30. God, Part II.

This is the second half of Chapter 2: God. It is the third part of an ongoing series on the Credo Blog.

Chapter 1: Prolegomena or First Things.

Chapter 2: God, Part I

God is Trinity. Trinitarian doctrine—neither arbitrary nor historically detached—developed via debates occurring between 319 and 381 C.E., to reconcile the differences between historic Judaic monotheism and the revelation of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In 325 C.E., the Council of Nicaea convened and developed a creed to establish unity in faith within the church. However, Eusebius pointed out problems that arose in the vocabulary used; hypostasis and ousia.[1] Later, Gregory of Nyssa more concisely defined the terms, establishing that God was of one substance or ousia, and that there are three hypostases of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.[2] Ultimately, Augustine refined Trinitarian theology by explaining that the divine nature is consistent between the three persons, unified by the shared intention of Love.[3]

Despite efforts made centuries ago to settle the controversies regarding the Trinity, the church still struggles with both modalism and tritheism. T. D. Jakes, pastor of the Potter’s House in Dallas, Texas, teaches modalism. The Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the Father is God, but Jesus is an angel of God and not coequal in divinity.The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) is tritheistic, believing in a Godhead consisting of an embodied Father (once a man), Son, and a spiritual Holy Ghost. Though all three of these religious bodies claim to possess the true historical and authentic Christian tradition, they are out of step with the canonical heritage as revealed by God to the early church.

With the emergence of feminist theology in the past two centuries, the question of gender and God has gained attention. Unfortunately, in the case of Daphne Hampson, arguments that begin as liberating sometimes become destructive. Though her arguments follow more Christological lines,[4] it is indicative of a larger confusion between gender and sex, and literal interpretations of gender specific pronouns that lead to anthropomorphic mistakes. Sex is a physiological characteristic representative of an organism’s role in species propagation. God has not a body, is not a species, and does not reproduce, thus God is neither male nor female. Scripture predominantly uses the masculine pronoun and imagery throughout to address God. However, the Bible occasionally uses feminine imagery as well, such as wisdom personified as a woman in Proverbs, God giving birth and nourishing children in Isaiah, and as a mother hen in Matthew. Of course, passages like these are as indicative of God’s femaleness as they are to God’s chickenness. Both feminine and masculine attributes given to humanity are reflective of the image, likeness, and personality of God, completely unrelated to X or Y chromosomes.

The aspects of God defy conventional reason; God is immanent and transcendent, all-powerful and all-good, impassible and all-loving, one and three. Yet, these seeming contradictions are what make the Christian God unlike any deity conceived by man. These aspects are necessary: A god that is not imminent is uninvolved; a god that is not transcendent is ordinary. A god not intimate is alien; a god not holy is unworthy of worship. A god impassible is unreliable; a god not loving is a tyrant. A god of one personhood is implausible in the context of the gospel story; three gods stand in opposition of the monotheistic tradition upon which Christianity is built.

Next Week: Creation and Providence, Part I

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[1] William Rusch, Trinitarian Controversy, 22.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid., 164.

[4] Daphne Hampson, “Christology,” in idem, Theology and Feminism, 50-80.