Oneness

I am taking a Bible study Sunday evenings called Foundations of Apologetics. It's a fascinating study, pretty deep, teaching you how to successfully defend your faith and what you believe. I learn something every single Sunday and this past Sunday was no exception.

The lesson was on the Trinity with the lecture by L.T. Jeyachandran. He was speaking about the earliest mention in the Bible of this three-persons-in-one God. In Gen.1:26 God says, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” Notice He uses the pronoun "our." God was referring to the beautiful perfect relationship between Himself, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jeyachandran went on to explain that one verse Jews use to claim God is one and not three persons is one that can actually be used to defend our three-in-one God. The verse is from the Shema, Deut. 6:4: "Here O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one." The Hebrew word used for "one" in this instance is the word "echad." It means a composite oneness, a joining, like two rivers joining to become one river. If God through Moses in the book of Deuteronomy wanted to refer to His absolute solitary oneness, the Hebrew word used would have been "yachid." And this word is never used to describe God's oneness in the Old Testament. It's is always echad. A composite oneness.

Where else is the word echad used? In Genesis 2:24 "That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh." The Hebrew used for one here is echad. The same word used to describe the composite oneness of the Trinity is used to describe the marriage relationship. That is one heck of a comparison. God is the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is God. The Holy Spirit is Jesus. All three are the same, yet have different forms and jobs. God is the Father. Jesus is the fully human/fully divine Son. The Holy Spirit is the indwelling Counselor. How magnificent our God is!

So one must deduce, then, the oneness of marriage is pretty strong. We talked a week ago about the strength in the three-strand bond and being one flesh. It just amazed me that God chose in His words to compare that beautiful oneness of the Trinity to a marriage bond. Brad and I are one flesh, according to the Father, a united team for Christ. You've heard the romantic comment from Jerry Maguire in the movie of the same name, "You complete me." Newsong and Natalie Grant sang about this unity in their song, "When God Made You." The opening lyrics say:

 "It's always been a mystery to me
How two hearts can come together
And love can last forever
But now that I have found you, I believe
That a miracle has come
When God sends the perfect one"

Then the chorus rationalizes that,

 "I wonder what God was thinking
When He created you
I wonder if He knew everything I would need
Because He made all my dreams come true 

When God made you, He must've been thinking about me." 

So do we believe that when God was forming Brad that He was thinking also about me and what we would do together as husband and wife? Yes, definitely. So do we think that when God was forming Ayla that he was thinking about Rob and what you both would do as husband and wife together. Yes, definitely. 

Brad just came in the room to say goodbye to me as he headed out the door to work. I sang the last line of the song to him. He kissed me and said, "That's God's sense of humor." He knew what we would need to compliment, challenge, grow and complete us. And we think it's a work of art. 

Discussion: What does the statement that "two will become one flesh" mean to the both of you? What pieces of your personality do you think compliment each other? Challenge? Complete you?

Prayer: Father, we thank you for your Son who taught us how to live and died for us. We thank you for the Holy Spirit that gently reminds us to Whom we belong and whispers to us the right path to take. You are glorious! Father in less than one year, you will join Rob and Ayla as one. We pray, Father, for their union to be blessed and beautiful and glorify you. In Christ's name, Amen.