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The Roots

    Over the next few days, I want to explore a topic that is the source of confusion for many Christians today. This very thing had me confused for years and it isn’t something that I’ve often heard explained well. It is the trinity- the belief in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as three separate parts of one entity. Today I will be talking about the Father.

    Something to understand first is that each part of the trinity maintains a different persona and function but are connected and uniquely one. People have used different analogies to describe how this could be. One is the illustration of water having three parts—solid, liquid, and gas—but each is still water. Another example that I really like is that of a mango tree. You have the roots, the shoot, and the fruit of the tree. The roots of the tree are hidden but go deep and hold the rest of the tree up, along with providing the nutrients from the soil so the rest of the tree can function. The roots represent the Father. The shoot is above the ground and what enables us to see the tree and recognize it for what it is. The shoot represents the Son, Jesus. The shoot channels water and nutrients to the branches and leaves, allowing it to make the fruit. The fruit represents the Spirit, which allows us to “taste and see” the Lord. From these illustrations, it might make it a bit easier to understand how each part of the trinity is interwoven, yet each functioning as a different part of the Lord.

Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. (NIV)

    The Father is the one who created the entire universe. He is the Father and founder of all creation. He is the God of the Old Testament. It is difficult to understand the Father, without the Son. Jesus is the embodiment of God and made it possible for us to understand the relationship between the three.

    Jesus often spoke of His Father while on earth. He made it clear that He took orders from His Father in Heaven alone. Jesus prayed to the Father and had an intimate relationship with Him. All that He did was filtered through Him. To be clear, Jesus didn’t come with all the knowledge and guidelines to His purpose on earth. He learned it through His relationship with His Father. Apart from Him, Jesus knew nothing! Jesus got His knowledge and guidance singularly from His Father in Heaven.

    The best way to understand the role of the Father within the trinity is to look at how Jesus spoke with Him. I love the prayer that Jesus prays in John chapter 17. It is shortly before He is to be crucified and He knows it’s coming. He sits down and prays to His father for Himself, His disciples, and for all the followers of Christ to come (that’s us!). This passage gives real insight into the relationship of the Father to the Son.

John 17 (NIV)

1-5 Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

6-12 I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me.

20-23 My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

    It is my hope that this passage gives you a clearer picture of how everything stems from the Father, the great roots of the trinity. Through their relationship, the Father gave Jesus the knowledge and power He needed to fulfill His purpose on earth. Apart from the Father, Jesus and the Spirit are nothing!

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