39
Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1939), 82. Gerald L. Bray, "Tritheism," in New Dictionary of Theology
(Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1988), 695.
31. For a discussion of the various charges of incoherence made against the doctrine of the incarnation, see Thomas
V. Morris, The Logic of God Incarnate, (Ithica, NY: Cornell University Press, 1986) ch. 1.
32. Ex. 3:14; Ps. 102:26,27; Is. 40:28; 57:15; Ro. 1:23; 1 Ti. 6:16; ! Ti. 1;17; He. 1:11,12; Ma. 3:6; 1 Sa. 15:29; Ro.
1:25, 9:5; 2 Co. 11:31; Ge. 6:6; Ex. 32:14; Jb. 2:3. A true contradictory here would be "God is in every sense an
eternal being beyond time" and "God is in no sense beyond time and is solely a temporal being."
33. Jo. 3.21,27; Jo. 15.5; 1 Co. 15.10; Ep. 2.10. A true contradiction would be "God is working through me" and
"God is not working through me." Ph. 2:12,13 is the locus classicus text.
34.
Jb. 1,2; 42:11; Is. 45:7; Ge. 50:20; 1 Jo. 1:5; Ja. 1:13. A true contradictory in this context would be "God hates
sin" and "God loves sin."
35.
Compare Jo. 3:16; Mt. 5:44,45; 2 Pe. 3:9 and Ps. 5:5; Ep. 2:3. (The reader is encouraged to figure out the true
contradictories for this and the following concurrences.)
36. Compare Ac. 13:48, 16:14; Co. 3:12; and Jo. 3:16; Ac. 16:31; Ro. 10:9; Re. 3:20.
37. Eph. 1:11; Dan.2:21; Ps. 33:10; yet God delights in human prayer (Pr. 15:8) and responds to our requests (cf. his
interaction with Abraham, Ge. 18:22-32; and Moses, Nu. 14:11-20: "The Lord replied, 'I have forgiven them, as you
asked.'"
38. Ps. 139. 4, 16; Ac. 2.23; 4.27,28; Pr. 16.1, 4; 20.24; 21.1,2.
39. It should be mentioned somewhere that there are two cosmic contrasts which are fundamental to Christianity and
cannot be reconciled in some "higher" harmony. First, there is the Creator-creature distinction, which teaches that
the creation is not to be identified with the Creator (as pantheism teaches and panentheism implies--the creation is
"God's body"). Second, there is the absolute opposition between the holy God and sin: "God is light and in him is
no darkness at all." (1 Jo. 1.5) No Taoist "Yin/Yang" harmonization of God and sin is rational according to
Christianity.
40. Augustine refers to the trinity as a mystery: "On the Trinity," p.137, p.206; "Faith and the Creed" p. 639; the
incarnation as mystery: "Enchiridion," p.488, p.549; "The City of God," p. 432; and God's sovereign grace and
human freedom as mystery: "The Spirit and the Letter," p.358; "Nature and Grace, Against Pelagius," p. 376; "The
Gift of Perseverance," p. 1280, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers,Vol. 4,5. (Durham, NC: Sage Digital Library,
1995).
Aquinas refers to the mystery of the trinity in the Summa Theologica, I.q.32,a.1.; I.q.46,a.2.; Basic Writings of Saint
Thomas Aquinas, vol. 1. (New York: Random House, 1945), 317; 453; and the mystery of the incarnation:
I.II.q.103.a.2.; II.II.q.1.a.6. Basic Writings, vol. 2, 911,1064.
41. For example, "...When you feel that you do not understand, put your faith in the meanwhile in the inspired word
of God, and believe both that man's will is free, and that there is also God's grace, without whose help man's free will
can neither be turned towards God, nor make any progress in God." Augustine, On Grace and Free Will, Nicene &
Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 5. (Albany, OR: Sage Digital Library, 1996), p. 1088.
42. Cf. The Confessions of Saint Augstine, trans. F.J. Sheed (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1942), I.iv. "O Thou, . . .
utterly hidden and utterly present, most beautiful and most strong, abiding yet mysterious, suffering no change and
changing all things: never new, never old, making all things new, bringing age upon the proud and they know it not;
ever in action, ever at rest, gathering all things to Thee and needing none;...ever seeking though lacking nothing.