In Making Sense of the Trinity, Erickson writes, “because one member
of the Trinity took human nature without ceasing to be fully divine, he became
a divine-human person, not merely a divine person. Certain limitations were
involved in this incarnation.”[1] However, there was
one part of Christ’s divinity that was not veiled in the incarnation; his very
nature, shared by the Father, Son and Spirit throughout eternity. Christ’s
attributes remained as they eternally had been. Referencing Malachi 3:6, “I,
the Lord, do not change” Hart writes, “whatever God was or will be, he always
has been… God never changes in his essence.”[2] This is why Jesus could accurately claim that “whoever has
seen me has seen the Father.”[3] It is the incarnate Christ’s perfect revelation of the
Father’s nature, because it is his own nature as well, that is the decisive
proof of his divinity. After the resurrection the Apostles would also encounter
this nature in the Holy Spirit whom Jesus had promised would be with them
forever[4] and who continues the work of revealing the Father as well
as the Son.
All three persons of
the Godhead share the same nature, which means that what can be said of one can
be said of all. God the Father is good, Jesus is good, the Spirit is good. God
the Father is holy, Jesus is holy, the Spirit is holy. At the heart of this
shared nature[5] is the divine attribute
that encompasses all others[6]
as John tells us; “God is love.”[7]
Once again, this divine concept of love is hard to comprehend
for human beings whose earthly experience of love has been less than perfect.
Even though our word ‘love’ may best characterize the relationship between
Father, Spirit and Son[8] it still falls short of accurately explaining what it is the members
of the Godhead experience between each other, and the taste of divine love we
can experience as believers. The Greek word used to describe this experience is
Agape which means “self-giving love.”[9] The relationship between the members of the Trinity is one totally
devoid of any selfish ambition but is an eternally continuous giving of self
between its members. It is a mystery worthy of our contemplation. This
is the experience Jesus prays that we would receive when he asks the Father to
make us one with himself in John 17. Christ
made this request on the eve of his crucifixion when he would provide the means
through which we could access this inner experience of oneness with God. As
humanity’s model for what relationship with God is supposed to be like, Jesus
did not merely give us an example to imitate, but gave his life to become the door
by which we can come to the Father and receive adoption into his family and “entry… into the inner life of God.”[10]
Each member of the Trinity has played their part in this act of redemption; the
Father by sending his Son, the Son by dying for our sins, and the Spirit as
“the vehicle through whom we enter God’s inner life.”[11]
[1]
Millard J. Erickson,
Making Sense of the Trinity: Three
Crucial Questions. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000). Kindle E-book,
page 623.
[2]
Hart, 80.
[3]
John 14:9, ESV.
[4]
John 14:16.
[5]
Hart, 100.
[6]
Grenz, 1253.
[7] I
John 4:8, 16. ESV.
[8]
Grenz 1246.
[9]
Oden, 70.
[10]
Bray, 50.
[11]
Bray, 51.
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