A theological reflection on unity and uniqueness

A theological chiding on mavin and singularityCHAPTER twainA THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION ON UNITY AND UNIQUENESS biblical and Theological Basis hotshot and fantasticness argon integral and arranged to the composition of the universe. The realm around and the skies above reveal the Creators work, a tapis of homokind that abounds with harmony and regeneration. The existence He fashi whizzd both overflows with originality and in that location argon unambiguous matchings of diversity, yet entirely of the differences ar held unneurotic in consistent bingleness. the Nazargonneian pietism reputations for both the coherence of the universe and the transp atomic number 18ntiveness of its parts. This is the warmness of the Apostle Pauls plea all told things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thr integritys or dominions or principalities or authorities-all things were created finished Him and for Him. He (Jesus Christ) is beforehand a ll things, and in Him all things hold together (Colossians 116). The created coif of things in the world is not static it is utterly dynamic. The populace is loaded with dynamic diversity that is simultaneously being held together in accord, in Christ.Both the angiotensin-converting enzymetime(a) and in the raw Testaments support the musical composition of uniqueness and uniformity. In this theological contemplateion the police detective will examine the idea of symmetry and uniqueness as revealed in Scripture. The theological basis for this project is that the rootage of consent and uniqueness is wholeness of matinee idols overarching principles conveyed in the revelation of the populaceufacturer, the composition of the Canon, and in the design of the unveilings of spousal relationship and Church. In this paper, the investigator will give large attention to the pick out of the tercet because, all the crucial elements in ecclesiology and entire theology atomic number 18 grow in the get winding of the Trinity. Unity and Uniqueness in the paragonheadThe nucleotide of uniqueness and unity exists in creation is an echo of the figurehead of uniqueness and unity in beau ideal. One of the most basic Christian opinions is that immortal is wholeness paragon in three soulfulnesss. This article of belief is recognise in the historic Christian faith as the teaching of the Trinity. darn the countersign trinity does not occur in the watchword, nor is the theological innovation amply exposit in the Text, the idea is rooted in the scriptures. Since in that respect is no overt reference to immortal as Triune in the volume, Emil Brunner, the Swiss Protestant theologian gives an insightful perspective The ecclesiastical doctrine of the Trinity, ceremonious by the dogma of the ancient Church, is not Biblical kerygma, wherefore it is not the kerygma of the Church, precisely is a theological doctrine which def cobblers lasts t he commutation faith of the Bible and of the Church. Early church building theologians developed the term Trinity as a behavior to communicate the three classifiable persons of theology that constitute i inspired being. They developed this doctrine in oppositeness against dangerous heresies, in which Christ with matinee idol was called into chief, either on beau ideals behalf or on Christs. Jurgen Moltmann, an influential thinker on modern Trinitarian theology, writes, It was only in these controversies that Trinitarian dogma grew up, and with the dogma grew its formulation, as philosophical terminology was given a new theological mould. This new doctrine would be derived from the Latin intelligence operation trinitas, meaning threeness, referring to the Tri-unity of deity. This doctrine conveys that the eternal master exists as three limpid Persons. All threethe arrive, masculine child, and holy living - atomic number 18 distinct yet interconnected. The aborigina l church explored the revelation of Gods three-in- wholenessness and the conclusions of these explorations were uttered in the Athanasian Creed, We worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the sum of money. This newspaper publisher of Trinity can be summed up in this concise panache The give is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God yet, there are not three gods, exclusively one God. Man did not counterbalance this doctrine of Trinity this doctrinal position was established in assurance to articulate the concept of a triune God based on the revelation through Scripture of three manifestations of the Godhead. In the first vitamin C church arguments were intense regarding what precisely was three about God, what was a prognosticate person, what was one about God, what this meant for straight, and how the nature and identity of Jesus should be understood. The archaeozoic church discussions did not remove the riddle quite an the creed they established on the doctrine of the Trinity merely gives clarity inside the mystery, providing reassurance by wrapping speech around an imagination expanding reality. The creeds are nothing to a greater extent than a well-ordered arrangement of the facts of Scripture which concern the doctrine of the Trinity. Hodge writes that, They drift the distinct personality of the Father, Son and Spirit their coarse relation as expressed by those terms their autocratic unity as to substance or subject matter, and their consequent perfect par and the subordination of the Son to the Father, and of the Spirit to the Father and the Son, as the mode of subsistence and operation. These are Scriptural facts, to which the creeds in question add nothing and it is in this sense they give birth been recognised by the Church universal. While the creed gives clarity to the mystery, it in now centering contains an explanation for the God who created the heavens and the earth . Gods nature and kernel cannot be substantial understood by the human mind. Finite minds cannot compreh prohibit an infinite God. The fullness of the nature of God re principal(prenominal)s outside of our experience and knowledge. God is original and the uniqueness and unity within the Godhead is described in conglomerate terms. The church did not invent the doctrine of the trinity it just accepted it from what God revealed about Himself through the Bible. The doctrine of the Trinity gives us a key to understanding unity in diversity. Inside this dogma is an unquestioning uniqueness within the distinctive persons of the Godhead that does not diminish the interconnected essence. Trinity reveals such(prenominal) about the nature of God and the values of the universe. The veritable content of the doctrine of the Trinity may be summarized with four statements God is one, God is three, God is a diversity, and God is a unity. These four unre table serviced statements come toge ther in a doctrine that is complex and conundrum it is a beautiful mystery that is biblically justified. Though we may never fully comprehend the mystery of the Trinity, we can reach for higher understanding firearm standing firm on the concrete form of biblical revelation. The researcher will point to passages that communicate and illustrate the reality of trinity. There is much to work with, according to the Princeton theologian B.B. Warfield, the doctrine of the Trinity is rather e rattlingplace presupposed in the Bible. The Unity of God There is Only One unbent God The Bible does not teach tritheism or polytheism Scripture teaches that there is only one true eternal God. The unity of God is rooted in the Jewish faith anchored in the Torah. The Hebrew muckle were monotheistic, which in the ancient world positioned them in stark contrast with their surrounding nations who worshiped umpteen gods. Even to this day, as an act of worship the Jews regularly proclaim their blessing , or creed, called the Shema Hear, O Israel The passkey our God, the superior is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deut. 64-5). This statement clarifies their belief in the Oneness of God. The doctrine of the Trinity assigns the Hebrew understanding of God, but differs in that the LORD is understood to be one not in a solitary unity but a composite unity. As Christians we believe that the God of the Trinity is the one whom the out of date Testament worshippers knew as Elohim or Yahweh. In their worship of Yahweh there was temptation to take up the many gods of their pluralistic neighbors. While other nations were embracing polytheism, the prophet Isaiah reminds Israel, This is what the LORD says, I am the first and I am the last isolated from me there is no God. (Isaiah 446). The Apostle Paul carries this teaching of the Oneness of God into the new-fashioned Testament, three times he instructs the church, there is no God but one (1 Cor. 84, 1 Cor. 86, 1 timothy 25). The Uniqueness of God Three Distinct PersonsPlurality through Pronouns and Names. There are traces of Trinity in the Old Testament, most of them are found in Gods revelation of himself through names and pronouns. The name Yahweh may be the first name God chooses to introduce himself with in a conversation, but the first name utilize for God is the Hebrew word Elohim. In the beginning God Elohim created ( contemporaries11). After only four words into the Biblical story, God introduces himself as Elohim, which is a plural form, and though no clear statement of trinity is contained, a coterie of persons could be implied. some other early allusion to master plurality is found later in the chapter, allow us make man in our image, in our likeness. (Gen 126). He says again, The man has now conk out like one of us (Gen 322). And a third time he says, Come, let us go d have and confuse their language (Gen. 117). Contemplating thes e passages, a Roman Catholic theologian, Bertrand de Magerie asks Does this Divine we evoke a polytheistic age anterior to the Bible? Or a deliberation of God with his angelic court? Or does it not rather indicate the interior richness of the divinity? How does it lineage up that only in these four passages the plural form of the name Elohim used here has influenced the verb, which is plural only here? And what is more than extrodinary is that these plural forms are introduced by formulas in the singular Elohim says. These questions are ease uped in an feat to assistance the reader engage with the plurality of God. They look to compel the reader from dismissing plurality in the Torah as a highly intriguing to realizing its high immensity as an insinuation for the Trinitarian idea. Distinctive Plurality through Unique Activity. exhibit for the concept of plurality in the Godhead exists beyond pronouns and names it is too found in the distinguishing activity of God in Genes is. at heart the creation account there is an explosion of activity where each person acts unequivocally with his own actions. In Genesis 11 God the Father is revealed existing as the originator of the created world. He is presented as the mastermind laughingstock creation and the one who generates the universe ex nihilo. He In Genesis 12, the Bible introduces God as the Spirit who watches over the flora of creation, hovering as the waters. He is the active agent in creation. He is the one who hovers over creation, keeping things in tact, preserving, protecting, and unifying what the Father brings into being. The Spirit brings order out of chaos and confusion. As one theologian writes, it is because of Him that we sire cosmos instead of chaos. In Genesis 13 we are introduced to the excogitate of God through whose work the will of God becomes initiated. God speaks and the term brings it into reality. derriere writes in the fourth religious doctrine, In the beginning was the intelligence agency, and the news was with God, and the intelligence operation was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were do (John 11-3).While the doctrine of the Trinity was not clearly enunciated in the Old Testament , the theologian Gerald OCollins, has stated, The vivid personification of Father (Wisdom), Son (Word), and Spirit, in as much as they were both identified with God and the divine activity and distinguished from God, opened up the vogue toward recognizing God to be tripersonal. Distinctive Plurality through Unique Personhood. These Old Testament account only gives an allusion of Trinity the Trinitarian doctrine receives much fuller treatment in the rest of the Bible as God manifests himself and further reveals himself to humanity. The Trinitarian concepts chief teaching is anchored in the New Testament, the Gospels present the revelation of Jesus Christ the Son, and in the book of Acts, describes the sending of the Holy Spirit on the Ch urch. In several New Testament passages Christ is clearly called God (Heb 19-9, John 11, John 2028) In The latter passage, John 2028, one of the apostles, doubting Thomas, confronts the resurrected Jesus and proclaims, My Lord and my God. From this verse, the Scholar D. Moody Smith, contends, Thomas response is exactly appropriate, as he utters the confession of Jesus as Lord (kyrios) and God (theos). This confession is typical of early Christian theology and language as far as Lord (kyrios) is concerned, but unequivocally Johannine in its ascription of the name of God (theos) to Jesus as well. In 11 the preexistent word (logos) is called God (theos) and at the end of the prologue this most exalted title is repeated, after the incarnation of the Word in Jesus has been confessed. For the most part John withholds the designation theos from Jesus, but in the course of the narrative makes clear that this ascription of deity to Jesus is thusly correct and unavoidable (518 cf. 519-24 103 0 148-11). While Thomas may have once doubted, he has now made the confession that is necessity and true. Jesus is Lord and God. The translation of Christ as God was an classic explanation that integrated New Covenant theology with the monotheistic Hebraic covenant of the Old Testament. The confession of Thomas and the other passages in the New Testament help hit the Christian understanding of Christ as God. The concept of the Spirit of God in the Old Testament is carried over into the New Testament. The same person of God that hovers over his creation and the Holy Spirit fills Mary and strikes on Jesus at his baptism. As Jesus was being baptized, the Trinity became communicative to human senses. John the Baptist and others who witnessed the baptism, audibly heard the voice of the Father affirm Jesus as his Son, and visibly saw the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus in the likeness of a dove. The Spirit is revealed in the likeness of tongues of fire when he empowers the disciples on the day of Pentecost. This is in fulfilment of Jesus promise to his disciples that the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you (John 146).Jesus words at the end of Matthews Gospel are know as the Great Commission, but one mustnt acquit the great expression of Trinity. Jesus sends out his disciples to baptize with the Trinitarian formula, then go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 2819). Christs words reveal Trinity.Later in the New Testament, in the Epistles, the Apostle Paul gives description of the Spirits nature and activity. To the church at Corinth he explains, We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us(1 Cor. 212). Paul gives other direct references to the Spirit that are unmistakable Trinitarian references. In ano ther letter to the church at Corinth offers a benediction, May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the approve of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all (2 Cor. 1314). resultantIn this divide, the researcher has presented key passages that reference the triune God, demonstrating that the Bible reveals God existing as three unique persons yet in unity as One, which is the doctrine of the Trinity. There is complexity within the precise functions of the Godhead yet a unity in their solve and three Persons. Each of the three Persons performs specific functions and are involved in everything together. This doctrine is fundamental to understanding the depicted object of unity and uniqueness in the universe, because whenever we see it in our world it exists as an expression or echo of its source in the Godhead. The Trinity holds a central place in this project going forward because all crucial elements in theology, ecclesiology, and sociology, are rooted in th e doctrine of the Trinity. This surgical incision has demonstrated that the doctrine of the Trinity has roots in Scripture. But when spirit at the themes of unity and uniqueness we see that even the Bible itself, it bears the mark of unity and uniqueness in its composition. The work is a reflection Trinitarian essence of the divine author. Uniqueness and Unity in the CannonThough Bible is a singular term, the Bible is not one book, but a library of respective(a) writings concerning God and his relationship with the world. While the theme of uniqueness and unity is present in the revelation of Gods Word, it is likewise discernable in the composition of the Bible. The Bible is a diverse collection of books that present one over arching unite theme. Neo-Orthodox theologians in the past nose candy worked to revive an emphasis of study in the unity of the Bible. Professor C.H. Dodd called for greater study in this area Biblical scholars have long worked on fork sections in what mi ght be called the centrifugal movement, but now the centripetal movement is needed a study of the unity of the parts, an attempt to find the deeper meanings of the dominant theme present within the diversity of writings. This section will examine the uniqueness in the composition and the unifying theme of the text. The Uniqueness of the Books within the Cannon.The Bible is a diverse collection of books that were writing over a period of 1,500 years by many authors from a total range of experiences and walks of life. These 66 unique were written in a variety of historical and cultural contexts. The 40 authors wrote in a wide array of literary forms. The diversity of the writings may be described as the humanity of the Bible, since it extends over a vast range of human experiences and perspectives. This diversity is expressed well by author Terry hall It had to be one of the strangest publishing projects of all time no editor or publishing house was responsible to oversee 40 auton omous authors representing 20 occupations, living in 10 countries, during a 1,500 year span, working(a) in 3 languages, with a cast of 2,930 characters in 1,551 places, together they produced 66 books, containing 1,189 chapters, over 31,000 verses, 7 hundred 74 thousand words and over 3.5 million letters. This massive volume covers every conceivable subject expressed in literary forms poetry, prose, romance, biography, science, and history, to tell one story with internal consistency. To respect the difficulties the unity of the Scriptures, we only need imagine the complexity in act this diverse collection into a unified work. The complex reality of the unity in composition despite broad sweeping diversity reveals endorse for divine authorship. The evidence is from the reality that despite the many differences there is one overarching meta-narrative. The internal consistency could be described as the divinity of the Bible. God chose to use distinctive, unique personalities to r eveal his unified infallible, inerrant word. God weaves together the diversity and uniqueness to form one story, the story of salvation.The Unity of the Cannon. Gods Word is al rooms united to this theme of redemption and tied in with history. G. Ernest Wright regards this unity as the confessional recital of Gods saving and redemptive acts. If one follows the meta-narrative, the story line leads from creation, to the fall of man, to the need for redemption, to the sacrificial system, to the person of Jesus who fulfills prophecy and brings redemption through his sacrifice, from the garden to the great city of God, the consistent unifying theme within the Book is Jesus and the work of redemption. A tradition in the British Navy illustrates this unifying theme there was a normal in the Royal Navy that every rope they used would have a scarlet cord woven into it. The cord would run from end to end, that way whether lost at sea or stolen in the harbor, no matter where the rope was cu t, every inch was marked and it was evidenced that it was self-denial of the crown. And so it is with the Bible, in the united message within the diversity of the Text. The Scriptures are comprised of 66 books and regardless where one cuts in on the story, there is one unified theme, the redemption of mankind through the work Jesus the Messiah. Karl Barth called this the Christological concentration. He stated this central emphasis on Christ this way in the Bible only one central figure as such has begun to occupy me or each and everything else only in the prosperous and under the sing of this central figure. Jesus Christ is the scarlet cast that runs throughout the Bible. Bible contains unique books with unity in their composition and theme. certaintyThe diversity and unity of the Bible is supernatural, the evidence supports its claim to be the revealed Word of God. There is a striking a unity out of diversity, a harmonious and continuous message from beginning to end, a self- consistent whole, where the main theme is the person and work of Jesus Christ. God intended for the diverse books of scripture to fit together as a unified whole, the various(a) books coming together as a beautiful and cohesive whole is just another revelation of this universal theme of unity among unique parts. The divine author has designed this into the created order of the Cannon and integrated unity and uniqueness in the created order of humanity and the architecture of the institution of spousal relationship. Unity and Uniqueness in hymenealsGod is Trinity, which means that in God there is a unity, a perfect consistency of essence. Since this is within his being, God finds delight in uniqueness within unity. God makes his pleasure known by weaving this theme into the cosmos, into the cannon, and into the crown or apex of his creation, humanity. The essential unity of God finds expression in the creation of mankind and the institution of matrimony. Humans have been stamped with unity and uniqueness, since God created man in His image, in His likeness (Genesis 126). The process of being created in Gods image has important implications for human relationships, as Stanley Grenz explains The image of God is in the first place a relational concept. Ultimately we reflect Gods image in relationship. Thus the imago Dei is not primarily an individual possession but a corporate or social reality, present among humans-in-relationship.When God created humans, He constructed into creatures and relationships a unity-in-diversity that characterize the eternal divine reality.This creative act of unity and uniqueness is evident in the creativity of the male and distaff design God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him male and female he created them (Genesis 127). The male and female distinction within humanity enigmatically reflects the image of God. This is revealed in the matrimony authorization and the divine institution of marria ge.The Marriage Mandate The marriage relationship has been deigned and instituted by God. In fact, marriage is the very first institution that God creates. In the created order, marriage is formed before civil government and the local church. Marriage is the primary institution and is the preeminent building block of societal vitality. God sets strengthenh his design for marriage in the marriage mandate, For this reason a man will cease his father and mother and be united to his married woman, and they will become one flesh (Genesis 224). The Hebrew word for one in one flesh, is the same Hebrew word used in the Shema, Hear, O Israel The LORD our God, the LORD is One (Deut. 64-5). This word one references the unity of the Godhead made up by three unique persons with three distinct roles. In the case of marriage, it is not tri-unity as with God, rather it is unity of both persons, male and female one flesh. This oneness, or unity, is the marking reflection of Gods essence on the marriage covenant. Uniqueness in MarriageThe oneness of marriage does not mean that the marriage mandate reduces or eliminates individuality. Just as the distinct persons and different roles in the Trinity are unified in purpose and mission as one, male and female in the marriage covenant come together as one. Both persons bring their distinctive personalities and giftedness, unique passions and abilities together, not to exist merely as dickens individuals but to become united together. The Bible teaches that marriage is the complimentary functioning of two unique persons in their roles to reflect the image of God. It is important to note that distinct persons and different roles does not indicate different value. Just as the three persons of the Trinity are equal in their value and in their personhood, also women and men have been created equal in their worth. Neither male nor female are better or worse than the other. In Gods economy, both male and female are equal before him. A s the apostle Paul writes in the letter to the Galatians, There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 328). Scripture affirms absolute equality of personhood. But equality of value and importance is different than equality of role and province. Males and females have been assigned unique roles according to the created order. Pastor and theologizer John Piper writes In the Bible, differentiated roles for men and women are never traced mainstay to the fall of man and woman into sin. Rather, the foundation of this differentiation is traced back to the way things were in Eden before sin warped our relationships. secernate roles were corrupted, not created, by the fall. They were created by God. Although man and woman are equal, Scriptures teach that there are proper roles within the marriage mandate. The Apostle Paul defines these roles in this letter to the Ephesians. He writes, Wives, invoke to your conserves as to t he Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her (Eph. 522-26). The husband is called to serve and sacrifice for his wife as an expression of his love for her. Likewise, the wife is called to submit and respect her husband as an expression of her love for him. In this way they complement each other. God has given the husband the role of benignant servant-leadership, with a responsibility to lead, protect, and provide for the wife. In the same way, a womans responsibility is to affirm and support his leadership, as a helpmate. The complementing distinctions create a in return supportive home that affirms each others calling in Christ. These two complementary color halves unite physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally an d physiologically and the unity of the uniqueness reveals the image of God in marriage.Unity in MarriageThe Bible uses the phrase one flesh to describe the mysterious and miraculous unity that is present in marriage. This description distinguishes the union of marriage from any other human connection, differentiating the marriage relationship from any other social institution. Marriage is not the proceeds of social evolution or a cultural invention rather it is a pre-fall created relationship that began with the primal event in the Garden of Eden. Within marriage there is this sacred mystery of unity and uniqueness held together in one entity. In the New Testament, Jesus affirms the marriage mandate and profound significance thereof Have you not read, that he who created them from the beginning, made them male and female. And said for this reason a man shall leave his Father and Mother and shall cleave to his wife and they shall become one flesh? thus they are no longer two but on e flesh. What therefrom God has joined together let no man separate (Matthew 194-6) Christ presents the profound significance of the ordained demarcation, as the man and woman leave their father and mother, and unite as they cleave to one another in the sight of God and become one flesh. Cleaving together and becoming one flesh as husband and wife is symbolized and pixilated by sexual union, but the one flesh relationship entails more than sex. It is the mysterious fusion of two lives into one, where life is shared together, by the mutual consent and covenant of marriage in a mysterious union. By Gods architecture in humanity, male and female are made anatomically, emotionally and spiritually for one another, for oneness. Through divine intention, by joining together, the husband and wife represent the full spectrum of the Gods image. As Gods unity is everlasting, the marriage unity is designed to be reflective of his everlasting nature, by two people giving themselves over into a permanent circle of shared companionship.In the context of the letter to the Ephesians it appears that marriage is set within the meta-narrative of Gods restoration of all things under the headship of Christ. This includes all of humanity who believes, Jews and Gentiles, the body of Christ, the church. Paul sets forth Gods purpose of humanity to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head even Christ (Eph. 110). The authority of Christ is supreme, he is the head of all things, and all things are subjected to him. This overarching sovereign work of God becomes the central purpose for a unified marriage. Unity in marriage is developed from sharing this God-given mission and purpose. ConclusionThe longest statement in the New Testament on the unity of marriage and the relationship between husbands and wives is found in Ephesians 521-33. In this passage Paul conveys the distinctive roles for wives and husbands and at the same time reveals the way it corresponds to t he relationship between Christ and his church. In this way, marriage serves as a metaphor of deeper spiritual realities. The truth marriage mirrors is that the unity of husbands loving their wives to become one flesh/body is a dimension of the great mystery of the unity of all believers into the one body of the church through the self-sacrificial love of its head, Christ (Eph 52, 23-30, 32). Marital unity in love adds to the great cosmic mystery of unity causing the growth of all things to Christ, so that all might be united under him. This theme of unity among uniqueness is present all throughout the cosmos and creation. Flowing from the Trinity, the theological underpinning of the essence of unity and uniqueness has wide-ranging implications for the study of Scripture, the function of marriage, and ecclesiology. Basically, this doctrine is the foundation of practical Christian reflection of the diversity and unity within the Godhead. The human family is not the only way God has o rdained to reflect his unity to the world. Within the church we have many members and yet one body that display his glory (1 Cor. 1212). Unity and Uniqueness in the Church The unity of the Church is a theme that carries throughout the New Testament. There is not a clear, concise, summarizing definition of the church put fort