Essay on The Ministry of the Trinity

Masaccio’s famous religious painting, “The Holy Trinity”, is known for the engagement of linear perspective to create an image that goes beyond just paint on canvas, (or should I say wall?) by creating the illusion of depth. This painting addresses many religious concepts by setting up different levels and layers in the constructed space. The characters depicted are made up of four groups of human figures, which include the Trinity (God the father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit), the Virgin Mary and Saint John, a pair of donors, and a skeleton on a tomb at the bottom of the picture. There is an apparent point of separation, which is made clear due to each group being on separate levels. Their difference in power is fundamental feature in

At the center of the Christian faith is a mystery. This mystery has everything to do with the identity of God, the nature of Christian community, the salvation history and our understanding of Christology. This is the mystery of the Trinity – how is the Godhead fully three persons, and yet one nature? Theophilus was the first to name the ‘triad’ nature of God in his letter To Autolycus in 170 A.D. Tertullian was the first to offer terminology to describe this mystery in Against Praxeas claiming “the Trinity” involved three ‘persons’ of one substance. This theology emerged from the Biblical witness, even though scripture offers no doctrine of the Trinity itself. Even more so, the development of the doctrine of the Trinity grew from the early church’s worship, witness and corporate experience. When faced with a mystery, heresies can’t help but emerge. Docetism and Arianism, Adoptionism and Monarchianism, Nestorianism and Monophysitism are just a few of the heresies that emerged in attempts to explain away the mystery. And yet, theologians from the second century to the twenty-first century are faced with the challenge of witnessing to this mystery in both the theologia and the oikonomia of the Trinity. The church experiences the economic Trinity as new believers are drawn into Trinitarian community through an ongoing

instrument of the Holy Spirit in supporting so many in prayer through Sunday Prayer Service,

Importantly, “The Spirit of truth who ‘unveils’ Christ to us ‘will not speak on his own’” (CCC 687). The Holy Spirit is divinely self-effacing, in that he keeps himself in the background. Returning back to the beginning of our discussion, this is the opposite of the idea of “feeling” the Holy Spirit, for inherently, the Spirit points us away from himself and directs us toward the knowledge that “God is Love” (1 John 4: 8, 16). It is in this context that we are able to understand the Holy Spirit’s movement and work in the economy of salvation as a gift from God, out of God’s goodness and love (CCC

When an individual comes to faith in Christ he or she is not left alone to battle the struggles of sin, lead people to Jesus, experience heartache and sorrow, find God’s will, or live a life that is pleasing and honoring to the Lord. No, Christians are given an awesome gift that cannot be purchased or earned. Believers are blessed with the gift of a relationship with the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in John 14:16, “ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever.”(ESV) Sadly, many believers do not have a correct understanding of who the Holy Spirit is, or what He does. The purpose of this paper is define the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

This essay will analyze, and reflect, upon the incarnational ministry which is the model of ministry that Jesus Christ engaged in when he came to earth and" the Word became fresh and dwelt among us (John1:14)." Jesus participated

The Holy Spirit also brings conviction to the believer about sin, which brings Christians to repentance and right standing in the eyes of God. Without the Holy Spirit, people are not saved, but with this Spirit our bodies become a dwelling place of the Lord. The Holy Spirit is also a teacher, and with the Spirit people can rightfully understand the concept of truth and what truth entails, especially

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.

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 Bible talks about several roles that the Holy Spirit plays in the lives of people today. The first thing that the Holy Spirit does is he provides conviction of sin to all people. John 16:8 said, “And when he comes, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment”. Also, the Holy Spirit works in several ways for many believers that follow Christ. One of the roles that He works is to serve as a comforter and a helper in our daily life. In John 14:16-17 this means that there is someone that is helping us and guiding us and encouraging us during difficult time of

The various gifts of the Holy Spirit as listed in Scripture are conveyed according to the will of the Holy Spirit to every man for the eventual purpose of the edification and building up the church body.

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:

The Holy Spirit plays a very vital role in the lives of each and every believer; He can strengthen us with a strength that we cannot even begin to muster up in ourselves. He can bring us joy that we cannot even begin to find in the things of this world. He can bring peace to our lives more than anything that we can ever find on this earth. “The Holy Spirit which is primarily an energizing process, is also a revealing, refining, consuming, illuminating process, and one by which we are made to glow with love to God, and love to man, and love to souls.”

Les answers “The role of the Holy Spirit in spiritual transformation is to bear witness with our spirits that we are the sons and daughters of God. Les again scratched the surface here on the Holy Spirit’s role in our transformation. The Holy Spirit’s role is to form and transform our inner nature. He opens our eyes to the present truth of scripture. He makes us aware of God’s presence and counsels us in a way to maintain healthy habits of holiness. He is essentially our best friend that has the transforming power that no human has. His revealing power of unveiling our eyes to truth enables further transformation of our minds to be more Christ-like in

The role of the son or Jesus is the savior and teacher. The role of the Holy Spirit is the empowerer and evangelist. All these roles combined equal a mystical element that describes the Trinity or another name is Godhead. To understand the Trinity, God is the sun that shines while Jesus is the rays of the sun and the Holy Spirit is the warmth that is felt from the sun. All personalities are equal and combined together called the Trinity.