Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
The Trinitarian Formula seems to lead us away from parts of the scriptural text, because the Formula doesn't fit it.
I understand orthodoxy, and think in many ways it has been used to preserve the tradition. But it too easily becomes an excuse to ignore the words themselves. We have our catechisms, and that seems to largely suffice. I am trying to challenge the Catechism that I grew up on. It may be a laughable attempt that I look back on some time from now.
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My attempts to understand the Holy Spirit vis a vis the holy angels of God may be a challenge to the idea of both orthodox formulations in general and the Trinitarian Formula in specific, but I would like to reaffirm both orthodoxy and the Trinity (not that anyone was waiting with bated breath). I unapologetically re-affirm something that I don't really understand, because I respect tradition. For example I use the word "Sunday" instead of Lord's Day, and celebrate my birthday and Christmas, because that is my daddy and grandaddy did before me. Likewise, 1700 years ago the Christian powers that be cooked up orthodox positions, expunged pseudepigrapha like the Book of Enoch, and came up with semi-coherent formulas like the "Trinity".
I don't like that orthodoxy made us look away from the texts, I don't like that it led to fights over peripheral stuff and led to the Great Schism. I don't like that Martin Luther left the RCC. I don't like that Nee left Protestantism. I don't like that I left the Community Church and went to "God's best" the Local Churches of Witness Lee. But history is what it is, so I accept orthodoxy and all that followed. But what are we to do, brothers?
It's up to me to reconcile with these ideas; therefore I use the idea of "agency", and especially "intent". The Angel of the LORD, bearing the Name of the Lord (Exodus 23:20) is operationally God, because that Angel bears God's intention, or will, perfectly. So the Angel told Moses, "Take off your shoes, because you are standing on holy ground." The Angel collapses the space-time continuum, and when you see the Angel you see God in heaven, on the throne. You hear the voice of God speaking through the Angel. Hagar told the Angel "You are the God who sees me."
One of the key words for me is "clear": the Angel is clear, and God sees you through the agent, the emmissary, Angel. For example, Gabriel said "I stand before God", collapsing the space-time continuum in front of Mary and Zechariah, who were actually standing before God, and speaking to God in Luke chapter 1. The emissary, the agent, is a clear vector of the Divine will; no corrupting opacity of intent makes its way into the Divine. The Angel of the Lord is so pure that He doesn't even have a name like Gabriel or Raphael. This Angel is The Great Angel of Counsel.
So it comes down to obedience. Obey God by repenting and believing into the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was the spotless, sinless Lamb of God. The rebellious "unclean" spirits disobeyed God's will. We need to be clean.. "You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken". (John 15:3). Obey Jesus by receiving His commands (John 13:34, 15:17; Rev. 3:8, 10). It is all about obedience. However you understand angels, or the Holy Spirit, is secondary to obedience.
Back to Luke 7. The Roman Centurion obeyed Caesar. He was "a man under authority". When you saw the Centurion you saw the agent or emissary of Caesar. So when the Centurion said, "Go", or "Come", or "Do this" it was Caesar speaking through him. This is a weak representation of spiritual reality. God works through agents. We were disobedient but now have repented and turned. Will we obey? Partial obedience is partial rebellion. The ones who are perfectly obedient are there for our learning. Today it bothers me that Lee taught us to ignore these mediatorial agents, simply because they didn't fit his "Processed Triune God" formula. You got a formula, and a teaching, and were trained to look away from the actual text in front of you. Only Lee's "interpreted word" was allowed to speak to us. I am very grateful today to be free, to muddle through a confusing text. God is there, God is speaking, and will we hear? Will we obey?
We have a choice to be "holy" or "evil", to be "clean" or "unclean". The heavenly realm shows us a picture of our daily choice. There is no gray area. It is either obedience or falling away. That is why I like to look at what the angels are doing. It shows the clear paths: that of God or that of self. Intent is the hardest thing to purge oneself of.