Trinity and Humanity

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.~ 1 Peter 1:3-4

As I write this post we are currently in the middle of celebrating the bodily Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and boy am I excited about it! You should be too! Because the Resurrection of Jesus was a HUMAN and BODILY Resurrection (John 20:25-29), and Jesus is the One Who created and sustains all things, it’s REAL and TRUE that neither you or I, or anyone else, can permanently screw up our humanity! Jesus undone all the screwiness of our humanity and raised it up glorified and new! Wow! I was sure we had thoroughly screwed up humanity throughout the course of life’s relationships, thoughts, words and actions! Didn’t some of you once think that way, too?

Have you ever been called a “screw-up” by others because of your mistakes, skin color, beliefs, or “just because”? Have you ever called yourself a “screw up?” You know, saying things to yourself like “I’m not as good as others!”, “I’m too fat!”, “I’m too skinny (I’ve said that a lot in the past), or “I suck because…!”? Now, I’m not saying we can’t screw things up royally, because we can and do, and obviously have, and, as long as we share in fallen flesh, we still will screw things up(Rom 3:1-20). BUT, the Truth is, we (YOU!) can’t screw things up so badly that they can’t be redeemed and renewed because in Jesus they HAVE already been redeemed and renewed!

Perhaps you REALLY have screwed things up in your blindness and angst. I sure have, just ask anyone in my relational circle!  Perhaps it’s true that you have been a primary cause of the trouble in your marriage, among your friends and family, on your job, within your church. I sure have, and I’ve been ordained a pastor! Ha! I say this because I believe that anytime there was one thing I should have been or done in obedience with Jesus to improve a relationship or situation, and I didn’t obey, I simply contributed to more trouble! In one real sense that is a reason for discouragement and unfortunate, because it means that you and I and others have suffered (are suffering?) unnecessarily and in ways the Father, Son and Spirit have not intended for us.

However, the truth of our irresponsibility and menacing harassment toward others notwithstanding, in the grace and mercy of the Father, Son and Spirit, the Resurrection of Jesus happened 2000 years ago and Jesus still stands in, bodily and permanently, for you and for me! Whew!!! It sure has appeared to me, you and others that we have screwed things up entirely and “beyond repair”, but the Resurrection of Jesus Christ says differently! As I posted on Facebook yesterday,

For those who can embrace it, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is living proof that God the Father, Son and Spirit not only like our humanity, but are comfortable in it – FOREVER! Ha-Ha! It is also proof for those who embrace it that humanity can’t sink so far into death that it can’t be redeemed & renewed! In fact, in Jesus’ humanity we have all been renewed and, IN HIM, are whole in mind, body and spirit! WOW!

In the encouraging words of the late Dr. Thomas F. Torrance:

In his incarnation he who by nature is internal to the being of God has embodied the creative source and ground of all human being in himself as man. As the Head of creation, in whom all things consist, he is the only one who really can act on behalf of all and save them. When he took our human nature upon himself, and in complete somatic [bodily] solidarity with us offered himself up to death in atoning sacrifice for man, he acted instead of all…and on behalf of all… Thus the redemptive work of Christ was fully representative and truly universal in its range. Its vicarious efficacy has its force through the union of his divine Person as Creator and Lord with us in our creaturely being, whereby he lays hold of us in himself and acts for us from out of the inner depths of his coexistence with us and our existence in him, delivering us from the sentence of death upon us, and from the corruption and perdition that have overtaken us. ~ The Trinitarian Faith, pg. 155

In the words of the “people on the street”, again I say, no matter how screwy you are, have been, or will be, because of Who Jesus is in his human and bodily Resurrection, and who all of humanity is in him, you can’t possibly screw everything up, permanently!

~ Tim Brassell