This week my husband and I went on a prayer retreat for a few days and the Lord spoke in clear, powerful ways. One thing He impressed on my heart was to think and pray about how my faith has changed since the time I came to faith. Over the last couple years my faith has felt challenged in new ways, and at times it feels difficult and complicated to integrate everything I’ve seen and experienced into my biblical worldview. As I live out my faith in a new place with people who see the world very differently than I do, my theology has been challenged. Difficult theological issues have arisen that I had no choice but to dive into and understand better: the Trinity, election, and suffering, to name a few. Yet the Lord encouraged me by giving me this image: a strong, old root, branching out into new soil. The roots of my faith remain the same--firmly founded in the Gospel of Jesus Christ--yet these roots are being stretched deeper and wider than ever before. As I encounter new soil, the Lord will give me wisdom and clarity needed in order to integrate everything into a complete whole, always aligning with the Truth I have submitted my life to.
Five years ago I did an in-depth, inductive study on the book of Philippians, and I felt the Holy Spirit urge me to do the same thing again to see how my faith has changed. I have already spent over 10 hours in this book in the last five days and I am still only in chapter 2. God is speaking in ways that are blowing me away, giving clarity to the Trinity and suffering. Here are just a few notes on what He has been speaking:
Phil 1:8 says, “For God [theos] is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.” Paul compares his yearning with the affection of Jesus. Though Paul never knew Jesus on earth as the disciples did, he knows Him through the Holy Spirit--like us. Paul uses the name of Jesus here (instead of God the Father or the Spirit) because Jesus understands longing to see people. When God the Father sent the Son, He limited and humbled Himself to have human needs and desires. Therefore He is able to empathize in our weakness (Heb 4:15).
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Jesus is the Word of God. He has been in existence since the beginning. He is just as eternal as God the Father because He is God. They are One. Therefore, because God chose to exist in the person of Jesus, He can be truly all-knowing because He can empathize with human weakness.
James 1:13 says, “Let no one say ‘I am being tempted by God [theos] for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself tempts no one. For each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown gives birth to death.” According to this verse, it is impossible for God to be tempted. Yet Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin." At first glance these verses seem contradictory, but they are not. God the Father, sitting on His Throne in heaven, could not be tempted. He chose to experience temptation by stepping down in the form of a servant because of His love for us, for the sake of His glory. His glory and His love cannot be separated.
God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are One, yet they are also distinct. It is a mystery that many choose to overlook, but I am excited to dive into this more to better understand my God. These brief notes from Philippians, John, and Hebrews are just the beginning.