 | The Reverend Doctor Cathy Northrup was born in Ft. Meade, MD, and was raised in a variety of places in the United State and Germany, as her father was in Counter Intelligence with the Army. She graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Hamline University in St. Paul, MN, with a double major in English and Religion. She graduated from Georgetown Law Center in Washington, DC, and practiced law with the Federal Reserve Board for a number of years before attending Union Theological Seminaryin Richmond, VA. She graduated from Union, and served several churches in North and South Carolina, at the same time obtaining her Doctor of Ministry from Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ. Dr. Northrup is currently the Pastor/Head of Staff of First Presbyterian Church, Wichita, KS. She is married and has two black Labrador dogs who were rescued from abusive situations. You can contact Dr. Northrup at cnorthrup@firstpresbywichita.org or by phone at (316) 263-0248, ext. 26. |
Religion
2010-10-01 10:11:00
The mystery of the Holy Trinity
You are correct when you say the Trinity is a mystery! Indeed it is! Perhaps my answer will help you to have a better sense of the mystery, though no one can explain it fully.
As Presbyterian theologian, Donald McKim puts it, “early Christians worshipped the God who had been revealed to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament….But [they] also believed that in the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth they encountered God in an altogether unique way,” coming to confess that Jesus Christ was also God. After Pentecost, early Christians “believed that God was present in the church and in their experience of the Holy Spirit.” The church codified this belief in the Nicene Creed in the 4th century, one God in three persons, all equal.
The passage you cite from John 14:28 has been cited at various times to suggest that Jesus was somehow “lesser” in equality or value than God the Father. It was particularly used by Arius in early theological arguments. In the passage, however, Jesus is speaking of himself as a man. As Johannine scholar Raymond Brown puts it, “as the divine Son, Jesus is equal to the Father.” (See especially chapter 1). Here in verse 28, Jesus is assuring the disciples that despite his physical departure as a man, they will receive peace through the Holy Spirit, a peace which reflects the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
You asked for other passages where Jesus asserts this equality with the Father. Simply look back earlier in chapter 14 to verse 7, 9, 10-11, to find a few examples.
