Listening to: Seth Lakeman: Freedom Fields
Tom Smail has three theses about the Trinity and the Resurrection of Jesus:
- "it is the Father who is both the initiating source and the ultimate goal of all that happens in relation to the raising of the Son and the sending of the Spirit. It is from the Father that it all starts and it is to the Father that it is all to return."
- "the integrated Easter event that proclaims the primacy of the Father equally clearly proclaims what we may call the derived deity of the Son."
- "the integrated Easter event that reveals the primacy of the Father and the derived deity of the Son, also reveals the mutual interdependence of the Son and the Holy Spirit"
"The resurrection is seen [in 1 Pet 1:3] as the distinctive personal act of God the Father, his justifying vindication of Jesus in the face of his crucifiers... Jesus rises because he has been raised up by his Father, he acts because he has first been acted upon by God. He is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25), not in and by himself but because he has received this from the Father.
What is true of his resurrection is also true of his exaltation. He does not exalt himself - that would be against his whole character - it is his Father who exalts him to his own right hand.... his exaltation remains the distinctive personal act of God the Father, 'God, exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name' (Phil 2:9). The authority in heaven and on earth that has been given to him (Matt 28:18) is to be exercised in a way that glorifies and serves the purposes of the Father who gave it (Phil 2:11). In the end indeed, also according to Paul, that kingly authority has to be surrendered back to the Father who gave it, so that God may be all in all (1 Cor 1:24-28)....
The Holy Spirit did not come on his own, he was poured out by Jesus after and as a result of his resurrection and his exaltation... Yet even Jesus is not the ultimate origin of the newly poured out Spirit. He gives him only because he has first received him from the Father.
When the Father raises his Son from the dead to his own throne, he is telling us something not just about himself, but about that son, namely that he belongs not just with us on the human side of reality, but with God himself on the divine side of reality.... 'What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions?' (Eph 4:9). His exaltation to God is seen to imply that his work and his person have their eternal origination in God's own life...
All this, however, is said on the clear assumption that it does not threaten the primacy of the Father. The Son is Son because on the one hand he is all that the Father is, he is of the very stuff of the Father's deity, but on the other hand all he has he owes not to himself but to the Father (John 5:19)...
The risen son of God shows himself to be not only our brother, but God's eternal Son, who is to us and does for us what only God can do. Yet at the same time he is to be differentiated from God the Father, as the one who is sent is to be differentiated from the one who sends him, the one who obeys from the one whom he obeys, the one who is raised from the one who raised him.
"On the one hand it is through the activity of the Spirit that Jesus is raised, and on the other hand it is through the risen Jesus that the Spirit is sent to the church at Pentecost...
Acts 2:33, '[Jesus]...has poured out what you now see and hear', and John 16:7, 'Unless I go away the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.' For Paul also the dependence of the work of the Spirit upon the work of Christ is so close that at some points... he seems to identify the one with the other... the Holy Spirit does nothing of his own that is apart from or beyond what Christ has done. He simply takes what is in Christ and so works in us that it becomes ours also...
[on the other hand] the Father raises the Son from the dead through the activity of the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 1:4; 1 Cor 6:14; 1 Tim 3:16; 1 Pet 3:18). I that is so, then it is the son who is dependent upon the Spirit in his reception of resurrection life from the Father, just as he was dependent upon the Spirit for his human birth from Mary (Luke 1:35)...
The two-sided mutuality of that relationship is classically expressed in the words of John the Baptist in John 1:33, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptise with the holy Spirit.' At his baptism Jesus receives the Spirit and all that he brings from the Father for his own work; at Pentecost he sends that same Spirit from the Father to empower us in our work for him.
All quotes from pp. 63-78, Thomas A. Smail, "The Holy Trinity and the Resurrection of Jesus" in ed Andrew Walker Different Gospels: Christian Orthodoxy and Modern Theologies. Sorry for the extended quotations, but I thought it was all excellent stuff.
There is Only ONE True Living G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL, and HE has no g-d for HE IS The Only True G-D, and HE has no father for HE IS Father(Creator) of ALL.......
ReplyDeleteThe Messiah testified, "That they would know YOU, The Only True G-D".......
"Only" = without others or anything further; alone; solely; exclusively.......
And Truth IS, as Paul testified, "G-D was in The Messiah", Paul did not testify that 'g-d was the messiah'.......
And Paul testified of "ONE G-D, Father of ALL".......
The Messiah testified of "The Only True G-D", and The Messiah testified that He had a "G-D and Father", and The Messiah's G-D and Father was, is and always will be The ONE and Only True Living G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL.......
Paul testified, "And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world has been hid in G-D, WHO CREATED ALL things by The Messiah".......(Eph3:9)
And The Father(Creator) spoke The Word "Let there be Light" and "there was Light".......
LIGHT begot Light.......
The Messiah, "The Light which enlightens every man", was "The Beginning of The Creation of The ONE and Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL.......(Rev 3:14)
There is Only ONE True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL, and HE IS The G-D and Father(Creator) of The Messiah and His brethren.......
John 17:3 "And this is Eternal Life, that they might know YOU The Only True G-D, and The Messiah, Whom YOU have sent".......
Mark 12:32-33 "And the scribe said unto The Messiah, Well, Master, You have said The Truth: for there is ONE G-D; and there is NONE OTHER but HE. And to love HIM with all your heart, and with all your understanding, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and to love his neighbor as yourself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices".......
Rom 3:30 "Seeing it is ONE G-D, WHO shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith".......
1 Cor 8:6 "But to us there is but ONE G-D, The Father, of WHOM are all things, and we in HIM; and one Master, The Messiah, by Whom are all things, and we by Him".......
Rev 3:14 The Messiah was "The Beginning of The Creation of The ONE and Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL".......
Eph 4:6 "ONE G-D, Father of ALL, WHO is above all, and through all, and in you all".......
John 4:24 "G-D is A SPIRIT: and they that worship HIM must worship HIM in Spirit and in Truth".......
Luke 24:39 The Messiah testified after He was "raised from among the dead", "Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself, handle Me and see, for A SPIRIT DOES NOT HAVE FLESH AND BONES, AS you see I HAVE".......
The ONE and Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL can not die.......period.......
The Messiah died and "The ONE and Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL raised Him from among the dead"....... And The Messiah's incorruptible body ascended into the clouds....... (continued)
James 1:13 "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of G-D, for G-D CAN NOT BE TEMPTED with evil, neither tempts HE any man".......
ReplyDeleteHeb 4:15 "For we do not have a High Priest(The Messiah) Who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, for He WAS in all points TEMPTED like we are, yet without sin".......
The ONE and Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL, HE CAN NOT BE TEMPTED with sin AS THE MESSIAH WAS.......period.......
1 Tim 2:5 "There is ONE G-D, and one mediator between G-D and men, the man-The Messiah".......
James 2:19 "You believe that there is ONE G-D, you do well, yet the devils also believe, and tremble".......
John 20:17 "The Messiah said unto her, Touch Me not; for I have not yet ascended to My Father: but go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Father; and to My G-D, and your G-D."
Mark 3:33-35 "The Messiah answered them, saying, "Who is My mother, or My brethren"? And He looked round about on them which sat about Him, and said, "Behold my mother and my brethren! For whoever shall do The Will of G-D, the same is My brother, and My sister, and mother"".......
Rom 8:29 "Whom G-D did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of HIS Son, that The Messiah might be the firstborn among many brethren".......
Hope is you are one of the brethren of The Messiah.......
The brethren of The Messiah know there is Only ONE True Living G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL.......
And Truth is as The Messiah tesified, " My(Our) Father is greater than I".......(John14:28)
And Truth is as Paul testifed, "The HEAD of The Messiah is The ONE and Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL, and The Head of the man is The Messiah, and the head of the woman is the man".......(1Cor11:3)
Those who would pervert The Order of The ONE and Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL will have to answer to HIM.......
For The ONE and Only True Living G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL, "HE Created all things by The Messiah" and The Messiah was "The Beginning of The Creation of The ONE and Only True Living G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL.......
Truth is "The Messiah is The Son of The ONE and Only True Living G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL".......
The Messiah testified that He had a "G-D and Father" and that His "G-D and Father" was also the "G-D and Father" of His Brethren.......
And The ONE and Only True Living G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL, HE has no god, for HE IS G-D, and HE has no father, for HE IS Father(Creator) of ALL, and HE has no brethren, for HE IS Father(Creator) of ALL.......
Hope is there would be those who experience The Miracle that is receiving "the love of The Truth" for they will "experience The Messiah and The Power(Our Father) that raised Him from among the dead".......
The Faith of those who have received "a love of The Truth" is grounded in Miracles, not mere colored marks(words) written on a dead tree(page) and bound in a book.......
Thankfully The ONE and Only True G-D, Father of ALL, HE yet communes with HIS Children, HE yet reveals all things.......
Father Help! and HE does.......
Peace, in spite of the dis-ease(no-peace) that is of this world and it's systems of religion, for "the WHOLE(not just a portion) world is under the control of the evil one" indeed and Truth.......
Truth is forever, lies never existed and never will....... francis
Hi!
ReplyDeleteI think the very first quote from Smail might be 'initiating source' as opposed to 'imitating source.'
Just a thought!
Cheers
I'm sure you're right djk. Thanks for that.
ReplyDelete