- And the faith is this: that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Essence. For there is one Person of the Father; another of the Son; and another of the Holy Ghost.
- But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one; the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal.
- Such as the Father is; such is the Son; and such is the Holy Ghost.
- The Father uncreated; the Son uncreated; and the Holy Ghost uncreated.
- The Father unlimited; the Son unlimited; and the Holy Ghost unlimited.
- The Father eternal; the Son eternal; and the Holy Ghost eternal.
- And yet they are not three eternals; but one eternal. As also there are not three uncreated; nor three infinites, but one uncreated; and one infinite.
- So likewise the Father is Almighty; the Son Almighty; and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not three Almighties; but one Almighty.
- So the Father is God; the Son is God; and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not three Gods; but one God.
- So likewise the Father is Lord; the Son Lord; and the Holy Ghost Lord.
And yet not three Lords; but one Lord. - For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity; to acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord; So are we forbidden by the catholic religion; to say, There are three Gods, or three Lords.
- The Father is made of none; neither created, nor begotten.
- The Son is of the Father alone; not made, nor created; but begotten.
- The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten; but proceeding.
- So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.
- And in this Trinity none is before, or after another; none is greater, or less than another. But the whole three Persons are coeternal, and coequal. So that in all things, as aforesaid; the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity, is to be worshipped.
- He therefore that will be saved, let him thus think of the Trinity.
I am including the first 17 lines of the Athanasian Creed to spare the reader the trouble of looking it up, especially as I intend to refer back to it in future posts. It was created to address the spreading heresy of Arianism which explicitly denied the deity of Jesus Christ. If you are looking for an effective devotional exercise, you could do a lot worse than meditating on any one of the 17 verses quoted above. It may needlessly pedantic, but every word is there for a reason.
Years ago, when “The Shack” was first released, there was widespread criticism of the portrayal of the Father as a black woman. There were a lot of other criticisms of it, most of which missed the point entirely. One thing that I found disturbing was reading many criticisms, some by pastors and theologians, who took issue with the portrayal of the relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as being so egalitarian and “familiar”. I find that there is a growing body of believers who think that the Trinity is some kind of Divine corporation. They speak of the Father as the CEO who determines what goes on in the universe. The Son is His servant, and the Holy spirit is the power by which the Son acts. I hear the same language used when Christians talk about their relationship to God the Father. They talk about serving God, being faithful to God, and of treating Him with the proper respect. Somehow we have come to think of God the Father as a human monarch, who keeps Himself at a distance, and from whom the most we can hope for is to hear Him say “well done, good and faithful servant.”
This is arrant nonsense which borders on heresy. Dealing with the issue of the “familiar” portrayal of the Trinity, look at verse 16 of the creed: “in this Trinity none is before, or after another; none is greater, or less than another” You can not imagine or teach the Trinity as a hierarchy without doing violence to the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith. The relationship of the members of the Trinity is characterized by mutual humility and mutual generosity, in which all three empty the fullness of who they are onto one another, holding nothing back for themselves. In John 5:22-23 and John 3:35, Jesus explains that the Father has taken everything that is His and given it unreservedly to His Son. In the same way, Jesus does not hoard this treasure for himself, but uses it to bring glory to the Father. In Jesus’ mind, the Father is not a superior or a competitor. He is not a source of power or authority. In Jesus’s mind, He and the Father are one and the same.
This is the relationship to which all who are born again have been invited to participate. We do not participate as servants, but as lovers who humbly receive our lives as a Gift of the Father the way that Jesus did [John 6:56], offering our lives to Him and to one another in the same way. Jesus makes this explicit in John 15:15: “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” Jesus raises the stakes in John 17:21 when he prays “that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”
If we are in the Trinity in the way that Jesus is in the Father, then we are enfolded in a perfectly generous and humble love that wants nothing more than the removal of all barriers to intimacy. The Father is not concerned with respect or devotion. The Father is not distancing Himself from us at all. Instead, He is striving at every moment to enfold us in an intimate, life-giving embrace. The question we need to be asking ourselves is why we have spent our time devising and spreading elaborate theologies that justify our refusal to let Him embrace us.