PERICHORESIS: THE DANCE OF GOD

By Curtis L. Thompson

The first message of our series on ESSENTIALS introduced the Greek term Perichoresis. The Greek word Perichoresis is not found in the New Testament. It was employed by the Church Fathers a few centuries later to describe relationships within the Trinity. It has been used by contemporary Christian writers and ministers (e.g. Timothy Keller of New York) to enhance our appreciation and experience of the Triune God. The following are a few items explaining how Christians use of this term. 

Question: "What is perichoresis?" 

Answer: The Greek word “perichoresis” comes from two Greek words, peri, which means “around” and chorea, which means “dance.” Perichoresis is a theological term referring to the mutual indwelling and intersecting of the three persons of the Godhead and, if anything, helps in some ways to better clarify the concept of the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. It is a term that expresses intimacy between the persons of the Godhead. 

Perichoresis has been called the “divine dance,” that profound union of Father, Son and Holy Spirit that has gone on since eternity past, goes on now, and will go on forever, except that the dance of eternity will have a select audience [and (we would add) participants]—those whom the Father has foreknown, the Son has redeemed, and the Spirit has enlivened and sanctified. Perichoresis is a fellowship of three co-equal beings perfectly embraced in love and harmony and expressing an intimacy that no one can humanly comprehend. The Father loves the Son by means of the Spirit’s procession and the Son loves the Father by the same means. The Spirit loves both the Father and the Son and eternally proceeds from the Father and Son. 

John 16:13-15 best expresses perichoresis in terms of God’s glory. Jesus promises His disciples that the Spirit, when He comes, would reveal the truth of the Son to His followers, and this truth is from the Father. Through this process, all three will be glorified. There is nothing that separates the mystical dance of perichoresis, but it can be imagined as a Venn diagram showing three groups or circles intersecting in the center with each circle intersecting the others perfectly and multi-dimensionally, as they rotate or “dance” about a common center of divine love. [From: www.GotQuestions.org] 

Human Beings Drawn into the Divine Circle 

“Christians speak of the dancing triune God by means of the Greek term “perichoresis,” which expresses the interpenetration of the Trinity’s three persons. The Greek verb “chorein” means “to make space for” and is the root for “choreia,” meaning “dance.” [The term first appears in Gregory of Nazianzus (AD. 329-389/390) and was explored more fully by John of Damascus (AD. 676 –749).] …John of Damascus (and J. Moltmann and W. Placher of our own times) depicted the Trinity as three persons going around as in a dance, becoming united in that single activity while maintaining their distinctive personas…. Eastern Orthodox Christianity with regard to perichoresis has emphasized how redeemed human beings are drawn into the divine circle and benefit fully from the rich interrelating love of the divine persons. The dancing God, open to the world, in love draws the world into Himself, empowering it to dance…” [emphasis added]