Reflection – Dr Nathan Leber

A Circle of Dynamic and Divine Love

The Trinity is a mystery that has baffled the greatest Christian theologians. The experience of Christ required a rethinking of our understanding of the nature of God. Jesus went beyond the Judaic Messianic tradition by being Himself divine, and through Him, we were gifted with the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. It is like a revelation of the intimacy that God has with us – constantly preparing us for the next step in our spiritual evolution.  

The Father, after the Great Fall, interacted with us through the patriarchs and deliverers – people like Abraham and Moses – as the direct sight of Him would destroy our mortal form. He was with us, but apart. Jesus, the Word made flesh, walked with us, was one with us, and spoke to us directly. Yet we could not bear His full message while he dwelt with us in physical form. The Letter to the Philippians reminds us of Jesus’ kenosis, the emptying out to take on the form of a slave, becoming as humans are. He did not lose his divinity, but rather accepted the limitations of our human existence. This emptying is again filled in us with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit who was poured into us to dwell in and with us, not to overwhelm and possess.  

As such the Holy Spirit unites us to the love of the Father and the Son, closing the circle of dynamic and divine love. In the Trinity we are reminded that God is relational, He exists in community. The first reading reminds us of this community even at the Creation of the World. Arius was misled by this passage into seeing it as representing Jesus and was tricked into heresy with the notion that this was proof that God “created” the Son. But Solomon here is talking about the personification of Wisdom. Yes, we make connections to Christ in this passage, as God, he certainly possessed the Wisdom of God, but let us not forget the words of the Nicene Creed – “born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial (made of the same stuff!) with the Father, through him all things were made.” St Paul states that we are at peace with God through Christ, with the love of God poured into us through the Holy Spirit.  

This peace should be translated like the Hebrew shalom – a fullness of covenantal life and love. The Trinity is certainly a mystery, but there is no contradiction – it is the uniquely Christian experience of God, not just aspectual, but in its wholeness. It is our path to the Truth.  

When Pilate asked Jesus, “Truth, what is that?”, he did not wait for a reply. We know the answer from the words of Christ himself, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” This understanding of this deep love, hope and peace was then “poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given us”. Yes, the Trinity is a mystery, but crucial in our understanding of our relationship with God. Perhaps ironically, we only come to oneness through the otherness of the Trinity. God truly has revealed His love for us and through the experience of the Trinity we feel His delight in us!  

Dr Nathan Leber