The Doctrine Of The Trinity

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

This God however does take on three forms known as The Trinity. The Christian doctrine states that God exists as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

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.

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,

The Trinity to Nazienzus is absolutely essential in his Five Theological Orations, and in them he defines the “Father is the Begetter and the Emitter; without passion of course, and without reference to time, and not in a corporeal manner.” This means that “though numerically distinct there is no severance of Essence.” Christ is not subordinate to the Father, and the Holy Ghost is not subordinate to the Father or the Son; the Godhead is Triune in unity and is of the same substance. Even though the Holy Spirit and the Son “are from [the Father], though not after Him,” they still share the same essence as Him in the Trinity. This is an important distinction, because any part of the Godhead that has not existed for all time would not be God by definition. Nazienzus explains this by saying that the “cause is not necessarily prior to its

It is important to note the defined goals of the Trinity. One being that God sent His Son, Jesus did not send God. Jesus tells us in John 6, that He came to do the will of His Father. Jesus was not doing His own selfish will but everything He did was for His Father. Jesus and God sent the Holy Spirit according to Jesus’ words in John 14:26, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you”. It is necessary to recognize the distinctions of the roles of the Trinity as if the roles were not distinctive there would be no Trinity.

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

As a result, fellowship, prayer, Bible study, worship, and most importantly salvation in its purest form can be discerned and acted upon correctly. In addition, a further understanding can be thus gained regarding the person of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Finally, heresies and heretical groups or beliefs can lead God’s followers astray from the truth and create an improper understanding, and thus relationship with God. Positions past and present have, and are, attempting to mislead Christians about the Trinity. A skewed view of the Trinity can result in a view of God as either divinely apart from creation or simply a better version of all the best attributes of humans. Some positions even take away from the Divinity of Jesus Christ. All of these views severely diminish who God is and alters a proper and true relationship and worship. It is a necessity that these errant views be exposed as a hindrance to God in order not to mislead God’s followers. Likewise a Biblically sound explanation of the Trinity is needed. As a result, a true and pure knowledge of the concept of the Trinity is crucially needed to understand God and be obedient to the Bible.

The doctrine of the Trinity is foundational to the Christian faith. It is crucial for properly understanding what God is like, how He relates to us and how we should relate to Him. The doctrine of the Trinity explains that there is one God who eternally exists as three distinct Persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In other words, God exits one in essence but three in person. The Trinity does not divide God into three parts. These definitions express three crucial truths: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three distinct Persons, but there is only one God. In other words, each person of the Trinity has their own “office,” and each person of the Trinitarian society is revealed through their relation to the other persons of the Trinity (Edwards, Works of Jonathan Edwards volume 21, 31). It must be said that the work of the Trinity is a work of all three persons in complete consent with each other. Therefore, when one mentions the work of one person of the Trinity it is the work of all three.

“Father, Son and Holy Spirit” is a common phrase in the Christian faith. Who are these people and what do they represent? These three people are separate people, but represent one God. The concept of the Trinity creates a lot of debate, because some skeptics think that the Trinity is either Monistic or Pagan. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three separate beings that represent one God, and this can be seen in different passages in the Bible.

A part of the Christian faith that has long been debated over, yet is a part of our solid foundation, is the belief in the Triune God. Christians believe that there is only one God, but God is also three individual and distinct beings. The Godhead is made up of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirt. It is important to note that although God is three different beings they are all consider one God because of the oneness of their nature. Although, the Bible never explicitly speaks about the Trinity, each of the members of the Godhead can be seen working together.

God as Trinity, is a fact that all orthodox Christians can attest to with absolute certainty, however if we were to ask those same people “what does that mean for us, how does that affect the way we live our lives”? I suspect, most would not have an answer. For the majority of orthodox Christians, the Trinity is an abstract theological concept, that is best left for theologians to philosophise over, and has no place in the life of the average Christian. Karl Rahner, an Austrian philosopher and theologian, commenting on the “current neglect of the Trinity in the West” says:

In the Christian faith triune God is very significant. “Christian” is Trinitarian, describing Jesus as the one whom the Father anoints (christos) with the Spirit so that the Spirit may anoint our own lives (16). Christians confess Jesus as the risen Lord of the universe, but is proclaimed to be inseparable from the one who sent him, the one Jesus knew intimately as “Abba,” or “dear Father.” The ultimate paradox of Christianity is Jesus. Having Jesus at its very center disclosed as the source, the meaning, and the definitive answer to all of human longings causes this ultimate paradox. Fatula goes on to discuss, that although Jesus is the triune God, many of the people would not identify this God as the living God we actually experience in our own daily lives.