Lead:

If God’s Tri-unity is the basis of interpretation, where does that lead us in terms of unity?

Intro:

Every day, I feel stooopid. With extra Os.

The reason is because I hang out with brilliant theologians who are so much better than me.

But if I can take a moment to encourage myself, can I have permission to encourage you, too?

Theology means “study of God.” Or as I like to think about it, getting to know Him better because I love Him and want to hang out with Him. Kinda like when you love another person…you intentionally spend time getting to know them. Notice I didn’t say in love — it’s easy to do want to be with them then. I said love as in being intentional about focusing on them.

In the same way, we’re all philosophers, or at least, I assume so. Philosophy means “love of wisdom.”

Of course, maybe you don’t hang out with God in a way that tries to get to know Him. And I imagine that there are some people who don’t give a rip about wisdom.

But if you’re a Jesus-follower, it’s a given that He has called you to both love Him and wisdom.

Today we hit the midpoint in Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus. We’ve heard him express thanks that God gives us wisdom and unity, and this is through — and only through — the person and work of Jesus. Not just learning to practice His ways or spiritual disciplines, but being transformed by the power of the Spirit. Today we hear Paul wrap up section with a prayer, and then starts into what the outworking of unity in Him looks like.

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Bible:

Passage: Ephesians 3-4
Translation: LEB (Lexham English Bible)
Verses: 53
Words: ~1029

All Our Minds:

Notice how our growth into Christian unity includes both personal and interpersonal elements. And there’s a sense where this is both…for instance, for us to speak the truth in love is both a personal heart check, and it’s a way of relating to someone else.

So let’s tie this idea of personal and interpersonal back to what we were talking about yesterday — the idea that all interpretation begins with the very nature of God. Let me re-read what Prof Emerson said was point number one, the headwaters of it all:

1. Interpretation is grounded in metaphysics; in that regard, there is a divine taxis in the life of the Godhead - the Father is Eternally Unbegotten, the Son is Eternally Begotten of the Father, and the Spirit Eternally Proceeds from the Father and the Son.(1)

Remember a couple things: “Metaphysics” is the branch of philosophy that deals with first things. Since God is eternal and the Creator of the cosmos that had a beginning, God’s the grounding of how we approach interpretation. Second, you’ll remember that “taxis” is the systematic ordering of things, like when you studied “taxonomy” in biology.

So what’s this “eternally begotten” and “eternally proceeds” stuff?

I’m going to ask for your grace on this, not only because there are a lot better theologians than me, but because there is a serious risk of over-simplifying my explanation. And, due to time constraints, I’m not going to whip out a long list of Scripture references or explain the Trinity beyond the briefest reminder (nor the variations that are incorrect if not heretical).

God’s tri-unity is one essence in three persons. I presume you’re with me on that. “Father, Son, and Spirit are three eternal persons who equally share one infinite, undivided nature.”(2) A person is a “who,” while a nature is a “what,” and as Norm Geisler puts it, “No orthodox theologian denies that this is a mystery, but it is not a contradiction. While the Trinity may go beyond reason, it does not go against reason.”(3)

So when it comes to this language of “eternally begotten” and “eternally proceeds,” it’s important that they’re equal in essence, but do not have the same roles. And this doesn’t mean that one Person is subordinate to another in terms of their very being (the four dollar word of which is ontology) — they’re all equal. But it does mean, again citing Dr. Geisler, that there is a functional subordination, which means “not only does each member have a different function or role, but some functions are also subordinate to others.”(4) The Son is begotten of the Father, but is equal and eternal. The Spirit is sent from Father and Son, but is also equal and eternal.

So remember yesterday as I shared Emerson’s summary what this means for interpretation. And at risk of being too simplistic, I’ll summarize his summary:

Because all of creation is patterned after the Father’s son, all history and Scripture is governed by the Holy Spirit and centers on Jesus, historically, literarily, and theologically. Therefore to interpret a text is to understand its literal sense in a way that points to and is intricately connected to Jesus, the way we apply it, and the ultimate destiny of it so love God and others the way He calls us to.(5)

The bottom line

I hope that gives you a beautiful sense or image of how we are to pursue living in unity. We’re unified in Christ, but we’re different persons with different functions and roles. We’re co-equal in Christ, but there’s a difference between unity and uniformity. And interpreting how we live the Christian life ideally looks like His Tri-unity.

Wisdom:

Passage: Psalm 126-127
Translation: LEB (Lexham English Bible)
Verses: 11
Words: ~180

Passage: Proverbs 12:20-28
Translation: LEB (Lexham English Bible)
Verses: 9
Words: ~144

Love you!

-R

ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.

Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.

Sources and resources:

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(1) Matt Emerson (@M_Y_Emerson), “Premodern Interpretation in 10 Sentences (a thread),” Twitter, November 9, 2019, 10:43 a.m., https://twitter.com/M_Y_Emerson/status/1193335833874632704.

(2) Kevin Alan Lewis, “The Trinity” (class handout at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University), accessed March 1, 2019 http://www.theolaw.org.

(3) Norman L. Geisler, Systematic Theology, Volume Two: God, Creation (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 2003), 293.

(4) Geisler, Systematic Theology, 290.

(5) Matt Emerson, Premodern Interpretation.

Not used today, but stuff I like:

D. A. Carson, For the Love of God: A Daily Companion for Discovering the Riches of God’s Word., vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1998).

Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993). <—this, and it’s OT companion, are great commentaries if you like something more than a study Bible and less than a set of 66 books — they add a lot of interesting details. Keener’s a killer apologist, too.

The Story of Reality, Greg Koukl — Love this book. A killer intro to the Christian worldview that is philosophically and theologically sound while being accessible to all readers.

#943: Ephesians 3-4 | Unity versus uniformity | Psalm 126-127 | Proverbs 12:20-28