{"id":12636,"date":"2026-05-27T13:32:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T20:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tiu.edu\/law\/?post_type=articles&p=12636"},"modified":"2026-05-27T13:32:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T20:32:12","slug":"whats-love-got-to-do-with-it-iran-israel-and-the-trinity","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.tiu.edu\/law\/articles\/whats-love-got-to-do-with-it-iran-israel-and-the-trinity\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s Love Got to Do With It: Iran, Israel, and the Trinity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cGod is love\u201d<\/i>1<\/sup><\/p>\n

\u201c[T]he love of many will grow cold.<\/i>2<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Paul explains in Romans 1: The truth is suppressed in unrighteousness and exchanged for the lie \u2013 all because the creation \u2013 instead of the Creator \u2013 is worshipped and served.3<\/sup> Now, with bombs blasting and missiles maneuvering between Iran and Israel, so what? Does the theological dynamic of creation-worship inform us about this ongoing protracted geo-political conflict?\u00a0 Indeed, it does. Let\u2019s get to the gist.<\/p>\n

The key binary in all reality consists of the Creator\/creature distinction.\u00a0 Either people worship the true and living God, or they worship the creation or some aspect of it.\u00a0 Paul\u2019s point rejects the notion that some vague deity or general theism, or some \u201cunmoved mover\u201d is in play.\u00a0 Rather Paul, in describing this fundamental binary, champions the God of the Bible.<\/p>\n

Query:\u00a0 Who is this true and living God? Paul\u2019s theology robustly sets forth the true and living triune<\/i> God<\/i>, one God, three persons:\u00a0 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.4<\/sup> Does this matter to cultural apologetics? If so, how so?5<\/sup> In particular, does the Trinity help us understand the mid-East conflict?<\/p>\n

First, the scriptures teach us that we become like what we worship.6<\/sup> When a society and hence a culture is \u201cgiven over\u201d to idolatry, that culture will reflect its dominant idols.\u00a0 Theology and ethics correlate.7<\/sup><\/p>\n

Second, Iran is modern day Persia. Though having a history of Zoroastrianism, Iran today is 95% Shia Muslim and in fact is a Sharia theocratic State. What do we know about Islam, particularly its deity? What we know is that this deity is eternally and absolutely singular and not trinitarian. In fact, while Islam acknowledges Jesus, they deny His deity in toto. This matters spiritually, of course, but also culturally. Why?<\/p>\n

The Triune God is not a \u201cprinciple\u201d, a force, or \u201cthe guy upstairs.\u201d The one true God is a self-existent eternal community<\/i>; He is both one and many. This triune God, from eternity past, \u201ccommunes\u201d in loving interrelatedness within the Godhead, sometimes described as a divine dance, or perichoresis.8<\/sup> But there\u2019s more. The God of the bible is ontically love.9<\/sup> His very being, His essence, is love.\u00a0 God does love and He IS love. He can\u2019t not love.<\/p>\n

Third, contrast this with the Islamic deity:\u00a0 solo, siloed, and existentially singular in being and nature.\u00a0 This means that fundamentally, because love requires both a subject who loves, a lover, and an object to love, this deity is not \u2013 and cannot be – love ontically.\u00a0 Love stands outside this deity and this means that if it can ever love, it\u2019s dependent on the creation to do so. Put differently, with Islam, love is not an inherent divine attribute.10<\/sup> The Islamic deity needs<\/i> the creation to experience love.<\/p>\n

Accordingly, if Islam rises to dominance in a culture, the people will increasingly become like what they worship:\u00a0 If the dominant deity inherently lacks love, the people will \u2013 over time \u2013 become increasingly loveless.\u00a0 The more they get to \u201cknow\u201d this deity, the less loving they will become.\u00a0 Great commitment to this sort of deity diminishes the worshipper\u2019s love \u2013 this is part of what is suppressed in unrighteousness.<\/p>\n

What do we see in Islamic nations? Perpetual conflict, hatred, antisemitism, misogyny, envy, the cheapening of human life, and war. Possessing abundant fossil fuels and wealth doesn\u2019t make a people loving; the true God does.11<\/sup>\u00a0 Notice how Jesus connects false prophets \u2013 false or distorted religions – with diminishing love:<\/p>\n

And many false prophets will arise<\/i><\/b> and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold<\/i><\/b>.12<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This sobering truth is too often overlooked or ignored.\u00a0 We often panic in fear during times of political conflict.\u00a0 Yet, panic, pouting, and paranoia are not fruit of the Spirit.\u00a0 Cultures fundamentally do not \u201crise and fall\u201d but rather, are judged and are sovereignly held accountable by the Triune God according to their degree of idolatry.13<\/sup> How can we avoid the trap of loveless fear generated by political danger and instability?\u00a0 By recalling the antidote to fear:\u00a0 Perfect love,14<\/sup> stemming from the only God who is love.\u00a0 May this One who is Love dominant the creation and bless us:<\/p>\n

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.15<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false},"publisher":[28],"class_list":["post-12636","articles","type-articles","status-publish","hentry","publisher-center-public-legal-theology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat\u2019s Love Got to Do With It: Iran, Israel, and the Trinity - Trinity Law School<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiu.edu\/law\/articles\/whats-love-got-to-do-with-it-iran-israel-and-the-trinity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What\u2019s Love Got to Do With It: Iran, Israel, and the Trinity\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cGod is love\u201d1 \u201c[T]he love of many will grow cold.2 Paul explains in Romans 1: The truth is suppressed in unrighteousness and exchanged for the lie \u2013 all because the creation \u2013 instead of the Creator \u2013 is worshipped and served.3 Now, with bombs blasting and missiles maneuvering between Iran and Israel, so what? 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