Trinity and Humanity

After rehearsing the truth of the Gospel again, which is Adoption, or,

the Good News that God the Father, Son and Spirit created humanity and all of creation in order that they, and it, might share in God’s exact Love and Relational Being, in the Person of Jesus Christ,

I thought that wishing you blessedness in the New Year might be best said the way I entitled the blog post! In other words, did you notice that I didn’t use the customary “Happy” in front of the words “New Year”? That was done on purpose and more in the light of the Gospel.

Let’s face it, most people (including me!) tend to operate out of an optimistic or pessimistic paradigm based on feelings and their own subjective and distinct perceptions about life. Some of us will say “Happy New Year” because we can look at people and things in the world like Susan Boyle, a Black President of all things, and a chance that all Americans might receive basic health insurance as reasons for optimism. Some of us will hear the phrase Happy New Year, and hate it (secretly!), thinking to ourselves that with what is happening in Darfur, Iran, Afghanistan and the American economy, how could anyone possibly say, let alone hope for, a Happy New Year!

I think the Gospel gives us a better alternative than either optimism or pessimism regarding the New Year, while including both in its tremendous wake!

Because the Gospel is Jesus Himself, and what He has done to all of Humanity and Creation in His Divine/Human Body, then we can’t go the way of sin-filled pessimism regarding the state of humanity no matter how dire things seem! It is one thing to say that “as in Adam all die”, but it is a completely other thing to say “so in Christ will all be made alive” (1 Cor 15:22). No real question about the difference in those facts. Whatever mess Adam made (and it was a huge mess!), the Author of Creation, God the Trinity, in Jesus, has undone it (and it was a more huge undoing than Adam’s doing!!), and will continue to undo it, in full actualization! All WILL BE MADE ALIVE!

And because this fact of God in union with His creation is the truth of all truths behind real happiness, ironically, we should be very pessimistic about any other person, place, thing or system in this New year that claims to be able to accomplish it! Humanity’s Adoption and ultimate happiness has been, and only can be, fulfilled by the God/Man Jesus! Improvement in this life won’t get it! We need Jesus’ exact life of New Creation, including a new and transformed body! Even so, come Lord Jesus!

But, because the Gospel is Jesus Himself, and what He has done to all of Humanity and Creation in His Divine/Human Body, then we can’t go the way of sin-filled optimism regarding the state of humanity either, no matter how great things seem! It is one thing to say along with the Apostle John, “Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health”, but it is a completely other thing to add “just as it is with your soul” (3 John 2). No real question about the difference in those facts, either. It is one thing to be happy and healthy! It is another thing to be as happy and healthy as your soul is because of Jesus Christ, Who lives in you! Most people I know aren’t anywhere near as happy as their soul REALLY is because of the Holy Spirit Who lives in them!

Yes, somehow in a mystical but real way, the Holy Spirit of God Himself, has been given to all flesh (sinful humanity! YOU!) in a special way, inaugurated at Pentecost! Acts 2:17! YOU, in the first instance, are in union with Christ apart from works, promises to do good, or even faith and repentance!!!

In more plain words, because God wants you to prosper and be in happiness and health as your soul is prospered by being in union with THE Holy Spirit, this may need to be a very painful year for you as you come to change your mind (repent!), embrace the truth of Jesus and Who you are in Him, and participate more in life as life really is! It will hurt like hell, at first, as you Embrace the Gospel of Humanity’s Adoption and live accordingly in the Spirit’s grace, with Christ’s same intention:

so as to live the rest of your earthly life no longer by human desires but by the will of God. You have already spent enough time in doing what the Gentiles like to do, living in licentiousness, passions, drunkenness, revels, carousing, and lawless idolatry. They are surprised that you no longer join them in the same excesses of dissipation, and so they blaspheme!- 1 Peter 4:1-4

Ouch! A Christ-centered year, but not necessarily a happy one, at first! Ha-Ha!

But, because God is in union with all of His creation, including you, in some mystical but real way, ironically, you should be very optimistic about the New Year because of Jesus’ intent to live victoriously in you! In Jesus, your Adoption and ultimate happiness is sealed despite the hatred and disappointment of persons, places, things or systems that will blaspheme God and seek to discourage you this year!

So, again, in the spirit of this post, “I am wishing you a Christ-centered New Year!” (not necessarily an optimistic or pessimistic one! Ha-Ha!)

– Timothy J. Brassell