It occurred to me the other day, reflecting on Christmas, that Christian theology is one of unity brought out of multiplicity.  We tend to see, for example, God’s triune nature – three persons and yet one being – as unique and somewhat disconnected from the rest of our theology.  Yet it reveals something that is essentially in that it repeats itself in creation and again in salvation.

Genesis 1:26-27 is a poetic statement of how the Creator imprints his image within his creation.  Man is made in the image of God.  Yet man, the unity, exists in two genders: male and female.  Together, they are human.  And so the man and the woman come together and form one flesh.  Even Augustine saw this as a manifestation of God’s triune nature within creation when he analogized the Trinity as “the Lover, the Beloved, and the Love between them.”

Jesus’ incarnation reveals another unity in multiplicity.  He is one person, yet having two natures.  He is both fully divine and fully human, yet one.  Jesus does not marry a single woman, however, because his desire is to marry the One Woman who is His Church.  That One Woman is herself made up of many members.  So all who are in Christ become One New Woman, married to Christ, who then unites this One Woman with God through Himself.

Sin takes that which belongs together and separates it, forcing us to see the Other as a figure of opposition rather than as a compliment that with us makes a unitary whole.  Marriages that are meant to be the reflection of God’s unity separate.  Churches schism because members forget that they are members, and some attempt to set themselves up as heads in distinction to Christ the True Head.

God is the one who delights in making one out of many, because God is one in many Himself.