THE MYSTERY OF THE FATHER

[douge]

Colossians 2:2 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;

The mystery of the Father is His purpose to reconcile heaven and earth to Himself, to bring salvation to the world. The means of the Father's salvation would be revealed in the progressive revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, and His redemption. Colossians 1:20 Matthew 25:34 Ephesians 1:7

The mystery of the Father is the revelation of the salvation found in Christ, determined before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:4

Revealed is the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6

Revealed is the salvation, promises, and blessings furnished by the cross of Christ. Revealed is that the body of Christ will sit in heavenly places in Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:18 Ephesians 1:3 Ephesians 1:5

Revealed, is that, Israel's prophetic program of the Kingdom on earth, has been postponed by the dispensation of Grace, in which, Israel is temporarily set aside, and salvation is provided freely to all by the faith of Jesus Christ. Luke 12:32 Matthew 3:2 Romans 11:12 Romans 3:24

Revealed is that at the end, the Kingdom will be delivered to God, the Father, that God may be all in all. 1 Corinthians 15:24 1 Corinthians 15:28

The church should glorify God being of one mind, filled with knowledge, and the unity of the faith. Romans 15:6 Ephesians 4:13

　

　

[JohnD]

The [mystery] I am convinced is in the correct understanding of the Trinity.

God is spirit (John 4:24) The Greek does not have an article before spirit. So the translations that add "a" before spirit err on this point.

Example:

"Your family is human." With the same textual addition of those translations the statement would read: "Your family is a human."

So, John 4:24 is not an indication of God as one and only one spirit. Rather it is a statement about the nature of God. God is spirit and not physical.

 

Jesus Christ is God in spirit and man in body (physicality). This makes him the most unique person in all eternity. God (the Father and the Holy Spirit) are not 

man.  All other men and women are not God incarnate. Jesus is the daysman (the bridge between God and man both consisting of both). Before he became this

bridge between God and man, Jesus was the sole creator of all things created. (John 1:1-3, Colossians 1:13-16, Hebrews 1:1-2, ISAIAH 44:24, Genesis 1:1)

Footnote: He was in the presence of God the Father (1 John 1:2) and God the Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:2) but the text in Isaiah 44:24 clearly states he acted alone / by himself in creation).

So much for the so-called Apostle's Creed that states God the Father created heaven and earth... just another tradition of man... (Mark 7:13).

 

The Heavenly Father only created the body of the LORD Jesus (Hebrews 10:5 / Hebrews 1:5 / John 1:14).

 

The genealogy in Luke 3 works back to Adam in verse 38 declaring Adam the son of God.  As we have just seen the scriptures clarified, the text could read Adam was the son of God the Word. Just the same as Genesis 1:1 could read In the Beginning God the Word created the heavens and the earth (or even Jesus created the heavens and the earth... revisit Hebrews 1:1-2 or Colossians 1:13-16).

 

God the Word is the [father] of creation.  But he's not the Heavenly Father who created his body. Jesus alone is the Son of the Heavenly Father. We who believe in Jesus are adopted sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father (Romans 8:15).

 

The Holy Spirit. Perhaps the least understood of the three since he is the revelator (not John as the old Gospel tune said). The Holy Spirit is the [father] of revelation primarily about Jesus, about God, about truth and life and death and eternity... the whole magilla...  he's in the Bible alright... he's just not self absorbed as we would be. Again the primary focus is on Jesus in both Testaments.

 

What makes the Tri-Unity of the Godhead difficult to grasp is misapplied logic / reason... well-meaning but ill-advised examples like the three parts of an egg or the three states of water or even misapplied math... the late Dr. D. James Kennedy (a man I admired a lot) used to say "the Trinity is not 1+1+1 but 1 x 1 x 1 = 1." Unfortunately, the good Dr. did not realize that is modalism / sabellianism / oneness Pentecostal / Apostolic doctrine. For 1 x 1 x 1 to = 1 it has to be the same exact 1. Use your finger. Hold it up three times... ten times... a million times... it's still the same finger.

 

The easiest way to understand the Trinity is to accept it the way we did when our parents explained to us what [family] meant. More than one person = one family. Not that God is a family, but God is an entity of compound unity like a family is or a corporation is... only in the divine.  

 

One can track the Trinity throughout scripture once we get past the traditional names / descriptions we confound ourselves with. For example:

All three persons in the Godhead are:

Spirit

Holy

Fathers

What helped me grasp the differences between the three is taking it back to the stark clinical basics. 

God person "A" / God the Authority (the Heavenly Father)

God person "B" / God the Word (Jesus)

God person "C" / God the Author (the Holy Spirit)

God is one, but each are different and have different offices / function in the divine order of things (God's plan to redeem mankind).

 

The fact that Jesus (preincarnate) is the lone creator solves the [mystery] why he was the one of the three who became man and sacrificed that life on the cross to pay for human sin.

 

[Mr E]

John, I like your emphasis on revelation. This is the only way that mystery is understood— through revelation, and only to the extent that it is revealed. 

The mystery is bigger, broader and better than we comprehended at all until a small portion was revealed through the very Word of God who dwelled among us. 

Edited December 29, 2018 by Mr E