What Do You Mean By "God"?

Was Jesus God? Well, that all depends on what is meant by "God". If by God you mean a being who is completely detached from everyday life but intervenes every once in a while with lightning agility to keep things running, like a sort of absentee landlord, then I would have to say no.

If by God you mean a ball of energy that contains all of the forces to sustain life on earth or a giant blob of ooze that looks like Jaba the Hutt, then I would again have to say no.

If by God you mean a stern judge who sits behind a large desk with gavel in hand calling down condemnations and death sentences on the majority of the human population, then I would again have to say no.

If by God you mean a kindly grandfather who looks like Father Time floating on a cloud with a chorus of angels that sounds like the Vienna Boys Choir, then once again I would have to say no.

It could be that God is beyond all concepts and categories. But these are all that we have. We use words to try to explain the unexplainable. I have words that I use, with the awareness that they fall short. Even the Bible, as wonderful as it is, can only give us a glimpse of the reality of God. St. Paul even admits such in Romans 11:33-36-- to use a rabbinic device, if his ways and his judgments are unsearchable and inscrutible, then how much more is the Source of his judgments and ways, God Himself?

Of course, we could say that God is revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but what exactly does that mean? Now you're getting into some pretty heady stuff. Explanations of the trinitarian nature of God inevitably end up being half-truths. In fact, Scripture never commands us to understand or attempt to explain the Trinity. It assumes this deep reality and goes on from there. See Ephesians 1.

So, what to do here? I think we have to look at the overall picture of the Scriptural narrative in order to get somewhat of a handle on this, and especially look at the life of Jesus. Especially pertinent are the opening verses of John.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. (1:1, 14)

Forget about our sky images of a floating, detached deity. God lives with His people! He literally "tabernacles" (to use a desert image) with us. God is with us, but God is not us. God is what I would call a transcendent presence, personal and yet beyond our understanding. How can we understand this today?

Integral theory poses the idea of the 1-2-3 God (1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person), or God in us, God between us, and God beyond us. I think this could potentially give us a more wholistic picture, which would be too lengthy for me to draw out here. But it could be a more effective way to talk about the Trinity: the Father would be "God beyond us", the Son (Jesus) would be "God between us", and the Holy Spirit would be "God in us". Of course this would present some problems, not to mention how these three interact with each other.

There! Now I've totally confused the lot of us!! I've posed more problems than solutions-- yikes!! But let's talk this out!!!!