Some today find divine simplicity to be a strange doctrine because it means God can not be made up of a combination of things. So how can God be Father, Son, and Spirit? I find this objection even stranger because those most known to affirm the Trinity such as Athanasius and Augustine found no such problem!

Divine simplicity is the answer to the question, “What is God made out of”? Is he like us, body and spirit? No. Jesus says God is Spirit (John 4:24). Is he matter and form? No. Genesis 1 and John 1 say God made all “matter.” He is not a creature, but the Creator. God is simple.
Despite how basic this doctrine of God is, many today question its truthfulness. Some claim that no Bible verse teaches the doctrine. Others believe simplicity means that God cannot genuinely be Father, Son, and Spirit. Still others simply think divine simplicity does not make sense.
I disagree. Divine simplicity is the second most basic doctrine in Scripture—after the fact that God exists. It is both biblical and simple to understand. And lastly, divine simplicity guarantees that God is Father, Son, and Spirit—that God is one and three.
Let me explain.
Is Divine Simplicity Biblical?
Since Divine Simplicity is the answer to the question “What is God made out of,” it is biblical insofar as the Bible tells us what God is. Everyone agrees that the Bible tells us who he is: Father, Son, and Spirit. But does it say what he is?
Straightforwardly so. Jesus tells us that God is Spirit (John 4:24). By contrast, Jesus says humans have bodies and souls (Matt 10:28). In Paul’s language, we might say we have an inner and outer man (2 Cor 4:16).
And this is why Jesus is so special. Remaining what he was (Spirit), he became what he was not (human). Or in John’s language, “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14). Or as Hebrews says, Jesus partook of flesh of blood like we have (Heb 2:14). The point is that as God, Jesus has no flesh and blood. God is Spirit (John 4:24).
So by denying that God by nature has flesh and blood, we affirm that he is simple—Spirit.
From here, we can ask all sorts of questions about the revelation of God in Scripture. Is God made up of matter—material things like we are? Well, no. He has no flesh and blood. He has no human body. He has no nerves. He has no eyeballs. Those are created things. But Genesis 1 and John 1 say that all things came into being through God’s creative activity.
If God was made up of material stuff, he’d be a creature. But he is the Creator. So by denying that God has material stuff, we affirm that God is simple.
To me, this has to be one of the most simple doctrines in Scripture. Although, I can understand why some people get confused. Sometimes, divine simplicity doesn’t seem to make sense when we read about it.
Does Divine Simplicity Make Sense?
By asking the question “What is God made up of?”, we might answer: well, he is not made up of quarks and neutrons. That makes sense to us who live in the 21st century. But if you told someone living in AD 1220 that God is simple because he has no quarks and neutrons, they’d think you were out of your mind!
But here is the thing. Christians have affirmed that God is simple for 2,000 years. The combination of things that God can be made up of changes over time, given the language people use and what seems normal to them.
We think quarks and neutrons are normal. Medieval Christians thought potentiality and actuality were normal. They might say, God is pure actuality, and it would make sense like gravity, neutrons, and quarks might make sense to us. It is the language of our day.
Since the doctrine is as old as Christianity (really, it is eternal), people have used language normal in the 500s, 800s, 1200s, and 2000s to speak of God being simple.
We don’t talk about potentiality and actuality, or God being pure act today.
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In 2001 the Kyles moved to New York City where Jay began work as the Vice-President of Asia and Latin America for Redeemer City to City. While traveling the past 20 years throughout Asia and Latin America, Jay was fortunate to see fruit from his labor. What started as a partnership working in four cities in China now has a footprint of work in over 150 cities.

Jayson Duane Kyle, age 70 of Franklin, TN entered into his well-deserved heavenly rest on March 19, 2022. He was a loving husband, father, grandfather and friend. Jay devoted his life that others might hear of and place their faith in Jesus. He was surrounded by his family as he passed into glory as well as a great cloud of witnesses around the world praying for and singing with him.
Preceded in death by his father John Emory Kyle and mother Lois Rowland Kyle. Survived by this wife of 47 years Maureen Lyman Kyle, his children Jennifer Walsh of Franklin, TN, Amy Case of West Palm Beach, FL, and Jeffrey Kyle of New York, NY, nine grandchildren: Harper, Kaila, Maddie, Lily, Watson Case; Riley, Cara, Anna Walsh; and John David Kyle; as well as his siblings Arlette McGrigg (Waxhaw, NC), Marc Kyle (Atlanta, GA), Darlene Navis (Cayman Islands), along with his nieces and nephews.
Jay was born in Salem, Oregon on April 27, 1951 to John and Lois Kyle. He was the second of four kids. After John and Lois came to faith while living in San Francisco, they packed their family up and moved to the East Coast to attend Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta, GA. Following seminary they pastored a church in Hazard, Kentucky, and then joined Wycliffe Bible Translators in Manila, Philippines where Jay spent his middle and high school years.
Jay met his wife Maureen while attending Belhaven University in Jackson, MS. He attended seminary at Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) and from there they moved to Papua New Guinea with Wycliffe Bible Translators. Coming back to the States, Jay served in various roles at Mission to the World (MTW). They moved to Mexico City, Mexico in 1987 with their three kids where they served for 14 years.
In 2001 the Kyles moved to New York City where Jay began work as the Vice-President of Asia and Latin America for Redeemer City to City. While traveling the past 20 years throughout Asia and Latin America, Jay was fortunate to see fruit from his labor. What started as a partnership working in four cities in China now has a footprint of work in over 150 cities. Jay’s work in Asia led to the formation of City to City Asia Pacific and personally helped catalyze church planting efforts in Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, India, and Thailand, among others. City to City Latin America was also formed and is currently serving in Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Peru, Columbia, Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala, among others.
Jay had this wonderful love of people. He had this ability to make someone feel like there were the most important person in the room and that their life and story mattered. Jay wanted people to know the love of God through Jesus and gave his life so that more people could have that opportunity.
Jay loved his children and grandchildren. He loved being silly and serious. Jay loved people so well that he not only leaves behind Maureen, Jenny, Amy, and Jeff, and his grandchildren, but so many people count Jay as their friend, brother, father figure, and mentor.
Jay ran the race set before him with joy and determination.
A private family burial will be in Williamson Memorial Gardens on Friday, March 25. He will be laid to rest in the Memory Garden spot 78A2. Celebration of Life service will take place at 4pm, Saturday, March 26, 2022 followed by a reception at Christ Community Church, 1215 Hillsboro Road, Franklin, TN 37069. Randy Lovelace will officiate.
In lieu of flowers contributions can be made to Redeemer City to City.
Flowers are being arranged by Always in Bloom in Franklin.

What makes me sad is that over the centuries hundreds of thousands, or perhaps millions, of brave men died successfully protecting the West against the invasion of Muslims. Yet, in the last thirty years or so, our governments have essentially surrendered to Islam and turned places like London, Malmo (Sweden), the Twin Cities, the Paris suburbs, and other Western cities into strongholds of Islam. From which, unless Westerners and Muslims both repent, it looks like the Islamic invasion may succeed because of the West’s moral and intellectual decline.

There’s been a lot of online banter about both Churchill and the Crusades.
My main response is that it is amazing how many people want to judge history based on modern events and perspectives. We have seen this recently with the American founding, the Civil War, etc. And now with Churchill.
Was Churchill an imperialist? Absolutely. And that was wrong. But at the time it counted most, Churchill fought against German imperialism, going to the defense of smaller countries to keep them from being swallowed up by the Third Reich. His actions ultimately led to the demise of the British Empire, which no longer had the men or wealth to stay whole. Churchill’s actions were the opposite of Franklin Delanor Roosevelt’s response to Soviet aggression. He abandoned much of Eastern Europe to the Soviet Empire. And used the war to expand the American empire. Historian Darryl Cooper is wrong to call Churchill the “villain” of WWII using his revisionist history.
On to the Crusades. Apparently, some in the church are using the Crusades as a motivational tool to get young men to run from the feminized version of men being taught in much of our culture. This has led some to suggest that using as models men who led many men, women, and children to their deaths in the name of Holy War might not be best for our young men today.
The Crusades are a mixed bag. Much of what happened in the Crusades can be laid squarely at the feet of popes who used them to gain power and wealth.
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