The Incomprehensible Love of the Holy Trinity

Vicente Requena, Holy Trinity (16th c.)

This Sunday is Trinity Sunday. Do you know what’s a good analogy for the Trinity? Nothing. God is so far beyond our ability to comprehend Him, much less to express His inner nature in human speech, that all of our attempts to do so fall miserably short. Worse, it’s easy to fall into heresy and idolatry. But these are no excuses for ignoring the life-changing reality of the Holy Trinity.

Did Jesus Have a Human Soul?

A Crucifix from Saint John the Baptist Parish Church, Tiaong, Philippines.

As Christians, we readily acknowledge that Jesus, in addition to being Divine, also had (and has) a true human body. But does Jesus also have a human soul? This is one of the earliest questions that the early Church had to resolve, and the answer is crucial for how we understand Christ Jesus.

The Humiliation of Christ

Jan Janssens, The Crowning with Thorns (1648)

As far as I know, Christianity is unique in this: we believe in a God who willingly, and regularly, humiliates Himself. Consider the worst blasphemies imaginable, and then consider how far beyond those that Jesus is willing to go.

St. Peter, the Rock… and the Stumbling Block

Nicolas Poussin, The Sacrament of Ordination (Christ presenting the Keys to Saint Peter) (1630s)

Partly, this is a post about St. Peter, and why he’s the “Rock” in Matthew 16. Partly, it’s a post about the connection between the Cross and Jesus’ Messiahship. Mostly, though, it’s a post about Jesus Christ, and the continual need to grow in our understanding of Him.

Why was Jesus Born of a Virgin? (Four Wrong Answers, and the Right One)

As Christmas day approaches, we’re also confronted with a part of the faith that has caused great difficulty for Catholic and Protestant believers alike: the Virgin Birth. About a quarter of Americans deny the Virgin Birth (along with about a quarter of Anglican clergy in England). What should we say to these doubters? Why should we believe in the Virgin Birth, and why does it matter? Why was Jesus born of a Virgin? And why did the early Christians think this doctrine so important that they included it in both the Apostle’s Creed and Nicene Creed as a core part of what it is to hold the Christian faith?