Sermon(Jn 14:8-11): The Triune God (The Trinity)

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025286927

 

>> 8 Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied." 9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me; or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves. (Jn 14:8-11) <<

 

I had an old wish, "My God, let me make it known to all the nations that God the Father is the true living God!" I myself tried to accomplish it by finding out the secret of the existence of the world God created in order to present it as the proof that God created the world. That's why I applied for the physics department. So I chose my college major according to my wish, 'To prove the existence of God'. I myself thought that it would be great if I achieved great work in physics, won the Nobel Prize, proved the existence of God to the world, and promoted the national prestige of ROK. What a good wish!

 

The faithful God granted my wish, however not in the way of physics but in the way of theology. God led me to study physics first, and I learned what physics is. Then he led me to theology in order that I might learn how to describe the truth in the theological way. The truth is that God created the world by his word. However, this truth can't be described or explained in the physical way of description. It's never possible. The explanation of the truth is possible only when God the Creator, man created in his image, and the world that is God's word are all considered together. So what a powerless means of proof is physics itself!

 

Those who have an intuition for the truth immediately realize that it is truly the most important thing when they hear the explanation of something. I'm not saying this to brag about myself at all. I wrote "God the Creator" on Dong-A Netizen Forum at the end of last year. (English version: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/221747893118) This article attempts to prove that the world is the word of God. In the article, there is an explanation of the verse Gen 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." If the verse was written 4,000 years ago, the article means the unlocking of the 4,000 years' locking. In the writing there is a part that explains the way of the existence of the Triune God, which has remained a great secret until now. "Each Person, that is, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit respectively, is a perfect God with perfect divinity, yet they are the one God, the Trinity." This dogma now revealed its complete meaning after the New Testament was written and the dogma was accepted as orthodoxy. I've read Augustine's writings and other great theologians' writings, and I think that they explained the Trinity wonderfully in their own ways. However their final conclusion was, "We must not give up the doctrine because we can't understand it, nor should we make a farfetched interpretation of the dogma; but we should leave the Trinity a mystery and accept it by faith and obedience because it is still the truth even when we can't understand it." But I think that my understanding of the Trinity could explain the mystery of 1 and 3 without contradiction. Of course it's just my subjective judgment. Nevertheless I can say that my understanding of the dogma was inspired by God. The important points were suddenly emerged from the fountain of the heart. The article was written and completed in prayer, and uploaded on the Dong-A Netizen Forum at the final permission of God. It couldn't attract big attention of people, because it was written not by a doctor of theology or a professor of theology but by an unknown man of Th. M. Of course, who would attentively read the article on the Internet forum? Nevertheless it is a truth, and a man with a discerning eye for the truth would not underestimate the writing. People seeking for the truth will gather where there is a truth. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, so he leads those who are seeking for the truth to the truth. What I wrote was a truth, so there will be some people who will rediscover the mystery of God there. The time will come when God will unveil various mysteries to us. It is time we understood the mystery of the Trinity. Now, it is time the riddle of the way of the existence of the matter, or the material matter, were resolved.

 

Today's text is related to the doctrine of the Trinity, so this sermon will focus on that doctrine. There are two grave heresies of the Trinity that misunderstand the dogma. One is modalism. As one man having three masks shows himself to others as if he were three men, so, according to modalism, one God of one divine self, if necessary, shows to humans three appearances of himself, that is, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, however not all the three at the same time, but one by one, or alternately. According to this theory, God the Son who died on the cross was, in fact, God the Father of the Old Testament. But this contradicts the Scripture. And according to this heresy, the God must cease to be God the Father or God the Holy Spirit when he exists as (or in) the Person of God the Son. This contradicts the testimony of the Bible that sometimes the Father, the Son, and the Spirit revealed themselves to humans simultaneously. Therefore the modalism is a heresy that misunderstood the Trinity. The church rejected it.

 

Another heresy that misunderstood the Trinity was tritheism. According to this heresy, just as father, mother, and son are of one mind and will and establish a close blood tie, so the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are in very close relationship although they are three separate divine beings. But this theory actually speaks of three Gods, so it contradicts the Bible that speaks of the only God.

 

The trinitarianism I suggest is this: The one God puts his three perfect beings in three places at the same time. The original I (myself), being in Seoul, also make myself exist at Washington and Pyongyang as my two perfect selves at the same time, and meet people also at the two places as perfect myself. This is the analogy of the Trinity I present. When I, existing as (in) my three selves, live among the people, I live three lives simultaneously. Let me give you the analogy of the Scripture. Originally the Bible was written in Hebrew and Greek. This original Bible also exists in both English and Korean versions at the same time, and shows itself as God's word at three places at the same time. Likewise, the only God exists as three Persons, that is, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, at the same time, and feels and lives three kinds of divine life simultaneously. (Here, Person refers to a living being that has personality, which is not just a name or character or mind.) In order for this to be possible, God himself, unlike humans, must have the ability over (toward) his existence, that is, the ability to generate his another perfect self. God the Father can generate his second perfect being (the second substantial being) and his third perfect being, which are not just the second face (mask) of himself or the third face of himself, but in all respects have the same being as he originally has. God the Son is the second self of God the Father; God the Holy Spirit is the third self of God the Father. I'd like to state the aseity of God as the ground for this. We can say that God who exists by his power to be can have his second and third beings. Each of the three divine selves meets humans as a perfect God where he is, and can treat another divine self as an object. (To give you an analogy, your right hand can regard your left hand as an object and hold it tightly.) Therefore the Son can pray to the Father, and the Father can speak to the Son. Nevertheless the three divine selves (the three Persons) are not three separate God's, but the three selves of the only undivided God. Like this, the only God has been existing as the Trinity from eternity. (You can say that the God is in three Persons, or in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but only insofar as it does not mean that one subject (one self) of God exists in three divine Bodies, but insofar as it means that the God exists as three Persons. The blog that you are in now is a second blog of the original blog that exists in the Internet site 'naver.com'. The original blog can generate many second blogs on many computers simultaneously. All blogs, including the original blog, are perfect blogs having perfect functions and characters. Nevertheless all these blogs are one blog that can't be divided into many different blogs. This is another analogy for the Trinity.)

 

 

Let me explain today's text. Let's say that the first self in Korea is the Father, and the second self in Pyongyang is the Son, and the third self in USA is the Holy Spirit. And let's say that the second self in Pyongyang took the body of a sheep and revealed himself to other sheep. Then this is like the Son took human body and soul and appeared to humans. Therefore it was not the Father or the Holy Spirit but the Son, Jesus Christ, that took human body and soul and appeared to humans. This Son Jesus Christ was crucified and suffered physical sufferings.

 

Philip, a disciple of Jesus, asked him, "Lord, show us the Father. (v. 8)" Philip asked so because he, not knowing him as the second self of the God, thought that he was one of prophets of Israel. Philip and other disciples do not know about the Trinity yet, and they call the God of the Old Testament the Father. Philip really wanted to see the Father whom Jesus loved indeed. Is philip the only one who has that wish? How many people want to see the real God with their own eyes? But Jesus didn't show the Father whom Philip wanted, instead he gave Philip an enigmatic answer. "Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? (v. 9)" My brethren, can't it be said that he who saw the second self existing in Pyongyang saw the first self existing in Seoul? Obviously, he who is seeing the second self in Pyongyang is seeing him who, existing in Seoul, has placed his second being (second self) in Pyongyang. Certainly, Jesus is the 'second self of the Father' who took humanity, as the Son of God the Father. Therefore he who has seen Jesus has seen God the Father. Of course, in this case, he has not seen the Father directly, but the second self of the Father. Now you know that there is a big difference between the relationship of a human son and a human father and that of the Son and the Father. The human son and father are two different men while the Son and the Father are one God. Jesus said, "I and Father are one." The meaning that the Son is the son of God the Father is quite different from the meaning of a son that comes from the relationship of a human son and a human father. Of course, there is some similarity between the two, but there is a much bigger difference. (A man has only one self while the only God has three selves. Just as the space is one and is (exists) in itself, so the God (the Father) is one and is in himself. As the space is infinite, so is the God. As the space is a locus for itself to exist at and in, so the God is a locus for himself to exist at and in. Therefore if the God begets a son, the son also is a God, who can exist only in the dimension of the existence of God, therefore, in God the Father. The begetting of the Son takes place in the being of the Father. The being of the Son fills all the locus of the Father, for the Son also is infinite as the Father is. So the Son is in the Father, and the Father is in the Son. They constitute one divine substance. Three Persons of the Trinity share the name ‘the God’ or ‘Jehovah’, glory, and the authority as the God. So Jesus has the full right to be called the God.)

 

 

Philip couldn't have fully understood the words of Jesus. Jesus elaborates on the relationship between himself and his Father. "Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. (v. 10)" Jesus defined himself as son and God the Father as father. Just as God the Father is a perfect divine substance, that is, a God having perfect divinity, so is God the Son. (Of course, strictly speaking, we must apply 'hypostasis' to the being of the Son or the Father here, instead of 'substance', which can be applied to only the Trinity. Hypostasis refers to the being of each Person, while substance to the being of the whole Trinity. I used 'substance' just in order to emphasize the fact that the Son is a perfect God having perfect divinity, too.) So the God has three divine substances, or more precisely, three hypostases, at the same time. That's why it is true that the Son has a divinity equal to that of the Father. As the Father is omniscient and omnipotent, so is the Son without any decrease. However, there is a fact that both the Son and the Father know. It is that the Son is the Father's second self. By the way, a divine self can think independently, for he has a complete divinity. Character and personality come from one's position and long life. The Son established his person as 'the Son of God the Father' thanks to the fact that he had come from the Father. The Son has been the Son of God (of God the Father) from eternity. The Father has the person of father, the Son the person of son, and the Holy Spirit the person of 'the spirit of the Father and the Son' sent into the world. The one God, existing as three divine selves (as three Persons), lives three characteristic divine lives. Nevertheless, because of the fact that there is only one God, the minds of the Father and the Spirit are present in the mind of the Son, and the minds of the Son and the Spirit are present in the mind of the Father, and the minds of the Father and the Son are present in the mind of the Spirit. So Jesus said, "I am in the Father and the Father in me."

 

But what we should pay attention to is that Jesus said, "The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. (v. 10)" This means that all God's plans are made by the first divine self, or the Father, and that the Son wholly submits his will to the fulfillment of the Father's plans. >Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work." (Jn 4:34)< We must not think that the Son and the Father are two independent Gods because the Son obeyed the will of the Father. Are the head and the arm two separate lives (two independent living beings) because the arm obeys the head and moves according to the will of the head? No! The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one life. The Son had no less ability to plan and fulfill all works than the Father, yet he made it his duty to follow the will of the Father. "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. (Phil 2:5-8)"

 

My brethren, believe that Jesus Christ our Savior is a perfect God who has the perfect divinity. And believe that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are the one God.

 

May the grace of Jesus Christ be with you all abundantly! Amen, amen!

 

Chong Tack Kim

                                 - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -