April 2005
And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from
the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also
give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who lives in you.
Romans 8:11 (NIV)
Paul said, “I delivered to you what I received as of first importance
that Christ died for your sins according to the scriptures, was buried,
and on the third day was raised from the dead, according to the
scriptures.” The death and resurrection of Jesus is the heart of the
faith we live and proclaim, and we will be celebrating the saving acts
of God throughout the Easter season. The fact that Jesus rose from the
dead has incredible implications for our lives, none as astonishing as
Paul’s proclamation that the very “same Spirit who raised Jesus from the
dead dwells us to give life to our mortal bodies.” Think of it, the very
Spirit of God living in us.
The Christian faith is a Trinitarian faith. We believe in God, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. The above passage from scripture refers to all
three persons of the Trinity. The Spirit (Holy Spirit) of Him (the
Father) who raised Jesus (the Son) from the dead dwells in you. Anglican
theology clearly teaches that we are in communion with all the persons
of the Holy Trinity and this communion with God is the model that
determines our relationship with one another. In other words, how we
relate to each other should be patterned after the relationship between
the Father Son, and Holy Spirit.
What does this mean for us? What does it mean for the Church? The
relationship within the Trinity is that of oneness and absolute unity.
It is wrong to think that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit merely get
along with one another or tolerate their differences. The relationship
within the Holy Trinity is complete unity in mind, purpose, holiness,
direction, action, and will. Jesus made that clear when He said, “I do
nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me” If this
is the pattern we are to follow, we too must find unity of will,
purpose, direction, holiness and mind. Cultural pressures and human
nature make this goal difficult at best, but not impossible.
The way we can come to the unity and oneness modeled by the Holy Trinity
is for every person to allow the ‘Spirit of Him that raised Christ from
the dead’ to lead us into all truth, God’s truth. How do we discover
God’s will and purpose for us? We only need to look to Jesus for the
answer. Fervent and consistent prayer, thorough knowledge of the
scriptures, total submission to the will of the Father, and works
empowered by the Holy Spirit allowed Jesus to declare, “Not my will, but
yours be done.”
Jesus prayed, “that they may be one as we are one”. Wouldn’t it be a
wonderful thing if we could discover the unity of purpose, direction,
will, and mind that God wishes for us? We can if we keep our eyes on the
Lord and allow the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead to dwell
in us, and learn to submit our lives wholly unto God.
In Christ,
Fr. David+
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