Sanctified Unity: Experiencing the Trinity

It is a common circumstance for humankind to know of God. It is less common, unfortunately, for us to actually *know God. However, it is still possible.

If the nature of God reveals the nature of humankind, then the revelation of God is worthy of man’s pursuit. And if discovering that revelation as contained in the Christian Bible one will have to come to confront the issue of the nature of Christ. Is Jesus Divine? Additionally, we are left to ponder the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This, of course, must be reconciled to the strict monotheistic revelation founded in the Old Testament. In the meantime we are left trying to understand our own nature in light of an ancient and often confusing text. The idea of identity takes center stage in light of this drama and we are left asking the question: am I in a relationship with God and what exactly does that mean? This is a question we often answer without being able to articulate the exact nuances of God’s nature. In the end we belong to God and the Holy Spirit opens us to *know God (John 17). And as coming to *know God is the *goal post in coming to *know ourselves - in the end, and beyond any confusion, this holds the highest personal meaning in our lives. As mentioned above, it is a worthy pursuit. However, the revelation of God’s self means something more than our individual existence. We are not the only ones. God’s revelation has always been revealed in community. Better yet, as we see on the occasion of Emmaus and understand through the Theology of the New Testament, that as Christ is revealed in the breaking of bread, God’s revelation is nearly exclusive to the act of Communion (communion with one another through God). So if the revelation of God is attached to the act of Communion, then let us dedicate this inquiry to investigating that activity.

We can *know God, because we can *know the Church, we can *know the Church because we experience the Trinity. Following the resurrection of relationships lost to sin, doubt and mistrust; following the resurrection of family and society, following the healing of warring nations we come to *know the *perfection God intended for us. In the age of lost innocence it is only after reconciliation that we come to *know authentic communion and in this authenticity we find the *perfection of ourselves. Who we are becomes fulfilled when we relate to the world with the *ends of fulfilling it. We experience this harmony of *perfection when we harbor it. The Communion that reveals God, and allows us to *know God does not isolate us, exile us or make us into a drop of water conforming to the ocean. We are made into individuals and brought into harmony with ourselves, fulfilled and whole, only as we relate correctly to the community of creation around us. This demands something from the way we relate to the community of creation around us. That demand can be articulated as Harmony. As our authentic and reconciled selves relating to the community of creation around us, relating correctly to our neighbors, friends, parents, spouses and children we do more than encounter the Trinity, we go beyond the horizon of information about the Trinity, and we do in fact *experience the Trinity. We become whole, we are transformed from becoming to being. The transformation offered by the Trinity, *sanctifies us. It heals us, resurrects us, and restores us to who and what we are. We are restored in our standing and in the way we relate to the community of creation.  We become Holy and set apart as a member of God’s Covenant and Community. When our families love again. When our cities live in peace again. When our nations cooperate for the fulfillment of humankind. This victory hardly makes the headlines, but we have in fact experienced this; and as we know peace and harmony among one another we welcome it to ourselves and we experience the transformation of *knowing God. The following passages: John 17, Genesis 2 and Matthew 5 supply the revelation needed and in particular some key words that provide a crucial understanding.

John 17

17 After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all people,[a] to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may *know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. 5 So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.

6 “I have made your name *known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they *know that everything you have given me is from you; 8 for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and *know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. 11 And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be *one, as we are *one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them in your name that[b] you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost,[c] so that the scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.[d] 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 15 I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.[e] 16 They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 17 *Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I *sanctify myself, so that they also may be *sanctified in truth.

20 “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be *one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us,[f] so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be *one, as we are *one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become completely *one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24 Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

25 “Righteous Father, the world does not *know you, but I *know you; and these *know that you have sent me. 26 I made your name *known to them, and I will make it *known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Genesis 2
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” 19 So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man[c] there was not found a helper as his partner. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones
    and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called Woman,[d]
    for out of Man[e] this one was taken.”

24 Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become *one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.

Matthew 5
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; 40 and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; 41 and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. 42 Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters,[o] what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be *perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is *perfect. 

*Know - John 17 - Experiential Knowledge (knowledge beyond mere information) / Knowing God as you know your spouse / Knowing God as an experience

*Sanctify - John 17 - Being / Come to Holiness / Fulfillment / Set apart

*One - John 17 / Genesis 2 - Unity / One Flesh

*Perfect - Matthew 5 - Telos / Ends / Goal / Aim / Purpose / What we are to be when we are fully ourselves, when are fully alive

In John 17 Jesus prays for us to be One in the same way that Jesus and the Father are One. The trinitarian nature of God, this tree of life, is desired by God to be shared with us. Coupled with this prayer for us, Christ’s Community, is for us to *know God. The Greek word here ginosko translated as “know” means something far beyond the usual, at least the way we usually understand the term. This type of *knowledge is personal and experiential. It is not the type of knowledge one gets from a book but rather from a spouse and family, and the experience of healing and growing, of cultivating unity and conquering division. *Knowledge of God’s nature, true *Knowledge of God, of who God is, is an *experience of birth, of resurrection, of becoming to being - and these in every way, both the literal and the figurative. In Christ’s final prayer he removes any justification we might have to harbor division in our pursuit of sanctification. Too often we carry the tendency of tearing others down to build ourselves up. Sanctification / holiness is God’s to give and the prayer offered in the final hours before His crucifixion offers the only price we must pay in being privileged with the *knowledge of *experiencing who God is: it comes only with the experience of us being *One. Jesus does not pray for us to be self-righteous and exclusive, but to be *sanctified and *One.

*Unity, *Sanctification and *Knowing God; these elements are woven together in this pericope and we should ask ourselves why. Before that, we should be suspicious of the concupiscent desire we harbor to make the practical side of these elements mutually exclusive from one another. Sanctification makes you fully you, sanctification is a state of separation; it marks that  you are separated from everything that corrupts your natural identity from being fulfilled. But as revealed in Scripture, as well as in mature adult existence, you cannot be fully you independently of your community. The fulfillment of community by your active presence, and the fulfillment of your identity are the two pillars needed to *experience and come to *know God. Personal *sanctification and communal *unity are cooperative forces that lead to the ultimate revelation of God.

The radical unity we need is present in, and accomplished by, the Eucharistic Sacrament. The divine offered a piece of Himself for this world to unite around and in this visible Sacrament we are offered the opportunity to relate to God *perfectly, to ourselves *perfectly, to one another and the whole community of creation *perfectly as God fills in the gaps of our shortcomings and sins. The formula could be explained as the following: At the Last Supper Jesus offered His flesh to the Apostles who were sent from that Supper to offer the Divine Body of Perfection to all the nations inviting them into the Covenant with God (the Communion that *perfects us all - in every way, sanctifying us and making us Holy). This invitation is fulfilled first by Reconciliation. God offering Himself to restore what we took from creation (as only God can restore beauty, justice, life and innocence and only man can justifiably pay that price); then the Resurrection of Christ is revealed as the first fruits (to use the words of St. Paul) of the new life that is to come. And then finally, we are given the Holy Spirit to cultivate this transformation upon all of creation thus restoring creation to its original glory and harmony. It is in the Eucharist that all of creation is being transformed, being *sanctified and set apart from its former corrupted self. And as first we must be reconciled to one another before we can share in authentic communion and become truly *One, we must now cultivate this Spirit of creation in our own lives lest we blaspheme against the transformation God has intended for our lives.

We cannot share in the same reality, authentically at least, with real harmony, if we hold a grievance or have harmed another. And the reality God desires for us to hold in common is revealed in God’s own Trinitarian nature. We are to be *One as the Father and Son are *One. This is what Jesus prays for in John 17. As God is a communion of persons, so too are we. We are the Church, the nature of the Church is revealed in the nature of the One and Only, the Triune God. The experiential *knowledge of God that Jesus prays for in John 17, the prayer that expresses God’s desire to completes us with His own nature, comes with a price: we must authentically love one another, therefore we must ask for forgiveness, forgive others and only then can we cultivate actual, real, authentic communion and make present in our lives the prayer Christ had for us in His final hour.

In Genesis 2 we see the Sacramental union of Adam and Eve and what began as two, was *sanctified into *One by the power of God’s grace. Furthermore, for either one (Adam or Eve) to be fully human, to be harmonious and at peace with themselves and the entire community of creation, they must be united to one another and made into *One Flesh. This Sacramental act unites them with the two qualities Jesus prays for in John 17: experiential knowledge of God’s nature and radical unity that fulfills individual identity. Prior to this testimony of our original glory, the first chapter of Genesis testifies to God’s desire to form a creature, made in the image of God, that will order and harmonize the community of creation. It is revealing and beneficial to our effort here to observe that the creature made in the image of God was made first and foremost in community: “male and female He created them.” To be made in God’s image is to be made in community, therefore God’s nature must be a community.

Finally, in Matthew 5 Jesus tells us to be “perfect.” In context this is neither intimidating or impossible. You have known this *perfection when you came to discover how you relate to the world. And you can be you *perfectly, that is not beyond your power and certainly not beyond the power of God. When Christ tells us to be *perfect in Matthew 5:48, He is telling us to be human. To be the creature God designed us to be.

The Greek word used here is telos. It is in context that the word telos is translated to “perfect” by modern day scholars from the original Greek. Essentially the word means “goal” or “ends” or “purpose.” It is the ultimate aim of the means. In Matthew 5, Jesus is telling us to be *perfect like God is *perfect in light of a goal, in pursuit of a particular *ends. This chapter of Matthew, prior to these conclusive verses, also offers a logical means to pursuing this goal.

Ask a modern day teenager if their phone is being used for its intended purpose, after that ask their parents if the teenager's phone is being used for what it was intended for. You may have varying answers. Virology and biology, medicine and science, again the stated purpose, the goal is to make humankind healthier. When these sciences are not used for that purpose but instead to destroy and wage war against the human body, when the means corrupts the *ends, then these sciences are not *sanctified. (It's as if having the knowledge of good and evil makes us responsible for it). In John 17, the word “sanctify” is relatable to the word “telos” from Matthew 5:48, we are *perfect (fully realizing and acting on the beauty of humanity) and *sanctified (made holy) when we are *One.

The moral teaching of Jesus imparts to us the behavioral routines necessary to cherish and cultivate unifying and transforming relationships. Yes, to become *One, we have to be virtuous people; we have to relate to the community of creation around us correctly.

Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology gives the following example for the word, sanctify:

“A pen is ‘sanctified’ when used to write. Eyeglasses are ‘sanctified’ when used to improve sight. In the theological sense, things are sanctified when they are used for the purpose God intends. A human being is sanctified, therefore, when he or she lives according to God's design and purpose.”
https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/sanctification/  

So how does one achieve *perfection, *perfect *unity; how do we become *One and cooperate with the prayer of Christ - by being unusual. Our usual relationships amount to hating our enemies, lusting after our neighbor and taking what we need when we think we need it. It makes us feel powerful to not forgive and we willingly become the self-righteous victim when someone else refuses to forgive us. Jesus teaches us something different, Jesus demands that we relate to the world around us in a highly unusual way, “... if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others?” So, my guess is that we’re expected, by Jesus, to do a little more.

What is unusual about that? Jesus says about: loving only those who love you back; what is unusual about that? What is unusual about greeting only your brothers while disregarding all others? It is very very usual to hate those who hate you, to love those who agree with you, to empower those who empower you, to greet warmly those who travel with you, to not regard those who travel with others; this is the very usual thing to do, to do back to the world as it has done to you – this is usual. Did Jesus come back to crucify the world, as it did to Him, or did He come back to give the world life, and life abundantly? This is how we are to be unusual: love our enemies, love others in the correct way, in a way that fulfills our relationship with the world around us. Jesus is telling us in clear words to be unusual. There is a normal way of doing things, a normal way of relating to others and the world around you, just because this is “normal” does not mean that it is correct! In fact what is “normal” appears to be the target of Jesus in this teaching. 

It is interesting that the word “sanctify” from John 17 and the word “perfect” from Matthew 5 are highly relatable to one another. The context of the word “sanctify” from John 17 reveals that we, the Church, are set apart as holy and that particularly we are sanctified when we are fulfilled in the purpose intended for us (tilling and keeping, dominion, maintaining the harmonious relationship system designed by God - correctly worshiping God). We are “sanctified” when we fulfill our purpose and meet our ends; when we set out to achieve our goal. 

In Matthew 5:48 modern day editors have accurately translated the Greek word “telos” (ends or goal) as “perfect.” Our goal is perfection that reflects God’s own perfection. God is unified, three in one. We were made in this image. Our goal is to attain perfect unity. God gave us a piece of His Own Self to accomplish this, the Eucharist. God gave us a piece of the reality of resurrection for us to hold in common. Like the Ark with Noah, the Church of God is the truthful reality we hold in common. Beyond the Eucharistic Sacrament, God gave us a Eucharistic life in these unusual teachings of Jesus Christ - the Son of God.

So why is it that editors use the English word “perfect” to translate the Greek word “telos” here in Matthew 5:48? To start, we will begin with the surface definition of the word “perfect.” If one were “perfect” one would be “lacking nothing necessary to completeness.” The concept of an “ends” or “goal” (telos) under this definition is easily understood; our goal is to be complete or “lacking nothing.” This context of the Greek word “telos” is understood throughout the New Testament. In Romans 12:2 this “lacking nothing necessary to completeness” is applied to “Human integrity and virtue.” In 1 Corinthians 13:10 we see it as an adjective relating to “the perfect state of all things,’ to be ushered in by the return of Christ from heaven.” In Ephesians 4:13 the word “telos” (ends, goal, aim) is a comment on human development and anthropology in the context of “until we rise to the same level of knowledge which we ascribe to a full-grown man, until we can be likened to a full-grown man.” Always in reference to a goal, a higher ideal, what we have set out to accomplish. Here, in Matthew 5:48, the Greek word “telos” (ends or goal) is equated to the goal God set for us - to relate to one another in a way that increases life (go forth and multiply) and manages the harmonious created reality (dominion - “tilling and keeping”). https://biblehub.com/greek/5046.htm  

When we see the word “perfect” in Matthew 5:48 It means to “reach the goal” to “settle the ends” as Christ has brought the Law and Prophets to “fulfillment” by being Himself, so to do we bring the fulfillment of our purpose in relation to Christ. We need to allow God to perfect us. An eye for an eye is like adding imperfection to imperfection. You will not end up with perfection until perfection involves itself in the equation, until then it will always fall short of the goal. Because this word, telos, which here we translate as “perfect,” is related to the “ends,” to the idea of reaching a “goal,” this can inform us about the intention of the teaching in Matthew 5:48 – it is about reaching our goal. The expression: “the ends justifies the means” is rightly criticized but we can spin that into a proper understanding as the “ends” (the goal) is intrinsically connected to the “means” by which we accomplish the goal. Our means to perfection is found in the Eucharist, in loving our enemies and relating to the world around us authentically.

The goal is to Love (by authentically Loving as Christ Loved us we reach the goal, the Kingdom of Heaven). The means by which this Love is achieved is by being / acting against the usual inclinations of giving back to the world the pain it has most often given to us. Our goal is to achieve authentic communion with the created reality around us which is mutually exclusive with harboring vengeance. You are either completely base or completely virtuous, there is no gray area. The virtue we need is achieved only through authentic communion with God, which Jesus gave us access to through the Eucharist. I can relate to all perfectly because God allows us to relate perfectly to Him. God fills in the gaps of where we fall short. God adds His perfection to our imperfection. So if I relate perfectly to God, and you relate perfectly to God, then through this communion we relate perfectly to one another. 

Hating one’s enemies is usual, it is normal, it is so humanly-ordinary that as adult humans we should begin to find it boring and without the thrill it once supplied to us as immature people. As Christ tells us to be *perfect he is telling us to fulfill the depth of our human character. For each of us this fulfillment looks different as it is varied from person to person. But we all live in the same broken world and it's not good enough for you to be as good as bad people – they and their actions are not your measure. 

And of course, we are doing this so that we,

“may be children of [our] heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? Do not the pagans do the same?”

We are doing this so that we may be Children of God. United with and to one another like the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are One. Fulfilled in our identity and fulfilled in what and who we are.

Unfortunately, we have seen the exponential splintering of Biblical interpretation between tens of thousands of factions over the course of five centuries. And thus we and they are exiled. We have seen Christ contained to exclusive cultures. And thus we are exiled from one another. Our Sunday school teachers, ministers, preachers and priests fit Christ into a box. And they exile you if you do not fit into that box. The wars fought and the people oppressed over understanding or misunderstanding the nature of revelation, the people oppressed and enslaved when they should have been liberated and given the joy of Christ - the proclamation of universal membership in God’s Covenant has been exiled alongside them.

In light of this revelation, community now becomes the center of our goal. To be a community like this we must relate to one another without harm and stay connected to God. This is actually not as straightforward as one might think. It involves both Sacrament and Ethics in our everyday life.

It is in community that we are fulfilled on a personal level and each individual must be their whole, own and unique self in order to fully participate in this level of transformation and be called a community. Human nature sets boundaries on identity, I need to relate well to you but I will never be you (actually I need to relate to you *perfectly). Our individuality does not prevail over community and authentic community does not destroy individuality. Not under it or over it but an integral part of it. An expectant mother and the daughter in her womb are defined by their relationship to one another but the mother is not the child, the child is not the mother. And as each member of the Trinity is unique in itself (the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, etc) but when revealed fully God is known as *One, so it is true with the human community.