Original Me Context Key
This is an important page in the process of growing in the relational knowledge of why You Matter.
Some of what I’m sharing in this Key may feel like I’m breaking the rules of the English language. English majors or linguist will need to allow me some creative license. I think this creative flexing of letters, words, phrases may be necessary to help free us from the perspectives of some of the religious language that keeps us in bondage.
For those of you (like my beautiful wife) who have a keen eye for punctuation or grammar, please indulge me and push pause on the part of your brain that edits. At the end of the day you still may not like me taking creative license. If it helps, you might call them Original Me “isms” 🙂 Some are unique to Original Me. Some are variations on what others have shared. These unique words/phrases are providing a symbolic/metaphoric framework that will help me communicate the Good News more effectively.
Context Key:
#1 – God(F,S,S) is Father, Son & Holy Spirit is God is the Relationship of God is One is Love. Any time I reference God I am referencing these descriptions all at the same time.
Before I go any further, let me say to my Jewish and Muslim friends (since Judaism, Islam and Christianity are considered by many as the Monotheistic religions), I hope you do not reject this understanding of God being One. It is a relational understanding of God. On one hand, God as the F,S,S in unity is a singularity. God the Father is not God without Jesus and the Holy Spirit. That looks more like this…
On the other hand, many like to think of God the Father alone as the singularity of “God,” but God as revealed to us by Jesus (the fullness of God in human form) is not God alone as demonstrated in the image above. Church language often looks like God the Father as supreme over the Son and Holy Spirit, which looks more like this…
I think the first image is the more helpful in understanding God’s nature. The Relationship of God(F,S,S) is Love. It is not a hierarchy of authority requiring submission from the other, but a circle of each submitting willingly and freely to the other. In that sense, Love requires another to submit to, not submission by the other. The Son freely submits to the Father, not the Father requiring the Son to submit. (Living as Children of Light Ephesians 4:17 – 5:21, Ephesians 5:21 – as a reflection of God’s nature manifest in us.)
Love is experienced between the others as the relationship is outward and other oriented. By this definition Love cannot exist alone within just one person/being, but between others. Yet, the singularity is the unity of a plurality (more than one person/being as the ONE). In other words, the idea of Love existing within just one person/being is one way to define idolatry by way of self absorption, which by definition would disqualify a god as a source/origin for Love (Agape).
The Relationship of God as Love (what exists between the F,S,S) is a singularity. Shema Yisrael – “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.” – Deuteronomy 6:3, Mark 12:29.
Love is always focused outward and is always other oriented. If God’s Love is complete within the Relationship of God(F,S,S), then God doesn’t need creation to be its other. The Relationship of God is infinite and complete within the Relationship of God(F,S,S). God is without need for an object (another) outside of God to exist as Love (the Relationship of God). An infinite God does not need a finite creation. Love originates within the singularity of the Relationship of God. The Relationship of F,S,S(God) is complete, yet God’s essence (Love) creates and shares Love with us (sacrificially from our perspective) out of this Oneness that is the Relationship of God. What does the Relationship of God look like?
1 Corinthians 13:4-13
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- God (Love) is patient and kind
- God (Love) rejoices in truth
- God (Love) believes the best in others
- God (Love) always protects, always hopes, faithfully endures
- God (Love) is never envious or prideful
- God (Love) is not self-glorifying
- God (Love) is not provoked
- God (Love) keeps no record of wrongs
- God (Love) never fails
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Interestingly enough, quantum physics reveals the atom as the smallest unit of an element to have a similar plurality within the atom that functions as a singularity.
“For in Christ all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” – Colossians 1:16-17
God’s nature has been imagined and debated for ages. For additional in-depth discussion see Judaism debating God’s nature:
As you may have noticed throughout Original Me’s website, I’m abbreviating the Relationship of God often as God(F,S,S) as a reminder of how important our image of God is if we are to understand who God created us to be. I am providing no spaces between the letters because there is no separation between them. I am adding comas because they are uniquely personal. I am not putting an “and” before Spirit because they are equally together as God, and the Holy Spirit is not an afterthought. (The Spirit is not an add on, and does not come in third place.)
For the sake of you (the reader) squeezing the most value out of understanding why YOU MATTER, we must first understand how this discussion informs the explanation of why God values you. So when you see, “the Relationship of God(F,S,S),” or “God(F,S,S)” please see these expressions as not just a word or phrase, but a linguistic metaphor or symbol for a more complete expression/imagery of the INFINITE GOD trying to be explained by a finite human.
Why am I making these distinctions? Because many Christians and non-Christians (secondary to the influence of Christians) carry an image of God as a monarchal old man with a beard, like Moses. Even though Scripture represents God as male the majority of the time, both genders are included in God’s image (identity). If we follow the narrative in Genesis, Adam was created in God’s image. At some point later, Eve was made out of Adam. Therefore, Eve was in Adam. If we read that literally, we certainly end up with Adam containing both the essence of Adam and Eve within Adam. Crazy thought, isn’t it! Maybe that explains a lot about why men and women can’t live with or without each other? (Please don’t mistake this as a commentary on the politically correct controversies of male vs. female gender issues. It’s not. God isn’t confused about our identity. We are.) That said, I believe there is something much more profound that God wants us to know about our identity in Jesus than maleness or femaleness. (Galatians 3:28 – “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”) I am not saying the distinction is not important. I am saying, when searching for God don’t get thrown off God’s scent by allowing any male vs female debate to come between you and your inclusion in the Relationship of God. Yes, I’m speaking to both feminists and misogynists. Just stop it (Bob Newhart clip). 🙂
Additionally, The Hebrew word for Spirit is Ruach, which is a feminine noun for breath/wind, which might also explain why women stereotypically talk more than men! Am I in trouble yet? If you’re laughing, skip to the next keyword. If you’re not laughing, I’m sorry. Notice, I did add stereotypically. (No points for that explanation?) OK then, you’re forcing me to ask for forgiveness, or at least your long suffering with me 😉
#2 – With&In (with&in Jesus as One as All) – I’m combining the two words (with & in) because two truths join to make One. It is a conjunction of sorts. Jesus is both with and in us at the same time. Why? Because God is infinitely both.
With&in is about how we (and all of God’s creation) fit in the big picture. One means inclusive, not exclusive. For all the math people reading this, please pretend you are in theology class. One is the largest number above all numbers. One is greater than 70 x 7 google. One is an infinite number. How can I say that? Because One includes everything that is… everything that God in Christ created. Jesus chose us in Him from before the foundations of the world. We are One with&in Jesus. Jesus is One with the Father. The Father,Son,Spirit are One. We are One “body.” We as One are the Bride. I provide no spaces between with&in because I’m using it as One word. With&in describes the inclusion of being One as God describes us being included in the Relationship of God(F,S,S). Only in Jesus is everything One. Jesus reconciles and redeems everything in all of creation to God. Everything (All of Creation) will re-know that it is One with&in Jesus. There is nothing that can exist outside of Jesus. Jesus holds everything (All of creation) together. Jesus exists before All things, and in Jesus All things hold together. (Colossians 1) In Jesus All things find our being, meaning, purpose and Joy. It was this Joy set before Him that lead Jesus to the cross. He saw you as One with Him. He saw All of creation reconciled as ONE with Him! Can I get a Hallelujah?!
#3 – Oneship – is an amalgamation of One and Relationship to help describe the ONEness of the Relationship of the Father,Son,Spirit as described above.
It also is descriptive of our inclusion in the Relationship of God. I thought I created a new word. I have never heard anyone use it, but evidently, it’s a real word. Who knew? (There also is a shipping company that has cleverly adopted it as its name.) I have also since come across Julian of Norwich’s use of being “Oned” in Christ or the “Oneing” process of God that includes us in the Relationship of God.
#4 – Metanoia (Re-know, Re-cognize) is the Greek word that gets translated as repent/repentance, a word that we have come to accept that misses the meaning of metanoia, which simply means to change our mind. Or said another way, renew our minds (re-cognize, re-know) as Paul in Romans 12:2 addresses the same thought, but doesn’t use the word metanoia. He uses anakainōsis, which means a renewal, renovation, a complete change for the better!
We don’t metanoia to receive forgiveness. We metanoia to renew our minds that we are forgiven as revealed in Jesus. Forgiveness doesn’t come from our metanoia, but rather is revealed to us in our metanoia that forgiveness has been given by God. What is forgiveness? See #5 below.
“The origins of translating metanoia to the word we know in the church as repentance is dark. The King James translators altered the original thought by translating the words metanoia and its similar verb, metanoeo (μετανοέω) to repentance, an old-English word strongly tied to the Latin word poenitentiae — “penance.” In doing so they shifted the meaning away from changing your mind to doing penance — and adding the “re-” prefix for a lethal dose of sin self-consciousness — resulted in a misrepresentation used to justify indulgences; helping to formulate the lie that you could not only earn your way into God’s grace… you could also buy it. Living in perpetual sin self-consciousness ties God’s people back into guilt and shame, forcing them to give, serve, and beg for grace and mercy they already have. This backward-looking mentality is not what God intends for you. His metanoia has nothing to do with penance and everything to do with grace.” – Bill Vanderbush
Metanoia does not mean to change our ways. It means to change our mind (our understanding). It means to re-know who God created us to be; only then will our ways (behavior) change. Anything less is temporary behavioral change as an act of human will. We have been taught that “repentance” is an act of our will, and if we don’t change our behavior, God will reject us. God has declared who we are created to be. Our poor or immoral behavior does not trump who God has declared us to be. As long as we choose not to re-know who God says we are, we will live in such a way that our experience is that of being lost. Remaining “lost” is to choose not to metanoia.
Consider the passages where metanoia is translated as “repentance” and re-read them with this understanding of the original language and context.
#5 – AtOneMent – is about reconciliation, not about retribution for a transactional price required by God. Our reconciliation is not about God(F,S,S) moving towards us, but us moving towards God, which is our metanoia of who God says we are created to be.
At One Ment (in reference to the sections above) – God’s desire is us being ONE with God(F,S,S) and each other as Jesus’ Bride. It is reconciliation in the story of Hosea and Gomer, and in the story of Jesus and His Bride. The Bride’s price was paid as a measure of value, as a declarative statement of the worth of the Bride. The Father of Jesus (the Groom) does not require the Bride’s price.
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- We are unconditionally forgiven by God, from God’s perspective. This is Charizomai Forgiveness (God’s absolute reality), by which God has graciously forgiven us of all our sins—past, present, and future — whether we confess and metanoia of these sins or not. All people have this gracious forgiveness (charizomai) from God, whether they are a Christian or not. The question all of us are facing is, will we recognize and receive God’s gift?
Ephesians 4:32 – Instead, be kind and merciful, and forgive others, just as God forgave (Charizomai) you because of Christ.
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- We need forgiveness. We need healing from the consequences of our sin. This is Aphēsis Forgiveness (man’s relative reality).
God has already made us ONE. We still have a process of forgiveness that only God can provide us, for us to heal. This healing is the aphesis forgiveness that provides our release from bondage or imprisonment.
Matthew 26:28 – For this is My blood of the New Covenant which concerning many is being poured out for remission (aphēsis) of sins.
Forgiveness is God(F,S,S)’s unconditional gracious restoration of us to who God(F,S,S) created us to be, which requires God acting on our behalf in saving us from our self-inflicted bondage/imprisonment.
God forgiving us is not like us forgiving each other. Forgiveness is not God letting us off the hook for our bad behavior. God does not require or need to pardon us from our sin, as if our sin has offended the Infinite God(F,S,S)? God gives us forgiveness not because God needs/requires it, but because we need it to heal our blindness to God and self. God’s forgiveness is God facilitating our identity being restored, because our identity determines our fruit. Sin is the fruit of us not knowing who God created us to be. God(F,S,S)’s forgiveness is demonstrated by the Father of the prodigal son. The Father’s forgiveness was not about the father needing to “let something go,” or forgetting what the son had done, but it was about the Father reminding the Son of who he was. Forgiveness was the Father not getting caught up in the lies that the Son believed about himself, but instead facilitating metanoia for His son as being His gift of restoration.
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The NAS NT Greek Lexicon – Aphesis
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