A Truth Beyond our Imagination
Mankind has both a marvelous imagination and an astounding inventiveness. Think of the wheel, the printing press, the telephone and the internet. Or consider Ra, the sun god of Egypt, Baal, the storm god of Philistia, Ganesha, the elephant god of India, Allah, the god of Islam or mother nature–the god of many environmentalists. What a minute, these are examples of human imagination gone wild!
Imagination is fine when it inspires art or even leads scientists on a quest to discover some new truth. But No scientist abandons belief in the basic laws of mathematics and physics in their quest for a new discovery. They may probe deeper into reality and come up with the speed of light or the secret of pi or quantum physics. There are always aspects of reality beyond our current understanding.
But in our search for God there are certain truths He has revealed about Himself which, if we deny we venture into wild speculation that is not rooted in reality. Fundamentally, we begin our search by asserting that there is only one God. “The LORD is God; besides him there is no other” (Deut. 4:36). This reality is stated as the second of the ten commandments. “You shall have no other gods before me” (Deut. 5:7). Paul explains, “We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one” (1 Cor 8:4).
Besides the uniqueness of the LORD God which we considered in other blogs, the oneness of God requires us to think of his unity as stated in the Hebrew Shema. “Hear O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Deut. 6:4).
Ever since we used blocks to make a toy house or put Lego together, we understand that everything is composed of parts. Our bodies are made up of cells. Even apparently solid metals are composed of molecules. The atmosphere is composed of various gases including oxygen and carbon dioxide. But when we consider the oneness of God we face something completely beyond all experience. There are no parts, no division within God.
We’ve been considering the attributes of God. But we must not think that God is composed of wisdom plus holiness plus justice plus goodness, etc. These are not parts of who God is but qualities of his entire unified being. God is one, undivided.
We may think that God has at least three parts, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But no, God is one undivided being. Yes, there are three persons, but they are one. The Father is infinite. The Son of God is infinite. The Spirit is infinite. Yet there are not three infinites but one undivided infinite essence.
We affirm this because Scripture demands we do so. Jesus said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). This declaration was also affirmed in all of Jesus I AM statements and led the Jews to crucify him. “I am the bread of life…I AM the living water…I AM the light of the world” etc. By these declarations, Jesus was declaring that the Shema applied to him.
This is, of course, beyond our experience and beyond our comprehension. We cannot conceive of a being that exists as three persons and yet these three have one undivided essence. We should not be surprised. God in His essence and being is totally beyond anything comparable in the universe. Any consideration of God is a venture into mystery. Theologians have pondered these mysteries for 2000 years.
We’ll ponder ruther the mystery of the Trinity in next post. To keep us from the heresy of Unitarianism on one side and tri-theism on the other we would be wise to heed the Athanasian Creed which states; We must neither divide the essence nor confuse the persons.
All of us have gone to some school or university. I wonder what learning will be like in heaven? We have a lot to learn. (Let me know your thoughts on this subject. If you appreciate this blog, please pass it on. Further articles, books, and stories at: http://www.countrywindow.ca Facebook: Eric E Wright Twitter: @EricEWright1 LinkedIn: Eric Wright ––)
