The Geometry of God

Isosceles Triangle

     Deep in the fifth Chapter of John we find Jesus talking to the Pharisees about His relationship to the Father. This give and take resulted in the Jewish leadership initiating the persecution of Christ. What did he say that caused such a reaction? John tells us that the  real reason was not that He did miracles on the Sabbath,  but that He made himself out to be equal with God. Robertson points to the Greek word,  "Isos is an old common adjective (in papyri also) and means equal. Here some argue that Christ did not mean equal with God (Bernard)." Robertson pushes back, "He (Jesus) never corrected this understanding and Paul claims the Pre-incarnated Christ to be Isas theoi, equal with God." An understanding of the reading, if one can accept the reaction of the Jews as the litmus tests for translation, then it can be seen in verse 18 that they wanted to kill Christ because he made himself equal with God. Certainly this was a bold and dangerous way of thinking in Jesus' day just as it is in our day.
      The coming together of this theory of equality for Christians began to formalize at the meeting called by Constantine in the fourth century at Nice. The strategy of Constantine was to unite the Christians for political reasons and get beyond the division being caused by Arius. Arius claimed that God and the son were not equal substances. Suffice it to say that Arius lost and we now have a working model of the Trinity. I say working model because new revelation is appearing from theologians of today on how the Trinity functions and what affect it has on the body of Christ.  Fiddes, Buxton, et al., have been working with the "community" of Christ explaining how the Trinity draws us into the "dance" of the Father with Son and the Spirit.
      This is all interesting, but the real challenge for us is that Jesus is equal with the Father.  This is the point we need to ponder here.  If I said that I was one with the Father and part of the Trinity,  would you want to pick up scriptures, theological phrases and arguments to hurl at me? Would we seek to "slay" anyone who made themselves out to be equal with God? It is still a very personal and dangerous sounding statement. Yet Jesus' prayer in John 17 (especially v 21) is for us to have the oneness with the Father that He had. This is the same Jesus and same statement that caused the Pharisees to want to slay the Messiah.  Their Messiah was standing in front of them and they could not see Him. The Father wanted them as His sons.
       He wants us for His sons also.What holds back our accepting the oneness?   Are we waiting for the end of all things before we can be one? Is it pushed off until the eschaton? Maybe  that is where it belongs in the sweet by-and-by.  Is it really something that we can achieve before the Lord's return? But really Christ wanted the oneness as a sign or witness to the nations. We see in John 17 that our oneness is to be a witness to the world (again v 21). John Stevens points to our oneness as an identity change.  "I’m not just identified with Christ (Christian, little Christ); I’m identical with Him. When Paul says in I Corinthians 12:12–14, that the Body is not one member but many, yet it is one Body, and so also is Christ," he is not speaking blasphemy. Christ intends to manifest Himself throughout eternity in a many-membered Body, made one in Christ" (Identical With Christ). This is not blasphemy as the Jews thought. This is our salvation and really theirs. 

A quandary.

        The wonder of it all is that God wants us to be one with Him. I can sometimes feel my inner Jewish leader, the Pharisee in me, the religious self which says it can not be clean enough to approach God,  resisting this thought of being one with God.  Can we be part of the Trinity? Has Christ done such a thorough salvation? But to even see this, we have to go back to Nicodemus. To understand Spiritual things of God we have to have a new level of birthing by the Spirit. This step into the Kingdom is going to take a whole new level of faith to receive what God has done. "I and the Father are one". How can this corrupt body of flesh be able to be in community with the Trinity? It can not. Paul stepped on that thought in Romans 7:24-25. Who can deliver us from this body of this death? "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord." "We suffer with Him that we be glorified together"(Romans 8:17, NASB) Wow that is amazingly hard believe. Lord I open up to see your salvation on a new level.  I receive it. It is His gift to us. The author Steven Covey says "Self-growth is tender; it is holly ground. Be patient with yourself."  Let us be tender with our selves and patient as we open up to what God is doing. Be gentle with our selves and with others for the new life that is being expressed in the community of God. May be this is where the Kingdom of God will be manifested. May be the Messiah's return is in among his people. My pastor this morning exhorted us to think on the good things of God as he read from Philippians 4:7. May be the pathway to the Kingdom is dwelling on what is being revealed in one another. Thinking about what a good and a wonderful thing God is doing in His community.
        The more I read the story of Nicodemus the more I feel very kindred with his need to see Spiritually the kingdom of God. God's plan is beyond what eye has seen. What a salvation we have. 
Post Script. 
       Theorem: Equal with God, if a=b (God = Jesus) and b=c (Jesus = Holy Spirit)  and b=d (Christ = body of) then a=b=c=d. Maybe its more of a quadnity than Trinity, or really a quandary.