Humility and love and the nature of God
October 27, 2011
If we want to understand love and humility and the word submission, we must first understand the theological nature of God. The Bible teaches us that God is three persons in one—the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Bible also teaches us that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are One, indivisible and absolutely equal in essence. This is a great mystery, but shows us several things about who God is.
First it shows us that within the Godhead there is loving community. The Father has loved the Son and the Son has loved the Holy Spirit and Father from all eternity. There has never been conflict in the Godhead, there has never been division, and there has never been disunity. Scripture teaches us that God is perfect in love and when we want to understand love we look to God first. (I John 4:8)
Secondly, when we look at the Godhead we also see government and roles within the God head. The Father so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son and after Jesus ascended to heaven the Father sent the Holy Spirit into the world. (John 3:16; 14:26) When going to the cross Jesus prayed to the Father, “Let this cup pass from me, but not my will, but your will be done.” While Jesus on the one hand said the “Father and I are one,” he also said that “the Father is greater than I.” (John 10:31; 14:28)
This is a great mystery to us that while the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are absolutely equal in essence, there is also rank and delineation of roles within the Godhead. Why is this so important to us? If we are to understand humility, love and submission, than we begin with God and than seek to understand what it means to us as we live our lives out in the arenas of our church, family, work place and nation. (Heb 13:6; Eph 5; Rom 13)
And while God is not asking us to submit to injustice, tyranny, evil, or abuse, He is certainly inviting us to learn humility and love by submitting to one another in the arenas He has created. And when we are willing to adjust our hearts this way, we not only learn something from one another, but we also learn most of all about who God is—the author and finisher of our faith.
