This morning I was studying the Trinity. I came across this quote from Wikipedia:
The term “immanent Trinity” focuses on who God is; the term “economic Trinity” focuses on what God does. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
The Fathers of the Church distinguish between theology (theologia) and economy (oikonomia). “Theology” refers to the mystery of God’s inmost life within the Blessed Trinity and “economy” to all the works by which God reveals himself and communicates his life… God’s works reveal who he is in himself; the mystery of his inmost being enlightens our understanding of all his works. So it is, analogously, among human persons. A person discloses himself in his actions, and the better we know a person, the better we understand his actions.
If theology is the study of who God is, then it is incumbent upon me to study the mystery of God’s character and to meditate on the relationship and interaction between the three members of the Trinity.
In John 17, Jesus prays, “for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.” If I want to be one with my brothers and sisters in this life, then it is helpful for me to see how the three persons of the Trinity relate to each other and follow their example.
If God’s economy are the works of God by which he reveals Himself, then they give me better understanding of who God it. For example, God is love. He demonstrates this love by dying for us when we were yet sinners.
As we think about the coming year, we do well to ask two questions: who should I become and what should I do? These feed off of each other. What I do flows out of who I am. The clearer I see myself as God sees me, the better I understand who He has made me, then the easier it will be to walk in that. The results are the oikonomia, the administration of God’s economy.
The question, “What should I do?” is also important. God is a big God and wants to do big things, and He has chosen to do them through us. If we will accept a big assignment from Him, then we are faced with our own limitations and are forced to trust God to do more than we can do on our own. The disciples had to feel this way, when Jesus said to them, referring to the 5,000, “You give them something to eat.”
My prayer is that in 2020 I will come to know who God is better as I meditate on and worship Him. I trust that as I do so, I will be transformed to become more like Him (2 Cor 3:18). I pray that who God is will be manifested in my life, so that people who understand Him better. This is a huge responsibility that I have, and will require much grace to be live this out.
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