“Go and tell the world about this wonderful Gospel, and induct (baptize) them into the name of the Triune God of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”
Greetings Friends!
The command to not worship other gods apart from the true God, is directly connected to our conception of Him – that He is a “Trinitarian” and not a “solitary” God. By being Triune in nature, He essentially is relational and lives as ONE in Love, for “God is Love” (1 John 4:8). The practical meaning of Love means to be diverse yet unified in ONE. God is three persons, yet ONE God.
Man was created to live the “Triune Life” because he is a Triune being. What do I mean? It means man was made in the image of the Triune God, who is in substance, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Gen.1:26-27; Matt.28:18-20) Therefore, man was made to enter the Loving relationship the Triune God and become ONE in substance and reality with the Triune God.
Whenever the name of God is mentioned, it always means He is “Triune” in His Being yet ONE. The name of God never means He is one in a “solitary” sense. Recall Jesus parting words to His disciples: “Go and tell the world about this wonderful Gospel, and unify (baptize) them into the name of the Triune God of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” (Matt.28:19, emphasis mine). In other words, we are commanded to induct believers into the unified “Triune Life” of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The reason is obvious, it is the most natural state of existence man can have because he is made in God’s likeness.
Rublev’s Icon of the Trinity (Wiki Commons)
Jesus’ final prayer with His disciples to the Father before He was crucified was framed in God’s Trinitarian reality. God inhabits eternity in His Triune Being, and is the Source of the Love which envelopes all of creation, and is expressed to man in His 3-dimensional reality. Man, in his fallen self, exists in his 1-dimensional reality.
“I do not pray for these (disciples) alone, but also those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be ONE, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be ONE in Us, that the world may believe that You have sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be ONE just as We are ONE: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in ONE” (John 17: 20-23, emphasis added). Jesus told His disciples, “On that day you will realize that I am in the Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you” (John 14:20). Every word is uttered in its Trinitarian context of who God is in His Triune nature of Love.
Obviously, His prayer was intended to enlighten both the disciples and His followers about His mission, and to bring to reality the will of the Father in Jesus’ purpose in the Gospel. That is, to do the work of the prophesied Immanuel – “God with us”: to join man to the God who is Triune in His Being. (Isa.7:14; Matt.1:23) So, the name Immanuel is essentially Trinitarian in its meaning. Also notice, God’s manifested glory become man’s when he is unified to God’s Triune Life in Christ. Primarily, His glory is manifested in the miraculous life we are privileged to live in the power of the Spirit, who is given to be with us “forever.” (John 14:16) This is what brings power to the Christian life, but for most, the Christian life is without the miraculous life or glory that comes from the Triune life of God. Are Christians still living the “solitary” life? Is this why they live powerless lives? So, there is always this three-fold involvement of the Father, Son, and Spirit in the life of the believer.
Jesus’ Death Makes the “Triune Life” Possible (Eugene Delacroix, Wiki Commons)
It is entirely feasible for man to take this “unity prayer” of Jesus and apply it to his “solitary” human perspective of life and misses the Trinitarian point of His prayer altogether. It is so easy and natural for man to live the “solitary life” because he exists in his fallen state of being from Adam. It takes a miracle to live the “Triune Life.” Unfortunately, man has been relating with God on his “solitary” footing which is why his life has been powerless. With the “solitary life” man has develop a religion rather than a “relationship” with God. The essence of the “Triune Life” is triune living. Triune living is living in the power of the Spirit. Jesus, by stating, “By Myself I can do nothing” revealed He was indivisibly and inseparably unified to the Father and the Spirit, as ONE Triune Being in substance and reality. (John 5:30) Jesus goes on to say, “Rather, it is the Father living in Me who is doing His work. Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me?” (John 14:10).
God’s promise to man is to give him a new heart to end his suffering from living a ‘solitary life’ through a newborn “unified life” in His Son, who in turn takes man into the “Triune Life” of God (Ezek. 11:19; Heb. 8:10, 10:22; John 3:1-8). He will remove the heart of fear and give him the heart of Love. In becoming a mortal human, Jesus vicariously assumed man’s sinful life in His perfect being. In doing so, He destroyed fear and replaced it with God’s Love. Finally, man can reciprocate with the same Love with which God Loves man. Only One from the Godhead is capable of Loving another God alike and perfectly. Man doesn’t have that Love. Only One from within the Triune Godhead can become the Mediator for all of humanity’s inadequate responses and transform them from fear to Love in Himself (John 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 2:15). That is why He is called man’s High Priest and Mediator in heaven, who forever intercedes for man. This is what Jesus brought and made possible for man. Hence Paul said, “You are complete in Him (Jesus)” (Heb.7:25-26; Col.2:10).
Living this “Triune Life” with and in God is as natural as He is Love for man was made in God’s Love image. God accepts His Son in our place as our vicarious defense against the law which defines sin and demands our life. Sin is the condition of living the “solitary life” of self-determination under Satan’s influence. So when Christ died as our perfect human atonement, we died in Him (Rom. 7:4-6). When He was resurrected, we were lifted with Him. When He ascended to heaven, we relocated in Him (Eph. 2:4-6). The covenant promise God makes with man in His Son removes the heart-of-stone and replaces it with the heart-of-flesh. This is our new life in Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension (Heb. 8:6-11). The heart of fear dies and reincarnates into a heart of Love (God). This is the miraculous life we have been called to live, for nothing but a miracle can make it happen.
Dove, Symbol of the Holy Spirit (Wiki Commons)
The most basic and pivotal knowledge man can have is to understand God is Trinitarian, and to relate with Him as such. Man was born for this life. If we do not get this right the first time then everything else is based on a false premise. There are only two options: the “Triune Life,” or the “solitary life.” Christ came to open the consciousness of man to a realm unknown to man. From the Trinitarian worldview, the human mind opens vistas of perspectives he would not otherwise comprehend in his fallen “solitary” human worldview. The life of man in his fallen “solitary” human worldview is the lock which prevents him from entering door into the new world Jesus brought to man. You can say the Trinitarian worldview is the gateway to the realm of the Spirit heretofore unfamiliar and undiscovered by man. In fact, the “Triune Life” was unknown to man until Jesus came and reveal the Father and the Spirit to man. This is where God meets man, and man meets God, which is the point of the miraculous never before experienced by man. That is what Jesus brought us.
The mission statement slogan for this ministry is “Live the Triune Life…Change the World.” You may read the mission statement in the directory banner above to gain more insight of the “Triune Life.”
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write to me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.
Blessing:
Until we meet again in my next post, may the blessings of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you always. May the Spirit enliven your spirit and make all things concerning you possible as you live the “Triune Life” as a Bulamanriver.* Be strong in the Lord’s joy.
Kiang, (Your Servant in Christ)
* Bulamanriver” is the metaphor describing the union of man with the Love of the Triune God flowing in humans, making possible the “Triune Life” – the source of the miraculous life in man. To read the many facets of life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website www.bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my Book.
All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.
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