Saturday, May 26, 2018
TRACKING THE TRINITY IN HIS CREATION
Has the eternal God left His triune handprints for all to see? Let me suggest He has. A scientist might note the created space-mass-time continuum in which each separate component is nevertheless coexistent and coterminous with the whole. Likewise, the three Persons of the Trinity are coequal and coeternal. God is not part Father, part Son, and part Holy Spirit. Neither is His created universe independent parts. Take away one component and you have no universe as it is presently constituted. This handprint on His tri-universe suggests the truth that God Himself is triune.
Even closer to home, some might see the handprint of the Trinity in the tri-unity of man's mind, body, and soul. St. Augustine of Hippo was an acute tracker of God's handprints. He recognized "a trinity of sight...the form seen, the act of vision, and the mental attention which correlates the two. These three, though separable in theory, are inseparably present whenever we use our sight. Again, every thought is an inseparable trinity of memory, understanding, and will."
Author Dorothy L. Sayers opined (The Mind of the Maker) that every creative act of man "is threefold: an earthly trinity to match the heavenly." Speaking of her own profession, she identified 1) the 'Creative Idea,' beholding the whole work complete at once (the image of the Father). From the 'idea' comes 2) the 'Creative Activity,' working in time to complete the idea (the image of the Word). Also there is 3) the 'Creative Power,' giving meaning to the work and producing a response in readers (the image of the indwelling Spirit). "And these three are one, each equally in itself the whole work, whereof none can exist without the other: and this is the image of the Trinity."
Indeed, "the heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament is declaring the work of His hands" (Psalm 19:1). God's eternal handprints are about us for all to see. He wants to be found and known, especially in His saving Word which tells of Christ our Savior ("revealed knowledge"), but also in His awesome creation ("natural knowledge"). The search can be most exciting and the result graciously rewarding. Happy tracking!
-- From the "Lutheran Spokesman"
