Monday 5 July 2010

Differential Perichoresis

When we get very 'Eastern' in our theology
we tend to have a lot of uses of 'perichoresis' and 'koinonia' and things like that

but a loss of hierachical structure

the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father
but isn't this not differently so?

the Father is completely in the Son, that the Son becomes His image,
but the Father is not the Son's image

put it this way...
everything about the being of a tree is within the branch
but the branch is also within the tree, yet differently so

So the Spirit comes from the Father to the Son
from the Son to the church
yet He does not 'flow' back in the same manner,
it is quite different

The Word does not return to Him void...
i.e. The Spirit fills up the Word, and the Word returns with the ful-filled Spirit

it is a different dynamic
how does it work in reverse? i.e. what is the dynamic of the Spirit from the Son (or church) to the Father - don't know

all through the Spirit.. but differently

Jonathan Edwards in His Trinity essay basically explains that the ontology of the Son is begottenness, and of the Spirit is procession

the Son is only God because He is God from God
The Spirit is only God because He proceeds from God to the begotten God
Yet the Father is only Father because He begets and out of Him the Spirit proceeds

their ontology is Trinitarian.. there is no separate 'being' without each other

ok enough rambling.. i'm confusing myself

there is application to this..
how do we relate to each other, and to Jesus, and to the Father...
How do we find intimacy in Him and each other...
we need to understand what the Spirit is doing

5 comments:

Unknown said...

So, Christian community that is Triune should have equality (everyone belongs equally), diversity (people are different and we can celebrate that), unity (we are actually together) which gives us a lovig community - but we need to add to that some sense of order - it's right to then have leadership for example.

yemsee said...

Hi Dave

actually i wonder if there is any Biblical basis 'for equality' at all

none is requested or required within Trinitarian dynamics - the Father is always greater, and gives His greatness to the Son, and by the Son fulfilling it and returning, the Father becomes greater still...

are we too obsessed with 'equality'

there is definitely unity, and otherness, and relatedness, etc..

but equality? what does that mean?

Unknown said...

I guess it's the sense that each person, though lesser/greater is still God... and in a Trinitarian community there aren't some who belong more than others - each equally belongs, even if there is hierarchy??

thesentone said...

perichoretic hierarchical differentiation of the diverse but united three Persons i say!

have been chatting to some bros about the theology of homosexuality. i'd say that an over focus on 'equality' and homogeneity of the three Persons would inevitably lead to serious problems of theology of sexuality

yemsee said...

there is still definitely some form of "inequality" in the kingdom of heaven - e.g. 10 cities, 1 city, etc

but the inequality is beneficial to all.. and a good thing

good point Jacky that equality has tremendous problems with sexuality, not to mention a family unit

the only basis of identity within the family of God has to be the relation with the Father, as those made in His image, there is no horizontal comparison

i.e. the rainbow light point of reference is the white light of origin - the prism is Christ, held together by the Spirit.. or something like that