From our main reading from 2 Corinthians 13:14 we see paul pray for the Corinthian church in this manner:

 14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the [d]communion of the

Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen

 The micro context of this verse in chapter 13,specifically verse 5 , is a call to examine

ourselves as paul inspired by the spirit says,

 “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified”

 I believe the prayer he made for the church and the one we often pray carries a lot of wisdom for us to glean from as to how we can rightly relate to our God.

 To help us lay a foundation on how we will examine ourselves, it’s important to briefly look at the triune nature of God as expressed in the prayer. Within the God head we see unity in diversity within a community. In all other beliefs systems, we see God as described being singular and thus would have had to create in order to express love. But within the trinity of three persons in one, we see love, unity and community from the first cause. One way of helping us to understand the trinity is to look at human beings. What we are is human beings with common attributes and characteristics that distinguish us from other species in creation. But within the what (Human beings) , we have persons with unique and individual personalities. In somewhat a similar way, Our God is one in being but three in persons. Another analogy would be the nature of water, its constituent make up is 2 molucules of hydrogen combined with one molecule of oxygen. It can take three states i.e Solid, liquid and Gas which serve different purposes but in all those forms its constituent is still water. Please join us in our bible study as we loo at such complex aspects about God and more to get a

more insight on this.

 We that said let’s then carefully study the aspects of the God head in terms of their role and how it ties into relationship with us’

 1. The Love of God the Father(Identification) – In the prayer we see paul state the love of God. Here he is referring to our heavenly Father. The term Father denotes role where in many cultures the children can trace their origin, identity and inheritance from. The

term love here implies relationship. Throughout scripture we see the love of God the Father being expressed in many places especially to the nation of Israel. Some of the few attributes of His love observed include:

 •  Protective love – In the story of Balak and Balaam in Numbers 22, we see God protect the nation of Israel even when they didn’t even know they were in danger. He protected them and further more provided for them whilst they were in the wilderness. In many instances God protects us and yet we have no idea that we were in danger. Sometimes by him saying no He keeps us from ways that would ultimately destroy us.

 •  Challenging love – He accepts us where we are but will not allow us to remain where we are but grow to maturity. In Hebrews 12:3-8 the scriptures say:

3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. 4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; 6 For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” 7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?

 •  Unconditional love – In the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15, we see once the prodigal son came to himself and turned back to His father His father ran to him. In verse 20 the scriptures read:

 “20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, [f]‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring

the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and

is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.

 His love isn’t based on performance but is rooted in the fact that He is our Father. To rightly relate to God the Father is to be Godly.

 •  His love constantly seeks to restore and reconcile us back to himself  as seen in John 3:16

 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

 This then leads us to the grace of our lord Jesus Christ

 2. The grace of our lord Jesus Christ (Reconciliation and Restoration) – The words lord and Christ denote roles. Lord means master or one who has authority over another and Christ means the anointed one and /or messiah. His name Jesus means salvation. And so we see that He is the anointed and promised one who has authority and power to bring salvation unto us. Grace here denotes relationship and simply means unmerited favor. Our lord is the embodiment of the love of the father and the agent through which compassion motivated by love was made manifest. We could not be reconciled to the Father without the work of the cross dealing with our fallen nature, problem of sin and penalties justly set by a righteous God. Hebrews 12:2

 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 Jesus having all power and authority related to us through grace which is characterized by

service and compassion.

 •  We see of service He says in Matthew 20:25-28

“25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them 26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; 27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: 28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

 And of compassion we see in the following verses from 29-34 he has compassion on two blind men and restores their sight. Our Lord calls us to be like Him and show grace to others through our service and compassion. In John 3:16 we see the love of God initiating the plan of salvation and we see it made manifest to us through the graciousness of the son as verse

17-19 the scriptures read:

 “17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

 In believing and receiving him we become sons and partakers of eternal life. To rightly relate to God the son is to be a Christian.

 And so as a Godly Christian, knowing our identity and receiving reconciliation, restoration and righteousness through salvation, we must be empowered to live this holy life that glorifies the Father and honors our lord. We need help with this and cannot do it on our own and so this is where the communion of the Holy spirit comes in.

 3. Fellowship of the Holy spirit ( Demonstration) – To commune means share one's intimate thoughts, values, desires, prioritize and feelings with (someone), especially on a spiritual level. The spirit of God is our Advocate, helper, Spirit of truth and Comforter . He animates and empowers us to be able to live Godly Christian lives. In Genesis 2:7 we read

 7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

 We need the in dwelling and coming upon of the holy spirit that we may live Holy lives and be sealed unto the last day. Christ tells nicodemus in John 3:5-8

 5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.

 Christ also says of the Holy spirit in John 16:7-11

 “7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:9

Of sin, because they believe not on me;10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.”

 The work of the spirit here shows that he will convict/convince/reprove the world of :

 a. Sin – The views sin as simply do’s and don’ts. But the scriptures through the words of Christ teach that sin is a nature issue before it ever becomes actions. That inherently we are sinful in nature and that through the cross we can put the sinful nature to death and live (born again) with a new nature that loves the light and delights in the things that God delights in. The world doesn’t believe the lord and thus keeps formulating systems and ideologies in an aim to deal with the problem of man’s sinful nature.

By  Antony Migwi