Ask a Lutheran why we don’t talk about the Spirit and the answer flows out as naturally as water out of a spring. The Spirit doesn’t talk about himself, so neither do we. The Spirit always points to Jesus. So we talk about him.
But is it not also true that Jesus rarely talks about himself, but points us to the Father? So should we stop talking about Jesus as well?
Perhaps we should be talking more about the Father. After all, eventually the Son will give everything back to him for his glory. It started with the Father, and it ends with the Father. And yet our focus is almost always on the Son.
Or is the answer that we should talk more about the Spirit. Just as Jesus’ words deflecting attention to the Father don’t stop us from pondering his importance and expounding upon it, neither should the Spirit’s deflection of attention towards the Son stop us from pondering the Spirit’s importance and expounding upon it.
So, is it more about the Father and less about the Son? Or is it just more about the Spirit? Or should all persons in the Godhead receive equal attention in our thoughts and words?
Phil,
You wrote: “Or should all parts of the Godhead receive equal attention in our thoughts and words?” The Trinity is not composed of parts. That implies that the Father is 1/3 God, the Son 1/3 God and the Spirit 1/3 God or however you want to break the fractions. I know that’s not what you meant. However, since we confess that Christ is fully God, the Father fully God and the Spirit fully God, we should not take too much time to parse out our hymns for how many times we specifically reference the Father, Son or Holy Spirit. Blessed is our God, the Consubstantial and Undivided Trinity. By confessing Christ we confess Father and Spirit as well. That is why every Orthodox prayer ends with some invocation of the Trinity, for that is what God is.
Correct you are about the parts…corrected above..
Hey Phil…
I think the bible spends a substantial time talking about Jesus *and* the Spirit, in addition to the Father, so I think it makes sense to follow suit and give lots of our attention to Jesus and the Spirit as well as the Father. I do think Jesus went out of his way to constantly point to the Father, so all of our focus on Jesus should be with the recognition of his relationship with God the Father.
As far as the Spirit goes, I think we tend to talk about that part of the Godhead the least in reaction to some denominations who focus almost entirely on the Spirit… and I think the Spirit is the least understood part of the Godhead, so I’d like us to talk about him more.
Jaime,
I know it’s difficult to NOT say this, but we do not refer to the Persons of the Holy Trinity as parts. EAch person is wholly God.
Secondly, what good does it do to talk about that which we understand so little. A blind man may talk a lot about the appearance of an orange and will be only able to ascertain its shape and its texture but no idea of its color scheme. It becomes guess work.
God is the Lord who hast revealed himself from God, which we say at every Sunday Orthros (Matins). The Spirit is mysterious and wonder working, and the creator of life. Why not be content to bask in what has been revealed to us rather than try to use some human logic to confine God, the Uncreate, to a created order of things?
If you’re worried you don’t talk about him enough, may I suggest this prayer which we Orthodox use a lot:
“O Heavenly King, O Comforter, the Spirit of Truth who art everywhere present and fillest all things, O Treasury of Every Good and Bestower of Life, come and dwell in us. Cleanse us from every stain and save our souls, O Good one.”
Hey guys!
Sorry I haven’t responded sooner… I haven’t checked this blog in awhile.
I don’t doubt the wholeness or the Godhood of each person of the Trinity… but I’m not going to argue semantics on the use of the word “part”. 🙂
And I’m not worried at all about whether I personally talk about the Spirit enough.
You ask what good it does to talk about what we understand so little, and I agree with you that I will never fully be able to comprehend the mysteries of God (and particularly the Holy Spirit). I get that He’s bigger than my little human brain. But I also understand that God in His goodness chooses to reveal Himself to us in ways that we can understand, and I seek to know God as much as humanly possible. It’s not a matter of trying to confine the Spirit or define the Spirit; it’s a matter of drinking up fervently every bit of Himself that God chooses to reveal to me.
The prayer is beautiful… thanks for sharing.
And Phil…another reason I think we talk more about the Father and the Son is because of how the Bible paints them. The Father spoke to Adam and Eve. He walked in the garden with them. He spent time with Moses on the mountain. Even the term “Father” paints the picture of a close, visible, tangible family member. And Jesus, of course, actually took on flesh, so again there’s the tangible. He is the “Son,” our brother, again the close, visible, tangible family member. The Spirit’s referred to as our teacher and counselor, but the bible doesn’t paint the same type of family relationship with the Spirit.