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The Trinity Fundamentally, the Nature & Life of God in Himself Is a Mystery to Human Beings

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The Trinity Fundamentally, the Nature & Life of God in Himself Is a Mystery to Human Beings The Trinity Fundamentally, the nature & life of God in himself is a mystery to human beings. No human words can express the reality of God. Christian experience of Jesus and the Holy Spirit however strongly suggested a plurality, or community, of persons within God. OT Hints of Trinity The Jews strongly believe in One God. MONOTHEISM.It was what distinguished them from all the religions around them. The Shema (principle prayer of Judaism) says: “Listen O Israel, the Lord your God is One”. “ 1st of the 10 C’s: “You will have no other gods before Me”. However, there are a number of OT verses where God is referred to in an alternative way, but not as another, separate God: • “The earth was a formless void, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters” (Gen 1:1-2) • “Let us create man in our own image” (Gen 1:26) • Abraham..saw three men..and he bowed down low and said “O Lord, if I have found favour in your sight..” (Gen 18:3) • “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God almighty” (Isa 6:3) • Wisdom (personified in the OT as a person – the Logos, or Holy Spirit?) “I came forth from the mouth of the Most High” (Ecc.24:3-5) “Wisdom was with Him before all his works” (Prov 8:22) “I was by God’s side, a master craftsman, ever at play, delighting to be with the Sons of men” (8:30) NT Hints of the Trinity The Christian Creed states: “We believe in One God”, like the Jewish one, but the Christian experience of Jesus, and of the Holy Spirit, made them realize that they could no longer speak of God in the simple singular form. Jesus claimed, and acted in such as way, so as to show his fundamental equality with God (everliving, all-powerful, all-knowing etc). In receiving the Holy Spirit, Christians felt the presence and power of Jesus and of God. References showing co-equality of 3 persons = monotheism • Jesus has the same attributes as God – Jesus is eternal God, in human flesh: “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:1) – Jesus is the Holy Spirit made flesh: “The angel said to Mary “the Holy Spirit will overshadow you ..so the offspring will be holy and will be called the Son of God” (Lk 1:35) – Jesus was pre-existent with God: • “The Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning”. (Jn 10:30) • Jesus says “Before Abraham ever was, I am”. (Jn 8:58) • Jesus says “What if you should see the Son of Man seated where he was before?” (Jn 6:62) – Jesus is one with the Father: “I and the Father are one” ; “He who has seen me, has seen the Father”. (Jn 14:19) – Jesus is one in power and in action with the Father: • St. Paul: “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for in him all things were created.” Col 1:1 (ie creation takes place by/through/in the Son) • “Whatever the Father does, the Son also does too" (Jn 5:19 , cf. 10:38 ); MRumian2016 • Jesus says he is the Lord of Angels, who execute His command (Mt 24:31 ). • Jesus says that He will come to be the judge of all men ( Mt 25:31 ). In Jewish theology , a Divine, and not a Messianic, prerogative. • Jesus says “all authority in heaven and earth have been given to him by the Father” (Mt 28:18) • Jesus taught his disciples to baptise “in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” (Mt 28:19) • The Spirit is God, sent by Jesus and the Father – Jesus says “I will send you the Holy Spirit”. (Jn 15:26) – Jesus says “I will ask the Father, and he will send you another helper, the Spirit of truth, to lead you into all truth” (Jn 14:16). – Jesus "breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit..." (John 20:22) – And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever” (Jn 14:16) – it is for your benefit that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. (Jn 16:7) – The Spirit will “take from what is mine and disclose it to you; for everything the Father has, is mine”. (Jn 16:14) • Early Apostolic Greeting – "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” The Athanasian Creed The Doctrine of the Trinity was formally defined by Council “We worship one God in of Nicea, 325 AD. One of theologians present, was Bishop trinity and the Trinity in Athanasius (remember “substantial” view of Jesus’ birth unity, neither confusing the narratives?) The Athanasian Creed was the first statement of persons nor dividing the Christian belief that included reference to the Trinity and was used divine being. For the Father in the West (but not in the East, because it contains the Filioque is one person, the Son is clause – more of that later). another, and the Spirit is still another. But the deity of The Trinity can be understood in terms of three statements the Father, Son, and Holy (below), which taken together seem to be mutually incompatible. Spirit is one, equal in clory, However, denial of any of the statements, esults in heresy – a co-eternal in majesty.” wrong understanding of God. So the challenge for Christians is to find a way of affirming all three of them at the same time. 1. There is only one God 2. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is each God. 3. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are not the same. Heresies If any of the above statements is denied, you get a heresy. Heresies of the Trinity either fail to respect the distinctions between the persons (modalism), the co-equality between the persons (Arianism, Adoptionism) or the unity between them (Tritheism). Against 1: To say there are 3 gods with their own will and consciousness, who only co-ordinate their activity.= heresy of TRITHEISM Against 2: To say the Son is not himself truly God, but subordinate to God (eg. God’s messenger, or God’s perfect creature)= heresy of ARIANISM (but the belief that Son is truly divine but not really human= Sabellianism) MRumian2016 Against 2: To say the Son was made God’s son at his baptism, not pre-existing as Son = heresy of ADOPTIONISM Against 3: to say the Persons are not really different from each other (but only the same God in different variations or modes) = heresy of MODALISM Attempts at Analogies • Tertullian: God is a triad like the sun, the Son is the ray of the sun, the Spirit as heat. (or water/ ice/steam) ….but MODALISM? Suggests the same God, just exists in different modes, not real differences. • St. Patrick – shamrock. An anonymous Welsh monk suggested the Trinithy was like the letter A (anon. Welsh) – each part of letter needed for whole letter…but each person IS fully God, not “parts” of God • St.Augustine – had 2 analogies: – In terms of relationship: God as lover, beloved, and the love …but “love” does not seem very much like a person, in the way the other two are – Psychological analogy – humans reflect God as images of God: what distinguishes us from beasts: memory (knowledge), understanding (mind), will. So Father is the originating source (knowledge), the Son is the understanding by which knowledge is applied (mind), the Spirit is the loving will (effecting action). “When the mind knows and loves itself, there is a Trinity of mind, love and knowledge” …but can we assume God is anything like his created creatures? Aren’t we making the mistake of thinking the structure of God (who God is), is based on how he acts towards creation – eg HS unites us to God by God’s loving will, but this does not mean the HS is “loving will”, in God. For these reasons, the Eastern Church disagreed with Augustine, saying that all we can know, is that the Father is the source of divinity, the son is “begotten” and the Holy Spirit “proceeds”, from the Father only. The Western Church accepted Augustine’s view. Tritheism: Why are there not 3 gods? If the NT talks of Jesus as equal in power, eternity with God and the Holy Spirit is the power and presence of God, then why are there not 3 gods? Tritheism is the heresy that God exists in three independent forms, each with their own will, centre of consciousness and activity.. • 3 golden items (key, ring, coin) all share in the same substance of being gold. There are not 3 kinds of gold, only one golden nature in 3 golden forms. • 3 disciples are 3 human beings. There are not 3 kinds of human being, only one human nature in 3 forms. (Gregory of Nyssa) God, has the nature of being god (he is divine in substance). This divine substance, is instantiated in three “Persons” of the Trinity. So there are 3 divine “things”. But there are not 3 kinds of god. The three Persons are all the same substance. (what these “divine “things”, or “persons” are, is not very clear).There are not 3 Gods/ golds – but one God/ gold.
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