Essence Of God

God the Spirit
THE ESSENCE OF GOD

The essence of God is a subject in any discussion about the essential nature of God. This holds true whether one is talking about God the Father, God the Son, or God the Spirit. Whether one is speaking of God in totality or God in Personhood, one does not dismiss the fact that the one God is the subject.

There are difficulties. First, the concept of God seems illusive. One’s five senses (touch, taste, sight, smell, and hearing) tend to associate reality with merely material substance. Therefore, the very mention of spirit raises ambiguities. However, if “God talk” is to occur, one must think and speak objectively of whether one is speaking of God the Father, God the Son, or God the Spirit. The humanity of Jesus is no exception. Jesus was very human and very God.

Second, one tends to discuss or explain things in terms of analogy. In analogy, there is drawn a resemblance in some particulars between things otherwise unlike. For example, “The end of the world will be like a raging inferno.” However, one is on a razor-thin edge when analogic language is used to discuss God. Analogies tend to break down at best; they are often defective or misleading at worst. One should proceed very cautiously. Specifically, there is no dissimilarity in the essence of God. God is one (Deuteronomy 6:4). He is absolutely one in essence – that is, spirit (pneuma).

However, much to the chargin, astonishment, and disbelief of many people in the world, Biblical Christianity affirms a God Who is one in essence and three in Persons. If one thinks about God in terms of essence (spirit), one finds analogies may be awkward and unfitting because there is nothing dissimilar about the essence of God in the Persons of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.

However, one may speak cautiously in analogic language when discussing the Persons of God. Why? Unlike the essence of God, which has no dissimilarity within the Persons of the Trinity, the Persons of God do have dissimilarities because of their relationships within the Godhead. For example: God the Father has always been Father; God the Son has always been Son; God the Spirit has always been Spirit. There never was, even in eternity, a “time” when the Father was without the Son or became the Son. Neither has the Son ever been without the Father or become the Father. Likewise, the Person of the eternal Holy Spirit has never been without the Father and the Son. Neither has the Person of the Holy Spirit ever been the Father or the Son.

Within the Trinity there is an absolute oneness of essence (spirit). Within the Trinity there are three distinct Persons. One may speak of God as one in spirit and three in the Persons of the Holy Father, Holy Son, and Holy Spirit.

Distinctiveness of Persons within the Godhead: Analogies are fragile tools when used in a discussion about God. This is true for more than one reason. When one uses an analogy correctly, one draws a resemblance in some particulars between things otherwise unlike. However, with reference to God, figures of speech should serve to draw a distinction in some particulars between things otherwise alike. God, “in His particulars,” is overwhelmingly “alike.” This is to say that the “oneness” of God shapes the nature of His activity in the cosmos. Thus there is beauty and symmetry displayed in the universe. However, this activity of “oneness” (harmony, unity, etc.) flows from the distinct Persons in the Godhead as They work together in full synchronization.

There is another reason why analogies applied to God fall short. Analogies are ordinarily drawn from personal experience for the purpose of clarifying or describing to others what is already known. For example: One may say to a friend who was not able to attend the opera, “She sang the arias like a nightingale.” Or often the old adage is heard: “Like father, like son.” These statements are clear because the metaphors involved are understood. The aria and the nightingale are familiar. One knows the father and the son. One also knows the nightingale is separate from the singer and the son is separate from the father. And that is precisely where the analogy cracks when applied to God.

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit are distinct as Persons, but They are never separate. This is that for which there is no human analogy. In human terms, analogies demand separation. In the phrase “like father, like son” there is a male who is a father. A male must be a son. Father and son must stand separate. However, the Trinity consists of three distinct but inseparable Persons.

What is meant by this? How can one be so sure of what lies beyond human data? One can only know about God to the extent He has revealed Himself. He has revealed Himself in creation (nature) and history (mighty acts). He is revealed in His Living Word (Jesus) and the written Word (Scripture). These sources unfold all one needs to know about God, although He has never completely revealed His total Being. So how is the conclusion that there are three distinct Persons in the Godhead reached? This logical conclusion is deducted from the Scriptures (Bible). One needs to keep in mind that knowledge gained through process of legitimate deduction is neither inferior nor inadequate. For example: many jury verdicts are reached on the basis of deduction from circumstantial evidence so powerful and convincing that it leaves no reasonable doubt.

It seems rather obvious that distinctiveness of persons is required in those statements of Scripture where people are called by different names. For example: In the letter Paul wrote to the Philippian Christians he said, “I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord” (Philippians 4:2). No one would seriously insist that Euodia and Syntyche are different names for the same person! In the letter of Philemon, Paul addressed Philemon, Apphia, and Archippus (Philemon 1, 2). Did Paul greet only one person under the guise of three different names? Hardly!

The same principle obviously holds true when the Persons of the Godhead are referred to by different names in the same context. Notice Paul’s statement to the Christians at Corinth: “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22). Here are three distinct Persons called by distinct names. Each Person is filling a vital role in the great plan of redemption. The Person of God establishes, anoints, and seals. He is doing this through the Persons of Christ and the Spirit.

Note the work of the Trinity for humanity's salvation. God the Father chooses, Christ the Son sacrifices, and God the Spirit sanctifies (1 Peter 1:1-2). Although the totality of God is involved in our salvation, each Person in the Godhead fills a vital place. In this connection there are three Persons at work – not one Person under the guise of three names.

An objection is raised often in Trinitarian discussions. It goes like this: If God is spirit, why is He referred to as a Person? Particularly, how is it possible to speak of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit as Persons?

To begin, we remember that the Scriptures refer to the Father as God (Philippians 2:11), the Son as God (John 20:28), and the Spirit as God (Acts 5:3-4). Therefore, these terms have a direct, biblical, base. They carry correct concepts. It is certainly correct to think and speak of God as Father, Son, and Spirit. We are also correct in referring to the Father, Son, and Spirit as Persons. This is correct because it is the logical deduction derived from a study of the Bible.

Another reason why we may speak of the Father, Son, and Spirit as Persons is because they are found expressing themselves in ways that identify with persons. Examples are manifold. The heavenly Father gives good gifts (James 1:17). He is concerned about our welfare (1 Peter 5:7). The Son is compassionate (Luke 7:13). He may become angry (Luke 3:5). The Spirit may be grieved (Ephesians 4:30). He may be quenched (1 Thessalonians 5:19). We identify these kinds of characteristics with ourselves. By analogy, one sees the Father and Son as Persons. However, analogies have very thin edges when drawn between God and humanity. One needs to remember the Bible teaches that we are made in God's image (Genesis 1:27), not vice versa.

We read that God the Father and God the Son exhibit traits that are reflected in human fathers and sons, whom we call persons. We cautiously conclude that as persons made in God’s image according to His likeness we testify, at least in part, to His Fatherhood and Sonship. Therefore, by analogy, the conclusion is that the word Person is appropriate when applied to the Father and the Son. But what of the Spirit – after all, we are studying God the Spirit. We have already stated that the one God is spirit. This is the very essence of Him known as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. Since spirit is the essence of one God in three Persons who are inseparable, this means that spirit is the essence of the Trinity of Persons. There are no human analogies here.

Therefore, how may one speak of the Spirit as a Person? Please note that up to this point the word “spirit” (pneuma) has been designated without capitalization. On the other hand, when reference has been to the Person of God the Spirit, it has been capitalized. This technique is used to clarify all references to God as spirit or as the Spirit, Whose essence is spirit. One of the Persons is the Spirit, and all three Persons are one in essence (spirit; pneuma). This means there is a distinction between spirit and the Spirit. It is the difference between spirit as the essence of the one God and the Spirit as one of the three Persons of the Trinity.

Back to the question: “How may one speak of the Spirit as a Person?” Analogy may be cautiously used when speaking of God the Father and God the Son as Persons. We can conceptualize those Persons with reference to fathers and sons as human beings created in God’s image. Also, God the Father and God the Son often express themselves in ways that human fathers and sons express themselves. However, analogical relationships break down when one considers God the Spirit as a Person. Fathers are known as persons. Sons are known as persons. But human analogy is lacking for God the Spirit as Person.

We do not call God the Spirit a Person on the basis of analogy, but on the basis of extension. Examples will illustrate. In the New Testament God the Spirit, God the Son, and God the Father are found together in intimate and significant ways. Paul wrote to the Galatian Christians: “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Galatians 4:6). In another place Paul wrote: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14). Scripture also says: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit …” (Matthew 28:19).

This close proximity in strategic ways of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in these passages sends a strong implication that cannot be logically resisted. In the Trinity the Father and the Son are called Persons by analogy; the Spirit is called Person by extension. That is, the three are pictured on a par. Father and Son are called Persons. The Spirit, being equal in the same divine company, is the same sort of Being, or Person. Therefore, the Holy Trinity is the Person of God the Holy Father, the Person of God the Holy Son, and the Person of God the Holy Spirit, all of the essence of spirit (pneuma).

Explaining the Trinity: A Frontline Battle Early Struggles: Many of us, especially in the Christian sector of the Western world, are accustomed to seeing a complete Bible on our coffee table or library shelf. We open it for private reading. We use it to guide our thinking in family devotions. We tuck it under our arm and take it to Bible study and worship on Sunday.

For us, the Word of God is that upon which our faith is based (Romans 10:17). The sacred Scripture is our guide, teacher, trainer, corrector, and encourager. When followed in an obedience of faith, it equips us for salvation and a life of service for God. It has this capability because it is God’s Word. He inspired it (2 Timothy 2:14, 17). We cherish the Bible. We say with the Psalmist, “Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). It is difficult for us to realize that the Bible, as we know it, took its shape over a long period of time. A detailed study about the Bible will be the challenge we face. However, a few remarks are needed here to help focus the present topic.

The New Testament was not completed in written form until near the end of the first century A.D. The apostle John probably did all his writing in the last decade of the century. Among his last words of the Revelation letter, and thus the New Testament, are these: “I testify to everyone who hears the words of prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of this prophecy, God, shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.”

Although this solemn warning applies primarily to the Revelation letter, its strategic location at the end of the Bible emphasized the finality of the same theme that had been imbedded in Scripture from early times (Deuteronomy 4:1, 2; 5:32-33; Proverbs 30:5, 6, etc.).

The completion of the Holy Scriptures is one story; the canonization of the Scriptures is quite another. The long era between those two events was filled with many turbulent developments. The present focus has to do with the early struggles over the “problem” of the Trinity that occurred during these times.

The church came into being and grew rapidly in a very hostile world. Persecutions against the very early Christians came from Jewish sources (Acts 4:1-23; 5:17-40; 6:8-7: 60; 8:1-3; 9:1-2, 23, 24, 29-30; 12:1-4, etc.). However, from about the middle of that first century, or certainly by Nero's time, Roman authorities began to realize that these “Messianic ones” (Christians, Acts 11:26) were distinct from those who practiced traditional Judaism. Therefore, their existence was illegal – in contrast to Judaism. This brought on Roman opposition, suppression, and many other forms of persecution as the decades passed.

In this hostile climate, vicious rumors containing drastic charges were brought against Christians. This motivated the masses to hold Christians in contempt and mistreat them verbally and physically. The populace railed against Christians for worshiping a god they called “a crucified ass.” They were accused of cannibalism, incest, sensuous banquets, and many other things. More reasoned pagan writers were no less contemptuous. They were quick to point out that Christianity was a “lower-class” phenomenon. They said its teachers were of no esteem in society and therefore had their greatest influence among the lower class and slaves. Christians were also viewed as being atheists because they would not honor Caesar as divine. They were accused of teaching absurd doctrines such as the resurrection from the dead from self- contradictory writings.

The world in which early Christians lived and flourished is scarcely conceivable to most of us. The opposition, ridicule, and persecution came from every quarter. How did they respond? Two specific responses are germane for our attempt to examine the emerging Trinity dialogue. First, it is obvious from the literature of the period under study that the Christians responded to the hostile opposition of the masses by living exemplary lives before them. The following lengthy quotation is by an unknown author from a document believed to be from the historical period under consideration. It is titled, The Epistle to Diognetus: “They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those Who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.”

The second response came from Christian leaders, often referred to as “patristic apologists.” They answered the formal literary attacks of their pagan opponents. One of the many themes found in these sources is the Trinity. Athenagoras answered the charges of atheism. He wrote a treatise which dates from about 177 A.D. It is obvious from the following quotation that his refutation of the charge of atheism was built upon a trinitarian concept of God, although the word “trinity” had not yet been coined to express this concept. The treatise is titled: A Plea for the Christians: “But the Son of God is the Logos of the Father, in idea and in operation; for after the pattern of Him and by Him were all things made, the Father and the Son being one. And, the Son being in the Father and the Father in the Son, in oneness and power of spirit, the understanding and reason (nous kai logos) of the Father is the Son of God. But if, in your surpassing intelligence, it occurs to you to inquire what is meant by the Son, I will state briefly that He is the first product of the Father, not as having been brought into existence (for from the beginning, God, who is the eternal mind [nous], had the Logos in Himself, being from eternity instinct with Logos [logikos] . . . The Holy Spirit Himself also, which operates in the prophets, we assert to be an effluence of God, flowing from Him . . . Who, then, would not be astonished to hear men who speak of God the Father, and of God the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and who declare both their power in union and their distinction in order, called atheists?”