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Vieraskieliset / In-english

The Triune God

Siionin Lähetyslehti
Vieraskieliset / In-english
20.11.2013 15.15

Juttua muokattu:

1.1. 23:45
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The Bib­le is the book of sal­va­ti­on, and it’s cent­ral mes­sa­ge is the proc­la­ma­ti­on of Je­sus Christ and the re­demp­ti­on pre­pa­red by Him. The Bib­le al­so tel­ls what God is like and how He works.

The Bib­le tel­ls that God has cre­a­ted eve­ryt­hing and ta­kes care of His cre­a­ti­on. This is su­re­ly not one of the more dif­fi­cult qu­es­ti­ons of faith as there are pa­ral­lels to this in ot­her re­li­gi­ons as well.

But the mes­sa­ge of Je­sus as a sa­vi­or is more dif­fi­cult to ac­cept. For examp­le, this is exact­ly why there is a di­vi­de bet­ween Chris­ti­an faiths and Ju­daism. On­ly Chris­ti­an faiths ac­cept Je­sus as their sa­vi­or.

On the ot­her hand, the mes­sa­ge of the Holy Ghost and it’s work is comp­le­te­ly im­pos­sib­le to un­ders­tand through re­a­son. God as the Fat­her, Son and Holy Ghost is not an is­sue un­ders­tood through com­mon sen­se, but one of dec­la­ra­ti­on and faith. Mar­tin Lut­her exp­lai­ned this in a down-to-earth, suc­cinct and di­ver­se man­ner in the Small Ca­tec­hism ba­sed on the Creed. He cle­ar­ly exp­lains how God is the Fat­her, Son and Holy Ghost. God the Fat­her cre­a­ted the whole world and con­ti­nuo­us­ly sus­tains that which He has cre­a­ted. God the Son re­dee­med man­kind from the po­wer of sin, de­ath and Sa­tan through His suf­fe­ring and de­ath. God the Holy Ghost does His sanc­ti­fying work among pe­op­le by cal­ling and hel­ping pe­op­le in­to sal­va­ti­on and pro­tec­ting them in sal­va­ti­on.

The Tri­ni­ty as the foun­da­ti­on of the sal­va­ti­on doct­ri­ne

The Triu­ne God be­longs to the core of the Chris­ti­an doct­ri­ne. The Tri­ni­ty is the foun­da­ti­on of a God-faith and sal­va­ti­on doct­ri­ne. The Ni­ce­ne-Cons­tan­ti­nop­le creed which was ap­p­ro­ved in the ye­ar 381 en­cap­su­la­tes the out­li­ne of the Triu­ne doct­ri­ne: “We be­lie­ve in one God - - Ma­ker of he­a­ven and earth. And in one Lord Je­sus Christ, the on­ly-be­got­ten Son of God, be­got­ten of the Fat­her be­fo­re all worlds, Light of Light, very God of very God, be­got­ten, not made - -. And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Gi­ver of life - -.”

The Augs­burg con­fes­si­on from the Book of Con­cord joins with that old church’s un­ders­tan­ding of the Triu­ne God: “Our Churc­hes, with com­mon con­sent, do te­ach that the dec­ree of the Coun­cil of Ni­ca­ea con­cer­ning the Uni­ty of the Di­vi­ne Es­sen­ce and con­cer­ning the Three Per­sons, is true and to be be­lie­ved wit­hout any doub­ting; that is to say, there is one Di­vi­ne Es­sen­ce which is cal­led and which is God: eter­nal, wit­hout body, wit­hout parts, of in­fi­ni­te po­wer, wis­dom, and good­ness, the Ma­ker and Pre­ser­ver of all things, vi­sib­le and in­vi­sib­le; and yet there are three Per­sons, of the same es­sen­ce and po­wer, who al­so are co­e­ter­nal, the Fat­her the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And the term “per­son” they use as the Fat­hers have used it, to sig­ni­fy, not a part or qu­a­li­ty in anot­her, but that which sub­sists of it­self.”

The New Tes­ta­ment Tri­ni­ty

The acts of God, Je­sus and the Holy Ghost form one en­ti­re­ty in the New Tes­ta­ment. The Holy Ghost was al­wa­ys pre­sent in Je­sus’ per­so­na. The Holy Ghost was af­fec­ti­ve in Je­sus’ birth, bap­tism, te­ac­hings, proc­la­ma­ti­ons and works. Je­sus com­man­ded to bap­ti­ze in the name of the Fat­her, Son and Holy Ghost. Je­sus exp­res­sed his re­la­ti­ons­hip to his Fat­her by sa­ying: “I and my Fat­her are one” (John 10:30).

The Apost­le Paul inc­lu­ded the Triu­ne God in the ope­ning to his let­ter: “The grace of the Lord Je­sus Christ, and the love of God, and the com­mu­ni­on of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.” (2 Co­rinth. 13:14). In spe­a­king of grace gifts, ser­vi­ce du­ties and the af­fects of God’s po­wer, Paul emp­ha­si­zed God’s uni­ty (1 Co­rinth. 12:4-6). He al­so high­ligh­ted this uni­ty in spe­a­king of Je­sus and cre­a­ti­on: “Who is the ima­ge of the in­vi­sib­le God, the first­born of eve­ry cre­a­tu­re: For by him were all things cre­a­ted, that are in he­a­ven, and that are in earth, vi­sib­le and in­vi­sib­le, whet­her they be thro­nes, or do­mi­ni­ons, or prin­cip­les, or po­wers: all things were cre­a­ted by him, and for him:” (Col. 1:15–16).

Holy Chris­ti­an ser­vi­ces are held in the name of the Triu­ne God, the Fat­her, Son and Holy Ghost. At the end, the Be­ne­dic­ti­on is re­ci­ted which al­so ends in the name of the Fat­her and Son and Holy Ghost. These cus­toms stress the holy na­tu­re of the ser­vi­ce. They are not just hu­man, tem­po­ral gat­he­rings, but qui­e­ting in front of the holy God. The Bib­le has proc­lai­med God as the Fat­her and cre­a­tor, as the Son and Re­dee­mer and the Holy Ghost and Sanc­ti­fier.

The Triu­ne God is of­ten il­lust­ra­ted by dra­wing a tri­ang­le. A tri­ang­le is a good aid when te­ac­hing what the con­ce­a­led and in­vi­sib­le God is like and how God’s works can be stu­died from three points of view.

Text: Ee­ro Nuo­li­o­ja

Pub­lis­hed: SRK Ye­ar­book 2005

Trans­la­ti­on: An­ge­la Hän­ni­nen

Jul­kais­tu eng­lan­nin­kie­li­ses­sä kie­li­liit­tees­sä 11/2013

28.3.2024

Jeesus otti leivän, siunasi, mursi ja antoi sen opetuslapsilleen sanoen: ”Tämä on minun ruumiini, joka annetaan teidän puolestanne. Tehkää tämä minun muistokseni.” Luuk. 22:19

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