we've done a lot up to this point to make some affirmations of Christian convictions Christian theological truth claims for instance that God is one that there is only one God and that God is three that there is a threeness or Tri Unity to God and that God is eternal and that the Trinity is eternal uh and never anything except one in three so what sense does it make what sense does it make to speak about any of the identities of the Trinity apart from the others I think that's the Dilemma that starts to rise up if we're very convinced about the unity of the Trinity and the three in Oneness of the Trinity what sense does it make then to speak of the identities of the Trinity apart from the others it's a bit of a perplexing question to affirm that um the Oneness of God is always true is also to affirm that there's a Unity of God's will that the Triune God is always one in purpose and in mind so to speak to say that God is one cannot allow for the possibility of three three independent agents three Gods a triun tri uh Tri theistic Pantheon of gods who are out and about kind of doing their own thing there's an old story in Homer's Iliad about Zeus the Greek god Zeus um who is needed but he's unavailable uh because uh uh someone who is praying to Zeus a supplicant needs him but Zeus is away he's not at Olympus uh but rather he's off attending a feast in Ethiopia so that's the contrasting image I want to put out there that as if there were a Pantheon of gods who are various locations doing their own thing that's certainly not what we want to get to if we are thinking about three identities in the one God this image of separability um where Zeus and the other Greek gods are off doing their own thing is quite a far distance from the unity of the godhead the unity of the Triune God that Christianity attests to the conundrum of Christian belief in the thess and the Oneness is intensified when we encounter a theological principle principle called communico idiomatum and I'll I'll put that in the terms list it means the communication of attributes the principle teaches that any one identity within the Trinity when that identity experiences or expresses or is experienced and is expressed in any way it automatically is true of the other two so if I'm experiencing the Holy Spirit I am experiencing the fullness of God if Jesus experiences something the fullness of God experiences it again God is one God is not a trio not a A Team all of God so to speak experiences all that God experiences there is a threeness to that Oneness the principle way we have addressed this in Christian theology is to use what is called the doctrine of appropriation again I'll put that in the terms list the doctrine of appropriation to Any Given identity within the Trinity we appropriate or kind of associate a particular action it's usually actions rather than attributes or characteristics that um are treated in this way for example when Paul writes writes in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 Paul writes that God was in Christ reconciling the world to God there is a conviction in Christian thought and speech that Jesus is the reconciler Jesus is the Redeemer Paul says God was in Christ reconciling the world to God so we think okay Jesus Christ is the reconciler Jesus Christ is the Redeemer the identity of the Trinity who reconciles and redeems or again the prophet Micah uh tells of the holy spirit's influence on his work as a prophet and the empowering work or the the animating work that is Lent um by the Divine reality to the prophets is attributed or appropriated to the Holy Spirit partly because Micah says I'm a prophet and what I do is in the spirit that doesn't take away from that core conviction that the Trinity is One there's no division there's no separation in the purposes or Mind Of God um Augustine again would say I will I will tell you with absolute confidence that Father Son and Holy Spirit God the Creator is of one and the same substance Almighty three and all act inseparably so with any moment where we might associate any one one Identity or person of the Trinity um Augustine writes we should not understand this as excluding the other persons so appropriation has enabled theology to guard against um giving essence or reality to the father and denying that the Son and the spirit are just powers of God or um kind of instruments of of God you see the difference if we said that God the father is the real God and the Son and the spirit are just kind of God's instruments or powers that really denies the other two identities of any kind of real agency or personhood so the Son and the spirit are one with the father mother God more than aspects of the father we could imagine another way of proceeding um we could say that uh the Redeemer is the spirit even though we typically say the Redeemer is the Christ but this would start to tilt towards kind of a a tritheism uh that there are three Gods so what appropriation tries to do and I know this is a little bit clumsy but it tries to remain consistent with what the Bible teaches and what the Creeds tend to say eirm the Syrian whom I've mentioned to before has these hymns or or poetic verses uh where he describes this United character of the Triune God who yet has these distinctives or Appropriations Ephraim writes three names are visible within the fire yet each one stands on its own authority each appears distinctly in its action unique strengths are mingled together fire marvelously heat distinctly and light gloriously so fire heat light marvelously distinctly gloriously dwell together with one Accord no distinctions finally so Ephraim in his own poetic way is communicating subtly and effectively that there are three who have one uh who have uh uh sorry that there are three three in one who have distinct identities but they never act as if they were independently willing something or have separate purposes so Christian thought will attribute or appropriate certain actions to one identity of the Trinity more than the others the father for example is often thought of as the Creator just in conventional terms even though the whole of God creates the sun is said to die and therefore to redeem humankind so the sun is often called the Redeemer even though it is God in God's fullness who enacts salvation the holy spirit is a little bit less frequently evoked in this kind of theological habit of appr appropriation the spirit might be seen for instance as the one who sanctifies or inspires or guides um there's a kind of hiddenness or quietness to the Holy Spirit I sometimes like this phrase of uh thinking about the Holy Spirit as the shy friend the one who's a little bit less forward a little bit less out in front kind of a hiddenness to God's action uh in the sense that the Holy Spirit does not always take Center Stage there is sometimes in the Christian tradition language that suggests that the holy spirit is deferential or silent again sometimes shy um in the farewell discourse of Jesus in John chapter 16 um we read when the spirit of truth comes the spirit will guide you into the truth the spirit will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he has been told and will declare it to you uh the spirit will glorify me because he will take what is mine and show it to you so Jesus is pointing here to the spirit whose role now is to glorify the son not you see to glorify herself the spirit the gifts given by the spirit are understood In this passage as deriving from Jesus as the source of the gifts this differential characteristic of the spirit might underly the remark in Ephesians uh uh chapter 4 which says that the Holy Spirit can be grieved uh the fact the idea that the Holy Spirit can be grieved suggests a kind of vulnerability and uh the root word of vulnerable in Latin is vulner meaning um the possibility it mean to wound so vulnerable means wound uh the idea that the Holy Spirit could be grieved or wounded uh is vulnerable is a very different sense than a God who is overpoweringly dominant at all times so I'm just going to leave it there uh for today uh a little bit different way of thinking about um how the holy spirit is expressed and how how we think about the holy spirit's distinctive actions fully one with the Trinity but appropriated or attached or attributed in particular ways so that we can see that the three identities of God are at work even though there is one will and one purpose I'll see you in the discussions online