Interrogating the Trinity: An Introduction
Can We Interrogate God?
I’ve titled my next little series of posts “Interrogating the Trinity.” The idea is that I will ask questions of God based on what grammar nerds call the “interrogatives,” words like what, who, how, when, where and why. The first two of these might even be called interrogative pronouns, while the latter four are interrogative adverbs, just in case you were wondering.
But before I launch in, it’s worth asking a question: can we interrogate God?
Consider what we read in Isaiah 45:9 (NIV) we read,
“Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘The potter has no hands’?
We read something similar in Romans 9:20:
But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ”
So, can we integrate God? These verses slow us down a little.
These verses caution against asking questions of God in a quarrelsome way as if we know better than he does. That’d be dumb.
That said, I don’t think they mean to say that we can’t ask questions of God. I think we can. But we need to keep a couple of things in mind as we ask these questions.
Humbly
First of all, as we ask questions, we need to do so humbly. In Isaiah 55:8-9, we read:
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
God is way bigger, smarter, and wiser than we are. Our thoughts and ways don’t compare with his. His wisdom soars well beyond our own. He is Creator; we are created. He is infinite; we are finite. He is eternal; we are temporal. He is unlimited; we are limited.
Therefore, as we approach him and his Word, we must do so with great humility.
2. Hungrily
Second, we need to come before God hungrily.
There can be the risk that we come before God arrogantly, thinking we know better than he does as we ask questions. Therefore, we need to be humble.
There is also the opposite danger: we may give up and stop asking questions. We may think that if God really is as big, infinite, and eternal as the Bible says he is, how can we possibly understand him? We lose our hunger.
Truth be told, we can’t comprehend God; in other words, we will never be able to “wrap our minds” around God and know everything there is to know.
However, we can apprehend God. That is, we can grasp many, many truths about God, truths that are taught to us in the Bible.
In Deuteronomy 29:29 we read:
The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.
The “secret things” that belong to God remind us to walk humbly, knowing that we can’t comprehend everything. Of course, we can’t. God is God.
But there are also “the things revealed.” God has revealed stuff to us so that we can apprehend him so that we can know him—truly know him—and have a relationship with him. And not just us—“our children” too. Children can grasp truths about God. And not just now. These things are true “forever.” And they’re not taught to us just to give us some good head knowledge. They’re given to us so that we may “follow” God and the words he gives us. They impact how we live.
This being the case, it makes sense that we come before God and his word hungrily. We dive deep, we consider carefully, and we explore extensively.
The other day, someone sent my wife a picture of their seven-year-old son falling asleep with two Bibles open on his bed next to his pillow. This particular boy asks questions about God and the Bible nonstop, which sometimes gets annoying for his parents!
That’s the kind of hunger we’re talking about. We need to humbly know our place but hungrily seek out what God has revealed.
Preview
So, as we approach the next six posts, we’ll be asking these questions:
What is God? What are we talking about when we talk about God? What does it mean for God to be God? Here, we’ll focus on the questions of his existence or “being”, the fact that he is self-existing and that he is simply “the One” God.
Who is God? While the previous post is more abstract and philosophical, this one gets personal. Who is this God who we call God? We’ll lay down some fundamentals for understanding that the God who is “the One” is also “the Three.”
How is God God? In this post, we’ll attempt to apprehend how God is God and, in particular, how God is both One and Three. We’ll be thinking about things like processions, perichoresis, missions and inseparable operations.
When is God? In this article, we’ll think about God in relation to time. What does it mean to say that God is eternal? When does time enter the picture? When does God enter time? When does eternal life start? What’s the difference between God’s eternity and our eternity?
Where is God? In this article, we’ll think about where God is. Where is God before/outside of creation? Where is God in creation? Where is Jesus? Where will God be forevermore?
Why does this matter? In the final post, we’ll consider why this all matters. In particular, what difference does it make to say that God is Trinity? How does it impact our understanding of who God is? How does it impact our understanding of things like salvation, Scripture, sanctification, prayer, worship, and mission? How does this compare with other monotheistic religions?
Keep an eye out for the next post!
