No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known.
John 1:18
Christ is Risen!
The overwhelming majority of the Creed is dedicated to summarizing the theology of the Holy Trinity. The Creed will mention the Incarnation and the Resurrection, both critical theological concepts. It also includes mention of the very nature of the Trinity. The Incarnation and the Resurrection are easier to understand than the nature of the Holy Trinity, yet without the Trinity, the Incarnation and the Resurrection, which we are more familiar with, are not understood in their fullness.
One prayer in the Anaphora of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (the part of the Divine Liturgy where the Gifts are consecrated), refers to God the Father as “ineffable, inconceivable, invisible, incomprehensible, existing forever, forever the same.” (Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, 2015 translation). God, by nature, would be incomprehensible, because to fully comprehend God would put us on His level. How, then, can we understand God the Father?
The human body has many parts, some seen and understood, and others that can never be fully understood. If we were to make an analogy of the Holy Trinity, one God in three persons and compared the Trinity to the human body, the Father would be the brain, the Son would be the mouth and the Holy Spirit would be the hands. Each part works in sync and the body is able to do things. If there are no parts other than the brain, then the work of the brain accomplishes nothing, because the thought has no way of being actualized. The brain thinks of what we will say and do and then the mouth and the hands actualize the thoughts of the brain. If the brain has a thought that the hand should grab something, the hand does what the brain tells it to do. In the time that the brain tells the hand to grab an object, the hand does not rebel and smash a wall. The brain and the hand work in sync.
We can see the hand and the mouth, and we can even see the brain and have some idea of how parts of the brain work, especially when they are not working. But why one person’s brain thinks certain things, and why and when it thinks of these things is unknown. We cannot see thoughts. We know a lot about the human brain, but we can’t totally conceive the totality of what is done by the brain or in the brain, nor can we see the complex thoughts put together by the brain, we only know their manifestations.
In the same way, we know some of the manifestations of God, and we can appreciate the things He has created, but we cannot fully comprehend Him. God the Father is also known by several names—God, God the Father, the Almighty, the Creator, Abba. God is eternal, meaning that He is uncreated. There are many theories on how the world was created. In the evolutionary theory, everything evolved without the hand of God directing every step, or perhaps any step. The problem with all the theories on Creation is that they can only go back so far. If the very first thing that happened was a “big bang” and that was the result of gasses coming together, what caused the gasses to come together, who created those? There is no way to explain the cause of the very first thing, other than the hand of God, who is uncreated.
God is revealed in the Old Testament—God speaks to Adam and Eve, to Noah, to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and so many others. The concept of God as a benevolent Father, and sometimes as a punishing one, are well understood before the Incarnation of Christ. It is understood that God is the creator. At every step of the creation, we read “And God said,” followed by whatever was created. Of course, as we believe that Christ (the Word) is the mouthpiece of God, we believe that He gives the command of the Father to create whatever is being created—light, seas, plants, animals, sun, moon, stars.
It is interesting to note that in Genesis 1:26-27, when the human beings are created, God is referred to both singularly and in Trinity: Then God said, “Let Us (plural, the action of all the persons of the Trinity) make man in Our (again, plural, we are an image not only of God the Father but of the Holy Trinity) image, after Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God create man in His (singular here) own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female, He created them. God that Father serves as the divine architect of creation, but the creation cannot be done without the Word (Son) and the Spirit, they work together at every step of the Creation.
In John 1:18, we read “No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known.” Moses encounters God and speaks with Him many times, but He never sees God. In Exodus 33:17-23, Moses has found favor with God and God allows Moses to see His back, but not His face:
And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do; for you have found favor in My sight, and I know you by name.” Moses said, “I pray Thee, show me Thy glory.” And He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you My name ‘The Lord’; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” He said,” you cannot see My face; for man shall not see me and live.” And the Lord, said “Behold, there is a place by Me where you shall stand upon the rock; and while My glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with My hand until I have passed by; then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”
The voice of God is heard at the Baptism of Christ, endorsing Jesus as “My beloved Son” (Mark 1:11), and at the Transfiguration, also calling Jesus “My beloved Son,’ (Mark 9:7) In speaking to the people in John 12:28, Jesus called out to God the Father, “Father, glory Thy name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” God that Father is known, but not fully known, understood but not fully comprehended.
Today’s prayer is Psalm 104, sometimes called the “Psalm of Creation,” read every evening at Vespers. As we begin a new day in the church, we go back to the beginning, the creation.
Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, Thou art very great! Thou art clothed with honor and majesty, Who coverest Thyself with light as with a garment, Who hast stretched out the heavens like a tent, Who hast laid the beams of Thy chambers on the waters, Who makest the clouds Thy chariot, Who ridest on the winds of the wind, Who makest the winds Thy messengers, fire and flame Thy ministers. Thou didst set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be shaken. Thou didst cover it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. At Thy rebuke they fled; at the sound of Thy thunder they took to flight. The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place which Thou didst appoint for them. Thou didst set a bound which they should not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth. Thou makest springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills, they give drink to every beast of the field; the wild asses quench their thirst. BY them the birds of the air have their habitations; they sing among the branches. From Thy lofty abode Thou waterest the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of Thy work. Thou dost cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth, and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread to strengthen man’s heart. The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon which He planted. In them the birds build their nests; the stork has her home in the fir trees. The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the badgers. Thou hast made the moon to make the seasons; the sun knows it’s time for setting. Thou makest darkness, and it is night, when all the beasts of the forest creep forth. The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God. When the sun rises, they get them away and lie down in their dens. Man goes forth to his work and to his labor until the evening. O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! In wisdom hast Thou made them all; the earth is full of Thy creatures. Yonder is the sea, great and wide, which teems with things innumerable, living things both small and great. There go the ships, and Leviathan which Thou didst form to sport in it. These all look to Thee, to give them their food in due season. When Thou givest to them, they gather it us; when Thou openest Thy hand, they are filled with good things. When Thou hidest Thy face, they are dismayed; When Thou takest away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created; and Thou renewest the face of the ground. May the glory of the Lord endure forever, may the Lord rejoice in His works, who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke! I will sing of the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being. May my meditation be pleasing to Him, for I rejoice in the Lord. Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more! Bless the Lord, O my soul! Praise the Lord. Psalm 104
The discussion of the Holy Trinity in the Creed begins with the Father, the Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. Even the invisible, the things we cannot comprehend, like the totality of the human mind, are the handiwork God, and are in line with the invisible nature of the Father who is revealed to us by Jesus Christ, but Whom we will never fully comprehend.
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