Spiritually Speaking

Spiritually Speaking...

In a number (no pun intended) of world spiritualities, three figures prominently. Often, three represents the ideal unity of body, mind, and spirit.

The oneness of God in ancient Hebrew thought ("Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone" Deuteronomy 6:4, New Revised Standard Version of Hebrew Bible) became the "three-ness" of God in some, NOT ALL, Christian theologies, and the doctrine of the trinity was born even though the word "trinity" never appears in Christian scripture. Some Christians reflecting back on the identities of Jesus and God, after Jesus' death, reasoned that God was revealing Godself as Creator of the cosmos, in spirit form, and in human form--that is, in Jesus. (Unitarian theologies have consistently rejected this notion, and there have been non-trinitarian Christians all along. One of the problems that Muhammad had with what he knew of Christianity was that it had, in his view, established three Gods with the doctrine of the trinity. When he founded what would become Islam six hundred years after Jesus' execution, he reaffirmed with the ancient Hebrews the oneness of God. To this day, the foundational Islamic confession of faith is: "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is God's messenger.")

In Christian scripture, there are some interesting uses of the number three. In that pre-scientific age, the life force was thought to dwell with the body for three days after there was the appearance of death. Thus, when Jesus claimed that he would restore life to his deceased friend, Lazarus, one of Lazarus' sisters, Martha, objected, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days” (John 11:39 New Revised Standard Version of Christian Scripture). In other words, the "three day" grace period has passed; it's really too late now! Ironically enough, many of the followers of Jesus claimed that God raised Jesus from death on the "third day." (The life force was not yet gone!)

In the book of Revelation (NOT Revelations), all numbers (and all other parts for that matter) are symbols meant to convey a message for the severely persecuted Christians at the end of the first century. Every character, every color, every prop, every number in the great drama are symbols. The number three is the symbol for divinity. The number four is the symbol for earthly completeness. When three and four are added together, the number seven results, and that is perfection. Making sure that our four is added to three is still a wonderful equation, a powerful goal, for us all.