Trinity Research Paper

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

Karl Rahner in his observations insists that modern Christians are ‘almost mere “monotheists”’, only paying lip service to the doctrine of Trinity but lacking in the actual practices . Rahner’s observation has been widely acknowledged with the desire being to make a change .

Christians believe in one God, yet the apparent contradictory nature of the Trinity is such that it has caused many to doubt whether Christianity is indeed monotheistic. This has consequently caused Christians to defend their monotheism in relation to the Trinity. In the two such defenses that are studied in this essay, we find that Christians have explained the nature of Trinity with varying degrees of effectiveness and success. Timothy the Patriarch defends the Trinity before the Caliph Madhi with few compelling arguments, and Gregory of Nyssa explains it in a more abstract and therefore more effective way. Each however defends the Trinity according to his understanding of it.

John of Damascus was another prodigy of the early Church, having extensive knowledge of a wide range of subjects during his life, which spanned from the late 7th century to the mid-8th century. In this brief excerpt of his book, John of Damascus discusses the same fundamental ideas Augustine covers, namely the in-depth understanding of the Holy Trinity. His purpose, as previously stated, is to clarify misunderstandings the Trinity and to expel false teachings such as modalism and polytheism.

One of the main claims of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition is that human beings exist in relation to a Triune God. In the Catholic Tradition, Triune God is also called the Trinity which means one God and three holy persons; the Father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. They all are distinct but all equal God. There are many texts in the Catholic Tradition that shows that humans exist in relation to a Triune God, two of those texts are The Book of Genesis which is in the Bible, and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.

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, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: one God in three persons. The three persons are distinct, yet one substance essence of nature. The Fourth Latern Council declares it is the Father who generates, the Son who is begotten, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds. Accordingly, the whole work of creation and grace is seen as a single operation common to all three divine persons, in which each shows forth what is proper to him in the Trinity, so that all things ae from the Father, through the Son and in the Holy Spirit. Included in the doctrine of the Trinity is a strict monotheism which is the teaching that there exists in all the universe a single being known as God who is

The doctrine of Trinity has been taking shape over the centuries, beginning from the early church fathers. To discuss the development of the doctrine, I will use Reading the Early Church Fathers, a recommended text for this course and Trinity 101, a required text, by Dr. Jim Papandrea. The paper will focus on the Christology and ways through which the doctrines began to develop over the centuries, especially during the second and third centuries.

An important historic doctrine of the second century dealt with the Trinity. Now this term “the Trinity” and all three aspects were not flushed out during this time, but the beginning thoughts mainly on the relationship of the Father and Son were beginning to be discussed. The main cause for the laying of the foundation of the Trinity was Gnosticism. Gnostics “believed in One God who is wholly transcendent, spiritual and far removed from the fallen, material universe, which he did not create (pp. 37).” Additionally, “human beings are sparks of the same spiritual substance that God is ... thus salvation is to escape from the bondage of material existence (pp. 37).” Gnostics “regarded Jesus as the human vehicle for this heavenly messenger”, which meant that they all “rejected the idea of God becoming

The Nicene Creed has been the central statement of Trinitarian faith since it was written in 381 A.D. (106). The Nicene Creed proclaims faith in each aspect of the Trinity, but for some it is hard to comprehend how Jesus could be equal to the Father. Furthermore, the concept of how each can be their own being while also existing as one is hard for many to understand. In this paper, one will see arguments for the existence of God, how God was creator and forgiver, how Jesus was also the creator and forgiver, and how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all one. The Bible is consistent to reveal that God is the creator, and that he has purpose for his people. He sends his son Jesus, who through claiming both son-ship and oneness with the

There are many who insist that the doctrine of the Triune God is absent from the scriptures. This claim often suggests that Trinitarian doctrine is a mere innovation by the Church in later times rather than a real and solid foundation for Christianity. In the Orthodox Church, the scripture plays an extremely important role. While it is not the only tool that the Church uses, it is a vital part of the Church’s Tradition. In the Johannine and Pauline writings, we see a Trinitarian theology that is very similar to the doctrine held by the Church today. While there is a clear distinction and uniqueness to each of the persons of the Trinity, it also clear that the authors’ intentions are to show their equality.

Having grown up United Methodist, it has been compelling to discover how much I have been influenced by Wesleyan theology, without even realizing it. This embedded theology continues to be refined through an ever-deepening understanding of scripture, experience, traditions and with the use of reason. I am most drawn to those theologians who are rooted in this Wesleyan tradition. My mother grew up Disciples of Christ, and her tradition influenced my theology through its broad understanding of faith. This led me toward an openness about the various ways people experience and understand the Divine. The Disciples of Christ tradition also influenced my understanding of baptism, while John Wesley’s Treatise on Baptism helped me affirm a Wesleyan

The doctrine of the Trinity is often viewed as an archaic and abstract theory many churches and theological study programs settled on long ago, and therefore, has little relevance to modern Christian faith. Over the past fifteen centuries, the doctrine of the Trinity has played a peripheral role in Christian theology. Formulated in Nicea (325 C.E.) and later revised in Constantinople (381 C.E.), it has been generally accepted by most Christians. However, this was not always the case; over 1600 years ago, according to Gregory of Nyssa, it was near impossible to enter the marketplace without hearing or becoming engaged in a debate about whether God the Son is equal to or less than God the Father.

Still debated today, implications of the doctrine of the Trinity first arises in Genesis 1:1 of the Bible and later becomes the topic of discussion during the Patristic era of the early church. One of these Patristic fathers, Augustine of Hippo, addresses this doctrine in his book The Confessions and his later writings. As one of the Patristic fathers who laid the foundations of much of Christian theology, his insight is well respected and is one of the most studied of the early fathers. In The Confessions, he brushes the surface of the doctrine of the Trinity, yet also introduces poignant issues that are explored later.

Beginning around the fourth century, Christian councils were forced to respond to the heresies of Arianism and Sabellianism, whose views on the Trinity were unacceptable to many Christians. As a response, the councils composed creeds such as the Nicene Creed and Athanasian Creed. In current times, philosophers Jeff Brower and Michael Rea try to explain the doctrine of the Trinity through analogies. I will discuss the two heresies and creeds, as well as the analogies presented.