Unraveling the Enigma of the Trinity: Exploring Christian Theology, Biblical Truths, and the Divine Complexity of God's Nature
Christian theology takes on a definite form and system of study, providing a basis for exploring religious doctrines and matters of divinity, specifically the relationship of God with His creation.0F[i] Theology comes from two Greek words: theos, meaning “God,” and logos, meaning “discourse” or “reason.” Therefore, theology is the discourse or reasoning about God, His existence, nature, names, attributes, works, and His biblical truth. One of the more challenging areas of theological study is that of God’s triune nature—the Trinity.
We approach the study of the Trinity with profound humility and awe towards the incomprehensible complexity of God’s nature that far surpasses our ability to understand.1F[ii] Per Christian dogma, the Trinity (Latin Trinitas, meaning triad or threefold) is defined as the unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three distinct persons in one divine essence (οὐσία), or one Godhead.2F[iii] It portrays God as “one” (εἷς) who exists in three co-equal, co-eternal, and consubstantial Divine persons. Consubstantiality (Latin consubstantialitas) means the identity of substance or essence despite the difference in aspect. In other words, the three persons share the same divine essence, yet are distinct as persons; fully one in being without division or confusion.
Several Christian creeds affirm the Trinity, although none are considered infallible. The Nicene Creed (Catholic) and the Westminster Confession (Protestant) are the most recognizable and read, in part, as follows:
I believe in one God… And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father… Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father… And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and Son together is worshiped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.3F[iv]
There is but one only, living, and true God… In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost: the Father is none, neither begotten, nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.4F[v]
While the word “trinity” does not appear in the Bible, at least two verses refer to all three aspects of the Godhead. Yeshua said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19, NKJV). 5F[vi] And John said, “For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word [Christ], and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one” (1 John 5:7).
We read of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit even in the Old Testament. It says:
“Doubtless You are our Father, Though Abraham was ignorant of us, And Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; Our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name” (Isaiah 63:16).
“Who has ascended into heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name, If you know?” (Proverbs 30:4).
“I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You’” (Psalm 2:7).
“Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me” (Psalm 51:11).
Some liberal scholars have questioned whether the verse in Matthew in its current form existed in the original text, inferring that it may have been added to a later codex of the original manuscript. Those who deny the Trinity often also reject the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, the vicarious atonement, and the personality of the Holy Spirit. The denial of the divinity of Christ is called Monarchianism, and the rejection of the three separate persons of God, the Trinity, is called Sabellianism (Oneness doctrines).
All these arguments are irrelevant, given the numerous references in Scripture to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Yeshua continually referred to His heavenly Father, even saying: “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner” (John 5:19). And concerning the Holy Spirit, He said, “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (John 14:26).
While John says, “For there are three that bear witness in heaven,” he also says, “these three are one.” And Yeshua Himself affirmed that God is “one” in declaring, “HEAR, O ISRAEL, THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE” (Mark 12:29). So, how can one God exist in what appears to be three separate deities? This dichotomy has challenged theologians for centuries.
And yet, Isaiah acknowledged the plurality of God’s nature by saying: “Abraham was ignorant of us, And Israel does not acknowledge us” (Isaiah 63:16). In Genesis, we read, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). And the Psalmist declared, “The Lord [YHVH] said to my Lord [Adonai], ‘Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool’” (Psalm 110:1). In all these verses, we see evidence of God’s plural nature.
The writer of Proverbs asks, “What is His Name, and what is His Son’s name?” Isaiah answered this question: “O LORD, are our Father; Our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.” “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:4). “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).
Here, we find that God has a Son, Immanuel (translating “God with us”), whom we call Jesus-Yeshua, the Christ, and our Redeemer from Everlasting. As we read, “The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). “He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you” (1 Peter 1:20).
Yeshua is our Lord and Savior, yet Isaiah says that God is both Father and Redeemer. He also says that this Child born unto us, this Son we know as our Messiah, shall be called Everlasting Father.” And Yeshua Himself said, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him… He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:7-9).
Again, Christian doctrine defines God as one but three persons. These three persons of God are one (co-equal) in nature, will, and purpose. Co-equal implies they are equal but not necessarily the same, meaning the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father. The Son and Holy Spirit are in submission to the Father, and the Spirit is in submission to the Son. We find this in Scripture, where Yeshua said, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 6:38).
Concerning the Holy Spirit, Yeshua said, “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (John 14:26); “He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak” (John 16:13). And yet, submission does not constitute inferiority in any way. While the Holy Spirit is a distinctly separate person from the Father and the Son, the Spirit is also associated equally in name and personal essence with the Father and the Son.
But then, how can Yeshua be called both the Son and Everlasting Father? And how can the Father and Christ be called “our Redeemer” if it was Yeshua who died on the cross for our sins? And if Yeshua is co-equal with the Father, why did He say, “If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, I am going to the Father, for My Father is greater than I” (John 14:28).
Isaiah partly answers this question by telling us: “Surely they are My people, Children who will not lie. So He became their Savior” (Isaiah 63:8). In other words, God the Father, who is our redeemer, sent forth His Son, our Savior, to die for us on the cross to be redeemed through His shed blood. It is written, “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me” (John 6:57). We understand that the Father is the source of our redemption, and the Son is the instrument of His salvation. We are now beginning to understand how one God can be revealed as three, co-equal but not the same in their revealed purpose.
Because there is unmistakable evidence in both the Old and New Testaments of God’s plural nature, referring to Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, this teaching aims not to refute this fact. Unfortunately, many have falsely accused Christians of worshiping three individual gods, stemming from their theological ignorance concerning the Trinity.
Rather than thinking of God as three separate, seemingly independent persons, which separates God’s unity. I prefer to think of God as one, yet revealed in three distinct persons, collectively showing the totality of God’s essence and nature. Again, co-equal, but not the same in their revealed purpose. These are all difficult concepts that appear to contradict rabbinic thought and teaching. While Jewish interpretive traditions do not teach the doctrine of the Trinity, studying the Hebrew Scriptures in their original context using Hebraic hermeneutics can help us better understand the foundations upon which this doctrine is revealed in the New Testament.
When interpreting the Bible, Christian theologians use hermeneutics, biblical exegesis, rational analysis, and argument. The term “hermeneutics” likely traces back to the ancient Greek mythological figure Hermes. However, Biblical Hermeneutics is the theory, methodologies, and practice of Biblical interpretation (exegesis), not Greek mythology. 6F[vii]
Christian hermeneutics examines the meaning of the original text in terms of what it says and what it does not. Similarly, Jewish hermeneutics includes the simple, literal, and intended (explicit) meaning of the biblical narrative. But it also employs three other methods of biblical exegesis. One interprets the Bible from an allegorical or illusional perspective. Another uses a metaphorical homiletic interpretive analysis of Scripture in a “storytelling” (parable-style) format. A third uses a mystical approach to understanding the Bible.
While rabbinic interpretations explicitly reject the Trinity, we can see from earlier Jewish thinking the same ideas and textual challenges that faced the emerging church, even if the two communities ultimately diverged on the topic. One example is the rabbinic allegorical and homiletic exegesis of Scripture on the creation. There is considerable wisdom in their thinking that helps us understand the Trinity and God’s relation to this creation and to the new heaven and earth.
The rabbis teach that nothing existed before creation except God; there was only the infinite God and His eternal name. God is utterly invisible to the physical world because there is no created material substance in Him, and He has no corporeal (bodily) form. As there is no place that God does not exist, the rabbis suggest that in the creation, God’s infinite Divine emanation had to be concealed, or as the rabbis state, had to first contract itself into a space that would be void of His presence, thereby creating a “primordial void” within which finite and physical substance could become possible.7F[viii]
Christian and Jewish thought are consistent on God’s omnipresence. However, God can conceal or hide Himself, and He can restrain or contract His will, allowing for man’s volition and free will. In Isaiah, we read, “Truly You are God, who hide Yourself” (Isaiah 45:15). And Paul says, “[Christ Jesus] who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (1 Timothy 6:16).
In other words, God was creating the conditions for a finite creation to exist within God’s infinite, all-encompassing presence. Therefore, the rabbis believe the infinite light of God was condensed and contracted (concealed) from this primordial void to such a degree that it could emanate and illuminate finitely.8F[ix] Here, the infinite realm would connect with the finite creation, a meeting place between God and His creation. This idea is not entirely absent from Christianity. The Ethiopian Tewahedo Church holds an apocryphal book called The Book of the Mysteries of Heaven and Earth (Mäṣḥafä Mestir). It is a mystical Ge’ez text that explores the esoteric narrative of Christ’s descent through seven heavens, detailing how he unveiled or shed aspects of His divinity as He descended to earth.
Still, this idea of God’s condensation and contraction is inconceivable to the human mind. How can an infinite God limit or confine Himself to a finite realm? Further, why would God choose to conceal Himself from the creation in the first place?
To answer these questions, we need to understand the absolute truths about God’s unity with respect to His creation and how nothing can exist apart from Him. We also must understand that God’s unity with His creation does not mean that He is materially or spiritually within it. That idea is called Pantheism, the philosophical and theological belief that God and the universe are identical, holding that all reality is an all-encompassing, immanent deity. No, God is distinctly separate, as in transcendent, from His creation, while at the same time, all things depend on Him for their existence. Hence, God is also intimately involved with creation, and through Christ, His imminence and presence are revealed to us.
Concerning God’s unity with His creation, one of our great sages, Maimonides, says: “For the Holy One, blessed be He, His Essence and Being, and His Knowledge is all absolutely one, from every side and angle, and in every form of unity.”9F[x] Rabbi Schneur adds: “The Holy One, blessed be He, is a perfect unity, without any composition or element of plurality at all.”10F[xi] So, if God’s essence, being, and knowledge are absolutely one without any composition, then what happened after the creation—ex nihilo?
Suddenly, we find that something now exists in addition to God—the universe.11F[xii] This addition effectively changes God’s absolute unity, as nothing can exist apart from Him. And if anything exists in addition to God, this implies that He is no longer One and Unique. So, how do we reconcile God’s absolute unity with the apparent separateness of the creation? To answer that question, we need to move from the rabbinic teachings to the written word of the New Testament.
While we recognize that creation appears to exist separately from God, He and His creation are also eternally connected. We read, “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made [Him being the Christ]” (John 1:3).12F[xiii] And since God created the worlds out of nothing, they cannot continue to exist unless they are sustained by the one who made them. Therefore, we surmise that Yeshua is more than just the instrument of our salvation. He is the sustainer of it. We read, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4).
Yeshua is also the instrument and the blueprint, the template for the entire creation, as it says, all things were made through Him. And if Yeshua is the template, then again, God the Father must be the source for all that exists, as we read: “There is one God, the Father, of whom are all things” (1 Corinthians 8:6). And Yeshua said, “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner” (John 5:19).13F[xiv]
This verse in John suggests one more critical aspect of the Trinity—the Holy Spirit. He must be the one who connects the Son to the Father and empowers the Son to work within the creation. The Holy Spirit acts as the bond of love, the relational connection, and the eternal, active power of God that unites the Father and the Son. While Yeshua was being baptized, the Father spoke, and the Spirit descended, showing the distinct roles of each and the perfect unity and connection of the Godhead.
We read, “The Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove [alighting] upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, ‘You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased’” (Luke 3:22). Yeshua’s ministry began after this time, empowered by the Holy Spirit, as it says, “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38). Yeshua said, “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matthew 12:28).
Additionally, the Holy Spirit must be the one who connects the created realm to the uncreated one. Beginning with Israel, we read: “Where is He who put His Holy Spirit within them [speaking of Israel]?” (Isaiah 63:11). And later, regarding the church, we read, “For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father” (Ephesians 2:18). Therefore, “The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24).
Just as the Holy Spirit was active in all the creation and the first Adam. As we read: “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2); “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). He was also involved in the conception of Christ, the second Adam. As we read, “For that which is conceived in her [Mary] is of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:20). “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” (Colossians 1:15). And now, the Holy Spirit is instrumental in our “new” birth and building of God’s church. Hence, we read, “The general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven” (Hebrews 12:23).
We now further understand how one God can be three distinct persons with three distinct roles. The Father is the source of all that exists, the Son is the template for the creation, and the Holy Spirit is the one who manifests the power of the invisible God to the created. Again, co-equal, but not the same in their revealed purpose.
Another analogy of God is likening Him to the form of a man, although we are reminded that God has no corporeal form and that no analogy can fully explain the mysteries of God. Still, we can compare the Father to the head and body, Yeshua to the arm of God, as it says, “To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” (Isaiah 53:1),14F[xv] and the Holy Spirit can be compared to the life-sustaining power of God that provides life to the whole body. As we read, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). “It is the Spirit who gives life” (John 6:63).
Moreover, using this analogy, Christ is not just the arm of God, but His right hand of redemption and judgment, as we read: “Save with Your right hand, and hear me” (Psalm 60:5); “Your hand will find all Your enemies; Your right hand will find those who hate You” (Psalm 21:8). Christ is this life and light of all men, as we read, “In Him was life [salvation], and the life [Holy Spirit] was the light of men” (John 1:4).
As Christ has eternally existed with God, so has the blueprint for creation eternally existed with Him. We read, “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom [heart] of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:18). In rabbinic teachings, the creation existed with God as His thought and desire that brought forth His plan. God’s desire to create moved from a hidden infinite state to a structured plan, revealing the divine light within the physical world, often described as a blueprint.
Yet, the creation was not brought into physical existence until God spoke it into being. The same is true of Christ, as He has eternally existed within the heart of God but was not born into the physical creation (as in the incarnation) until God’s appointed time. At that moment, using our analogy, the arm of God’s salvation entered the created realm from the transcendent realm. And now, we who are in Christ are also predestined within God’s heart to be conformed to the image of His Son.15F[xvi]
In concealing Himself from the creation, God initially created a space where man could perceive himself as an independent being. I say perceive because we know that God is omnipresent, and that man cannot live apart from God.16F[xvii] However, this was necessary for man to have volition and the freedom to believe, by faith, that God exists. But we know that a time is coming soon when the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth. All creation shall know Him, as we read, “They all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord” (Jeremiah 31:34). “For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9).
Also, in concealing Himself, we find that the invisible, unseen God (the uncreated realm) initially separated Himself from the world (the created realm). The Lord also divided the heavenly (spiritual) from the physical (natural) worlds. As we read, “Then God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so” (Genesis 1:6-7).
And the Lord separated the light from the darkness, as we read, “Then God said, ‘Let there be light;’ and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness” (Genesis 1:3-4). Yet, on the fourth day of creation, we read that God created the luminaries in the heavens to provide light to the world, as it says, “Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also” (Genesis 1:17).
In this separation between light and darkness, God’s infinite light, for now, is condensed or concealed from the world and has been temporarily replaced by the sun and the stars. As it says, “Clouds and darkness surround Him” (Psalm 97:2). However, in the new creation, we read, “There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:5). Therefore, we perceive that God is removing those things that separate Himself from His creation, beginning with man’s sin. The rabbis call this restoration “Tikkun Ha’nefesh,” meaning restoration of the soul, culminating in “Tikkun Ha’olam,” the restoration of the universe. Unfortunately, the rabbis see this as accomplished through their fulfillment of the Law rather than through their surrender to the righteousness of Christ.
While the universe might appear to be infinite, we know from Scripture and science that it is not. It is written, “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, Measured heaven with a span And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales And the hills in a balance? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in” (Isaiah 40:12 & 22). The creation is undoubtedly finite. But what lies beyond it?
We need to recognize God’s transcendence and immanence to help discern the perceivable from the unsearchable. Transcendence refers to the existence or experience beyond the ordinary or physically created realm. In contrast, immanence contradicts transcendence, from the Latin immanere, meaning “to dwell in or remain” within the creation. God sustains and dwells within the creation, but at the same time, He is also separate from it.17F[xviii] Therefore, beyond the creation, farther than any galaxy, only the vastness of infinite God exists—the place of outer darkness.
Jewish mystics believe in the Divine unveiling of the spiritual realm, with God’s immanence descending at successively increasing levels of reality. I believe Christ is the culmination of this reality and truth within God’s creation, as He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Until Christ returns, we will only know and prophesy in part, inferring that God is not yet fully revealed within His creation. The separation remains between the created and uncreated, the spiritual and natural, light and darkness, the finite and infinite, and God’s immanent and transcendent realms.18F[xix] Thus, we read, “In the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets” (Revelation 10:7).
An emanation is a theological concept referring to the “flowing forth” of God’s existence into His creation. From the Latin emanare, meaning “to flow from,” or “pour out,” a Divine emanation is a direct extension of the Divine essence, not a separate creation. In the Bible, we find many emanations of God’s immanence (presence) within creation, the first being creation itself. Again, we read, “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2). The Hebrew word ruach (ר֣וּחַ) is more accurately translated as “wind.” King James translates the Hebrew mera-chefet (מְרַחֶ֖פֶת) as “hovering,” but some Jewish versions more appropriately translate the word as “sweeping.” Wind does not hover. It blows.
Following the creation, we see an emanation of God in the form of a man, as we read, “And they [Adam and Eve] heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (Genesis 3:8). God’s emanations continue throughout Scripture in various forms. God spoke to Noah, appeared to Abraham as a man, and spoke to Moses in the burning bush. Moses also partly saw God’s backside. Later, God revealed Himself as a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night and spoke to all of Israel at Mount Sinai. Moses, Aaron, and the seventy elders went up to Mount Sinai, where they saw God, even eating and drinking with Him. Also, throughout the Bible, God revealed Himself to the prophets and men of God as the Angel of the Lord.19F[xx]
Because we know that God is invisible and has no corporeal form, many theologians attribute these emanations to theophanies (from the Greek words theos and phaino, meaning “to appear”), which are “visible manifestations to humankind of God.” 20F[xxi] I believe that some of these manifestations are of the Holy Spirit, while others are pre-incarnate appearances of Christ (Christophanies from the Greek words christos and phaino). Again, because God is invisible and has no created substance in Him, every appearance in creation uses created matter to represent God’s appearance. As we read, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). There is no way that our five senses could otherwise be aware of His presence.
It reveals yet another unexplainable phenomenon. How can an uncreated infinite God reveal Himself through created matter? And does this make God a created being, some asking if God can even die?
Certainly not. God is the creator, not the created. But suddenly, we have become aware that God’s revealing of Himself through the present creation has limitations. A finite creation can only comprehend a constrained or limited God, yet God is anything but limited. It implies that God has much more of Himself to make known to us; thus, we read, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
And in the resurrection, God will recreate us in a glorified body of material substance that appears capable of existing beyond the limits of this finite creation. Might we be able to move between the transcendent and immanent realms of God without the limitations of this current body? I believe so.
From the beginning, God has desired to make Himself known to His creation. God is invisible and cannot be seen; his transcendence is beyond our imagination.21F[xxii] However, His immanence brings Him so close that He purposefully dwells within His children.22F[xxiii] Thus, He has chosen to reveal Himself in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and in the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.23F[xxiv] These two are one and co-equal with the Father, yet they each reveal different aspects of God.24F[xxv]
Jesus was born of a woman and resurrected into a physical body with flesh and bones.25F[xxvi] However, His ministry came through the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit.26F[xxvii] One is natural, the other spiritual. Both are manifest in the creation. Remember, God had initially separated the spiritual from the natural. However, at the baptism of Yeshua, the Holy Spirit descended upon the Son in bodily form, together revealing the fullness of the Father within the physical created realm. We require all three witnesses on earth, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Still, these three agree as one.27F[xxviii] . In the resurrection, the transcendent and immanent realms will also become one complete emanation of the infinite God.
It is God’s perfect will and purpose to bring God’s transcendence and infinite nature into this finite creation and redeem out of it a people for His possession that He would intimately dwell with and within us. And then to carry us beyond the limited into His endless realm.
The pinnacle of God’s revelation to us is His Son, Jesus-Yeshua, the Christ—God born in the flesh.28F[xxix] As we read: “And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father” (John 1:14); “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:9). And Yeshua said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). As we previously read, God already knows all His creation. Now, through His Son and Holy Spirit, we can know our Heavenly Father most intimately.
Some claim that Christ is the final theophany. But I would argue that Christ is more than a theophany or a mere appearance of God in a physical form. Christ is God physically habituating as a complete and perfect man within His creation. Therefore, He is called Immanuel, “God with us.” In other words, Christ is not just an appearance of God. He is God Himself who has come to dwell with His people.29F[xxx] Fully God, and yet, also fully man.
Again, one aspect of the creation is the physical, seeable, and tangible world, and the other is the created spiritual, hidden, and unseen world. We read, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Paul said, “There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:44). Every aspect of the physical creation has a spiritual counterpart. As Moses was instructed, “And you shall raise up the tabernacle according to its pattern which you were shown on the mountain” (Exodus 26:30).30F[xxxi]
Therefore, we resolve that God’s absolute unity has been temporarily altered in this present creation. In other words, God’s infinite transcendence is momentarily separated from the finite and immanent realm. And within the creation, the spiritual and natural worlds are also separated.
But these realms and created worlds are not intended to remain separate. On the contrary, the physical and spiritual realms were designed to function as one interdependent unit. And these two appearances of God within the creation—Christ and the Holy Spirit—reveal to us the fullness of the Father. Thus, Yeshua said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
Again, we read in First John, “This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word [Christ], and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one” (1 John 5:6-8).
Here we see that three bear witness in heaven (the spiritual realm), but these three appear as two witnesses in the physical realm—the Holy Spirit and Christ (who came by water and blood).31F[xxxii] These two are now one, seeing that the Holy Spirit descended upon Christ at His Baptism and the church on the Day of Pentecost. Therefore, Yeshua said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:23). Notice the plurality of God’s nature dwelling in our hearts—one God who cohabitates with and within His people as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
God’s restoration of His creation has begun, and the separations within it are gradually being removed. As we read, “Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split” (Matthew 27:51).
And there is a new creation coming, in which the infinite realm of God will be fully united with His created one. As Paul said: “In the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him” (Ephesians 1:10). “Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power” (1 Corinthians 15:24).
Many have wondered why, at first, it says, “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand” (John 3:35). But then, at the end of this age, Christ delivers the kingdom to God the Father. The answer is simple. God is removing all things that separate Himself from His creation. No longer will the creation be limited to a primordial void, but the new creation will be infinite as God is infinite, and the spiritual and material worlds will also be one. Again, in the new heaven and earth, we read, “There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:5).
Even darkness is removed from the new creation, as it says, “There shall be no night there.” So, we understand that darkness represents a temporary dispensation when we sleep at night and in our graves until the resurrection. Then, we will shine like the stars for eternity, as we read, “Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3).
As the Father is the source of all that exists, so it will also be in the end when all is returned to the one from which everything came. Hence, Yeshua prayed, “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 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 17:21-23). Only then will God’s unity with His creation be perfectly restored so that nothing will ever be separated from Him again.
[i] Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language. S.V. “theology.”
[ii] Duffield, Guy P. and Van Cleave, Nathaniel M. Foundations of Pentecostal Theology. Foursquare Media. 1910.
[iii] Trinity. Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
[iv] “Nicene Creed,” Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics. 2008.
[v] Westminster Confession of Faith. 2008.
[vi] All Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Bible (NKJV) unless otherwise noted, Thomas Nelson Inc., 1982.
[vii] Gjesdal, Kristin. Hermeneutics. Oxford Bibliographies.
[viii] Lesson in the Tanya—Iggeret HaKodesh, middle of Epistle 25. The Tanya of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, elucidated by Rabbi Yosef Wineberg. Translated from Yiddish by Rabbi Levy Wineberg and Rabbi Sholom B. Wineberg. Edited by Uri Kaploun. Published and copyrighted by Kehot Publication Society. Chabad.org.
[ix] Psalm 18:11.
[x] Ibid. The Tanya of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi.
[xi] Ibid. The Tanya of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi.
[xii] Matthew 11:27.
[xiii] John 1:10.
[xiv] John 5:30, 8:28.
[xv] John 12:38.
[xvi] Romans 8:29-30.
[xvii] John 15:5.
[xviii] Immanence, Philosophy and Theology. Encyclopedia Britannica.
[xix] 1 Corinthians 13:9.
[xx] Genesis 16:7.
[xxi] Oxford Dictionary. John 1:18, 6:46. Hebrews 11:3.
[xxii] John 4:24.
[xxiii] 1 Corinthians 3:16.
[xxiv] Hebrews 1:1-2.
[xxv] John 10:30.
[xxvi] John 1:1, 14. Romans 1:3.
[xxvii] Matthew 3:16.
[xxviii] 1 John 5:6-8.
[xxix] Colossians 1:15.
[xxx] Matthew 1:23. Revelation 21:3.
[xxxi] Exodus 25:9, 25:40.
[xxxii] https://www.thehouseofdavid.org/writings/2019/7/20/water-and-blood
[xxxv] https://www.thehouseofdavid.org/writings/2019/7/20/water-and-blood