Seriously, As Children

Last week I questioned why it took over 400 years of theological debate to agree on the Trinity. While studying and thinking about theology can easily find oneself chasing one’s tail, it seems clear to me that the presence of the Holy Spirit in the decade or two following the ascension of Christ presented the intellectual community with such an enormous problem with so many ramifications, even the brightest minds in the Roman Empire could not come to a common understanding of this new phenomena.

Jesus was born into the monotheistic culture of Judaism….one God. “I am the Lord your God…you shall have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:2). How does the Son become God, eternally with the Father. “Before Abraham was, I am” (Jn.8:53). “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn. 14:9b). Add to this startling development the presence of some mysterious force people were calling the Holy Spirit which enabled ordinary human believers to possess extra human powers.

One popular theory held that Jesus was not real, but rather God in a different mode, as was this mysterious force called the Spirit. This theology of “modalism” seemed consistent with the Judaic tradition of monotheism which testified to God’s appearance in human form (Gen. 18: 1-15; 32:24-30) and in spirit (1Kgs. 19: 11-18). There were many other theories of who or what Jesus was, including the influence of Greek philosophy that suggested that the highest form of wisdom and truth in the cosmos became incarnate in Jesus. In the end, a political decision of sorts was necessary to preserve a common community of church, with acknowledgement that God had indeed presented its Godself to humanity on earth in three distinct, separate and very real ‘persons’ of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Further, it was deemed apparent that these three ‘persons’ continued to be present among women and men who would accept their presence in faith.

And that is the nub of the matter, isn’t it? After all the intellectual thought and study, we are left with no rational deduction from knowledge gained….because all the combined knowledge of women and men is yet incapable of comprehending God. We must become like children (Mt. 18:3), born anew from above (Jn. 3:3).¹ Like children, in faith and trust, we throw ourselves into the arms of God, our loving parent; for the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit “that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ…”(Ro. 8:16-17). In all seriousness, then, we remain as children, knowing little and trusting greatly in faith.

1. It is perhaps worth mentioning that in John’s gospel, written in Greek, the word for being born again has a double meaning which does not translate. The Greek word ἄνωθεν (anothen) means both ‘again’ or ‘anew’ and ‘from above’. There is no Hebrew or Aramaic word with this double meaning. English translations that use one or the other meaning miss the full meaning of Jesus’ words to Nicodemus. For example, in the NRSV, the author uses “born from above” with a footnote “or born anew”. The verse should read (arguably) “born again from above” with a footnote “or born anew from above”. Source: Gail R. O’Day, Commentary on The Gospel of John.