Question:
Mr. Albrecht,
I
was raised in a Baptist church. However,
I attended a Pentecostal Oneness church for a little over a year before I became
aware of many legalistic practices and doctrines that contradict the grace of
God. But I am still having issues
with the Trinity.
I
fully believe that there is one God that must be worshipped in spirit and in
truth. I believe that Jesus is God
in the flesh and I also believe that the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of God.
Colossians 2:9 states that in him (Jesus) dwelt all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily.
When
I die, I know without a shadow of a doubt I will be with the Lord forever.
I will have a glorified body like my Savior, and I know I’m trying to
look at this through the eyes of flesh instead of the Spirit.
Do you feel that in heaven we will see Jesus (glorified body) and two
spirits? Or what?
Thanks
for your time,
Michael
Answer: Dear Michael,
Your
statement that you (along with all the rest of us humans) are looking at this
issue through the eyes of our flesh is so important.
We all see through the glass darkly, as Paul said.
We are physical beings, of flesh and blood, earth bound, time bound,
captives of our planet earth and limited to the perspective of our little
anthill that we scurry around and through.
God
has revealed himself to us and the Bible describes that revelation as God the
Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
The three divine Persons of the Godhead are separate but they are united
in a way humans cannot completely understand.
They are one—one in a way that we do not experience or know.
They are distinct in who they are and what they do, in terms of
“work” and “tasks” (to use human language to describe divine activity).
They are separate but equal and co-equal—all God but at the same time
having divine Personality and distinctives.
The
Bible always, of course, speaks of “Father, Son and Holy Spirit”—never in
any other order, so there is some kind of what we humans would call “rank”.
However, “rank” is not the way that God is.
God is co-equal, three divine Persons who are so united and so
“together” that there is no problem about who is “in charge” (to use
another human concept).
The
one issue that often causes humans further difficulties is the incarnation—the
fact that Jesus, the second Person of the Godhead, the Eternal Son of God, who
was and is without beginning or end, the Word, the Alpha and Omega, the Lamb of
God and the Lion of Judah, the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, the Messiah, the
Savior, etc., he came into our world of limitations and physicality and added
flesh to his divinity. He did not
“mix” flesh into his divinity—the two natures were somewhat like oil and
water. They occupied the same
“space” (if we can say that the divine occupies space) like oil and water
does in a glass or beaker, but they remain separate.
Thus he was the God-man, taking a body he never had and keeping that
body—for he was bodily resurrected.
So,
his body is now glorified. It is not
a case of “needing” his body, it
is a case that his glorified body is our hope (see 1 Corinthians 15), for we
will be like him, in that our bodies will be glorified at the resurrection and
our mortality will put on immortality.
So,
in heaven when we come to know God we will know God as three, yet one.
We will know the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as distinct personalities,
but yet we will comprehend them in their perfect unity as well.
Hope
this helps.
In
Christ,