Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.” John 14:9-10
We reflect today on the doctrine of Trinity, which presents three divine Persons in one undivided God. The Holy Scriptures clearly testifies to the oneness of God while at the same time identifying three divine personalities that constitute this One God. Speaking through Moses in Deuteronomy 6:4 God said to the Israelites, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one” and this position was confirmed by Jesus Christ in Mark 12:29 when answering the Scribe that wanted to know the greatest commandment. In Isaiah 45: 5 God also told the prophet, “I am the Lord, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me.” There are various other Scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments that testify to the oneness of God.
However, in the creation story, God showed the multiple personalities of the Godhead when He said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…” (Gen. 1: 26); Prophet Isaiah testified in Isaiah 6:8 “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ‘Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?’” and in Matthew 28:19 Jesus says “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name (not names) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”.
The Trinity doctrine explains the seeming confusion in having One God and yet three personalities. Rafique in “One True God” writes: ‘But someone might object and say, “How can that be? How can three be one?” This objection rises from the great error in trying to apply the rules of physics and mathematics to the Godhead. Herein lies the mistake and the cause of the perplexity. The Almighty God, who created nature and imposed on it rules of mathematics and other natural laws, is Himself not under such laws. We cannot, and should not, apply the laws of created material to spiritual issues.’ We often forget that God is Spirit (John 4:24).
Jesus’ disciples where confused when He told them in John 14:6-7 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” This confusion led Philip to ask Jesus to show them the Father despite Jesus clear statement that “If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him”. When we appreciate that Christ is God then we cannot compare Him with other beings that own their own religion or talk of getting to heaven without Him. Unfortunately many professed Christians, today still fail to see Jesus Christ as the incarnate Son of God the Father and the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. This lack of understanding has led many to doubt their position as heirs to the kingdom of God through Jesus Christ and consequently not seeing the need to preach or share the gospel to those that are not yet saved through the Blood of Jesus Christ. They believe that what is important is living ‘righteous’ lives forgetting that we do not have the capacity to live right except through the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
The fact remains that Christ is Lord and as Paul puts it in Ephesians 2:9-10 (NIV) “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.” When an Angel of the Lord visited Joseph when he was contemplating leaving Mary because of her virgin pregnancy, the Angel explained in Matthew 1:22-23, ‘All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” Jesus is God that came to live with us and He fulfilled all that the Scriptures said concerning Him. He told the disciples in John 16:23-24 23 “On that day you will ask nothing of me. Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete”. Before then He has told them in verse 7, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you”. The Advocate is the Third Person in the Holy Trinity, He proceeds from the Father and the Son and is our living teacher and Counsellor.
The question before us today and always is weather we really know Jesus Christ and the power that is in His name or we are still at the level of equating Him with people that came before or after Him. He is God and the one who holds the key to your destiny.
Have a peaceful week as you rest your confidence in the One who is the way, the truth and the life, Jesus Christ!
Your brother, Vicar & Archdeacon
S.Igein Isemede