Faces of God

Midweek Lenten Vespers 2

A Reading from the Small Catechism of the Rev’d Dr Martin Luther:

The Apostles’ Creed, as the head of the family should teach it in a simple way to his household.

The First Article: On Creation.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.

What does this mean? I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all that I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him.

This is most certainly true.

The Second Article: On Redemption.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.

What does this mean? I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.

This is most certainly true.

The Third Article: On Sanctification.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

What does this mean? I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.

This is most certainly true.

Here ends the reading.

Sermon:

Lord, we pray for the preacher, for you know his sins are great.

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Christians know God as Trinity, as Three and also One. We typically express this as “One God in Three Persons,” but honestly I find that to be a terrible translation. When I was a kid, it made me think that God was like a board of directors, three guys who got together around a table and just always happened to agree.

A better translation of the Greek confession of Trinity is that God is One Essence in Three Realities. I know that’s not as pithy, but it’s infinitely more helpful. Ὑπόστασις ought only to be rendered as “person” if we agree to take the original meaning of πρόσωπον, which is “face.” God then has three faces—not masks, mind you, but faces. A mask is just a role you play, but a face is who you are.

Who is God for us? That is the question which the Creed seeks to answer. The word “creed” derives from credo, “I believe.” And the Church has utilized the Apostles’ Creed as a baptismal confession of faith for well-nigh 2,000 years. In the Creed we confess that we know God as Father, +Son, and Holy Spirit, and that these Three are One.

God is our Creator. He has given to us all good things: body, soul, food, drink, spouse, children, land, and all the provisions of life. Indeed, God is the Source of all good things, the Source of all reality, for God is Goodness itself. And we can see, in Luther’s Catechism, that this doesn’t just mean that God set things in motion long ago and far away. No, God is the Source of all goodness, the Source of reality and life, right here, right now, for each and all of us.

He is our Father today. And He gifts to us every eyeblink, every heartbeat, every breath. Nothing bad can come from God; that’s not who He is. Evil has no substance in itself. Just as cold is lack of heat, and dark a lack of light, so evil and death are simply an absence of goodness, a distance from God. One day they shall evaporate as shadows.

But we, as Christians, have also encountered God in a human being: Jesus of Nazareth, the Word of God made flesh. This Jesus taught us all we know of God. Indeed, God the Father shines so perfectly through the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ that He and His Father are One. He is the single spoken Word who expresses all of who God is. And He has come to save us, to gather us home, as Immanuel, God-With-Us.

The Creed makes certain that we are to understand that Jesus is our Lord, yours and mine, specifically. Christ did not come to save humanity in the abstract; one cannot love in the abstract. One can only love, one can only save, real individuals, particular people. Jesus loves you. Jesus saves you. And just as He is risen, so too shall you arise.

So we know God the Father beyond us. We know God the Son as one of us. But we also know God the Holy Spirit, God as the Breath and Life and Fire both in our sinews and our assemblies. The Spirit is the life of God, the life of Christ, breathed into our lungs. She makes us Jesus’ Body, each of us temples of His Spirit. She knits us together, gives us His Word, drowns us in our Baptism and raises us up from the Font. Through bread and wine She manifests the Body and Blood of Christ!

And that’s where the rubber hits the road, in Baptism and the Eucharist. For in the former, we are given the Name and the Spirit of Christ; in the latter, His Body and His Blood. And when we have within us the Name of Christ, the Spirit of Christ, the Body and the Blood of Christ, what does that make us? Who does that make us? We bloody well ought to know the answer. Yet even this confession, this proclamation of faith, that Christ lives now in us, is believed and proclaimed and confessed by the Spirit.

So which of these is really, truly God? Is God the Father above us, who creates us and sustains us in every moment of existence? Is God the Son, the Word of God, who makes the Father known? Is God the Spirit, both of Father and of Son, who dwells within us, killing us and raising us anew? And the answer, of course, is yes! The answer, of course, is all. God is truly the Father, truly the Son, truly the Holy Spirit, and these Three Persons, these Three Faces, these Three Realities are truly One God, One Essence, One Trinity.

That’s what we believe, what we confess. Credo.

In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pertinent Links

RDG Stout

Blog: https://rdgstout.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RDGStout/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsqiJiPAwfNS-nVhYeXkfOA

X: https://twitter.com/RDGStout

St Peter’s Lutheran

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064841583987

Website: https://www.stpetersnymills.org/

Donation: https://secure.myvanco.com/L-Z9EG/home

Nidaros Lutheran

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100074108479275

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nidaroschurch6026