The Micro and the Macro of God
Sept 5, 2017 11:38:51 GMT
Post by Colossians on Sept 5, 2017 11:38:51 GMT
This material is for the teaching of the Body of Christ, however the author reserves copyright over it.
Forward
Philosophical questions require philosophical answers.
Philosophical answers must give Jesus Christ the pre-eminence in all things.
_________________________________
THE MICRO AND THE MACRO OF GOD
God created matter and energy, therefore because time is inextricably linked to matter and energy, God created time.
However, although God created time, we cannot say when He did this, for “when” presumes time. That is, we can speak about the existence and non-existence of time, provided we do not place such notions themselves in time.
Therefore we shall use the terms “the absence of time” and “the presence of time”, and understand the each to be the complement of the other.
And we shall then replace “the absence of time” with “eternity”, and abbreviate “the presence of time” to “time”.
So we have “eternity” and “time”, and understand that neither includes the other.
We therefore understand that eternity is not never ending time. Thus God, who the bible declares “inhabits eternity” (Is 57:15), doesn’t call Himself according to the time-dependent “I am (continually) being”, but the time-independent “I am” (Ex 3:14). (See also 2 Pe 3:8.)
___
Now at John 17:3 the Lord tells us that eternal life consists of knowing Him – that it is not a quantity, but a quality. The “I am” then, when He is revealed, is necessarily revealed as quality rather than quantity.
Now we also read in scripture that this is the realm of “that which is in part” (1 Cor 13:10), which speaks not to quality, but quantity, for parts are by definition aggregable.
Given then that God who is the whole is quality rather than quantity, we understand that the micro which consists of the (quantitative) parts, sums to a macro which consists of a qualitative whole.
And so we are told at 1 Cor 13:8 that knowledge (which is by nature incremental and therefore by part) shall vanish away: to say that God knows everything (or indeed anything) is, from a purely technical viewpoint, to demean Him; for God is love, and love surpasses knowledge (Eph 3:19).
So the whole is conceptually-distinct from its parts: the whole is a qualitative concept, and the parts a quantitative concept.
A visual paradigm
Imagine a horizontal timeline on a sheet of paper.
Then imagine a single point anywhere along the line, but a little above it (so that it is not actually on the line).
Now connect several (sample) points on the timeline to the single point above the line (draw lines from various points on the timeline so that they all converge to the single point above the line).
The points on the timeline are the micro of God, and align with what the bible refers to as “that which is in part”. The single point above the timeline is the macro of God, and aligns with what the bible refers to as “the perfect”, which shall supplant the micro in accord with 1 Cor 13:10.
The irresistible question
At John 3:13 Jesus said that He was the Son of Man on earth in the realm of time (this speaks to the parts), and yet that the Son of Man was nevertheless in heaven (this speaks to the whole).
At Eph 2:6 Paul says that we who are the Body of Christ here on earth (this speaks to the parts), are nevertheless seated in heavenly places in Him (this speaks to the whole).
How is this possible? How might God now exist as a whole (for we communicate with Him in the Spirit), and yet simultaneously as the parts (events) which progressively aggregate1 to that whole?
1 We are not here espousing the Godless doctrine of pantheism (we are not declaring that everything or anything constitutes God), but, in accord with Acts 17:28, 1 Cor 8:6, and Col 1:1, that everything consists in God: our view is (rather) panentheistic. And so because no event which consists in God will fail to occur, we derive that all events aggregate to God without their being in and of themselves God. And we (further) specify that events of evil aggregate to the ‘flesh’ of God and events of righteousness to the Spirit of God. (See then our work: “Introduction to Statal Calvinism”.)
The irresistible answer
At this point we shall draw on an analogy of a house construction, and introduce the aspect we have thus far omitted: the blueprint. In order for it to be true that the house that is the whole remain intact and yet be being built at the ‘same time’, it must be blueprinted, and the parts thereof not obtained by disassembly of the (intact) house, but by being generated in accord with the blueprint.
So:
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works” Eph 2:10a
: this speaks to the construction of the parts in accord with the blueprint.
“which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” Eph 2:10b
: this speaks to the blueprint.
___
"But", we hear you say, "if the blueprint be correct, then the parts which are put together in accord with it will in the end replicate the whole: we shall have two identical wholes!"
Yes of course, for is not the Son equal with the Father?
"But is not one whole enough?"
Yes of course:
“And when all things shall be subdued unto [the Son], then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him [(the Father)] that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all” 1 Cor 15:28.
What the house will ‘look’ like
We have used the metaphor of a house and the construction thereof, to represent the coming of the perfect.
Such “perfect” in that it relates “completeness” and therefore the sum of the parts, is of necessity none other than He who is “perfect” in the sense that relates “righteousness” and therefore the quality to which the parts sum.
___
But being the ‘woman’ of Christ, we are keenly interested in just what the house will look like.
Simply, something in comparison to which the parts which make it up can no longer be discerned as parts.
“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind” Is 65:17.
“now the coat [of Jesus] was without seam, woven from the top throughout” John 19:23.
Amen.
(See also our works: “Our form in the resurrection”, “The Trinity”.)
Forward
Philosophical questions require philosophical answers.
Philosophical answers must give Jesus Christ the pre-eminence in all things.
_________________________________
THE MICRO AND THE MACRO OF GOD
God created matter and energy, therefore because time is inextricably linked to matter and energy, God created time.
However, although God created time, we cannot say when He did this, for “when” presumes time. That is, we can speak about the existence and non-existence of time, provided we do not place such notions themselves in time.
Therefore we shall use the terms “the absence of time” and “the presence of time”, and understand the each to be the complement of the other.
And we shall then replace “the absence of time” with “eternity”, and abbreviate “the presence of time” to “time”.
So we have “eternity” and “time”, and understand that neither includes the other.
We therefore understand that eternity is not never ending time. Thus God, who the bible declares “inhabits eternity” (Is 57:15), doesn’t call Himself according to the time-dependent “I am (continually) being”, but the time-independent “I am” (Ex 3:14). (See also 2 Pe 3:8.)
___
Now at John 17:3 the Lord tells us that eternal life consists of knowing Him – that it is not a quantity, but a quality. The “I am” then, when He is revealed, is necessarily revealed as quality rather than quantity.
Now we also read in scripture that this is the realm of “that which is in part” (1 Cor 13:10), which speaks not to quality, but quantity, for parts are by definition aggregable.
Given then that God who is the whole is quality rather than quantity, we understand that the micro which consists of the (quantitative) parts, sums to a macro which consists of a qualitative whole.
And so we are told at 1 Cor 13:8 that knowledge (which is by nature incremental and therefore by part) shall vanish away: to say that God knows everything (or indeed anything) is, from a purely technical viewpoint, to demean Him; for God is love, and love surpasses knowledge (Eph 3:19).
So the whole is conceptually-distinct from its parts: the whole is a qualitative concept, and the parts a quantitative concept.
A visual paradigm
Imagine a horizontal timeline on a sheet of paper.
Then imagine a single point anywhere along the line, but a little above it (so that it is not actually on the line).
Now connect several (sample) points on the timeline to the single point above the line (draw lines from various points on the timeline so that they all converge to the single point above the line).
The points on the timeline are the micro of God, and align with what the bible refers to as “that which is in part”. The single point above the timeline is the macro of God, and aligns with what the bible refers to as “the perfect”, which shall supplant the micro in accord with 1 Cor 13:10.
The irresistible question
At John 3:13 Jesus said that He was the Son of Man on earth in the realm of time (this speaks to the parts), and yet that the Son of Man was nevertheless in heaven (this speaks to the whole).
At Eph 2:6 Paul says that we who are the Body of Christ here on earth (this speaks to the parts), are nevertheless seated in heavenly places in Him (this speaks to the whole).
How is this possible? How might God now exist as a whole (for we communicate with Him in the Spirit), and yet simultaneously as the parts (events) which progressively aggregate1 to that whole?
1 We are not here espousing the Godless doctrine of pantheism (we are not declaring that everything or anything constitutes God), but, in accord with Acts 17:28, 1 Cor 8:6, and Col 1:1, that everything consists in God: our view is (rather) panentheistic. And so because no event which consists in God will fail to occur, we derive that all events aggregate to God without their being in and of themselves God. And we (further) specify that events of evil aggregate to the ‘flesh’ of God and events of righteousness to the Spirit of God. (See then our work: “Introduction to Statal Calvinism”.)
The irresistible answer
At this point we shall draw on an analogy of a house construction, and introduce the aspect we have thus far omitted: the blueprint. In order for it to be true that the house that is the whole remain intact and yet be being built at the ‘same time’, it must be blueprinted, and the parts thereof not obtained by disassembly of the (intact) house, but by being generated in accord with the blueprint.
So:
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works” Eph 2:10a
: this speaks to the construction of the parts in accord with the blueprint.
“which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” Eph 2:10b
: this speaks to the blueprint.
___
"But", we hear you say, "if the blueprint be correct, then the parts which are put together in accord with it will in the end replicate the whole: we shall have two identical wholes!"
Yes of course, for is not the Son equal with the Father?
"But is not one whole enough?"
Yes of course:
“And when all things shall be subdued unto [the Son], then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him [(the Father)] that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all” 1 Cor 15:28.
What the house will ‘look’ like
We have used the metaphor of a house and the construction thereof, to represent the coming of the perfect.
Such “perfect” in that it relates “completeness” and therefore the sum of the parts, is of necessity none other than He who is “perfect” in the sense that relates “righteousness” and therefore the quality to which the parts sum.
___
But being the ‘woman’ of Christ, we are keenly interested in just what the house will look like.
Simply, something in comparison to which the parts which make it up can no longer be discerned as parts.
“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind” Is 65:17.
“now the coat [of Jesus] was without seam, woven from the top throughout” John 19:23.
Amen.
(See also our works: “Our form in the resurrection”, “The Trinity”.)