So, here is my second entry!
In it I'm citing from my favourite bible edition (the Good News Translation) alongside the Amplified Bible, which I think is very useful in that it attempts to clarify the intended meanings of terms.
Check out my blog/website at: Edward's Mission
John 10:30 (Good News Translation)
The Father and I are one
John 10:30 (Amplified Bible)
I and the Father are One [in essence and nature]
1) My Thoughts On The Mater - The Trinity
So, in this scripture it is Jesus talking...
I think what he means to say is that him and The Father are two different parts of the same thing (The Godhead)
He is saying that there is a distinction to be made between "I" (himself) and "The Father" yet he is also saying that they are both different parts of the same thing.
Each is its own thing whilst being a part of something greater - The Trinity
What is to say that The Son is consubstantial with The Father
The Father has always existed. He is the unmoved mover. He transcends time and causation. Indeed he created time and causation.
In my previous post I discussed how God made Jesus and then let Jesus create the world. I said that God created Jesus and then allowed Jesus to create the universe. So Jesus was therefore created by God The Father yet also pre-dates the universe - what we know as "Creation".
Here is the link: https://www.edwardsmission.com/2020/12/scripture-of-day-day-1.html
2) My Thoughts On The Matter - Different Essences
I believe that Jesus was created out of the divine essence, out of the same substance as God
I believe the essence out of which Jesus was created has always existed, but that it is only recently that (in the case of Jesus) it was made separate and then moulded into Jesus, and so became an independent entity in its own right: Jesus Christ himself
So, God The Father has always existed. And Jesus Christ was created, but out of a substance which has always existed.
He was therefore crafted, but not created!
But what about us humans? We haven't always existed, that's for sure. What about us?
I think that we developed out of the natural universe. I believe the biblical creation account to be allegory - true, but not literally true! - I believe that the cause of human life can be traced all the way back to the Big Bang: which was caused by God!
We were therefore ultimately created out of nothing - ex nihilo. By God's divine creative imagination. By God's divine creative agency. He made something that did not exist before suddenly exist - he didn't transform one type of substance into another, he made something suddenly exist out of nothing! How mind-bending is that!
We are therefore not made out of the always-existing eternal (divine) substance that God and Jesus (and The Holy Spirit) are made of
But out of a different kind of substance - a created (mundane) substance - the stuff of creation
There is therefore a distinction between creator and created
Not only are humans and God and Jesus (and The Holy Spirit) separate phenomena, their essences are also different - the former have always existed, the latter were created
Finally, consider this: If humans and God were of the same substance, why would Jesus need to say that him and The Father were "one"? I think that by saying he and The Father are "one" he is also saying that humans are not "one" and are therefore in a different category of existence to himself and The Father! By including himself in that category (along with God) he is excluding everyone else from that category, i.e. all humans
By including himself with God in The Trinity he is also excluding humankind from The Trinity and placing us in another category of being - the subjects of God, rather than God himself
What does this scripture tell us?
Check out my blog/website at: Edward's Mission
In it I'm citing from my favourite bible edition (the Good News Translation) alongside the Amplified Bible, which I think is very useful in that it attempts to clarify the intended meanings of terms.
Check out my blog/website at: Edward's Mission
John 10:30 (Good News Translation)
The Father and I are one
John 10:30 (Amplified Bible)
I and the Father are One [in essence and nature]
1) My Thoughts On The Mater - The Trinity
So, in this scripture it is Jesus talking...
I think what he means to say is that him and The Father are two different parts of the same thing (The Godhead)
He is saying that there is a distinction to be made between "I" (himself) and "The Father" yet he is also saying that they are both different parts of the same thing.
Each is its own thing whilst being a part of something greater - The Trinity
What is to say that The Son is consubstantial with The Father
The Father has always existed. He is the unmoved mover. He transcends time and causation. Indeed he created time and causation.
In my previous post I discussed how God made Jesus and then let Jesus create the world. I said that God created Jesus and then allowed Jesus to create the universe. So Jesus was therefore created by God The Father yet also pre-dates the universe - what we know as "Creation".
Here is the link: https://www.edwardsmission.com/2020/12/scripture-of-day-day-1.html
2) My Thoughts On The Matter - Different Essences
I believe that Jesus was created out of the divine essence, out of the same substance as God
I believe the essence out of which Jesus was created has always existed, but that it is only recently that (in the case of Jesus) it was made separate and then moulded into Jesus, and so became an independent entity in its own right: Jesus Christ himself
So, God The Father has always existed. And Jesus Christ was created, but out of a substance which has always existed.
He was therefore crafted, but not created!
But what about us humans? We haven't always existed, that's for sure. What about us?
I think that we developed out of the natural universe. I believe the biblical creation account to be allegory - true, but not literally true! - I believe that the cause of human life can be traced all the way back to the Big Bang: which was caused by God!
We were therefore ultimately created out of nothing - ex nihilo. By God's divine creative imagination. By God's divine creative agency. He made something that did not exist before suddenly exist - he didn't transform one type of substance into another, he made something suddenly exist out of nothing! How mind-bending is that!
We are therefore not made out of the always-existing eternal (divine) substance that God and Jesus (and The Holy Spirit) are made of
But out of a different kind of substance - a created (mundane) substance - the stuff of creation
There is therefore a distinction between creator and created
Not only are humans and God and Jesus (and The Holy Spirit) separate phenomena, their essences are also different - the former have always existed, the latter were created
Finally, consider this: If humans and God were of the same substance, why would Jesus need to say that him and The Father were "one"? I think that by saying he and The Father are "one" he is also saying that humans are not "one" and are therefore in a different category of existence to himself and The Father! By including himself in that category (along with God) he is excluding everyone else from that category, i.e. all humans
By including himself with God in The Trinity he is also excluding humankind from The Trinity and placing us in another category of being - the subjects of God, rather than God himself
What does this scripture tell us?
- The Trinity is a thing and quite easy to visualise
- Creator and Creation are different things
- God and humans are made out of different essences
Check out my blog/website at: Edward's Mission
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