Quote:
Originally Posted by OBW
I'm not sure I can fully buy even this. To say such a thing would at least imply that the Trinity had no purpose prior to the creation of the universe, and more specifically the creation of man. I would presume that God was Trinity before any of this came to be.
While there is something that could be called dispensing, I am not sure that this idea is anything like the major construct that we have been lead to believe. Rather it is an overlay onto scripture which can be said to fit some of it. Could it be at least partly true? Surely. But is it some major emphasis of scripture? I am not so sure.
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I'm simply saying that the word "dispensing" could be used to suggest what goes on in a relationship--something of each person being sent to and received by the other. I do not really like the word "dispensing" because it sounds clinical and impersonal, which is exactly the opposite of what it is. It is very personal--it is one Person giving of himself to another in a complete way. It is the essence of a personal relationship--the pouring of oneself into another.
I'm also NOT suggesting that God is Triune primarily for relationship with (dispensing into) man, as Lee suggested. On the contrary, I'm saying that God is Triune primarily for relationship with (dispensing into)
Himself. This is what I've been saying all along--that God experiences a relationship with himself, that is God experiences the Spirit with his Son.
Our blessing is he invites us into this relationship he has with himself. The Spirit has always been the experience of God within himself--that is the Spirit has always been the fellowship between the Father and the Son. Now we get to experience it too.