Trinity, Incarnation and Re-Creation

Trinity

God is the One in Three; three Persons that constitute one God. How is this possible? How can three ever be just one? Is this a mystery that contradicts reason? It’s not impossible, nor must it be considered a mystery we must just accept; there is a logical explanation:

The three Persons are so perfectly and completely of one mind that all their thoughts and actions are always in agreement. Each is so fully God that two or three together have no greater knowledge or ability than any One alone. Each knows all there is to know and all Three together don’t know any more. When any One of the Three acts, it is an act of God, as if all have acted. This total completeness of each person and their absolute unanimity is what makes them One. These three distinct persons constitute the One eternal God, the totality of eternal being.

The only mystery here for us is one we create, due to our tendency to see things in human terms. We associate being with substance instead of mind. We are made in His image but He is absolute, infinite, and perfect while we are limited, finite, and fallible. We are not gods ourselves but we don’t need to be gods to see that the notion of the Trinity need not be a mystery.

Incarnation

This Triune God created the universe and decided, in perfect unanimity, that they would each assume different names and roles with respect to the creation; these are known to man as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In these roles they have established subordination among their Persons but in themselves they are, always have been, and always will be, fully equal.

In the incarnation, the second Person of the Trinity took on human flesh and became the God-man. In this, He did not become less God; He remained fully God but was also fully man in that His Spirit was in a man’s body and He experienced birth, growth, youth, maturity, pain, hunger, all the feelings of a man. He was and is the second Person of the Trinity, a spirit being, in human flesh—a perfect union of the two natures. Christ is the bridge between God and man.

Re-Creation

Christ, on the Cross paid the sin-debt of all believers and thereby created a new race of mankind—Christians. They, as all mankind, are both flesh and spirit but have in addition the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, living within them.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Cor 5:17)

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. (Gal. 6:15)

This totally new phenomenon, the indwelling of the Spirit, divided mankind into two separate kinds of creatures. Those without the indwelling Spirit cannot see, much less enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:3-5); those with Him constitute that kingdom. They are new creatures in Christ who is their one and only Lord. Externally they appear to be unchanged but the eternal God resides within, transforming them to become more and more like Him as they progress toward their final destiny—perfection.