What You See is What You Get

^“If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”             -John 14:7

Rhaner’s Rule is one of the most encouraging “doctrines” there is. Rhaner’s Rule is the “rule” that says that the economic Trinity is the immanent Trinity and the immanent Trinity is the economic Trinity. In other words, the Trinitarian God we see revealed in history is the same Trinitarian God that exists outside/beyond history. In more simple terms. And what we see is Jesus.

When we see Jesus at work  we see the fulness of God. Jesus is God’s self-revelation of himself. That means that we don’t have to worry about a hidden God hiding behind a veil. We don’t have to worry about Jesus loving us, but the Father not loving us. We don’t have to worry that Jesus is a God of love and the Father is actually a God of wrath. What you see is what you get.

So why does this matter? It matters because it means that we can take God at his word. If Jesus says God loves us then God loves us. If Jesus says the Father is pleased with us then the Father is pleased with us. If he says that we can ask the Father for anything in His name then we can ask the Father for anything in his name. It means that what Jesus says and does can be trusted to fully reveal the Father. It means that the Father, whom we cannot see, is fundamentally for us, he is “pro nobis,” because that is the God Jesus self-reveals. Jesus is “pro nobis” thus the Father is “pro nobis.” What you see is what you get. If you have seen Jesus you have seen the Father.