God's Fellowship with Himself & Family
God's Fellowship with HimselfScholarly ReflectionsVan der Merwe, Dirk. "Divine Fellowship in the Gospel of John: A Trinitarian Spirituality." HTS Teologiese Studies 75(1), 2019, a5375. Van der Merwe notes early Christianity was characterized by both monotheism and worship of Jesus from the very beginning (van der Merwe 2019, 1). The devotion to Jesus within the context of monotheism was a striking development. In John's Gospel (5:23), the Son is to receive reverence just as the Father. Van der Merwe notes that the four canonical Gospels feature different characteristics of Jesus (van der Merwe 2019, 2). Rather than being in competition with one another, teh accounts can well be seen as complementary. In John, van der Merwe finds the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to function as a familia Dei (van der Merwe 2019, 2) in unity. The account of John emphasizes this unified familial culture, then applies the same sort of culture to Christians in general. John's Gospel routinely uses singular terms for God (van der Merwe 2019, 2). Yet the Father is prsented as God, so is the Son. When people are born again, an act of God, it is the Spirit of God working. The three persons in the familia Dei work in unity, but sometimes in different roles. This interaction (perichoresis) describes just one God in Trinity. Van der Merwe continues by describing the persons of the Trinity as we find them in John's Gospel (van der Merwe 2019, 3). God the Father is referred to as "father" about 120 times and simply as "God" 108 times. This indicates the distinction between Father and Son. Jesus refers to God as Father to emphasize the exclusive role he has as the only Son. The Holy Spirit also plays a prominent role in John's Gospel. He normally articulates or reveals the person of Jesus and speaks of divine activity. He is clearly a particular person (van der Merwe 2019, 4), who engages in his own actions. Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit to his disciples when he ascends to the Father. This provides the presence of God even when Jesus has left his disciples. Van der Merwe further sees that the Holy Spirit delivers the gifts of God to the disciples, demonstrating that they are not without God (van der Merwe 2019, 5). In John's Gospel, one of the actions of Jesus is to pass life on to those who believe in him (van der Merwe 2019, 5). This is his divine prerogative. Interaction among the persons of the Trinity is further illustrated as the work of the Holy Spirit is to make Jesus known and to draw people to Jesus (van der Merwe 2019, 6). Van der Merwe further identifies God's love for the Son and his children as a striking characteristic of God in John's Gospel (van der Merwe 2019, 6). This love results in the Father committing many works into the hands of the Son. The Son then passes this love along to his disciples. The corrolary to receiving the love of God in Christ is living a life in accord with God's word (van der Merwe 2019, 7). The believers are thus drawn into a community of faith. The Trinity exists in a state of unity, as exemplified by many passages in John, cited by van der Merwe (van der Merwe 2019, 7). He is active in a consistent way in creation, sustenance, and redemption of the world, in the persons of the Father and the Son. They clearly think and act as one (van der Merwe 2019, 8). In John, the concept of glorification also figures prominently. There is a particular time fo Jesus to be glorified (van der Merwe 2019, 8). The death and resurrection of Jesus were central to his mission. This was the only way his identity as God the Son would be demonstrated definitively (van der Merwe 2019, 9). Van der Merwe describes some of the theme of glorification through analysis of a chiastic pattern in John 1, centered on the glorification of eternal life. God glorifies Jesus and his disciples by giving the Spirit, by placing them in unity with one another and with God, by letting them partake of divine glory, by making them bear fruit (van der Merwe 2019, 10), and to see the consummation of God's glory in the resurrection and ascension (van der Merwe 2019, 11). The Trinity, then, in John, delivers to humans what existed in the familia Dei. https://www.wittenbergcomo.com/blog/gods-fellowship-with-himself |