So here’s a strange way to begin a blog post…
It is very important that we not become functional polytheists.
By that I mean we must remember that there is no division of nature within the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one in essence/nature (although three in person).
It is very important that we understand this, as many times we think of God’s saving love towards us in a way that makes us functional (as opposed to theological) polytheists.
Let’s unpack this. Many times we approach salvation theology—soteriology—by thinking the Father hates us, then Jesus comes along and calms Him down through His sacrifice, and then the Father starts to love us.
But no! That is a false dichotomy, created by us when we divide and separate the natures of the Father and the Son. That is an ancient heresy.
God is one—the Hebrew word is echad, and it denotes the idea of a compound unity. And because there is no shadow of turning in God (James 1:17), we know that all three persons of the Trinity think and feel the same way about us. So when we see Jesus doing and saying anything, that is a perfect reflection of the nature of the Father.
Jesus said,
Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise - John 5:19.
Now how does this relate to the cruciform nature (self-giving humility) of God which we discussed in the previous post? In Luke 12:37 Jesus told a parable about His servants being ready for His return. He told them (and thus tells us) that He will serve them (and us) in His Kingdom.
That is a scandalous thought.
God will serve us? Again, this testifies to the nature of God. Although He is the King of majesty and righteousness, the Lord of all creation and the God of the universe, He clothes Himself in humility.
Throughout the Scriptures, and especially the New Testament, we as Christians are exhorted to love one another and clothe ourselves in humility. Think of 1 Corinthians 13—this describes the nature of love. We know from 1 John that God is Love, and so 1 Corinthians 13 is a beautiful description of the nature of God.
Now if you’re anything like me you can tend to think of God the Father as a tyrant, angry, hard and austere, etc.
The Reformer, Martin Luther, was terrified of God the Father, thinking Him to be nothing but wrathful and a harsh judge. Luther had trouble fully understanding the concept that when we look upon Jesus we are looking upon the Father as well (Luther also imagined Christ being wrathful and angry, but that’s more for a Church history post).
But what about God’s continual exhortations throughout the Old Testament to observe and obey His commandments? Does this not make God a harsh lawgiver, only concerned with our obedience? Some have mistakenly made this characterization of our Lord, but as He is faithful to do, God has answered this question clearly in His Word.
Reading Deuteronomy chapters five and six, I was once again blown away by the goodness of God. Check out this verse. It’s verse 29 of chapter five:
Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever!”
Did you catch that? Why does God say He wants His people to obey Him? It’s not because God just arbitrarily wants us to obey Him because He is God and we are not (although that is absolutely true, and were that the reason it would still be more than sufficient—God is worthy of all obedience no matter His reasons). God wants us to obey Him, walk with Him, and keep His commandments because He wants it to go well with us!
He wants us to be blessed, and because He is good and loves us, He has placed certain parameters around our lives to keep us on the track of blessing. He knows what is good and bad for us and has given us commands to keep us on the track of blessing.
I have heard it said many times,
Sin is not bad because it’s forbidden. Sin is forbidden because it’s bad.
Reading those two chapters of Deuteronomy reminded me once again of God’s absolute goodness. He is for us! We see God’s character of love, humility, and servanthood on display all throughout the Old Testament. It almost sounds blasphemous to say that God has the character of a servant, but all of the Bible testifies to this. And again, Jesus is the complete, perfect, and final revelation of the Father (Hebrews 1:1-2). Jesus said of Himself,
…the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. - Matthew 20:28
So in these two chapters of Deuteronomy, as well as the above verse in Matthew, we see the revelation of the cruciform nature of God. Amazing.
In his song Love Comes Down, Matt Maher sings,
Oh glorious beyond all measure, bending low to wash His traitor's feet, people just like me.
Amen.