Common Awards : Marking Cover Sheet

The first four chapters of Genesis indicate that God is the eternal Creator the universe; that God communicates with His creation and evaluates his own work, and that God is sovereign, exercising “supreme authority and absolute power over all things” (Lecture 2, para. 5). There is but one true God, who exists as a Triune Being and is three Persons in one essence; a Divine essence which exists wholly, invisibly, simultaneously and eternally, within three members of the one Godhead—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (Lecture 2, para. 7). Harmoniously linked, “each divine figure of the Trinity exercises dominion over creation and is involved in the biblical narrative in its own unique, yet cooperative, way” (Johnson, p. 178). The unity of the Trinity not only illustrates the full divinity of God, the immeasurable power, benevolence, wisdom and omnipresence distinctly setting Him apart from His creation, but also shows that He is the source of all that is good, true, beautiful, loving, just, and

I will like to crave your indulgence to the fact that "Nicene concept of Trinity" is never stated in the Bible, and it is that early Christians as well as the scriptures clearly points out the fact that Jesus was fully divine and pre-existent. For the fact that, none of the early Christian theologians fully asserted the doctrine of the Trinity, not even a speculation about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. According to the father of the paganism description of Trinity "God can in no way be described." (Schindler 148).

God the Son is revealed in the Christian Scriptures. God the Spirit is revealed in the Church. The Trinitarian doctrine states that there are three co-eternal, equal persons in God, which is the notion of unity within community. The Trinitarian doctrine was further developed and defined at the councils of Nicaea in 325 CE and Constantinople in 381 CE. God was always trinity, however gradually this reality became known through revelation. Jesus calls God and speaks of the spirit which indicates a plurality in God. The difficulty is reconciling the concept of monotheism with the notion of God existing as three persons. The divine essence is common to all three, however the three persons have attributes or properties which distinguished them eg Fatherhood, sonship and sanctifying power. Once essence means that the actions (creation, redemption, sanctification) are attributable to all. Mutual relations is the concept that the terms Father and Son are not titles but expressions of a relationship and thus all three persons are co-equal

Early saints—or early Christian teachers, have been discussing the Trinity deeply and deliberately for decades, as it is one of the most complex teachings written in the Bible. One of the most reliable doctrines of the Trinity is The Holy Trinity Doctrine. The Holy Trinity Doctrine was one of the doctrines created during the first few ages where Christianity just started developing. This doctrine was created in the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. During this discussion, diverse points were given by theologists. Thoughts named as Tritheism, Unitarism, and Arianism are present. Tritheism focuses that there are three separate Gods, promoting polytheism, Unitarism focuses on God the Father most, and separates Christ and the Holy Spirit into a different category of deity, thus changing their divinity, and Arianism promotes Jesus Christ as a creation of God during the Creation. Other than these three, there are also other strong doctrines about the Trinity from the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed--which came from the Council of Nicea, and the Athanasian

Throughout this semester I have learned many of the different christian doctrines. Many of them were challenged and also accepted in my weekend trip throughout Saint Louis. I think one of the most important topics that was discussed during my weekend was the consideration of the Trinity. In the Christian thought the word “trinity” is a term used to talk about the Christian doctrine that God exists as a unity of three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three of the staple thoughts include; God is three person; each person is divine; there is only one God. In their relations to one another, they are stated to be on in all else, co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial. With these three thoughts about the Trinity you also must remember that Christianity is a monotheistic religion.

The traditional Christian belief that God is a Trinity can be summarized briefly: God is three persons in one divine nature. These three persons are traditionally named Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But, it seems like different religions have their different views of disagreeing with God being trinity. I can see why there is a disagreement because God is labeled to be three people, when people believe that God is one person. I personally believe that everybody can have their own way of defining God through their perception or they can follow what he reveals to us. Despite these challenges, it is possible to defend the doctrine of the trinity as a reasonable belief.

What lead to the Church’s understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity? The Trinity says that there are three persons in our one God that is one simple definition of the Trinity but it caused confusion among many Christian believers, the confusion lead to three Trinitarian heresies. These heresies offered many Christian believers an explanation that would help them comprehend the Trinity. When these heresies gained popularity, the church was forced reject or accepted the Trinitarian explanations that did or did not go against the Christian Tradition. The three heresies that arouse were Adoptionism, Modalism, and Arianism according to (Jones, Beth Felker. Practicing Christian Doctrine: An Introduction to Thinking and Living Theologically pg.

The Doctrine of the Trinity was the one core belief that the group expounded on the most. As a question arose on how should one explain the Trinity

This was the question that popped up in my head after reading the first chapter of The Orthodox Way, God as Mystery. More ironically, before they answered my question did they tell me that Jesus Christ is God and Holy Spirit is God as well. Usually multi-identities are not an issue for me or for anyone, but this time is a little, or a lot, different when it comes to God. In the chapter, God as Trinity, “The Christian God is not just a unit but a union, not just unity but a community… He is Trinity: three equal persons, each one dwelling in the other two by virtue of an unceasing movement of mutual love” said Ware (P. 27). Ono thing that needs to be confirmed first is that there is only One God, and God is the one essence embracing three persons. Secondly, in the case of Trinity a person is not just an individual, as opposed to that three human persons always “retain their own will and own energy no matter how closely they co-operate together” (P. 30). This indicates the property of “distinction but never separation” within the three persons; they are distinct as in differentiation and they are never separate because of the relationship formed by the shared one will and one energy. As a consequence, we surely have to turn to the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit if we want to know God holistically, especially the Oneness of God (Jones,

According to the Christian worldview, God exists in a unique form known as the Trinity. This defines God as a singular being with three distinct persons: the Father, Son, and Spirit. Each person has a unique role: the Father is the Sovereign Creator (Psalm 103:19, New American Standard Bible); the Son is the Messiah and the firstborn over all creation (Colossians 1:15, NASB); and the Spirit is an Intercessor and Helper (John 14:26, NASB). All three persons comprise the single figure of God. This concept, while complex, is pivotal to the Christian worldview as one begins to analyze the overarching message of the Gospel.

The definition of the Trinity according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is “the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead according to Christian dogma.” The basis of the Trinity is that there is God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There are three separate parts, yet they make up one. While this is confusing to the naked ear, it actually makes logical sense on a deeper level. Scholars and philosophers struggled for years to give a valid explanation of the Trinity. It was not until Tertullian in the 2nd or 3rd century AD that a satisfactory explanation was given. Tertullian came up with the Trinitarian Doctrine, which basically

The concept of Jesus being fully man but also fully God at the same time has been debated amongst scholars, both Christians and non-Christians alike for centuries. The doctrine and study surrounding the person of Jesus is known as Christology, and after extensive and often hostile debates the Church gave a concluding definition of its Christology in 451 CE at the Council of Chalcedon. It was stated that they affirmed the belief in Jesus Christ as ‘one Person in two natures, which are united without confusion.’ The early church was adamant that the Incarnation was one of the most important truths of the Christian faith.

"How then do we arrive at a clear doctrine of the Trinity? Simply by accepting two lines of evidence in the bible: (a) clear statements that teach there is only one God; and (b)equally clear statements that there was Someone

The early Christians agree that it was essential to explain the relationship between Jesus and God. Yet their assertions about Christ raised questions about the unity of God. Trinitarian theology provided an important solution; it kept Christians from backsliding into superstitious polytheism, but it also prevented Jewish monotheism from undermining the significance of Christ

Although both Allah and the Christian God are seen as monotheistic by their followers, Muslims see the definition of a monotheistic deity a little bit differently. Or, looking at it another way, Muslims do not understand the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. In Christianity, God is seen as one, but at the same time as having three distinct “persons” – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19 says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” A singular “name” is applied to the three persons. Because this concept is impossible to grasp in its entirety, Muslims tend to see Christians as pluralistic (worshipers of three gods) when, in fact, they are worshiping one. To Muslims, the concept of a triune God does not fit in