TRINITY THEOLOGY

Christian Doctrine “Trinity Theology”



Christian Doctrine “Trinity Theology”

Genesis 9:8-17

Today's text from Genesis is a turning point in biblical history with the story of the flood. From the accounts of creation to the time of Noah, it's one story after another of human sin and disorder, finally culminating with God's decision to give up on humanity, with the exception of Noah and his family. After which God vowed to never do it again, providing the rainbow as a sign of his promise. After one more fall story of “the Tower of Babel,” it eventually leads to the call of Abraham. That is the beginning of the history of redemption, revealing the great patience of God not to destroy but to save.

The Preacher Says:

The story of the flood is one of the Bible's best known stories. A lot of folks joke about it. But there's plenty in it to whet the appetite: God's wrath and grace; man's belief and disbelief; the unbreakable friendship of God, even after he reaches the breaking point. It's not easy to visualize God “at the end of his rope.” But the antediluvian picture of the Almighty tends to reveal his adolescent side: impatient, vindictive, and sorry. A sorry God! And sorrier people! And before we know it, God decides to uncreated the earth! Sometimes things get so bad, even God has to clean house! The Genesis story of the flood is about that.

In parabolic fashion the author of Genesis allows as how God created the whole world in one whirlwind week and pronounced it all good. Then he gave us the keys to creation, with one notable exception. A fruit tree, with a fence around it, and a sign saying: “Do not disturb.” And before the new creation had even dried out good, Adam was tempted and ate the forbidden fruit, hoping to be like God. It's been downhill ever since! They tried to hide from God, but got caught naked and were expelled from paradise forever.

So God tried to fix it. Like a Seamstress, he made the man and woman their first clothes, out of animal skins, so his hapless creatures would have something more than fig leaves to keep them warm once paradise was lost and there's no going back. But grace is present from the very beginning. Yet things got worse not better. Their son Cain whacked his brother Abel; the world's first murder, but not the last. And humankind kept on breaking things, like their word and God's covenants.

By the time we get to the Sixth Chapter of Genesis, God had “run out of pity.” It was time to start over. “I will blot out from the earth the people I have created, along with the animals and birds!” That may be the most sobering statement in the Bible. It didn't take 'em long to blow it, did it? In the beginning, “God saw everything he had made, and it was very good” to “I am sorry that I made them” in six ...