The secret to the mystery of the successful
marriage and the successful family is found in the biblical view of life
itself. The essence of this mystery is found in Jesus' statements
concerning the greatest commandment found in the law: ". . . Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind . . . And the second is like [similar] unto it,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Matt. 22:37,39). Jesus,
who has and is experiencing love within the Trinity (the unity of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit), is revealing the mystery of life
in others, the mystery of the realm of grace.
The sum of all the law is fulfilled within the "oneness of
threeness," the relationship of love. As has often been stated,
real joy is Jesus, others, and you. It is less,
however, an individual’s love flowing from one to the other than it is
the jointly experiencing of love between the three.
The only way man can have a love for himself, which will not produce the
same fall that occurred in Lucifer, Adam, and in every man who begins to
turn the emphasis upon himself, is to understand that love must occur in
the mystery of "oneness in threeness." His sense of well-being
comes not from within himself but rather from the experiences of love in
a wholesome relationship.
It is never the individual’s love for God, love for himself, and then
love for others. "Love thy God . . . and . . . love thy neighbor as
thyself" is to be understood in the light of how one experiences
perfecting love. The love that completes flows only in threeness: God,
an individual, and his neighbor. Without others, an individual will
never experience the perfected life.
"Love thy God . . . and . . . love thy neighbor as thyself" is
to be comprehended in the revelation of the creation of man. The
creation of Adam (Gen. 2:7) was incomplete without the creation of Eve
(Gen. 2:18-25). It was not good for man to be alone, even though his
relationship with God was without sin.
"Love thy God . . . and . . .love thy neighbor as thyself" is
to understand "even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and
from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God
would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among
the Gentiles; which is Christ in you [not singular, but plural],
the hope of glory" (Col. 1:26,27). It is to understand that the
ultimate definition of what it means to be a human being can only be
defined, mysteriously, in the light of another person.
Although the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are distinct
individuals, they exist, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in their
relationships to one another. Being the Father requires a Son. Being the
Son requires a Father. Being the Spirit requires someone from which to
proceed. The terms Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, therefore, are
relational terms.
It is, in fact, in these relationships that the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit exist as individuals. Although distinct in their
individuality, their existence is nonetheless relational, connected to
one another. Just as God cannot be defined without the Oneness of His
Threeness (the unity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit), man cannot be defined without the oneness of his threeness
(God, the individual, and his neighbor).
A complete person is defined only as a distinct individual who has the
essence of his being in God and in, at least, one other person. He is
always defined as a distinct individual, yet he has his identity only in
others. It is the mystery of the biblical view of life.
|
Schedule