• Perichoresis of the Holy Trinity

    Jhn 14:7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
    Jhn 14:8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
    Jhn 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou [then], Shew us the Father?
    Jhn 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
    Jhn 14:11 Believe me that I [am] in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.

    Jhn 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

    Two errors are guarded against here. The first error is in verse 9 by itself could suggest that the Son is the Father incarnate, that there are no distinctions between the two Persons. But verse 10-11 make it clear that is not the case. These verses also guard against fully separating the Father and Son into distinct gods. Each interpenetrates the other--what the ancient Greeks called perichoresis.

    Interpenetrate means to 1. interpret thoroughly; permeate. 2. to penetrate (with something else) mutually or reciprocally.

    Perichoresis refers to the Trinity. The word is derived from the Greek “peri-choresis” which translates as, “peri” meaning around, “choresis” meaning to dance (the same root as choreography). The relationship between the Persons of the Trinity was described, by early Christians, as an eternal Holy Dance of each Person in the Trinity around and within the Others.