Sunday, June 10, 2012

Yahweh-Father

Yahweh-Father
 Introduction:
The Church doctrine starts that in God, there are three persons who are distinct within the unity one sole nature. The word Trinity comes from the word ‘Trinitas’ means three in one. Trinity reveals to us as Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit.  Mark mentioned in his gospel that “for all things are possible for God” (Mk, 10: 27). This is a mystery beyond understanding of human being, if God does not help to understand. God is a community person by perfect love and knowledge and communion.
Yahweh
The most important name for God used in the Old Testament. “It is used in 6,400 times in the Bible.[1] It shows full and proper name of the Lord of Israel. There are many opinions on naming god as Yahweh and meaning also differ person to person, for some it is said Yah! means “It is he” but this does scant justice to the revelatory character of the name. Other word traces Hyh or Hwh which is verb ‘to be.’[2] Lord himself speaks with Moses from the burning bush (Ex, 3: 14) and there He said His name “I am who am.” The name urges therefore to be re-organized a perfect answer, containing in it a revelation of the Lord’s true nature.
We can say God has no change and always remain same ‘what he is’ and definitely reliable unchanging. Always present. He manifests His saving interest to His people and is ready to help them. Through his actions people know him as ‘that I am Yahweh.” Some translate the name this way ‘I shall be, what I was’ which would bring out the Lord’s eternity according to many text (Gen 4:26, 12:4, 26:25).Yahweh was known before the food and by the patriarchs and it is another way of affirming  the identity of Yahweh with god worshiped as El, or El-Shaddai,  or Elohim.

Diversity
Everybody is unique in creation and that is why my personality is also different from others where we find diversity in the life of God. God the Father designs the universe, God the Son saves the creations of God and God the Spirit bless all these things and make it holy, that is why it is a great diversity of life, operation and activity. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are the one God in the same substance but I and not denying the union of love of the Trinity. “They broke their bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the good-will of all the people” (Acts 2: 46). The Holy Trinity encourages me to be a designer of communal love in my own society.   
Father
In the Old Testament the immediate male progenitor, the head of the people or tribe, but in most instances is used to refer to God, this Christian practice probably derives from the intimate term for Father that Jesus used to address God. Father is also the term for God Jesus used in the prayer, He taught his followers. Rather than being derived from a human analogy, the term father for God represents the ideal by whom very human father is to be judge.
The Trinity before Christ
Before Jesus’ born Trinity was unknown to the people, when Abraham came to know god about 1850 BC that time most people were polytheists. They believed in many gods. God Himself convinced these people (newly chosen people) that there was lonely one god Yahweh. Many way He helped them show them the mercy and kindness and gave them Ten Commandments there He told them-“I the Lord am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt that place of slavery. You shall not have other gods besides me” (Ex 20:2, 3). He shows them many miracles and they came to realize that He was not only the better of all gods but the one and only God, all- powerful creator of all things.
Trinity in New Testament
Christ reveals God’s three in oneness. Christ teaches using ancient doctrine- the Lord our god is one God (Mk 12:29). He tried to show how this God in human is the Father; a Father who truly loves us cares for us and watches over us.
Jesus gradually introduces himself that He is too God. He is the Don of God, not just as we are but true and proper Son of God the only begotten of the Father. He is not clamming record God he says He and His Father are One. After Ascension, He sends the Holy Spirit to his apostles. St John mentioned that Holy Spirit is a person, together with the Father and Son.[3] We the students are taught from the lesion of different general councils. St Paul joins all three persons in liturgical formulas as God, Lord and Spirit. God was reserved for the Father. As he records prayerful expression of Trinitarian believe such as “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (II Corinthians 13:13). Jesus gave last instruction to the Apostle that to make disciples of all motions baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.[4]
‘Abba’ our Father the first person of the Trinity
The supreme achievement of theology is learning to know God our Father. We can be fully satisfied in our intellectual search for God only when we draw from these primary sources which are also the ultimate goal of all human knowledge. Our Christian faith has not adequately emphasized the person of God the Father and liturgical worship has not focused enough on the divine person. Father has himself allowed us to know him and He send his Son in our midst and became one of us. Father portrayed himself in the human face of Jesus. He made himself accessible to our gaze the mystery which he allows us to enter.
The truth is that to discover the Father is to become aware of his proximity, the proximity of the most authentic and loving Father. While possessing supreme transcendence his paternal love brings him very close to humankind. Christian realize that the Father does not dwell at an unreached able distance from their daily live. He is involved in all the events that occur around them and responds to all their anxieties. The discovery of God the Father is the discovery of the true framework of their daily lives. Jesus’ personality is the gospel is his filial fervor. Jesus hived for the Father and draws others to him.
‘Abba’ the expression of Jesus
Jesus Introduced God as Abba. Jesus son ship has come not from his title Son but from the name he gives the Father. In pronouncing the name of Father Jesus defined himself. The invocation Abba is the hallmark of Jesus’ prayer. Jesus has bridged it and when he prays he cannot fail to complete intimacy that unites him to the Father. Jesus prayer is human, perfectly human, and it makes use of a human word that is commonly used by all children. It is the prayer of a Son who has been from the very start at the divine level of Father.
Incarnation of the Son
Meaning of the term is to inter into or become flesh. We believe that in the history of salvation of the world, the Son of God while remaining fully divine became truly and fully human. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn1:14).Saint Paul speaks of God who sent forth his Son (Gal, 4:4, Rom, 8:3) and of Jesus Christ as the one Lord “through whom are all things and through whom we exist” (1Cor, 8:6).[5]
Conclusion
The Trinitarian mystery is really difficult to understand to human being, when we will meet face to face with God in heaven then every will be cleared to us. Though we know the Father as a creator, Son the redeemer of human being and the Holy Spirit who sanctify the earth creation all these are possible because of the help of God. He revealed to us as we can know Him. It is achieved through God's union with human nature, in Jesus Christ who although fully God, humanly died for us to purchase our redemption. This communion with the Father is the goal of the Christian faith, devotion and life, where as we will grow in God when we love one another and forgive others those who sin against us this way we will fulfill the will of God.   
Bibliography
1.   SERMEJO, Luis M: Abba, My Dad!. Gujarat Sahitya Prokash, Gujrat, India, 2003. 
2.   KELLY, Robert H.:  God the Father. Fortress Press, Philadelphia, USA, 1979.
3.   GALOT, Jean: Abba Father We Long to See Your Face. Trans., St Paul Press, Mumbai,            
           1999
 
4.   The New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2003, v. 14, s v, “Holy Trinity”.
5.   The Catholic Encyclopedia for School and Home, vol.12, New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1965.
 


[1] The New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2003, v. 14, s v, “Holy Trinity”.p- 883.

[2]  Ibid. p- 883.


[3] The Catholic Encyclopedia for School and Home,1965, vol. 12, s.v, “The Trinity,”p- 711.
[4]  Ibid.  p- 453.
[5] The Catholic Encyclopedia for School and Home, 1965, vol. 12, s.v, “The Trinity,” p- 711.

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