So Are Those Born of the Spirit: A Meditation on John 3 for Holy Trinity Sunday

There was a man of the Pharisees,

named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him,

Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God:

for no man can do these miracles that thou doest,

except God be with him.

 

Jesus answered and said unto him,

Verily, verily, I say unto thee,

Except a man be born again,

he cannot see the kingdom of God.

 

Nicodemus saith unto him,

How can a man be born when he is old?

can he enter the second time into his mother's womb,

and be born?

 

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,

Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,

he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh;

and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

The wind bloweth where it listeth,

and thou hearest the sound thereof,

but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth:

so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

 

The doctrine of the Trinity is a mystery, and one that presses beyond the boundaries of human reason.  That is not to say it is unreasonable, but that it moves beyond the finite confines of a created mind.  The term Trinity is not found in Scripture, but its underlying reality is often described, such as in the text of John 3.  The ancient Church did the same, using the term Trinity not to define or explain what the Trinity is, but to put a descriptive name on what the Scriptures, and Jesus Himself, revealed about the nature of God.

 

It should not surprise us that the nature and essence of God is a mystery.  We can see His engagement with Creation over the millennia from the fingerprints He left throughout it, as well as through the direct engagement He had with many people down through the ages.  The Prophets and the Apostles set many of these encounters to writing, recording what God commanded them, and speaking what He gave them to say.  Certainly there have been many prophetic pretenders across history and into our current day, but one consistent and repeatedly confirmed stream of engagement with God from the days of Moses to the days of St. John has been set down in the Holy Scriptures.  We also find created in ourselves a rational mind, able to engage with the universe around us, with other people, and with God.  Thus we see evidence of God written in our own created selves, our own limited consciousness bearing witness to Him who is without boundary, beyond time and matter and space.  And yet, even as we in our limited capacity can engage with God who is the uncreated Creator of all things, we must by rule of that same rational mind given to us, conclude that what we perceive of God is limited to our own created capacity, and what God Himself decides to reveal to us through His Word.  As we are finite and He is infinite, our understanding of God will always be less than the fullness of God, but it will always be in accordance to the will of God who desires us to know Him.

 

And so, since the infinite God of all Creation deigns to reveal Himself to mankind, we find that what we can know presses up against and past our ability to know and understand.  God has revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and yet also revealed that He is One God, and that there is no other God beside Him.  Distinct in their Persons, yet one in their Essence, we worship God in Unity and Trinity, neither confusing the Persons nor dividing the Essence.  This the Church confesses in the shorthand of the Holy Trinity; that God the Father is the Creator of heaven and earth, of all things seen and unseen; that the Only Begotten Son of God is Jesus Christ, the uncreated Word of God made flesh, through whom all things were made, and through who’s Vicarious Atonement alone are all men called to salvation by grace through faith; that the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally and uncreated from the Father and the Son, revealing the Word of God to mankind, breathing life into Creation, faith and repentance into fallen men, and sustaining the people of God unto the Last Day; and that these three distinct Persons are truly and indivisibly One God, of the same divine Essence with the same eternity, transcendence, omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence.  No human being has ever experienced or witnessed the fullness of eternity, and yet eternity is written into our consciousness, that we might know and engage with the Eternal God.  God is a mystery revealed by His gracious love for us, that we may be filled by Him until our small cup runs over, like a teacup into which an endless ocean is poured.

 

Which brings us also to another mystery:  the inscrutable child of God.  How is it that the infinite God of all Creation enlivens, indwells, and guides His finite and fallen people, that they might see the Kingdom of God?  Such a mystery is, like the Trinity, something we can describe yet not fully understand.  Just as God Himself is above and beyond the capacities of rational man even as He condescends to be known among us, so too is the union of the Living God with a fallen mortal born from above by Water and Spirit.  As Jesus taught Nicodemus, he could no better understand the paths of the wind than He could the Spirit of the Living God, nor the people who were enlivened by Him.  The Christian himself is a mystery beyond reason, the union of the finite with the infinite, of the limited with the unlimited.  The Christian finds himself at once a creature bound in time and space, susceptible to all the temptations and sorrows of a fallen world; and at the same time, by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, born again into eternal fellowship with the Holy Trinity who transcends time, space, sorrow, and pain.  Just as God was Incarnate among us, giving Himself as a ransom for the sins of the world on Calvary, so too does He dwell with every faithful and repentant heart who confesses Him as Lord and Savior.

 

Is it any wonder, then, that the life of the Christian is a mystery?  We live in a world of confusion, pain, suffering, and death, and yet we are citizens of a Kingdom in which all these things are conquered by the Blood of Jesus.  We move in and out of our earthly vocations, doing our duty as best we can and failing as often as we succeed, yet we are irrevocably called into the fellowship of the Holy Trinity where the pure and immutable works and words of God become our works and our words as well.  We make plans of varying quality for the span of our earthly lives, and yet we are woven into the eternal plans of God which weave the tapestry of all time and peoples and places.  We work and think and hope according to the limits of our own human minds, and yet are guided by the Word and Spirit of God into His works, His thoughts, and His sure promises.

 

The mysteries of God and His people might seem frightening things from outside His fellowship, where men and demons try in vain to make gods of their own limited selves, wreaking havoc across the globe in every generation.  But to those who are born from above by Water and Spirit, who live by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, who abide in the redemptive love of the Father who created heaven and earth, these are mysteries which call forth from our lips never ending songs of praise and thanksgiving.  For the Holy Trinity has come to us, that we might be secure forever in Him, with a life and love and energy which the world cannot understand, and which we ourselves will spend eternity exploring in the glorious communion of all His saints.  All glory, laude, and honor be to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, and unto endless ages of ages.  Amen.