Reflections

Steven Colborne's Philosophical Theology Blog


Is God Three Persons?

On one level, all that exists is God. Creation is contained ‘within’ God and therefore it would be true to say that God is one person. However, there is a sense in which God inhabits and animates all creatures. If God chooses to animate a human being with certain modes of mind that reflect His personhood, then it could be argued that at such a time God is two persons.

I have always struggled with the distinction between God the Father and the Holy Spirit in Christianity, because I feel the Most High God is pure Spirit (actually, I don’t believe He can be described in words, but pure Spirit is the best I can do).

God can of course create lesser gods, but in the Abrahamic religions He commands these not to be worshiped. All worship should always be directed towards the One True God, whether in His purest form (what I hesitantly called ‘pure Spirit’ above) or if He is animating a body (which Christians believe He did while Jesus was living on Earth).

According to the Qur’an, God does not have a son, and the Qur’an is understood by Muslims to be the direct Word of God (His actual speech to us). Idolatry is considered a very serious offence in Islam and this is something that it’s important for Christians to consider when they worship Jesus as God. It seems to me to be sensible to worship God alone, whether as the omnipresent Spirit that directs all activity in creation, or as a human being or other creature which He chooses to inhabit.

Of course, there is a sense in which we are all expressions of God, because He dwells in every creature. I find it fascinating that whenever two human beings are holding a conversation, this is (in a sense) God conversing with God.

The whole Universe is a cosmic playground under God’s control. When we hold onto an awareness of the fact that God is everywhere and animating every creature, life takes on a different colour.




About STEVEN

Steven Colborne is an author, musician and counsellor living in the United Kingdom. On this blog he writes about philosophy, religion and spirituality and shares a variety of personal articles.

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Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind, and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Jun 2023
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