A Brief Reflection on Jesus and the Trinity
N. J. Solomon has replied to my article from earlier today on the theme of the books contained within the New Testament canon. This is his text: “IMHO the concept of the Trinity as read that Jesus is God is misconception. IMHO he is “like God”, and so perhaps the Son should be written as son. God needs humans and also the Spirit that passes between them. We all have the potential be be the “s”on of God, isn’t that what Christianity tried to preach? I’m just a Jew”.
This raises some important questions, so I thought I would publish my response as a brief article rather than privately.
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Thanks for your reply.
I have no problem with the idea of a Trinity. The ultimate Oneness first divides into two, as in Taoism (yin/yang). (You will obviously be aware of the famous symbol, where the black and the white are contained and represented within the one circle.) From that perspective, I don’t agree that the three parts are equal, as Christianity seems to say, rather that the Oneness divides into the divine ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’, which are therefore lower in the hierarchy.
The problem from a Christian point of view is, if two of the elements are called Father and Son, then the third element should logically be either a Wife or a Daughter. In terms of the Taoist analogy, it is obviously a daughter, and I believe that the Holy Spirit should be considered feminine. (Some commentators note that the Hebrew word for spirit — ru’ach — is feminine.)
The further and most serious problem arises when Christianity equates Jesus with the masculine side of the One (or the Word — Greek Logos — as the gospel of John calls him). You obviously agree. A Jew, possibly a rabbi, whose name I’ve forgotten, when it was put to him that Jesus was the son of God, replied “aren’t we all?”. There is the additional problematic question, how can the Son be equal with the Father? Also, how could God become incarnate in a single human being?
I do, however, believe that Jesus was a very special son of God, a prophet, divine messenger, or something like that. His teaching was aimed, as you say, to help us all to become like him. I’m not sure that Christianity, at least in its exoteric forms, teaches this. It seems to have misrepresented him.
