In Caesarea there lived a Roman army officer named Cornelius, who was a captain of the Italian Regiment. He was a devout, God-fearing man, as was everyone in his household. He gave generously to the poor and prayed regularly to God. – Acts 10:1-2

So Tuesday morning we were talking about the Apostle Peter and his interaction with Cornelius, the Roman centurion in Caesarea (it’s a great story and worth reading the entire chapter).

As a “God-fearing” Gentile, Cornelius is an example of someone from another culture, another nation, an occupying force, recognizing the “One” God and attracted to the religion practiced by the Jews. He was not a Jew but (unlike the Ethiopian eunuch) would have been allowed to worship in “The Court of the Gentiles.”

“God has always been God,” one of the men said (I am paraphrasing). “But the God of the Old Testament was very much ‘My way or the highway.’ Then along comes Jesus and says, ‘I know you’re not perfect but I forgive you, and I will forgive you again and again.'”

“As if Jesus is standing between our sin and God’s wrath?” I said (or something along those lines).

This is the idea that Creator God comes down hard, but then Jesus takes the blow and forgives us.

“I understand what you are saying,” I continued. “And God’s forgiveness is amazing. But what you are talking about is essentially what led to the Marcion heresy of the 2nd Century.”

Undefinable!

I wasn’t calling my friend a heretic! But Marcion of Sinope taught the heresy that the “wrathful creator” of the Old Testament was not the loving, merciful God revealed in Jesus. Marcion promoted a dualistic religion with two Gods; Jesus being the manifestation of the Supreme God, and the Old Testament God merely a “demiurge”, inferior to Jesus. (explanation of demiurge ** in footnote.)

This caused me to think about the Godhead, and how we understand ideas such at the Trinity.

The key point here, I believe, is that Jesus is never in contradiction with who God is. Because there is unity in the Godhead, Jesus does not have to talk this harsher God out of punishing us. What Jesus achieves is a distillation of all that God is into a relatable, more understandable human form. Jesus does not contradict Creator/Father God but helps us better understand who God is.

I think this is important as it comments on the idea that God is hungry for punishment but accepts the blood of Jesus as a substitute for ours (substitutionary atonement). But that is not it. God is hungry for a relationship with us, and Jesus is our invitation home.

Three ways we experience God:

Where does the Spirit fit into all of this? I see the Holy Spirit as the divine facilitator, embodying power and action. These are three ways that we experience God – Creator, Son & Holy Spirit – three ways that we understand God, three aspects of what is by definition indescribable, unsearchable, inscrutable and at the same time invitational and personal.

Not quite a complete Trinitarian theology, but that is where our conversation led me in Bible study this week.

Always thinking, always praying, always learning. Peace and more peace, in every way – DEREK

** Demiurge: Gnostics identified this imperfect creator with the God of the Old Testament, portraying him as a malevolent, ignorant, or incompetent being who trapped souls in a corrupt physical world, a view that contradicted the Bible’s teaching of one benevolent, supreme Creator.