The Inexplicable God

John 5:19-23  Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. 20  The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished. 21  Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes. 22  The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, 23  so that all may honor the Son just as they honour the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honour the Father who sent him.

......John 5:30-32  "I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me. 31  "If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32  There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true.

The Gospel of John is always difficult to read, and passages such as the one above are no exception! While Matthew, Mark and Luke provide an account of “what Jesus did”, John’s Gospel wants to explain “what Jesus means”. This passage is part of a chapter that tries to explain an inexplicable concept: the Trinity of God. This was written fifty years after the event it describes, at a time when followers of Jesus were struggling to explain the relationship between Jesus and God. Many God-like characteristics had been ascribed to Jesus, and people did not know how to put this in words. 

John’s explanation borrows from Greco-Roman philosophical language: “the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.”  These words, spoken in the third person, are an attempt to explain that Jesus is divine – the son of God – who does nothing that God would not do. A few verses later we see an allusion to the Spirit of God: “There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true”.  This difficult and complex theology has been developed over time in an attempt to explain the inexplicable.

I believe that this difficult language is an essential correction to those who would reduce our faith to a few simple explanations. It is necessary to be reminded that the Divine Being who calls us by name is beyond our explanation and our control. An impossible concept like The Trinity helps us remember that we do not have adequate language to describe God, and God’s thoughts are beyond our understanding. Sometimes the only response to our Creator is silent awe.

To Sing

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessèd Trinity!

Words: Re­gi­nald He­ber, 1826.

Heber wrote this hymn for Trin­i­ty Sun­day while he was Vi­car of Hod­net, Shrop­shire, Eng­land.

Trinity Sunday

30 The Triune God

The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 190.

This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.