Monday, June 4, 2007
Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!
THE TRIUNE GOD: INEXPLICABLY AUTHENTIC
Numerous times the Bible declares that false gods like Molech and Baal are not beings at all, but only statues (Psalm 115). They are the creations of men, not creators. Only the living God who reveals Himself in the pages of the Bible is real and alive.
In the Bible God describes Himself as being one God, but also having three distinct persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:16-17, 28:19). This is confusing to human minds because as far as humans go there's only one person per human. But God transcends this usual order of things. He is three persons, yet one God.
Some have criticized the teaching of the Trinity because it doesn't make logical sense to the human mind. In response, some have tried to explain the Trinity by comparing God's persons to something in nature. To date all comparisons fall short. There is simply nothing in this created world that is quite like the Trinity. Not three gods, but one God. Not three parts of God, but each person fully God.
The famous author C.S. Lewis didn't think that the unexplainable nature of the Trinity was a problem at all. He thought it made perfect sense. After all, why should God be easy to understand? If we are the created ones, and He is the Creator, shouldn't He be far more complex than our minds can grasp? Does the newborn child teach its parent? Does the computer understand its builder? Should it surprise us that some of the characteristics of the infinite God are beyond the grasp of our finite minds?
If the God we worship molded Himself to our preconceived ideas about Him, that would be a sign that we were creating Him, instead of Him revealing Himself to us. It seems to me that our inability to comprehend the nature of the God of the Bible is a sign that He's the real deal.
