THE BEAUTIFUL TRINITARIAN LOVE OF GOD

Beautiful reading from Romans 8:12-17 about the Trinitarian Love (and commentary from Universalis)

Romans 8:12-17 

My brothers, there is no necessity for us to obey our unspiritual selves or to live unspiritual lives. If you do live in that way, you are doomed to die; but if by the Spirit you put an end to the misdeeds of the body you will live.  Everyone moved by the Spirit is a son of God. The spirit you received is not the spirit of slaves bringing fear into your lives again; it is the spirit of sons, and it makes us cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’ The Spirit himself and our spirit bear united witness that we are children of God. And if we are children we are heirs as well: heirs of God and coheirs with Christ, sharing his sufferings so as to share his glory.

Commentary

This is a wonderful Trinitarian passage. To begin with, in the Lord’s Prayer Jesus has himself authorized us to call God our Father, giving us the Aramaic word, which he himself used in the Agony in the Garden. This is one of the few Aramaic words we receive from the scripture, others being ‘Amen’ and ‘Marana tha’ (‘Come, Lord’, or possibly ‘The Lord is coming’). It is not a child’s word (‘Daddy’) but is the affectionate but respectful word which an adult might use. The right to use this word is the confirmation that we are children of God, indeed, all  – both male and female – heirs and so sons of God.

It is, however, only because Christ has given us his Spirit as our spirit that we can call God our Father. This Spirit is also the Spirit of the Father. Sometimes in the gospel it is Jesus, sometimes it is the Father who sends the Spirit. We can say that the Spirit gives us access to the Father and to the Son, or that the Father gives the Spirit of the Son, or that the Son gives us his Spirit. In this way the Trinity, each Person in a different way, imparts to us the love of God and draws us into God’s own love. It is the Spirit which enables us to act truly as children of God, to exercise our sonship of God in the works which we do

Taken from Universalis 25 Oct 2021