The Pilgrim Path---Psalm 36: 9 (7—19—20)

“For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.”

THE GLORIOUS TRINITY

Augustine said if we try to explain the Holy Trinity, we lose our mind---if we deny it, we lose our soul. By faith, we are grasped by the Trinity’s wonder, power, and personal dealings in our ongoing redemption. I just had to give you this from St. Gregory the Theologian (330-390). One of the great “Cappadocian Fathers” of the Greek East…

I set before you the One Deity and Power,

Found in the Three-in-Unity,

Embracing the Three one by one, equal and nature,

Neither increased nor decreased by ideas of greater or less;

In every way equal, in every way the same,

Just as the loveliness and hugeness of the heavens are one:

The infinite oneness of Three Infinite Ones,

Each of whom is God when seen individually in Himself.

As the Father is God, so is the Son,

And as the Son is God, so is the Holy Spirit;

And the Three are likewise One God when seen together.

Each is God because they are of the same essence,

And they are One God because of the single principle of Deity.

I am enlightened by the brightness of the Three;

The very instant I differentiate them,

I am carried straight back to the One.

When I regard any One of the Three, I think of Him as the Whole;

My sight is filled to the brim,

And the greater part of what I am thinking of eludes me!

I cannot grasp the greatness of One of the Three

So as to reckon a greater greatness to the Others.

And when I see the Three together, I see only one torch,

And I cannot divide or share out the undivided Light.

In supplication meek to thee I bend the knee;

O Christ when thou shalt come, in love remember me,

And in thy kingdom, by thy grace,

Grant me a humble servant’s place.

St. Gregory the Theologian (330-390)

Translated by John Brownlie (1859-1925)

Grace and Peace in Jesus Christ Our Risen LORD, Pastor Jason