It is impossible for us to fathom the Son in eternal communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit. On most topics of theology we can find words and phrases to get a hold on profound, even mysterious truth. But when it comes to the fellowship of the three Persons of the Godhead, words fail us.
The Nicene Creed, formulated at the Council of Nicea in 325 and expanded at the Council of Chalcedon in 451, helps us in our efforts. It speaks of “one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten by His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father.” The church fathers declare and qualify and emphasize as an expression of science and art to give us a sense of the eternal Son.
John, in His Gospel account, lays out for us a divinely-inspired expression of the Son in similar fashion of overlapping, defining description. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1–2). Try to develop a graphic that captures that.
John takes the approach of reaching into the depths of eternity and the heights of glory to bring Jesus to us. While Matthew and Luke include genealogies in their accounts to highlight the lineage of Jesus and the nature of His birth as a human being, John lifts our eyes beyond the heavens and later introduces us to Him who is the I AM, with all that means for His being and mission.
For that reason, the humiliation of the Christ is even more pronounced, more dramatic. The eternal Son left the realm of glory and humbled Himself, the Creator taking the nature of the creature. He entered not just the world He had made but a world now rife with sin to endure its miseries and experience abject ignominy.
Now, His hour having arrived and the cross looming before Him, John further describes His descent to the grave where He removes any vestige of honor and stoops to the lowest of positions for the most menial of tasks.
John tells us that the eternal Word made flesh “rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded” (John 13:4–5).
How would you describe the depths of Jesus’ love?
