“God is love!”
So says the scripture. As such, God is by nature relational. God is not some abstract omni-being who is the byproduct of post enlightenment thought and theology. God cannot be described merely by the use of philosophical terms like the “unmoved mover” or “first cause.”
“God is Love!”
Because God is LOVE – there must be an other to be loved. Love makes no sense if it is not expressed. This explains the centrality of the doctrine of the Trinity. For eternity past and into eternity future, God isTrinity: ONE God relationally connected an united in every way as Father, Son, ad Holy Spirit.
God is Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, forever in eternity engaged in and enjoy a perichoretic dance of love and passion. The Father and Son are WITH one another in relational love. The Holy Spirit is in the middle of that love – celebrating and being a part of that relationship.
This relational Trinitarian life also expresses the rational for God creating. Love creates. Love gives birth. God created the world and all that is in it – including humankind – for the purpose of sharing the love of inclusion, acceptance, and adoption. Humankind and everything in all creation has its life source from God – specifically Jesus the Son, through whom all things are created and held together. As has been said, “In Him (Christ) we live, and move, and have our being!”
“God is Love!”
So, the Father loves the Son – with whom he is “well pleased.”
The Son’s primary desire is to exalt the Father (whom he calls “abba” or “Papa”). Jesus exalts his Papa by making known His grace, love, and acceptace.
The Holy Spirit excels at celebrating relationship. The Spirit loves the Father and the Son – and loves the relationship that exist between them. The Spirit’s work among us is to enhance our awareness of God’s relational love, so that we realize we are caught up in the grace that includes us all.
Coming to that awareness is coming to faith. It is realizing that we were created to be included in the divine dance (theologians call this perichoresis). In Christ, we are caught up into the Triune relationship of divine love.
“God is love!”
This is salvation: The human Son of God came to give humanity rebirth by taking away the sin of the world (John 1); by including/adopting us from before creation and the fall (Eph 1); and by giving life to all (Roman 5); SO THAT we might have faith and thereby experience the new birth.
We are redeemed apart from any action on our part. This redemption is so that we might have faith, experience salvation, and enjoy life in Christ as a part of the Trinitarian dance.
For more on the Divine Dance, check out Baxter Kruger’s book referenced below:
The Great Dance: The Christian Vision Revisited
by: C. Baxter Kruger
publisher: Regent College Publishing, published: 2005-06-07
ASIN: 1573833452
EAN: 9781573833455
sales rank: 107406
price: $6.96 (new), $5.19 (used)
The Great Dance is astonishing vision of human life and the mystery of its intersection with the life of the Triune God. Dr. Kruger charts a course from the Trinity to the incarnation to the union of humanity with God in Jesus Christ. In that light he offers a breathtaking interpretation of our human existence as participation in the life of the Father, Son and Spirit. He uncovers the untold dignity of our ordinary humanity–from motherhood to baseball, from relationships and music to golf, gardening and designing lakes. This is a book about who we are and why we are here and what is really happening in our lives. Step by step, Dr. Kruger walks us through the stratagems of evil and the messes we make of our lives. More important, he explains why we hurt, what we are really after and how to get there, and why faith in Jesus Christ is so critical for abundant life. The Great Dance is theology at its very best–steeped in tradition, yet unfamiliar and exciting, even revolutionary; deeply personal and honest, yet universally relevant. Written with pace and poetry and winsome grace, The Great Dance is the voice of the ancient church speaking to us across the ages through the pen of a Southerner who loves life. Baxter Kruger (PhD, Kings College, University of Aberdeen) is a theologian, writer, and fishing lure designer. A native of Prentiss, Mississippi, he has worked as a minister to college students, as a lecturer in theology, and as an associate pastor. He is an avid fisherman and golfer, loves coaching little league baseball and has designed a range of fishing lures called “Dr. K’s Klones”. He and his wife Beth have three children — Baxter, Laura and Kathryn.
