Searching Issues - The TRINITY
A Mystery and an Essential Doctrine
The Trinity is a mystery. How God can be three persons in one being is beyond human understanding. Yet the Trinity is an indispensable doctrine of the faith. Without the Trinity several other vital doctrines will collapse.
Without the Trinity there is no eternal salvation. God the Father sent God the Son into the world to become a man named Jesus of Nazareth - to die on a cross, rise from the dead, and ascend into heaven - so that God the Holy Spirit may give a new spiritual birth to men - by which they may have eternal life.
Without the Trinity there is no prayer. We pray in the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Our prayer ascends to heaven through the intermediation of Jesus Christ our High Priest who intercedes for us with the Father. We can come into the presence of the Father as we pray because we are covered with the righteousness of Christ.
Without the Trinity there is no divine revelation. God the Father sent God the Son into the world to become a living revelation of the Father to mankind. Jesus brought a message to men from His Father. God the Son sent God the Holy Spirit to inspire the apostles and prophets to write a message from God to man - which is the scriptural revelation. God the Holy Spirit indwells the believers empowering them to understand the scriptural revelation.
What the Trinity is and is not.
The Trinity is not a group of three gods. There is only one God.
The Trinity is not three aspects or three manifestations of God. The Trinity consists of three persons in a community of love. We can have a personal relationship with God because He is ultra-personal in his essential nature.
The Trinity is not a hierarchy of being. The three persons are co-equal in their divine nature and divine being. The three are co-eternal - they always have existed and always will exist. The Father is fully God, the Son is fully God, and the Holy Spirit is fully God. God is “triune,” or three in one.
We may say that there is a hierarchy of offices. The Father sends the Son and thus has a higher office than the Son. The Sons pours out the Holy Spirit and thus, has a higher office than the Holy Spirit. They have equal natures but different offices..
The three persons do not have three natures. The three have one nature, one being, and one essence. The three are always united and never act on their own. Even though they have different offices and operations, they always act in concert. Everything the Father does the Son also does. Everything the Son does the Holy Spirit also does.
Man was created in the image and likeness of God. Therefore the Trinity helps us to understand some things about ourselves. But there is a curious difference. Whereas God has one nature and three personalities, an individual man has three natures (body, soul, and spirit) but one personality. Both God and man are mysteries.
See historical notes below on how the doctrine of the Trinity developed.
Historical Notes
The Trinity is implicitly revealed in the bible. (See scriptural citations.) But the doctrine of the Trinity does not explicitly present itself at first reading. Yet a careful study and analysis of the scriptures reveals that the doctrine of the Trinity is a logical necessity. Denial of the Trinity means a contradiction of the scriptures.
The early church had an intuitive sense of the Trinity but no formal doctrine. It was the challenge of heretics which stimulated Christian theologians to formulate and carefully define the doctrine. The first explicit expression of the Trinity was made by the Council of Nice in 325 AD in a declaration known as The Nicene Creed. The creed was a simple formulation of the major elements of the Trinity. An elaborate, precise, and lengthy definition of the Trinity was made in the Athanasian Creed (361 AD). St. Athanasius presided over convocations in Alexandria and other synods to produce the creed.
Meditation on the Trinity became a central part of Catholic spirituality in the centuries to follow. Some devout Catholics still meditate on the Trinity.
The doctrine of the Incarnation (God the Son manifested in the flesh as Jesus Christ) flowed naturally from the Trinity. Various church councils in the fourth and fifth century perfected the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation. This provided theologians with a good good foundation for developing the doctrine of the Atonement. Saint Anselm (1033 - 1109) developed the doctrine of the Atonement. When Martin Luther (1483 - 1546) appeared, the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Atonement were mature doctrines. Building upon this excellent foundation, Luther developed the doctrine of Justification by grace through faith.
It is remarkable how interlocking these doctrines are. Viewed from historical hindsight, one is tempted to say that when one starts with a correctly formulated doctrine of the Trinity, the other key doctrines must of necessity emerge. Yet each of these doctrines involved a tremendous struggle against heresies of many kinds. We got through by the skin of our teeth. It was God’s providence and not logical necessity that caused the Great Truths to survive in this dark world.
A Few Scriptural References
Hundreds of scriptural references can be made but here is a short list to get started.
The Father is God. Matthew 6:9, John 6:27, 1 Peter 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 3:14, 1 Corinthians 1:3.
Jesus Christ is God. John 1:1, John 20:28, Titus 2:13, 2Peter 1:1, Hebrews 1:8, Colossians 2:9.
The Holy Spirit is God. Acts 5: 3-4, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19, 12: 4-6, Ephesians 4: 30, Genesis 1:2.
The Three Persons Together: Matthew 3: 16-17, Matthew 28: 19, Acts 2: 17 - 18, 22, 2: 33, John 14: 16-17, John 14: 16-17, 26, 15: 26, 16: 13-15
Father & Son in Solidarity: Matthew 11: 27, John 5: 19-23, 30-31, 37, 43, John 14: 2-3, 6-7, 9-11, 20-21, 23, John 17 - all, 1John 2: 23, 2Thessalonians 2: 16
Son & Holy Spirit in Solidarity: John 14:26, 16: 7, 13-14, Acts 1:8, 4: 8-10, 5:31-32, Romans 8: 2, 9, 11, 16-17, 1John 4: 2.
Fred Hutchison (posted 4/22/04)