| Central to Christian doctrine is
the doctrine of Godhead. It is of fundamental importance not only
concerning the nature of God, but the doctrine of salvation follows
closely from its premise. It is written: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. John 1:1-2 God of which it is spoken in scripture is a contextualised God – a God having attributes and manifest as Creator, Prophet, Redeemer, Priest and King – a God in time and space as Lord of creation. Yet this same God is also spoken of as transcendent, solitary and eternal, as St Paul put it with reference to Melchezedek, ‘Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life …’ (Hebrews 7:3). These two conceptions of God are implicit in John 1:1; the Word is God-expressed-as-God – the Eternal manifest as Head of his creation and through his creation. It is with God as manifestation of the Eternal – and – it is God as the Eternal made manifest. The analogy is that of root and branch – Christ, in his revelation to the seer, John, states: I am the root and offspring of David (Rev. 22:16). Indeed the biblical revelation throughout is of a single being as both Father and Son - as transcendent root and manifest branch. This ‘branch’ has many designations in scripture. It is called a tree – the tree of life, a sun – the sun of righteousness, and a star – the bright and morning star. All of these symbols convey the notion of something manifest – the expression of an invisible energy. This is the God which may be known and worshipped as such, the God which apprehends and may be apprehended in turn. As to God in his solitary and eternal guise, one may speak of transcendent unity, existing beyond the temporal sphere, having neither form nor substance, and exalted beyond all conception. This unity is necessarily unmanifest, as phenomena appear only in relation of one to another. They become manifest in the vortex of knowing, which denotes duality of subject and object. Philosophy provides the model of quiescent universal mind as the unmanifest ground of being. It is with the arising of the Logos – the first thought or Word – that God becomes manifest as such through that Word. The eternal God exists in this sense beyond the dichotomy of being and non-being – as the ground or necessity of being. About this God, by definition, nothing can be known, except indirectly and by inference. Scripture, however, does not engage in metaphysical musings of this kind. It begins with the beginning – the arising of the first thought or Word. For we further read: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Genesis 1:1-2 Here appears the said duality of the knower and the known - the spirit of God, moving upon the waters. The transcendent One is formulated as the Logos or Creative Word, and this Word has a definite nature. It is distinguished from that which is without form and void, from the darkness of the deep. The term Logos also translates as mind – as thought or intention – and we saw that it both is God and it is with God. It is the mind of God expressed in a Word, and by this Word – let there be light, etc – creation comes into being. Creation – the universe – is thus a construct of the mind of God. We further learn that this God, expressed in a Word, is a person. For, speaking of this One, John employs the personal pronoun: All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. John 1:3-5 Although creation is intimately identified with God, it is not fully the same as God. The darkness is uncomprehending; it does not uniformly reflect the spiritual light. God is not uniformly identified with nature, as per the doctrine of pantheism. He has a specific dwelling place. For we read: And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 This, of course, refers to the man identified in scripture as Jesus of Nazareth, which is called the Christ – the anointed of God. The dwelling of God, therefore, is his human temple; his throne is the soul of man. Many scriptures attest to this fact: … the Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it. Psalms 132:13-14 and: … when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: Hebrews 10:5 What we see in the unfolding of scripture is the progressive metamorphosis or reification of God from spirit to material form. While it is stated that God is a Spirit (John 4:24), this spirit has availed itself of a succession of masks, wherein it appears on the stage of creation. Stated another way, God is veiled in his human temple. This is exemplified in the following verse: No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. John 1:18 God, in some form, has always been present on earth. Under the Old Testament he was veiled in a cloud and a pillar of fire. To the patriarch Abraham he appeared as one Melchezedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God. Hundreds of years hence this same One stood by the Mount of Olives and declared: Before Abraham was, I am. John 8:58 Eventually, after his death and resurrection, this same One returned to dwell in his redeemed as the Holy Spirit. Not another, but the same One which speaks throughout the scripture addresses his disciples thus: … ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. John 14:20 It is clear then that the designations Father, Son, and Holy Spirit do not refer to individually distinct beings, but to one being - the One which is spoken of by way of a multitude of descriptors, titles and proper names throughout the scriptures. I emphasise this point insofar as confusion has arisen concerning it. For the extreme trinitarian persuasion holds that the Godhead comprises three distinct persons. While a scriptural refutation of this doctrine is necessarily the subject of another essay, we are presented here with the scriptural alternative - the truth that there is one God, who, when manifest in human flesh uttered the memorable words: I and my Father are one. Matthew 10:30 Apparent now is also the link between the nature of the Godhead and the process of salvation. For insofar as God purposed to dwell in man, the redemption of man is that purpose restored and affirmed. To this the apostle Paul alludes, stating: [He] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created … And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence. Colossians 1:15-19 And again, affirming our principal theme: … in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Colossians 2:9 Who is this One? Of course none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the God of the New Testament, which is to say, God veiled in human form. And this is the mystery of godliness: that the Creator of all should dwell in a man. |