Ask the Pastor: Mixed marriage, Triune God, Jesus tempted
by the Rev. Walter Snyder
Religion Columnist
     Q: What does the Bible say about mixed-race marriages?
     A: The Bible really doesn't deal with mixed-race marriage. It focuses instead on mixed-faith
marriage. That is absolutely forbidden to Israel in the Old Testament and not strongly supported for
Christians in the New Testament.
     Q: What passages in the Bible do Christians rely on to support the Trinity theory? My
confusion comes mainly from Christ praying and talking to Heavenly Father while on earth. If
they are one, then who was he talking to?
     A: I'd rather us not talk about a "theory" of the Trinity. Rather, since God reveals himself in
this way throughout his Word, let's speak of the Doctrine of the Trinity.
     We cannot understand the Trinity any more than we can understand the Incarnation and
Virgin Birth of Christ, the Atonement, or any of the other mysteries of God. We hold the words of
Scripture to be true and do not attempt to resolve paradoxes for which God has not given us
answers.
     The Persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) of the Trinity communicate with each other, even as
they are also one God. The problem is not with God's nature; the problem is summed up in the
Scripture, "Who has known the mind of the Lord?"---reminding us that our finite reason cannot
comprehend God's essence. While countless books could carry forth a discussion of the Triune God,
it is best to focus on a few words in which he reveals himself as either Three or One, and to use the
Creeds (such as the Nicene, Athanasian, and Apostles') as correct expositions of these Biblical
statements.
     Among the Scriptures speaking of God's oneness are Deuteronomy 6:4; 1 Corinthians 8:4; 1
Timothy 2:5. Passages dealing with his Triune nature include Matthew 28:19--20 and 2 Corinthians
13:14. Christians often say that the Father is Creator, the Son the Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit the
Sanctifier. Yet you can see the other Persons interacting in Creation (John 1:1--3; Genesis 1:2),
Redemption (John 4:34; 1Corinthians 12:3), and Sanctification (John 15:26; Acts 1:4--5). The
interrelationship of the three Persons is an incomprehensible mystery, thus the Creeds confess the
faith, they do not attempt to explain it.

				<<ATP Online Extra>><BR>
Space consideration prevented including the text of the three Creeds mentioned above in the
newspaper column. However this is not a limitation in cyberspace, so I here include them for those
who may not be familiar with them or who wish to confess them again in worship of the Triune God:

Apostles' Creed:
     I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:
     And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the
Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried. He descended into hell;
the third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of
God the Father Almighty. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
     I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic [universal or Christian] church, the communion
of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen

Nicene Creed:
     I believe in one God the Father Almighty; Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible
and invisible.
     And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all
worlds God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance
[essence] with the Father; by whom all things were made; who, for us men and for our salvation, came
down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; and was
crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose
again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the
Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead; whose kingdom
shall have no end.
	And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceedeth from the Father
and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified; who spake by the
Prophets. And in one Holy Catholic [Christian or universal] and Apostolic Church. I acknowledge one
Baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the
world to come. Amen.

Athanasian Creed:
Whoever will be saved shall, above all else, hold the catholic faith.
     Which faith, except everyone keeps whole and undefiled, without doubt he will perish eternally.
And the catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in Three Persons and Three Persons in one God,
     neither confusing the Persons nor dividing the substance.
For there is One Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit.
     But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one: the glory equal,
     the majesty co-eternal.
Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit.
     The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, the Holy Spirit uncreated.
The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, the Holy Spirit incomprehensible.
     The Father eternal, the Son eternal, the Holy Spirit eternal.
And yet They are not three eternals
     but One Eternal.
As there are not three uncreated nor three incomprehensibles
     but One Uncreated and One Incomprehensible.
So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty.
     And yet They are not three almighties but One Almighty.
So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God.
     And yet They are not three Gods but one God.
So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord.
     And yet They are not three Lords but One Lord.
For as we are compelled by the Christian truth to acknowledge every Person by Himself to be both God and Lord,
     So we cannot by the catholic faith say that there are three Gods or three Lords.
The Father is made of none,
     neither created nor begotten.
The Son is of the Father alone,
     not made nor created but begotten.
The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son,
     neither made nor created nor begotten but proceeding.
So there is One Father, not three Fathers; One Son, not three Sons; One Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits.
     And in this Trinity none is before or after another; none is greater or less than another;
     but the whole three Persons are coeternal together and coequal, so that in all things, as is
     aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshiped.
He, therefore, that will be saved is compelled thus to think of the Trinity.
     Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe faithfully the
     incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
     is God and man;
God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds;
     and man of the substance of His mother, born in the world.
Perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.
     Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood;
Who, although He is God and man,
     yet He is not two but One Christ:
One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh but by taking the manhood into God;
     One altogether, not by confusion of substance but by unity of Person.
For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man,
     so God and man is One Christ;
Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead.
     He ascended into heaven, He sits at the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from whence
     He will come to judge the living and the dead.
At whose coming all men will rise again with their bodies and will give an account of their own works.
     And they that have done good will go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil, into
     everlasting fire.
This is the catholic faith which, except a man believe faithfully and firmly,
     he cannot be saved.
				<<End Online Extra>>

     Q: Why did Jesus go into the Wilderness?
     A: While the Bible doesn't spell things out, it is likely that God had several reasons to do this:
First, the Son came in the flesh to face temptation. Remember that the Holy Spirit drove Jesus into
the Wilderness immediately after his baptism. Jesus had just associated and identified himself with
our sins and was now exposed to temptation such as we face. This was also an opportunity for him
to change his mind, to attempt to shortcut the path laid out by the Father, and to establish his
kingdom through might and glory instead of through service and suffering.
     Second, this time shows him as "Israel reduced to One"; that is, he embodied all that Israel
was and was supposed to be. He kept perfectly the Law that Israel and its people kept only in part or
not at all. As such, his time parallels the 40 years Israel wandered in the Wilderness.
     Also, 40 is often a number associated with judgment and divine wrath (again Israel in the
Wilderness, the Flood, Jonah's message to Nineveh, and others). So even as Jesus faced temptation
because of his association with us, so he also was in the first stage of experiencing the full
consequences of divine justice and wrath over man's sins.
     To Ask the Pastor, please write Ask the Pastor, PO Box 12, Emma, MO, 65327 or send
email to askthepastor@aol.com. I look forward to hearing from you.
     Walter Snyder is the pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Emma, Missouri and coauthor of
the book "What Do Lutherans Believe."