From The Mystery of God: Theology for Knowing the Unknowable by Stephen D. Boyer & Christopher A. Hall  Baker Academic 2012  Page 121

God is not just tri-personal; he is expansively, creatively tri-personal. The triunity of God is something that unfolds and opens out, not something that curves in and closes down on itself. God’s intrinsic relational completeness, the unimaginable eternal intimacy between the Father and the Son in the Spirit, does not exclude other relations. The unquenchable divine joy that makes creation unnecessary also makes creation possible in the first place, for the love of Father, Son, and Spirit is in no way threatened or imperiled by flowing out beyond itself into a created world. ……. God is  love, and creation itself is the wholly free outpouring of that love, in generous, gratuitous, open-handed bounty, a bounty that is infinitely hospitable not because it needs us but simply because it is itself.

Quotable Quotes 2

Continuing a series of quotes from books I am reading or have read. Chosen because stood out to me because of their ability to summarise or zoom in; their poetry, strength or arresting beauty. Sometimes just because they arrested me with their sheer Truthness.

Today’s quote is helpful in growing our understanding of and love for the truth of the triune nature of God. The alliterative verbs are instructive and insightful – italics in the original. Why not meditate for a while on the by, in, and through of the second sentence.

The Trinity is not an abstraction but a living, working Creator-Redeemer. God is who he is in his triune being for our salvation. We are chosen by God the Father, in Christ the Son, through God the Holy Spirit. Or, as we have already noted, salvation is administered by the Father, accomplished by the Son, and applied by the Spirit. To express the same truths in yet another way, the salvation that was planned by the Father has been procured by the Son and is now presented by the Spirit. Whatever words we use to describe it, the point is that our salvation from sin depends on a gracious cooperation within the Godhead. ( Page 21)

Our Triune God: Living in the Love of the Three-In-One Philip Ryken & Michael LeFebvre, Crossway 2011.

I wholehearted recommend this little book. It’s solid, simple yet deeply beneficial for the growing christian or the christian in need of growth.

£5.67 from ICM Books Direct as of today – free shipping in the UK – click the book.

Quotable quotes

Today I am beginning a series of quotes from books I am reading or have read. They stood out because of their power to summarise or zoom in; their poetry, strength or arresting beauty. Sometimes just because they arrest.

They caused me to pick up my pencil and leave some lead on the page. This liberty with a pencil is relatively new to me. Being less precious about the book has allowed me to me more precious with what the book is saying. I’m glad for that.

Recently got a kindle and have used the highlighting feature with equal abandon – colours aplenty.

From The Mystery of God: Theology for Knowing the Unknowable by Stephen D. Boyer & Christopher A. Hall  Baker Academic 2012  Page 78

The quote

We noted a few pages back that “image of God” is a phrase that is given maddeningly little formal definition in Scripture. This is true – except that when we examine the New Testament testimony, the christological and incarnational focus of the imago is striking. Paul preaches to the Corinthian Christians about “the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:4), and he tells the Colossians that it is Christ who “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” (Col. 1:15). Christ, the image of God, is the Word made flesh (John 1:14), “the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father” (John 1:18 NASB), the eternal Son who has created all things (Col. 1:16). The Letter to the Hebrews states that the Son “is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Heb. 1:3). We may want to know what the obscure language of imago Dei really refers to, but the New Testament does not define it. Instead, it points to where we can see the imago in action: we must turn our eyes to Jesus Christ. To look closely at Christ is to see at last what a real human being looks like.