Some have described the mystery of the Trinity as “the Divine Dance.” This term comes from the Greek word perichoresis, which means “to dance around” and the Latin word circulatio, which describes a circular dance between three persons, “such that each person is in the other two, while the others are in each one. At the risk of putting things in physical terms, perichoresis means that ‘all three persons occupy the same divine space.’” (Kevin Deyoung, “Theological Primer: Perichoresis,” TheGospelCoalition.org, accessed October 19, 2022, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/theological-primer-perichoresis/.) All this to say, like three persons unified in a dance, we cannot see God the Father without also seeing God the Holy Spirit and God the Son at the same time, working together in perfect unity, symmetry, and rhythm. They are separate, yet inseparable. (Ibid.)
With this picture in mind, imagine God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit engaged in this circular dance, hands held, with you in the center. Each makes eye contact as they pass by and says, “I love you.” The speed of the dance increases. Each repeats, “I love you,” faster and faster as they rotate around you. Soon, they are moving so quickly that they become a blur. Now, they seemingly appear as one but there are still three separate aspects to the oneness. And there you are, a recipient of the Divine Dance. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit pouring out their love on you! I want more of that! That’s what “fills my love tank,” so to speak.
C.S. Lewis says, “It matters more than anything else in the world. The whole dance, or drama, or pattern of this three-personal life is to be played out in each one of us: or (putting it the other way round) each one of us has got to enter that pattern, take his [or her] place in that dance. There is no other way to the happiness for which we were made.” (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, in The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics, (NY: HarperOne, 2002), 95.)
Unity in the Holy Spirit
It is Jesus who reveals the Father. Jesus represents the Father. It is Jesus who reconciles us with the Father. Through Jesus, we receive the spirit of adoption (sonship) and are now sons and daughters of God. We now get to look to God through the lens of Jesus as Father. The more you know Jesus, the more you know the Father. Jesus and the Father are one and we are one with Jesus. And through Jesus, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit to be His hands and feet on earth.
“For it was always in his perfect plan to adopt us as his delightful children, through our union with Jesus, the Anointed One, so that his tremendous love that cascades over us would glorify his grace —for the same love he has for the Beloved, Jesus, he has for us.” Ephesians 1:5-6 TPT
We are now heirs of God and co-heirs with Jesus, enjoying our new creation life, a new identity and the spirit of sonship. The Father now sees us through the finished work of Jesus. He has the exact same love for us as He has for Jesus. Jesus’ righteousness is ours by the power of His blood received through grace alone.
We join this Divine Dance by grace through Jesus! And as His body, we are all joined together in this Divine Dance of oneness. Let’s seek to stay in step with the Divine Dance of the Trinity every day as we are conformed into the image of Christ!
