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Christos Singularis
“I thought you did an excellent job discussing the atonement–maybe the best I’ve read, very clear and concise.” — Rev. John Hood. D.Min.
Introduction
The aloneness of the gospel has been a topic of interest and confusion for eons. It was Martin Luther (1483-1546) who coined the term “grace alone” in response to the arguments by a corrupt church that relied upon non-biblical sources to define the biblical gospel. Luther’s concern was to return to the original biblical sources in order to recover the original biblical teachings.
The Reformers proclaimed five Solas: Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone), Solus Christus (Christ Alone), Sola Gratia (Grace Alone), Sola Fide (Faith Alone) and Soli Deo Gloria (God’s Glory Alone). The enemies of the Gospel have twisted these solas every which way, and have confused many people. For example, the emphasis upon sola scriptura does not mean that other books are off limits. And yet solus Christus (Christ alone) does mean that other mediators between man and God are not simply off limits, but that no other mediators actually exist. Each sola must be understood individually and holistically, within the context of Scripture.
Singularity
Singularities, popularized by Ray Kurzweil1 are all the rage. In mathematics a singularity is defined as “a point at which the derivative does not exist for a given function but every neighborhood of which contains points for which the derivative exists.” Got it? It is the point at which math gets quirky, and normal analysis fails. It is the point on a graph which must exist mathematically, but cannot itself be known, defined or computed. It can only be inferred from neighboring points.
If it sounds confusing, it is because it is. But is it important? Yes and no, depending on what you believe about the creation of the universe and how important you think creation is for understanding the world today. Another dictionary defines singularity as “a point of infinite density and infinitesimal volume, at which the descriptions of space and time become abnormal according to the theory of General Relativity. According to the big bang theory, a gravitational singularity existed at the beginning of the universe.” According to the Theory of Evolution, everything came from a singularity at the beginning of time, which means that for the Theory of Evolution a singularity takes the place of God regarding the creation of the universe in the sense that this singularity is the source of the universe in the same way that for Christians God is the source of the universe.
The insight or speculation that a singularity may be Godlike comes from the doctrine of the Trinity, which posits that God is One yet Three. God holds unity and particularity together without damaging or diminishing either. It’s not a hard-and-fast comparison, nor a fully-formed theory. It’s just an idea that may be worth exploring. And that is some of what I will do in the pages.
In this study of Colossians I have taken the doctrine of the Trinity seriously and applied it broadly. This means that I have assumed it to be true of God, and therefore true of people because we are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). We are not trinitarian in the same way that God is, but in a similar way, in the way that the image of a thing is not identical to the thing, but is recognizably similar. God’s trinitarian character is the “image” in which He created us because God’s trinitarian character is the way that He has revealed Himself to us. It is the “image” of Him that we are to “see” in Scripture. And occasionally, the idea of God as singularity seems to find expression in Scripture.
The assumption of the immediate reality of the Trinity adds a depth and texture to the biblical text that is not available apart from it. Why? Because if God’s character is trinitarian, then the characters of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are also trinitarian. There is both unity and multiplicity, individuality and corporality, in the Godhead and in reality because of the divine role that God plays in reality. The God of Scripture is both one and three at the same time without losing any of the meaning or uniqueness. God is also Son and Spirit. The Son is also Father and Spirit. The Spirit is also Father and Son. God’s identity is, then, both individual and corporate at the same time and without any loss of identity regarding the integrity of His wholeness or the individuals involved.
Many people find that the idea of the Trinity is impossible to understand or just a figment of imagination. Yet, those same people readily believe in black holes, even though there is no actual evidence for their existence. Black holes cannot be seen, they’re black — dark. They are constructs of calculation or mathematical entities. They exist by implication of the surrounding space and neighboring objects. And yet scientists and astronomers swear that they are real.
Is it such a stretch to compare the reality and existence of God to the reality and existence of a singularity or black hole? Obviously, I don’t think so. There are some interesting similarities, though the idea of such similarities does not suggest a plurality of Gods apart from the Trinity. No, the Trinity is absolutely unique and is probably related to the three dimensionality of space (length, width, height) and time (past, present future). Nor can it be denied or ignored that the Trinity is a unity of Persons, not forces, conditions or entities.
The central characteristic of a singularity that is Godlike is its simultaneous oneness and manyness, its simplicity as a single entity and its complexity as the locus of several entities. Like the Godhead, a singularity is both simple and complex, both one and many. I am not going beyond this most basic comparison. It is simply a thought, not a full-blown thesis. But it’s interesting, and it may be useful for the reconsideration of the reality of God by mathematicians and scientists.
This book, however, is not about black holes or singularities. It is about Colossians. It is about God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit. It doesn’t hijack Colossians to justify the idea of God as a singularity. Rather, it suggests the complexity of God’s singularity, the Solas Christos Singularis of God, as a way to understand the depth and texture of Paul’s letter. This book is theology, not science. And yet, Scripture does suggest that theology and science are intimately related in that God is central to the world and everything in it.
Presuppositional Trinitarianism
The Trinity is a difficult concept. I am applying the perspective that I believe the Bible teaches, which I am calling presuppositional trinitarianism, to all reality. So, while God’s ultimate being as the Trinity is absolutely unique, all of reality shares the characteristics of God’s trinitarian being — not perfectly, but through a glass darkly. That means that we are trinitarin, and that everything in this world is trinitarian because everything issues out of God. The Father/Son relationship in the Trinity includes a kind of common DNA structure to everything that God has created.
The Trinity is absolutely unique to Christianity, and is why Christianity is the only true religion. The Trinity hasn’t gotten much press since the early church fathers mangled it in the press of Greek philosophy. The truth is that the Bible stands in opposition to Greek (and all other man-made) philosophies or categories of thought. This work is an effort to express what the Bible teaches in a way that stands apart from the categories of Greek thought, while being faithful to the trinitarian categories of Scripture. The Trinity is everywhere in Scripture.
Presuppositional trinitarianism is simply a matter of presupposing the reality and veracity of the Trinity as the foundation of all reality as a matter of faith. I am trying to read the book of nature and the Bible faithfully, by assuming the reality of the Trinity. I’m trying to read Scripture with the eyes of faithfulness to the Trinity.
This is not a novel approach, but is a very ancient approach that has been obscured by the overlays of Greek philosophy by the early church fathers. I have used this approach in my treatment of Corinthians, as well, and am assuming some familiarity with that work. A few other writers are working in the same vein—Peter Leithart, Ralph Smith and R.J. Rushdoony’s work, The One And The Many: Studies In The Philosophy Of Order And Ultimacy (Ross House Books, second edition, 2009).
Completed Edition
The publication of this book began early in the Twenty-First Century when Dr. Douglas Vickers suggested that I publish my work with Wipf & Stock, one of the early publish-on-demand publishers that he had used. I was surprised and encouraged by his suggestion, but skeptical. So, I decided to print a small book to see how it went. That book was a study of Colossians titled Nothing But Christ — Another Look at Colossians (Wipf & Stock, Eugene, Oregon, 2001). My intention was only to see if they would actually publish me, and evaluate the quality of the product. They did, and it was fine. So, I began preparing other manuscripts for them. I have since moved on. The present volume is a reworking of that manuscript and the completion of the study of Colossians.
Though some scholars doubt that Paul wrote this letter, I don’t. Some scholars doubt everything. That’s what they are paid to do. Christians need to be very careful with scholarship. Too many people trust the scholars over the Bible, and that’s a serious mistake. It’s not that scholarship is bad, only that too much of it is godless.
Paul was combating error — again. People forget that Paul was always correcting people — Christians! If it weren’t for people getting things wrong, Paul may not have written any letters. But as it was, the enemies of the gospel were hard at work in the early churches, twisting God’s Word every which way they could. They still are. So, Paul wrote to straighten them out. Thank God he did.
My intention here has not been to read everything written on Colossians and then try to add something new or to make some unique point. This is not a scholarly book. It’s an expanded sermon series that is intended to make the issues, concerns and truths of Paul’s letter to the Colossians come to life, God willing.
Special thanks to those who have provided their comments, questions, perspectives and edits to this work: Paul Williams, Eric Brown, Elizabeth Johnson and Ted Bradshaw.
I am thankful for my wife, Stephanie, who undergirds my work, and my children, young men now, who have found their legs in Christ. All of my work is for them. I pray that they will find it increasingly helpful as they mature in Christ. And, as I have said before, I’m not asking them or anyone else to agree with me. Lord knows, I have my shortcomings and foibles. But what I am asking is that people engage my work. My hope is not to get everything right, though I value the effort. Rather, my hope is that people will think deeply about the gospel and to engage it seriously.
My intention is to model ordinary faithfulness and to demonstrate how Scripture provides various corrections for ordinary Christians in the midst of our fallen world, and how faithfulness to the only, real, trinitarian God in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit impacts the faithful reading of Scripture. If Christians do not bring faithfulness in the trinitarian God to their reading of Scripture, they will miss the message of the trinitarian God, “for we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).
Christians are broken and renewed people. The acknowledgment and confession of our brokenness is essential to the process of renewal. And renewal is not possible apart from faith in Christ. Christians are people who have learned from their mistakes. I’m simply trying to help with that learning process by showing how relevant Scripture is to our contemporary situation.
Phillip A. Ross
Marietta, Ohio
April 2010
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