sarx

[1] IT IS COMMON when speaking of the Divine happiness to say that God is infinitely happy in the enjoyment of Himself, in perfectly beholding and infinitely loving, and rejoicing in, His own essence and perfection, and accordingly it must be supposed that God perpetually and eternally has a most perfect idea of Himself, as it were an exact image and representation of Himself ever before Him and in actual view, and from hence arises a most pure and perfect act or energy in the Godhead, which is the Divine love, complacence and joy. The knowledge or view which God has of Himself must necessarily be conceived to be something distinct from His mere direct existence. There must be something that answers to our reflection. The reflection as we reflect on our own minds carries something of imperfection in it. However, if God beholds Himself so as thence to have delight and joy in Himself He must become his own object. There must be a duplicity. There is God and the idea of God, if it be proper to call a conception of that that is purely spiritual an idea.

from a.w. pink on the solitariness of God:

The title of this article is perhaps not sufficiently explicit to indicate its theme. This is partly due to the fact that so few today are accustomed to meditate upon the personal perfections of God. Comparatively few of those who occasionally read the Bible are aware of the awe-inspiring and worship-provoking grandeur of the divine character. That God is great in wisdom, wondrous in power, yet full of mercy, is assumed by many to be almost common knowledge; but, to entertain anything approaching an adequate conception of His being, His nature, and His attributes, as these are revealed in Holy Scripture, is something which very, very few people in these degenerate times have attained unto. God is solitary in His excellency. "Who is like unto Thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" (Exo 15:11).

"In the beginning God" (Gen 1:1). There was a time, if "time" it could be called, when God, in the unity of His nature (though subsisting equally in three divine persons), dwelt all alone. "In the beginning God." There was no heaven, where His glory is now particularly manifested. There was no earth to engage His attention. There were no angels to hymn His praises; no universe to be upheld by the word of His power. There was nothing, no one, but God; and that, not for a day, a year, or an age, but "from everlasting." During eternity past, God was alone: self-contained, self-sufficient, self-satisfied; in need of nothing. Had a universe, had angels, had human beings been necessary to Him in any way, they also had been called into existence from all eternity. The creating of them when He did, added nothing to God essentially. He changes not (Mal 3:6), therefore His essential glory can be neither augmented nor diminished.

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four door faith : dettonville's christian blogs (new rather unpopulated at present - if you have a blog - feel free to submit it for inclusion)

peac3e.
rabit
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tagia: theology trinity God eternity moodroom pink edwards

from an unpublished essay on the Trinity

the whole essay is at the link above. but, i thought i might start by simply quoting a bit from the introduction:

the intro: ""There has been much cry of late against saying one word, particularly about the Trinity, but what the Scripture has said, judging it impossible but that, if we did, we should err in a question so much above us. I think that it is within the reach of naked reason to perceive certainly that there are three, distinct [persons] in Godand that there are not nor can there be any morebut three, either distinct persons or properties or anything else" ­ Miscellany 94"

an end note on this quote:
"It is often said that God is infinitely happy from all eternity in the enjoyment of himself, in the reflection and infinite love of his own essence, that is, in the infinite idea he has of himself, infinitely perfect...We cannot suppose that God reflects on himself after the imperfect manner we reflect on things." What could make God perfectly happy but perfection, and He is the most perfect being. He is most delighted in Himself and knows Himself completely and perfectly whereas we do not know ourselves that way (Jer. 17:9)."

a lovely bit to ponder as we will be looking at this essay of edwards. be sure to use the "rabits moodroom search party" to the right. your searches contribute to the content of the search. it's a unique feature offered by eurekster. one that should prove enjoyable and useful in this discussion of edward's and the Trinity.

all are welcome.

btw, you just have to search in "rabits moodroom search party" to be a part - if you choose to register you can bump your search findings (the one's you like or wish to discuss) up to the front of the search.

peac3e.
rabit
the wise read email addys before sending

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from media memos:
with so many displaced by katrina - even though time has passed - i suspect there is still a need for this site: http://katrina.im-ok.org

if you need it - our prayers are with you. if you see this post - and have a blog, website, biz, post in forums, a guestbook, newsgroups, whatever - pass the word along. link page is here.

peac3e.
rabit
the wise read email addys before sending

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martin luther gave instruction to pastors that they should make certain that people knew three important things. these things were a part of luther's own devotional life and are something which he saw as being of high importance:

1) the 10 commandments
2) the Lord's prayer
3) the apostle's creed

in many ways, these three do form a very compact set for the christian life. in the following blog entries (with the title: creed) included in them - we will begin to look at the apostle's creed.

for the sake of introduction here is the creed:

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended into hell. [See Calvin]

The third day He arose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy *catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.

Amen.

[i have left the link for calvin's ideas on this line - but will discuss this when we come to it in further detail]

peac3e.
rabit
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