The Simplicity and Complexity of God

The simplicity and complexity of the Godhead is that God is a triune God, yet God is one (Dt 6:4; Mk 12:29). Being made in the image of the triune God (Gen 1:26-27), we are happy when we live out our being in God by loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Dt 6:5; Mt 22:37; Mk 12:30).

Though this might seem confusing or baffling, I think this diagram is helpful:

FATHER	SON	SPIRIT
Mind	Will	Heart
Thinking	Doing	Feeling
Cognition	Volition	Emotion
Plans	Executes	Sustains

So:

• If we think too much, we might do little to nothing and lose heart.
• If we are primarily doing things, we could become mindless, emotionless robotic people.
• If we mainly depend on our feelings, our minds and lives could degenerate or deteriorate.

As fallen, flawed and fallible human beings, we invariably are imbalanced in some ways. We need God's mercy and grace to live out our lives with thoughtful reflection, practical activity and controlled emotions. We need:

Orthodoxy	Orthopraxy	Orthopathy
Right beliefs	Right practices	Right emotions

Systematic theologian, John Frame, is known for what is called triperspectivalism. Frame is indebted to Cornelius Van Til, whose ethical triad of standard, goal, and motive was the seed of thought behind all his triads. Triadic thought (also called perspectivalism and triperspectivalism) arises out of the transcendence and immanence of God expressed in the Creator-creature distinction, in divine revelation and in the covenant context in which the divine Lordship attributes (control, authority and presence) are recognisably present. When man encounters God there are necessarily three perspectives involved in this meeting:

• the normative or the standard, as God is everywhere Lord;

• the locus in which the nature of God's authority is made known, or the situational perspective;

• and the subjectivity of man as the creaturely receptor, or the existential motivational-subjective perspective.

Frame insists that these perspectives are three aspects of one reality: "The key point is that in dealing with these triangles, it is important to note what the whole triangle represents. In the triad normative, situational, existential, the whole triangle represents all of reality. So each corner of it also deals with all of reality, and each is ultimately identical with the others." (Systematic Theology, p. 971). It could be tabled as such:

Standard	Goal	Motive
Control	Authority	Presence
Normative	Situational	Subjective