trinity – Authentic Hope for Answers

One of the problems for faith is that God is not something or someone that you can see: he is Spirit, which means he is invisible. How can you prove the existence of someone who is invisible?

In the first 18 verses of the Gospel of John chapter 1, a biblical passage that is often read at Christmas time, an answer is given to this issue. Later in the Gospel (chapter 4.24) Jesus himself teaches that “God is spirit”, so Christianity does not try to hide the fact that God cannot be physically seen.
Indeed, John 1 verse 18 acknowledges that “No one has ever seen God”, but the apostle goes on to bring a clarification that is absolutely mind-boggling: “the only-begotten God, [i.e. Jesus] who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known”. The more modern New Living Translation renders this as: “the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us”. Let’s unpack that profound sentence.

The verb “beget” signifies the fathering of a child. The mother “gives birth”, and the father begets. The biblical expression “only-begotten” implies the unique communicating of divine life from the Father to the Son, Jesus. So Jesus teaches in John 5.26, “As the Father has life in himself” [i.e. divine life], “so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself”. This is unique to Jesus – the “only-begotten Son”. He uses this word himself in John 3.16: “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”.

So the “only-begotten God” is Jesus: he has made God the Father known. This is a major truth. The vital fact here stated is that: “Jesus has revealed God to us”. The word “revealed” brings us to a completely different level of reflexion on this difficult search for God. We have our ideas, (both small and confused and often far from correct) about God. But if God reveals himself – if the invisible becomes visible – we can have meaningful access to truth about him. This is indispensable if we are ever to know God. And this was one of Jesus’ essential roles in coming into the world.

Though we cannot see God in this life, he has shown himself in Jesus. That’s why Jesus could say, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14.9). In his sinless life of love, holiness, and compassion, Jesus showed forth the very nature of God. He lived among people who could realise that he was indeed “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1.15).

As we study the life of Jesus in the Gospels, we see God in human form. Or as Charles Wesley put it poetically: “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see / Hail the incarnate Deity / Pleased as man with man to dwell / Jesus our Emmanuel”. The biblical word Emmanuel means “God with us” (Matthew 1.23). That is who Jesus was – a totally unique incarnation of God. That’s why Christmas resonates with amazement and worship. For the only time in History, God entered the world as a small baby boy who grew up to live a sinless life, to teach about God as his Father, to do miraculous deeds, and when rejected and crucified, he rose triumphant from the dead and was seen and heard for forty days by hundreds of people before returning to heaven.

Nothing like that has ever happened elsewhere. God has revealed himself through Jesus. We do well to pay attention to his revelation.

Clive Every-Clayton

What contributes most to human happiness? Surely loving relationships must come high, if not first, on the list. Of course, good health, sufficient finances, and a decent place to live contribute a lot to our happiness. But the Good Book says, “Better is a poor meal where love is than a great feast with hatred” (c.f. Proverbs 15.17). To experience true love is joy of a deep kind that seriously boosts our level of happiness.

The search for true love is therefore a big part of our existential quest, for human relationships can be the source of great pleasure if they are good; however, they can be the cause of much pain if they are bad. Either way, they are an intricate part of everyone’s existence and the object of the deepest human longing.

The first difficulty, of course, is finding that special someone to love. But even when he or she is found, the next difficulty is putting up with their negative traits! The problem is that whoever we love, they are never 100% good, kind, loving, faithful, truthful etc. all the time. Not only that, they see and criticise our faults too!

What the human heart really yearns for is to find a perfect partner with whom we could enjoy a deep and lasting relationship of mutual love. Have you ever wondered why we so long for that? It is certainly not because we have evolved to want to pass on our genes to the next generation: such a ridiculous suggestion demeans our human nature and debases the whole concept of love. No: rather, our passion for love issues from our having been created in the likeness of a God of passionate love.

Why does Christianity alone declare that “God is love” (1 John 4.8)? Because it reveals a Triune Godhead where Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have existed forever in a relationship of love. Jesus said that the Father loves the Son and that he loves the Father; and the Spirit of God sheds abroad God’s divine love in the hearts of believers (John 5.20, 14.31, Romans 5.5). So love is of the very essence of God. He did not need to create in order to have someone to love; the love within the persons of the divine Trinity was totally fulfilling. He created humans capable of love so that he might have the pleasure of loving them and receiving love from them. This is one of the key reasons for our existence – we are designed so as to enjoy a loving relationship with God. If we do not experience that we suffer dysfunction!

Not that God is against human love: he grants us also the relative joy of loving human relationships. Having created Adam, he insisted it was not good for him to be alone, because he was a loving person with no companion. So God instituted marriage and created Eve. Before they sinned, their relationship was a wondrous reflection of the loving relationship between the three persons of the Trinity. In that relationship, that first couple which was truly human like we are, was able to enjoy the gift of sexual union according to God’s intention and have a family, with a third little human to love and which would return their love. Thus the love of the Trinity would be even better reflected.

So love is so vital for us because we are image-bearers of a God of love. But full satisfaction in love can only come from a loving harmonious relationship with our loving Creator and saviour.

Clive Every-Clayton

Tag: trinity

God became visible

Relationships