OUR LORD'S DIVINE NATURE

Continuing from yesterday's study of Romans 1 verse 20 - 21, the last attribute of God that is revealed from the created order is our Lord's divine nature. The Lord's divine nature is the expression of His being as God.

In the way the universe and its contents point to the divine nature of God, we would be able to deduce that God is personal and that He is triune which means God is one but in three persons.

An aggressive inquiry into the origin of the universe reveals a logical impasse that cannot be breached aside from conceding that there is a personal decision maker involved in the building of our universe.

To presume that the universe sprang up on its own, one would quickly run into an intractable infinite recursion loop from which there is no escape.  At every layer of recursion, one would either have to have an infinitely old unstable singularity that suddenly and inexplicably destabilized or go back one recursion level and end up with the same improbable conundrum ad infinitum.

To get out of the loop, we are forced to introduce a deliberate or intentional choice to initiate a destabilization that results in the emergence of the universe. It is this intentionality requirement that points to a person as the originator of the universe. 

Getting to the triune part of God's  divine nature, could the existence of the natural world convincingly express the triune nature of God to minds that are willing to understand?

Yes. Once you conclude that there is a personal God who created the universe out of nothing  and who then made all things within the universe including the living creatures around us and, of course,  we ourselves, we must then consider the characteristics of this person who is able to do this. 

This is a sentient being who can create  out of nothing and, as well, conceptualize and create entities outside of Himself. A thought experiment will take you to a surprising revelation about such a being.

Think of this being conceptualizing a chair and a chair is materialized. A being who made the universe would have to be able to do this by definition. Now,  imagine this being thinking about Himself. In view of His powers, a second being would materialize who is a representation of Himself.

Remember, God is eternal and has always been able to think of Himself and so this second person is eternal as well. We are able to reach an understanding where at least two eternal persons axist as part of the divine nature of God.

When God says, "This is my Son in whom I am well pleased", this is how the Son exists eternally and is an exact representation of God the Father. This is why Jesus could say, " He who  has seen me, has seen the Father" in John 14 verse 9.

An especially astute student of nature  could go further, consider the nature of the personal creator of the universe and  wonder if the God of the universe and His Son could properly be understood to be alive?  

In our realm, there is a distinction between living and not-living creatures and the living property seems to be independent of the material part of these creatures. That is why a living thing can become a non-living thing without losing any material and even though some would say life is about the organization of material and not about a spark of life, the presence of life itself seems to do the organizing and is not the result of the  organizing of material.

 That is why a cell can multiply from a single cell into the highly organized state of trillions of cells forming a human being and being alive remains the characteristic that permits the continuation of this process.

One could then say that the property of life was introduced right from the initiation of living things and is continually passed down from one generation to the next especially when no known examples exist of non-living material giving rise to living things. The living 'flame' so-to-speak, that is given from God is also the one who gives the Son of God the properties of life and as such, must be eternal as well and must have the power and extent of God in order to be the life of God. 

It is this line of thought that would yield the conception of the Holy Spirit who is also named the Spirit of Life in the scriptures in Romans 8 verse 1 - 2.

It can hereby be exclaimed that the created universe reveals the divine nature of God pertaining to His personhood and His triunity.

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 

For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Bless the Lord's mighty name.

Amen.