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5 Things You Should Know about the Doctrine of the Trinity
The doctrine of the Trinity, along with the doctrine of the incarnation, is one of the great mysteries of the Christian faith. This means that it exceeds the ability of finite human minds to fully grasp…There is nothing in creation that is a precise analogy to the doctrine of the Trinity.
1. The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most fundamental doctrines in Christianity.
The Christian doctrine of God is the doctrine of the Trinity, and the Christian doctrine of God is foundational to every other Christian doctrine. There is no doctrine of Scripture (bibliology) apart from the doctrine of God because Scripture is the Word of God. Human beings are created in the image of God. Sin is rebellion against the law of God. Soteriology is the doctrine having to do with the redemptive work of God. The church is the people of God. Eschatology has to do with the final goals and plans of God.
2. The doctrine of the Trinity was not invented at the Council of Nicaea.
There is a popular myth today that the doctrine of the Trinity was invented in the fourth century at the Council of Nicaea. This is not true. In the first centuries of the church, Christians were already teaching the fundamental doctrines they found in Scripture. Scripture teaches that there is one—and only one—God. Scripture also teaches that the Father is God. Scripture teaches that the Son is God and that the Holy Spirit is God. Furthermore, Scripture teaches that the Father is not the Son or the Spirit, that the Son is not the Father or the Spirit, and that the Spirit is not the Father or the Son. Anybody who held these basic propositions of Scripture held to the foundations of the doctrine of the Trinity. Over the centuries, there arose those whose teaching denied or distorted one or more of those biblical teachings. The Council of Nicaea was called to respond to one such teaching—the teaching of Arius, who had denied that the Son is God. The Nicene Creed provided boundaries to ensure that the church teaches everything Scripture affirms.
3. The doctrine of the Trinity is not fully comprehensible to human minds.
The doctrine of the Trinity, along with the doctrine of the incarnation, is one of the great mysteries of the Christian faith. This means that it exceeds the ability of finite human minds to fully grasp. If we treat the doctrine of the Trinity like some kind of math puzzle, requiring only the right amount of ingenuity to solve, we will inevitably fall into one heresy or another. The doctrine of the Trinity is not a Rubik’s Cube. There is nothing in creation that is a precise analogy to the doctrine of the Trinity.
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Noah and the Curse of Ham
Written by T. M. Suffield |
Tuesday, January 2, 2024
There is a common theme in Genesis of younger sons, or occasionally even first sons, wanting to usurp their father’s role. We know something similar is going on by the nature of the curse, it involves authority and submission, implying a sin of rebellion. We might notice that Shem and Japheth (typologically Jews and Gentiles—see Irenaeus On the Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching) solve the problem by re-robing Noah, and that the robe bears the definite article ‘the mantle.’ Clothes, especially robes and mantles, are authoritative garments in the Bible’s symbolic world—much like the metaphorical meaning that ‘mantle’ bears in English today. They replace his authority.There’s this strange moment in Noah’s life where he gets drunk, falls down naked, his son Ham sees him naked, and then he curses Ham. It leads to the frequent accusation that Noah was a drunkard, which at best might be true but is missing the wood for the trees.
You can read the story in Genesis 9. Is Noah just an angry drunk? What did Ham do wrong?
It’s also been the cause of much racist nonsense, with the curse of Ham linked to theories where a particular ‘race’ (in the modern sense rather than the Biblical one) are cursed because of their descent from Ham. All of that should be rejected as evil. The first thing we should notice is that Ham isn’t cursed. There is no curse of Ham. Instead his son, Noah’s grandson, Canaan is cursed as a result of Ham’s actions. Which feels instinctively unfair to us but is perhaps a hint that something more is going on here. It also makes us think of the eventual defeat of the various Canaanite peoples by the Hebrews—the eventual result of the curse. That doesn’t clarify what’s happening but it’s worth noticing the way this pans out in the story.
So, what’s going on? Let’s try and look at this interrogatively. There are three broad questions to answer: Does Noah get drunk? What does Ham do to him? Why does he curse Canaan rather than Ham.
Does Noah Get Drunk?
Yes. That was easy enough. It’s his characterisation as a drunkard that I take some issue with, partly because it assumes a habitual behaviour but mostly because it tries to find the moral of the story in Noah’s misuse of God’s good gift of wine rather than in whatever Ham has done wrong.
Noah may have been a drunkard, but there’s nothing in the text that would make us think so. It is possible to read the text as suggesting that he simply rested after drinking, though I think that unlikely looking at how the Hebrew word is used elsewhere in the Bible. I think the Bible says he got a bit merry and went to sleep—unwise, but not the parallel to Adam’s fall in the story. I don’t think this is a good thing or to be commended (Ephesians 5), nor is it incidental to the story, but it’s not its hinge either.
Noah’s planting of the vineyard was a good thing, a fulfilment of his declaration to be the man of rest. He prefigures Christ as the provider of wine at the table and is planting a new Eden.
A Snake in the Garden
There is a snake in the garden though: Ham. Noah removes his robe of office within his tent to sleep. Perhaps someone else wants to usurp or ridicule his role; the robe is a textual clue to this.
What is it that Ham does? A flat reading of the text is that he glances at his father without his clothes on and mocks him to his brothers, who then carefully recover Noah’s nakedness. This leaves us with questions though, why is it that this is worthy of a curse?
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Pack It In – You’re the “Working Aged”
Moving out of full-time work is repurpose-ment, not retire-ment. It is a time to repurpose how and why we invest our time, energy, wisdom, experience, and resources. The goal should be to finish life well. Being a good steward of this phase of life will not occur unless we are prepared with a proactive, well-grounded, and thoughtful vision. Be intentional and expectant about having your life experiences and wisdom being used providentially in the lives of others.
My new Human Resources/Medicare employment identity is “Working Aged.” Ok, sure, I get it—as in elderly, feeble, decrepit, ancient, debilitated, worn out and shot. Yes, I am 64 and approaching retirement age, but what a dispiriting designation. If I continue to work beyond 65, what will they call me next, the “Working Dead?”
Is my true usefulness over? I get the message—you are old and your ability to contribute has been significantly compromised. It’s time to pack it in and go for a cup of coffee and a McMuffin in the morning with other aimless folks in the same boat and then watch TV the rest of the day. You have reaped the rewards of your hard work by being put out to the proverbial purposeless pasture. Upon retirement, my colleagues will send me off with congratulations, confirming that I have earned this final useless chapter of my life. Really?
Something does not seem right; this strikes me as a misguided and hollow outlook.
The bluntness of being called the “working aged” has prompted some healthy reflection on the concept of retirement. What is retirement, anyway?
The Book of Numbers contains the only passage in the Scriptures that specifies an age limit for work. The Levites, the priestly class in the Old Testament, were to withdraw from their formal duties at the age of 50. The Levites performed many crucial spiritual functions pointing the Israelites to God, but they also, as an example, performed construction, maintenance, lifting, and transporting duties related to the tabernacle. There is a time when an aging body is not suited for a particular work. But this transition, described in Numbers, involves “assisting their brothers” in other ways. The purpose was not to “retire” the priests, but to redirect their expected service in a more mature direction. Their Godly wisdom, discernment, and experience was intentionally and purposefully utilized. Nowhere in the Bible does it mention that we should stop working.
An American creation, the age 65 modern retirement idea of pleasure and leisure came into being in the 1950s. It says relax, rest, and put those feet up to enjoy a carefree and work-free life. This line of thinking has indoctrinated us into believing that retirement involves completely withdrawing from any notion of work in order to have no obligations, commitments, or concerns. This is not God’s intention for us. Intentional work is part of the Lord’s lifelong design for us. Our multi-faceted and continuous vocational callings have no age limitations. Christians never retire from serving God through all the seasons of life. We are to grow and invest in our gifts and talents, while simultaneously looking for opportunities to serve. Time is a gift, and we are to redeem each day by glorifying God, serving the common good, and furthering His kingdom. There is true dignity and consequence in laboring in His vineyard until He calls us home. This call to service remains the same throughout our lives and is an expression of Christ’s love to others. Retirement is not a time for self-serving idleness.
Moving out of full-time work is repurpose-ment, not retire-ment. It is a time to repurpose how and why we invest our time, energy, wisdom, experience, and resources.
The goal should be to finish life well. Being a good steward of this phase of life will not occur unless we are prepared with a proactive, well-grounded, and thoughtful vision. Be intentional and expectant about having your life experiences and wisdom being used providentially in the lives of others.
Do not let age define your life. Author Richard J. Leider states that “the trouble is, when a number—your age—becomes your identity, you’ve given away your power to choose your future.”
The Lord’s call does not fade over time but summons us to the high calling of life-long, meaningful service to Him.
Age with purpose.
Dr. Jim Thrasher is the Senior Advisor to the Vice President for Student Recruitment and the coordinator of the Institute for Faith & Freedom’s working group on calling. This article is used with permission.
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