are so secret, his acts are so removed from everything that is of sense, and of the body, that I cannot so easily get the idea of his being a person; but a person he is.”

A. W. Tozer put it this way, “Spell this out in capital letters: THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A PERSON. He is not enthusiasm. He is not courage. He is not energy. He is not the personification of all good qualities, like Jack Frost is the personification of cold weather. Actually, the Holy Spirit is not the personification of anything... He has individuality. He is one being and not another. He has will and intelligence. He has hearing. He has knowledge and sympathy and ability to love and see and think. He can hear, speak, desire, grieve and rejoice. He is a Person.”

Klipsie

Sources:

Bible Doctrine by Wayne Grudem

Why I'm Not Sold Out On "Radical"

     I’m not Sold Out on Radical. What I mean is I am not an adherent to the philosophy that Christians are not fulfilling the Great Commission if they never have their lives threatened and have never gone to a foreign country to spread the gospel. I am not an adherent the idea that modern American Christians must live ascetic lifestyles in order to be fully in Christ.

     What does this pertain the word "Radical?" The book Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream by David Platt has sold over 750,000 copies since 2010. The advertised synopsis emphasizes the idea that American Christians have become too comfortable as they pursue the American Dream. This idea, which I whole-heartedly agree with, does not result in the applications I have found to be scriptural. The majority of the book is a case study of Platt’s life experiences as a globe-trotting missionary/pastor of a mega-church with a weekly attendance of over 4,300 (as of 2006). The applications he gleans from his experiences are often extremely insightful and should definitely be taken to heart, but problems arise from the universal nature of his charges and challenges.

     All Christians are not called into full time ministry (being defined as your occupation: be it pastor, elder, foreign residential missionary, minister… what have you). All Christians aren’t even called to leave the country. The part of the Great Commission directing people to go to all the nations was a church directive, not an individual’s directive. Every Christian will bear Christ’s image (the Great Commission is not only a command, but a prophecy), but the where and how is determined best by the calling God has given every individual. The idea that if one doesn’t go to China or the Middle East and have their lives threatened is not scriptural. But neither is the idea that we can sit at home, watch TV and eat Doritos all day and have a healthy spiritual life. Each Christian has a different calling. David Platt obviously has been blessed with a tremendous passion and the skills necessary to be an incredible proselytizer, but on the other side of the token a man like David Nobel is not called to be a proselytizer, he is called to be a teacher and to minister to the spiritual development of those already saved, and he also has an incredible influence in that area. There is no "ideal" Christian. Paul (the epitome of spiritual leadership, both in the spreading of the gospel and the support of Christians), under the influence of the Holy Spirit, says that “[Christ] gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.” Christians don’t have a picture of what a "perfect Christian" looks like (in terms of vocation) because we are all blessed with different callings and skills that are harmful when used improperly.

     So, my biggest beef with Radical is not his call to stop settling for the mediocre Americanized version of Christianity, which I completely agree is something that needs to change, but rather his universal applications of his personal calling. A woman in Christ who is called to be a mother and “train up a child in the way he should go” loses all capability to follow her calling (or feels extremely guilty doing so) if Platt is right in his assumption that all Christians are to live "Radically."

     I am going to stick this passage (1 Corinthians 12:12-30) on the end, because I believe that frequently we desire to be the hand, instead of the arm, or the foot instead of the eye, or the mouth instead of the ear. We all have specific purposes in the Body of Christ. We are not all of one type, but a myriad of types and giftings specifically orchestrated to serve the Body in the best way possible.

     12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.

     15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? 18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. 19 And if they were all one member, where would the body be?

     20 But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. 21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. 23 And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, 24 but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it,25 that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

     ²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. ²⁸ And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. ²⁹ Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? ³⁰ Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?

Leaping Lizard