[Editor’s Note: you can read the full version of this post here]
“Now, I’m really living!” Have you ever said that? What made you think you were really living? For me, I often said it while traveling—to Egypt, to Spain, or to Mexico.
Jesus had an opinion on this question. “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3). According to Jesus, real life — what it means to be “really living” — is communion with the Triune God: Father, Son, and Spirit.
This is the life for which we were created, the life we lost in the fall, and the life Christ came to restore. But how do we actually enter into it? The Apostles’ Creed gives us a map. It not only summarizes the faith; it teaches us how to commune with each Person of the Trinity:
- We encounter the Father through creation
- We encounter the Son through the Word
- We encounter the Spirit through the Church
This framework keeps our fellowship with God concrete, biblical, and constant.
Life with the Father — in Creation
The Creed begins: “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.” Creation is the Father’s temple, revealing His glory and care.
Jesus taught us to look at the birds and flowers as reminders of the Father’s provision (Matt. 6:25–26). Dutch theologian Wilhelmus á Brakel urged believers to “accustom yourself to behold creation in such a fashion that you may behold God in it” (The Christian’s Reasonable Service, 1:281). Continue reading “Living in Fellowship with the Triune God”
How would Adam and Abraham commune with God? There is a difference between the two in that Adam began as a creature unfallen into sin and Abraham was a sinful man. There is a similarity, however, in that both of them had limited amounts of special revelation. In other words, they didn’t have a large book (the Bible) to serve as the basis of communion with God. So, how did they commune with God?