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Nicodemus famously visited Jesus one night.  We cannot be sure of his motivation for the time choice, but it appears it was a matter of caution on the part of Nicodemus.  He wanted to find out what Jesus was about, but he had to consider his position as a ruler and a Pharisee.  Perhaps he was a member of the Sanhedrin.  Anyway, he at least went to see and inquire of Jesus.  He was welcomed. In that well-known visit Jesus made a remarkable claim concerning God.  He stated that God loved the world to the extent that He had sent His own Son for the benefit of said world.  The benefit was that a belief-response would result in a never-ending life.  The default condition of the “whosoever” did not include that never-ending life; it included some kind of perishing.  So, a person was in a condition of not having never-ending life (perishing), but God intervened by sending His own Son to make a provision.  What was required was a belief in the One sent.  That belief would result in a change in the condition of any given person from not having said life to having it. So a decision is made and a person’s status is changed from “perishing” to “having eternal life.”  Today, most Christians think this is [...]

I am deeply indebted to Sam Soleyn for some of the key ideas in this blog. At the time of creation, God determined to create “man” in a manner that was to distinguish this particular creature from all others.  Nothing else in creation was to bear the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26).  Not the angels in their various kinds, nor any other mortal creature was to be made in the same manner.  Let’s grasp that truth before moving on.  Not even angels in any of their kinds were created in the image and likeness of God.  Only man was to be created in such manner.  By any standard of consideration this was simply extraordinary – even in the context of the radical period in which all things that are created were being created.  This epoch of creation had not previously occurred.  It would not occur again.  Very suddenly, all that is created came forth out of the un-created.  This fact is so astounding that to further assert that at the end of the cycle, a living creature was to come forth in a manner unlike that of any other creature seems to overwhelm our capacity for understanding. So, what is that?  What is the “image and likeness” of God?  At a fairly superficial level of analysis one might conclude that the [...]

God is.  He exists in a context we call “the Godhead.”  That context is a bit difficult for us to wrap our heads around, but it is reality whether we comprehend it well or not.  We cannot know nor can we construct a satisfactory explanation for why God exists in what we call the Godhead.  To the thinking of most of the Christians in the world, that phenomenon contains three entities: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Whether there are other entities is not known to us, nor is it likely to be.  But why does He choose to exist in that configuration? One of the most important “properties” or characteristics of God is His love.  As to why love is such an important component of the identity of God, we have no real answer.  It is simply the case that He is so characterized.  There are other properties, one of which is His authority.  Love and authority present us with one major difference.  Authority might exist in God in the absence of everything else.  Authority does not have to be exercised.  We would not be aware of it if it were not exercised, but it does not have to be exercised in order to exist. But love.  Love has to be exercised.  In the Godhead, “before” the creation events [...]