the Church
The Church as a Triune Community Oriented Upward, Inward and Outward in the Image of the Triune God
In the first two essays, we have sought to first lay out a Biblical grounding for our understanding of the Spirit�s identity and work. We then moved to a discussion of the Spirit and forgiveness with a focus on Word and Sacrament as locations of the Spirit�s activity. This third essay will seek to further this work, as we now attempt to lay out a theology of the church as the Spirit�s work in the world, emphasizing both the Christological foundation and the eschatological inbreaking that is present in the Spirit�s activity. We shall set out on this course by beginning with a discussion of God as the Triune God, for it is in the Trinity that our understanding of Spirit, and thus of church, is grounded. We will then make a move toward ecclesiology, as we seek to discuss the Spirit�s work of constituting the church, paying special attention to John 16 and 17, and the Trinitarian nature of the Spirit�s activity. This will lead to a more systematic discussion of ecclesiology, as we look at the identity and nature of the church, using Matthew 18:20 as our guide. We will then conclude with a review of these themes by looking at two diagrams representing the Trinity and the church. Throughout this discussion, we shall seek to demonstrate that the church is a community grounded in the Trinitarian community, formed by the Spirit in the Trinitarian image of God, and united with Christ, realizing the reign of God through the Spirit.
The Triune God
It is vital at the outset of our discussion of Spirit, church and reign of God, to ground all that is to come firmly in the doctrine of the Trinity. To some, this may seem like a very random, or dogmatic place to begin a discussion that is moving in the direction of the church, one of the most �practical� areas of theology. Why do we start with (or even include) a doctrine of the Trinity in an essay on church? In answering this question, we shall lay the groundwork for all of the discussion to come, a foundation that we will hopefully show to be essential to the discussion.
Why talk about God as Triune? Isn�t the Trinity a bunch of �theology speak� that belongs in the writings of the church fathers, but doesn�t really speak to us today? As is probably obvious by the prominent position of this discussion in the current essay, we shall seek to assert that the Trinity is not merely an antiquated construction, but is instead central to understanding God and God�s relationship to His people and His church. It is true, that the Bible doesn�t specifically speak about God as �Trinity,� but there is certainly evidence of God�s plurality in the Old Testament, and the New Testament includes intimations of the doctrine, such as the �Great Commission� of Matthew 28, where Jesus commands his disciples to baptize �in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit� (Mt. 28:19, NRSV). We would echo Donald Bloesch, who, attributing the idea to Barth, writes, �While the doctrine of the Trinity is not found as such in the Bible, it is the immediate implication of the fact, form and content of the biblical revelation.� A Trinitarian understanding of God gives expression to God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In asserting that God is Trinity, then, we can come to a measure (though not complete) understanding of God�s incarnation in Jesus Christ, and God�s presence and power in the Holy Spirit. As we affirm that God is in fact Triune, we can understand God to be personally related to the world in Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit, without reverting to polytheism, while acknowledging the reality of the differentiation, in a differentiated unity.
The idea of perichoresis is essential to our understanding of Trinity, and will also become essential as we speak of the Spirit and church. Perichoresis is the mutual interpenetration of the three persons within the Godhead. Miroslav Volf speaks of perichoresis as �reciprocal interiority.� He writes, �In every divine person as a subject, the other persons also indwell; all mutually permeate one another, though in so doing they do not cease to be distinct persons.� Although distinct, the three persons intimately indwell each other, and this leads to an overlap of subjectivities, in that the activity of one person is also simultaneously the activity of the others. Thus, as we now turn our attention to the Spirit and the church, we must always keep in view the mutuality present within the Godhead, for it is both the subject constituting the church, and, as Volf�s title After Our Likeness implies, the image and ground for the church.
The Spirit Constitutes the Church
The Christian church, as its name shows, is fundamentally the church of Jesus Christ. The death and resurrection of Jesus, the Messiah, constitute the heart of the church�s identity and mission. Yet, it is the Spirit that has the activity of constituting the body of Christ. In Jesus� high priestly prayer of John 17, Jesus speaks of the identity of the church with relation to God in terms of unity. Jesus first affirms the unity between himself and the Father, and then prays that just as he and the Father are in each other, may all believers also be in them. Earlier, in John 16, Jesus makes it known that it is the Spirit that will be the agent of this indwelling, as he asserts, �The Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you� (John 16:15). In the Holy Spirit, God has come to make truth known, and to incorporate believers into the divine life, bringing us into unity with God the Father and Son. Volf clearly asserts the central role the Spirit plays with regard to the church, as he writes, �Wherever the Spirit of Christ �is present in its ecclesially constitutive activity, there is the church. The Spirit unites the gathered congregation with the triune God and integrates it into a history extending from Christ �to the eschatological new creation.� The church is constituted by the activity of the Spirit, as the Spirit integrates the believing community into the life of Christ, and as the Spirit brings charisms that foreshadow the eschatological reality of the reign of God.
As we have seen in Volf�s understanding of Spirit and Church, the Holy Spirit�s activity enlivens the present, and in so doing, connects the believer with Christ, and also incorporates the eschatological reality of the reign of God into the church in the present time. These activities are essential to understanding how the Spirit relates to church, yet at the same time, we must not pay too much attention to the description of them as two different activities. For Jesus Christ and his life, death and resurrection is the point at which the eschatological reign of God breaks into creation. As we enter into a situation of contemporaneity with Christ (to use Kierkegaard�s term) in the Spirit, and are confronted with God in His abasement and holy love, we are simultaneously brought into the reality of the reign of God, a reality that is proleptic, with its fulfillment in the future, even as it has its anchor in the past. Thus, the present becomes an in-between time, and also a time that is not divorced from the past or the future, but instead intimately connected in the Spirit. It calls to mind George Macdonald�s poetic description of �things half come to pass, True prophecies�when I with thee am right�.� In describing the Spirit�s work of constituting the church, we affirm that through a Trinitarian understanding of God, the Spirit comes into the world to constitute the church, connecting it to Christ and the reality of Christ�s death and resurrection, and also bringing an inbreaking of the reign of God.
Upward, Outward and Inward:
The Church in the Image of the Trinity
Using Matthew 18:20 as a framework for our discusion, we shall now turn to a brief discussion of the nature of the church as a community that is oriented upward, inward and outward, as it is constituted by the Spirit. Our focus begins on the upward orientation of the church, that is, with the fellowship with God. This provides an adequate starting point, for it recognizes that the Spirit is active in constituting the church, and thus, in some fundamental way, relationship (not necessarily the relationship of an individual) with God in the Spirit is the foundation of what it means to be church. In Matthew 18:20, we see the upward orientation of the church in that it is a gathering in the name of Jesus, and also because Christ promises to be present in these gatherings. Thus, upward relationship between humans and God is a fundamental component of the church. This component is essential to the churches identity, and must also be understood as an anticipation of the eschatological reality that God will enter into a �face to face� relationship (1 Cor. 13:12) with all of creation. Even as relationship with God is a reality in the present, it also anticipates what is to come.
A second component of church is the inward component, fellowship among humans. The church is not something that occurs to an individual in isolation, but instead, mirroring the Trinitarian nature of God, the church is a �differentiated unity� made up of a community of persons, brought together in Christ�s name. It is at this point that we can see how the church is in the image of the Trinity. The Triune God as a perichoretic unity corresponds to the church in that the church is made up of �catholic persons,� to use Volf�s phrase, who mutually indwell one another. This differentiated unity is an anticipation of the eschatological reality where Christ will be all in all. In its fellowship, the church exists in the image of the Trinity, and in so doing enacts the reign of God that is to come here in the present as it realizes in hope that reality here in the present.
The outward dimension of the church is its third dimension. The church is church because of its relationship to God, because of its relationship within itself, and also because of its outward reach. Matthew 18:20 talks of two or three gathering in Christ�s name. Confession of faith in Jesus stands at the very core of the church�s identity. This confession is part of relatinship with God, and it also forms part of the communal nature of the church, but it is also fundamentally a proclamation and witness to Jesus Christ. This recognizes the church�s role in mediating salvation, as a witness to Jesus Christ.
These brief descriptions of the church as being a community oriented upward, inward and outward have sought to describe what a church is. They have recognized the Spirit�s formative role in constituting the church, and these dimensions also portray the eschatological orientation of the church. As we have noted above, the church is constituted in the image of the Trinity in that it exists as a �differentiated unity� made up of �catholic persons.� Thus, the relationships within the church are one way the church mirrors the Trinitarian life of God. In the description that we have been building here of the church as upward, inward and outward, we are seeking to propose another way that the church is constituted in the image of the Trinity. Just as God is Father, Son and Spirit through a perechoretic mutual indwelling, so too the church is made up of upward, inward and outward dimensions in a perechoresis-like fashion. In order to further investigate this relationship, we shall look to these two diagrams. The first represents the Trinity, the second depicts the church as being in the image of the Trinity.
Diagrams Coming Soon!!
A Triune Community
The Church as Inspired Community
Oriented Upward, Inward And Outward
In the Image of the Triune God
With these certainly far from perfect diagrams, we shall hope to illuminate something of God�s Truine nature, and something of the nature of the church in God�s image. The first diagram seeks to illustrate God�s nature as being Triune. This means that there are three points to the triangle, those of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is arrows that connect these three points, to illustrate the mutuality and relationship that exists between the persons, as they are in a perichoretic relation to one another. The interior arrows seek to further illustrate this perichoresis, for (as John 17 illustrates) the Spirit draws the church into the mutual indwelling of the Father and Son, and the Spirit is also sent by Father and Son as the Paraclete, and purveyor of truth. It is also noteworthy that we have included interior arrows for the other sets of relations as well, for the Spirit and Son are both sent by the Father, and bring glory to the Father, and the Father and the Spirit send and empower the Son, just as the Son is obedient unto death according to the Father�s will in the power of the Spirit. Thus, we have chosen this relatively complex, yet simple, diagram as one way to imperfectly begin to visualize a perichoretic relation between persons.
Before moving to the second diagram, it may be helpful to note that the two diagrams could be combined in some way. The Trinitarian triangle could be turned, with Father and Son on top, and with Spirit on the downward point. This triangle could be then joined with the church triangle, with the �upward� point on top. This union would signify that the church through its upward orientation is joined with the Triune God, and would also affirm that the church is brought into the Trinitarian life through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We shall now move to a discussion of the second, church triangle, as we describe the identity and nature of the church.
The second diagram mirrors the first, just as the church seeks to be in the image of the Trinity. We have chosen the �upward� dimension as the heading for the top of the triangle, and in this label, seek to establish personal and corporate relationship with God through our incorporation into the divine life in the Spirit as one point (and in fact the ground) of the church�s identity. We have labeled the second point as the �outward� dimension. With this, we seek to assert that the church is not simply a community related to God in isolation, but is fundamentally a community related to God always going out of itself to the world. It is at the core of the church�s identity to proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ and to live out this relationship the church has with God in the world. The �inward� dimension completes the triangle. This point signifies the composite nature of the church, as fundamentally a community, but also a community of individuals in fellowship with one another, after the model of the Trinitarian unity seen in Jesus Christ.
We have placed these three points in a �Trinitarian� diagram to illustrate their �perichoresis-like� interrelation. Volf makes the point that although the Trinity is perichoretic, humans are not incorporated into this life in a perichoretic fashion, for we do not take on the subjectivity of God. Yet, he asserts that at the ecclesial level, there is an �interiority of personal characteristics� which can correspond to the divine perichoresis. There is a sense in which we are �catholic persons,� who take up the complex situation in which we live into our selves, and in which we are open to each other. Thus, there is a sense in which the church is the image of the trinity, just in the sense of �fellowship with one another.� For our identity as �community� is to be modeled after the Trinity.
Accepting this reality that the fellowship of the church is to be a fellowship of �catholic� persons, related to each other in a manner that recalls God�s Trinitarian existence, we would also like to assert that the three points that we have proposed as points which constitute the church�s identity, upward, outward and inward, are interrelated in a perichoretic sense. Fellowship with God gives rise to witness/proclamation, even as witness and proclamation are part of our fellowship with God. Likewise, fellowship with God creates fellowship with others, and this fellowship with others is where fellowship with God occurs. The connection between witness/proclamation and fellowship with others can also be made, for our mutual fellowship in the church gives rise to our witness, as we seek to incorporate others into that fellowship, and also constitutes part of that witness, as we enact the inbreaking of the eschatological reality of God�s reign on earth in our ecclesial life. We have also made the interior connections in this diagram as well, for fellowship with God and fellowship with others together give rise to witness, and proclamation draws people into the fellowship with God and others, which are virtually inseparable in the church. Further, fellowship with God and proclamation bring us into fellowship with one another, just as our fellowship with one another witnesses to our relationship to God. Our fellowship and our proclamation on the horizontal level are also intimately connected to each other, as we have noted, and they are together grounded in a relationship to God, just as fellowship with God gives rise to both fellowship with one another and to witness inseparably. In this way, we seek to propose that the church mirrors the perichoretic unity of God in its constitution as upward, inward and outward community. It may be possible to differentiate between these three elements, but we must not seek to separate them, nor seek to exclude any one of them, for they together make up what it means to be church.
It must be acknowledged, as we conclude our description of church, that here the focus has been on the church as it is constituted at the local level. We must acknowledge that the church has both a local element, described by upward, outward and inward dimensions, but that there is also a universal church made up of these same elements. As Volf affirms, the local church is fully church, but is not all of the church. We must also affirm, as Elizabeth Johnson emphasizes, that the church is a community that exists across time. There is a continuity in the church with those who have gone before, stretching back to the time of Christ, which is found in the Spirit. As Johnson writes, �If living persons shared in the life of God, and if the dead were likewise still clasped by the living God, then both the living and the dead were united to each other, forged into one community by the same vivifying Spirit.� This diachronic unity can also be said to be constituted by the three elements we have described, and even though the inward and outward components of the church are not simultaneous in the same way, we can affirm them in the life of the Spirit. We can also affirm that the universal church as an eschatological reality is the true communion of saints fully realized, and thus, even as there is a diachronic element to the church over time, this element melts away in light of the eschatological realization of the church of Jesus Christ in full communion with God, full fellowship with each other, and consummated proclamation of the Word to the World. Thus, in affirming the church is upward, inward and outward in orientation, we can affirm that it is such in a local congregation, and affirm this same reality in both a synchronic and diachronic way, including all Christians and all churches from all time.
Conclusion
In this essay, we have sought to develop an understanding of the church through the acknowledgement of the Spirit�s activity, with a grounding in a Trinitarian understanding of God. The church is constituted by the Holy Spirit, who enlivens the present, uniting us with Christ, bringing us into the Trinitarian life of God, and realizing the reign of God in the here and now. This has given rise to the discussion of the church as a community of upward, inward and outward relations in the image of the Trinity, acknowledging as well the Trinitarian nature that is reflected in the church as a community of �catholic persons,� who live out of the eschatological reality of the reign of God in the present.
Just as the Trinity is a perichoretic unity, so too the church is a perichoresis-like unity of upward, inward and outward components. This is true not only for the local church, but typifies the church both as a synchronic and diachronic unity. This acknowledges that the church is united with Christ in the Spirit, and that the church in the Spirit is an eschatologically oriented community, realizing the reign of God in the present. Thus, our task is to acknowledge the upward, inward and outward elements of the church, which are realized in a focus on Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and which constitute the inbreaking of the eschatological reality of the reign of God. May God�s kingdom come through and in us!
