Love and the Divine Nature

This post is my response paper for the first week. It's a little late, so you guys can feel free to take off points. :-) This is a response to question A, on mystery. Starting tomorrow, I'll be posting some student responses. There were a lot of really interesting ones.

In your responses, many of you said love is the greatest mystery in your lives. On the other hand, theologians often say that the Trinity is the greatest mystery in theology. For me, these two mysteries are tied together, because the nature of God is perfect love.

There are some general similarities between the nature of love and the nature of God that spring from their shared qualities as mysteries. For example, neither the truth of human love nor the true nature of God can be proved by any mere accumulation of facts. Instead, interpretation is needed. Many people find it hard to believe that their partners truly love them, even after a lengthy relationship with many assurances and demonstrations of love on both sides. Similarly, neither natural evidence, nor scriptural evidence, nor even personal experience (one might always think one is crazy) can prove the existence of God, much less the nature of God.

At the same time, there is some "evidence" (requiring interpretation) that leads to a reasonable belief in love or in God. Consistently loving behavior over time convinces most people of the truth of human love. (Some people, however, especially victims of abuse or neglect, may need to approach the problem more systematically.) Similarly, many cultures find evidence about the nature of God in the beauty of creation, its suitability for human needs, or the beauty, power, and creativity of human beings themselves. Others look to shared ethical values, either within a culture or between cultures, for evidence of God's goodness and righteousness.

The Christian understanding of God also depends on the evidence of the incarnation of Jesus Christ, which is why its image of God differs from those of Judaism and Islam, its sister religions. Understanding Jesus Christ as the Incarnate Son of God led the earliest Christians to say, "God is love." (1 John 4) This means not only that God loves human beings (and all creation), but that God's existence is itself love.

This brings me to my understanding of the Trinity. The Christian story of the incarnation — the Son of God becoming a human being — is a great story of God's love for human beings. The Father, seeing a need among people, sends the Son into the world as a Savior. The Son becomes a poor, misunderstood, and persecuted man, and finally suffers a painful death at the hands of his people's enemies — all without resentment. The Father raises him to life again, and the two together pour the Holy Spirit onto those who are willing, so that they too can become beloved sons and daughters of God.

If we look a little deeper, however, we can see that this story is already one that is about a God that doesn't just give love, but actually is love. That's because the Father's sending the Son already shows a trust and value of him that can only be called love. The Son's willingness to sacrifice everything comes from his gratitude for the Father's love and his desire to share that love with all by revealing it even through death. The Holy Spirit is the bond of love between Father and Son, and also the One who allows human beings to participate in the love of God.

These three are one "thing" — or one "nature," as the ancient Christians put it — because the thing that God is is love, or to put it another way, God is a dynamic, loving relationship. The threeness of God doesn't keep God from being one God, any more than in a human relationship the two people's love for one another makes more than one relationship.

For me, then, the ultimate meaning of the Trinity — as a mystery for me — is revealing that love is both God's ultimate gift to human beings and the place where human beings become most like God.

Now I have to go, because my personal human love has just brought me a piece of key lime pie. See you all Monday.