My Corner Online
Reading through the Gospels #96
THE AUTHORITY OF THE SON
John 5:19-29
There is a whole lot of red text in these verses, indicating that Jesus is speaking. Jesus is going to tell them exactly WHO HE IS. Jesus can do nothing on His own accord (independently in that He does the Will of the Father), but what He sees the Father doing. God the Son knows everything God the Father is doing so He healed on the Sabbath because that is what the Father was doing. This is not an issue of power, but rather submission.
Whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. The Father gives life, so also the Son gives life. It would seem to me to be clear that the Father and the Son are one in the same (as part of the relationship of the Trinity). The Father and the Son are of one Will.
In the economic Trinity the Father sends us to the Son, the Son sends us to the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit sends us to the Father.
Ontological Trinity: Ontology is the study of being, so each person of God has the same "who He is" attributes, such as omniscient, omnipresent. holy.
Economic Trinity: How each person of God relates to the other, what God does, and His role. The Greek work for economic is "oikonomikos" which literally means the arrangement of activities.
The Father is separate as well in that He shows the Son what He is doing. This is so we may marvel.
The Son is separate as well in that He alone gives judgment. This is so we will honor Jesus. Jesus has the authority alone to be the Judge of the living and the dead on the Last Day. Jesus alone determines my reality, either innocent or guilty. If the Judge says so, the innocent become guilty or the guilty become innocent.
These verses show us that the Trinity is one, yet different persons. Father and Son are equal, but not the same. The relationship between God the Father and God the Son is perfect in that they are distinct persons, but work in perfect harmony with one another.
For if the Son is honored, so is the Father. They are both God. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God and yet there are not three gods, but one God. Each has His own role. The Father and the Holy Spirit were not crucified. The Son and the Holy Spirit did not make creation.
Verse 24, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life." Jesus repeats "truly" as if to say "let me be clear!" Faith comes by hearing the Word. We should speak the Word to others to grow God's Kingdom. Eternal life with Jesus is as easy as believing! Why do we make it so hard! We need to continue to hear the Word because the Word is faith and the Word is life. Go to church!
Believers are not judged, but get a pass straight away from eternal death (separation from God) to eternal life with God.
Verse 25 is a bit confusing. An hour IS coming and IS now here. The hour of judgment on the Last Day is yet to come, and yet the hour of judgment is here now. "When the dead will hear" can refer to those already dead in Christ or can refer to those who are spiritually dead now on earth. When Jesus comes again, believers who have died will rise to meet Jesus (1 Thessalians 4:16). The spiritually dead on earth will also hear him and it will be too late. In the here and now, when a person physically dies, judgment is made on unbelievers. Believers are not judged and have eternal life with God. Everyone will hear him, both dead and alive, both believers and unbelievers, when He comes again.
The Apostle's Creed
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.
He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
Athanasian Creed said on Trinity Sunday
[Catholic definition: Universal in extent; involving all; of interest to all; pertaining to the whole Christian body or church; The Church is a universal entity which anyone can be a part of it. It includes all believers in Christ, regardless of denominational affiliation. ]
Whoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the catholic faith.
Whoever does not keep it whole and undefiled will without doubt perish eternally.
And the catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance.
For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Holy Spirit is another.
But the Godhead of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is one: the glory equal, the majesty coeternal.
Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit: the Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, the Holy Spirit uncreated; the Father infinite, the Son infinite, the Holy Spirit infinite; the Father eternal, the Son eternal, the Holy Spirit eternal.
And yet there are not three Eternals, but one Eternal, just as there are not three Uncreated or three Infinites, but one Uncreated and one Infinite.
In the same way, the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, the Holy Spirit almighty; and yet there are not three Almighties, but one Almighty.
So the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God;
And yet there are not three Gods, but one God.
So the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Spirit is Lord;
And yet there are not three Lords, but one Lord.
Just as we are compelled by the Christian truth to acknowledge each distinct person as God and Lord, so also are we prohibited by the catholic religion to say that there are three Gods or Lords.
The Father is not made nor created nor begotten by anyone.
The Son is neither made nor created, but begotten of the Father alone.
The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son, neither made nor created nor begotten, but proceeding.
Thus, there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits.
And in this Trinity none is before after another; none is greater or less than another;
But the whole three persons are coeternal with each other and coequal, so that in all things, as has been stated above, the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity is to be worshiped.
Therefore, whoever desires to be saved must think thus about the Trinity.
But it is also necessary for everlasting salvation that one faithfully believe the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, it is the right faith that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is at the same time both God and man.
He is God, begotten from the substance of the Father before all ages; and He is man, born from the substance of His mother in this age: perfect God and perfect man, composed of a rational soul and human flesh; equal to the Father with respect to His divinity, less than the Father with respect to His humanity.
Although He is God and man, He is not two, but one Christ: one, however, not by the conversion of the divinity into flesh, but by the assumption of the humanity into God; one altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person.
For as the rational soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ,
Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead, ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from whence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
At His coming all people will rise again with their bodies and give an account concerning their own deeds.
And those who have done good will enter into eternal life, and those who have done evil into eternal fire.
This is the catholic faith; whoever does not believe it faithfully and firmly cannot be saved.