The Holy Trinity is God according to the doctrine of God as it has been taught in Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism, especially since the Council of Nicea (A.D. 325), and in most Protestant traditions.
Introduction
The Trinity is a central doctrine of most branches of Christianity; it says that God is one God, existing in three distinct persons, usually referred to as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Historically, this has been described by the Nicene (325 A.D.), Apostles' (200 A.D.), and Athanasian Creeds (mid 300's A.D.) although it is not explicitly described in the Bible. These creeds were created and endorsed by the orthodox, catholic Church of the third and fourth centuries, and later retained in some form by most Protestants.
Famous Orthodox Icon representing three angels
that visited Abraham as a symbol of the Trinity.
15th century AD.Larger
The Nicene Creed, which is a classic formulation of this doctrine, used "homoousia" (Gk. of same substance) to define the relationship among the members of the Godhead. The spelling of this word differs by a single Greek letter, "one iota", from the word used by non-trinitarians at the time, "homoiousia", (of similar substance): a fact which has since become proverbial, representing the deep divisions occasioned by seemingly small imprecisions, especially in theology.
Scripture and tradition
The word, Trinity, means literally, "a unity of three". This word does not appear in the Bible, and indeed, it apparently did not exist until Tertullian coined the word in the early third century. Nevertheless, although trinitarian Christians grant that the modern words and formulas are later developments, they still believe that this doctrine is found systematically throughout the Bible, and in the creeds and doctrines, and in other traditions of the Christian Church. It is considered a biblical doctrine "only on the principle that the sense of Scripture is Scripture". [1]
Belief in the God symbolized by the doctrine is considered essential by Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, and orthodox Protestantism. However, understanding it is not essential to the Christian faith. Or more precisely, it must be understood that God is a Trinity, for the sake of knowing who God is, and for understanding the salvation he has accomplished. But beyond such practical issues, speculation regarding a theory of divine being is not necessarily encouraged.
Baptism as the practical starting point
A practical understanding of the Trinity centers upon Christian Baptism. This is the starting point, to apprehend why the doctrine matters to so many Christians, even though what the doctrine teaches about the being of God is beyond complete comprehension. The Apostles' Creed, for example, has been commonly used as a brief summation of Christian faith, to be professed by converts to Christianity when they receive baptism, and at other times in the liturgy of the church.
Christians are baptized "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (Matt 28:19). The Christian life, and the Christian understanding of salvation, begins with a declaration of the Trinity. Basil the Great (A.D. 330-379) explains:
- "We are bound to be baptized in the terms we have received, and to profess faith in the terms in which we have been baptized"
At the baptism of Jesus Christ, again the Trinity appears: "And when Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him; and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." (Matthew 3:16-17, RSV). Thus to trinitarians the three persons of the Trinity were made manifest at once, in connection with baptism.
"This is the Faith of our baptism", the council of Constantinople declared (A.D. 382), "that teaches us to believe in the Name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. According to this Faith there is one Godhead, Power, and Being of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". The Trinity is deemed important by trinitarians, because this singleness of God's being, and mysterious multiplicity of persons, accounts for the nature of Christian salvation, and discloses the gift of eternal life. "Through the Son we have access to the Father in one Spirit" (Eph 2:18). This communion with the Father is the goal of the Christian faith, and is eternal life. It is acheived through God's union with human nature, in Jesus Christ who although fully God, humanly died for sinners to purchase their redemption; and this forgiveness and friendship with God is made accessible through the gift to the church of the Holy Spirit, who raised Christ from the dead, and who, being God, knows God intimately and leads and empowers the Christian to fulfill the will of God. Thus, this doctrine touches on every aspect of the trinitarian Christian's faith and life; and that accounts for why it has been so earnestly contended for, throughout Christian history, despite the difficulty inherent in explaining the doctrine.
One God
God is a single being. The Hebrew Bible lifts this one article of faith above others, and surrounds it with stern warnings against departure from this central issue of faith, and of faithfulness to the covenant God had made with them. "Hear O Israel! The Lord our God is One God" (Deut 6:4), "You shall have no other gods" (Deut 5:7) and, "This is what the LORD says- Israel's King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God." (Isaiah 44:6). Any formulation of an article of faith which does not insist that God is solitary, that divides worship between God and any other, or that imagines God coming into existence rather than being God eternally, is not capable of directing people toward the knowledge of God, according to the trinitarian understanding of the Old Testament. The same insistence is found in the New Testament: "there is no God, but one" (1 Corinthians 8:4). The "other gods" the church, as also Israel, is warned against having, are therefore not gods at all, but unequal substitutes for God.
So, in the trinitarian view, the common conception is a profoundly mistaken one, which thinks of the Father as the God of the Old Testament, who talks to and through Christ in the New Testament. The central, and crucial affirmation of Christian faith is that there is one savior, God, and one salvation, in Jesus Christ, to which there is access only because of the Holy Spirit. The God of the Old is the God of the New, and alone is God.
Three persons are one God
Because it is the foremost and unequivocal affirmation that, "there is only one God", the second trinitarian contention, that there are three persons who are the same God, makes the doctrine literally unintelligible to those who do not believe in the Trinity. Several Jewish and Islamic as well as unitarian Christian theologians have criticized this arithmetic, regarding the doctrine of the Trinity as bordering on, or indeed transgressing into, polytheism.
Some Muslim scholars have theorized that the Christian viewpoint is a misunderstanding with the terms father and son in the bible being terms of respect as opposed to implying an actual paternal relationship. One argument for this viewpoint is the numerous uses of the phrase "our father" with respect to humanity. This view reflects the Islamic view, which is inconsistent with orthodox Christianity, that Christ was a prophet of God but was not divine himself.
It is a difference concerning the identity of Christ, and therefore it is a difference in conception of the salvation connected with Christ, that drives all reactions, either favorable or unfavorable, to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Consequently, the doctrine of the Trinity is directly an issue of Christology.
Mutually indwelling
A rather difficult but useful explanation of the interrelationship of the separate persons of God is called perichoresis, which means, envelopment (taken woodenly the Gk. says, "dancing around"). This concept refers for its basis, to the Gospel of John, 14-17, where Jesus is instructing the disciples concerning the meaning of his departure. His going to the Father, he says, is for their sake; so that he might come to them when the "other comforter" is given to them. At that time, he says, his disciples will dwell in him, as he dwells in the Father, and the Father dwells in him, and the Father will dwell in them. This is so, according to the theory of perichoresis, because the persons of the Trinity "reciprocally contain one another, so that one permanently envelopes and is permanently enveloped by, the other whom he yet envelopes." (Hilary, Concerning the Trinity, 3:1).
This co-indwelling may be helpful in illustrating the trinitarian conception of salvation. The first doctrinal benefit is that it effectively excludes the idea that God has parts. Trinitarians affirm that God is a simple, not an aggregate, being. God is not parcelled out into three portions. The second doctrinal benefit, is that it harmonizes well with the doctrine that, the Christian's union with the Son in his humanity brings him into union with one who contains in himself the fullness (not a part) of deity (See also: Theosis). Perichoresis provides an intuitive figure of what this might mean. The Son, the eternal Word, is from all eternity the dwelling place of God; he is, himself, the "Father's house", just as the Son dwells in the Father and the Spirit; so that, when the Spirit is "given", then it happens as Jesus said, "I will not leave you as orphans; for I will come to you".
Eternal generation and procession
Some of the most problematic language in trinitarianism, is the affirmation that the Son is "begotten" and the Spirit "proceeds", but the Father is "neither begotten nor proceeding". The difficulties of this language is evident in the timefulness of the terms, where no beginning or or process in time is intended. The implied analogy in the eternal being of God, with timeful events, apparently breaks down very quickly, so that the Christian churches have been frequently troubled on its account. Nevertheless, it is the language employed by all branches of Trinitarian Christianity. These concepts were the catalyst of Great Schism, for example, concerning the Filioque.
These terms are employed in an effort to expand upon the economical subbordination, implied by the genitive of terms like "Father of", "Son of", and "Spirit of". While orthodox trinitarianism rejects ontological subordination, it affirms that the Father has a monarchial relation to which the Son and Spirit submit themselves - the willing subject from which the mission of the Breath and Word originate; and yet, this language is hemmed in with qualifications so severe that the analogy in view is easily lost, and is a source of perpetual controversy.
Nevertheless, the concept is considered to be of momentous practical importance to the Christian life because, again, it points to the nature of the Christian's reconciliation with God. The excruciatingly fine distinctions can issue in grand differences of emphasis in worship, as large as the difference between East and West, which for generations now have been considered practically insurmountable.
Historical development
Because Christianity converts cultures from within, the doctrinal formulas as they have developed bear the marks of the ages through which the church has passed. The rhetorical tools of secular philosophy, especially of Neoplatonism, are evident in the language adopted to explain the church's rejection of Arianism, Sabellianism, Adoptionism, etc.. Augustine of Hippo has been noted at the forefront of these formulations; and he contributed much to the speculative development of the doctrine of the Trinity as it is known today, in the West; the Cappadocian Doctors are more prominent in the East. The imprint of Augustinianism is found, for example, in the western Athanasian Creed, which, although it bears the name and reproduces the views of the fourth century opponent of Arianism, was probably written much later.
These controversies were for most purposes settled at the Ecumenical Councils, whose creeds affirm the doctrine of the Trinity. Constantine the Great who called the first of these councils, in AD 325, arguably had political motives for settling the issue rather than religious reasons; as he personally favored the Arian party, which in politically key regions of the Empire held a majority over the Catholics. It was also the form of Christianity that had been adopted by northern tribes of Vandals, and it would have given Constantine an advantage in defense against them, if the council adopted the same faith. It was not to be. The arguments of the deacon, Athanasius prevailed; and over the next three hundred years, the Arians were gradually converted to Catholicism.
According to the Athanasian Creed, each of these three divine Persons are said to be eternal, each said to be almighty, none greater or less than another, each said to be God, and yet together being but one God. According to the teachings of orthodox Christianity, the three persons of the Holy Trinity are said to share one Divine Nature, thus preserving their belief in one God. So are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say; There are three Gods or three Lords. -- Athanasian Creed, line 20
Some opponents of this view contend that these three "Persons" are not separate and distinct individuals. The modalists attempted to resolve the mystery of the Trinity by holding that, while God is numerically one, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are merely modes, roles, or manifestations of God Almighty. These titles describe how humanity has interacted with or had experiences with God. In the Role of The Father, God is the provider and creator of all. In the mode of The Son, man experiences God in the flesh, as a human, fully man and fully God. God manifests Himself as the Holy Spirit by his actions on Earth and within the lives of Christians. This view is known asSabellianism, and was rejected as heresy by the Ecumenical Councils although it is still prevelant today among denominations known as "Oneness" Christians. Trinitarianism insists that the Father, Son and Spirit simultaneously exist, each fully the same God.
Some feminist theologians refer to the persons of the Holy Trinity with more gender-neutral language, such as Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer (or Sanctifier). This is a very recent formulation, and emphasizes their roles rather than their personhood. Since, however, each of the three divine persons participates in the acts of creation, redemption, and sustaining, traditional Christians reject this formulation as simply a new variety of Modalism.
The doctrine developed into its present form, precisely through this kind of confrontation with alternatives; and the process of refinement continues in the same way. Even now, ecumenical dialogue between Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and trinitarian Protestants, seeks an expression of trinitarian doctrine which will overcome the extremely subtle differences that divide them into separate communions. The doctrine of the Trinity is symbolic, somewhat paradoxically, of both, division and unity.
Orthodox and Catholic viewpoints
In Eastern Orthodox theology, the distinction of persons is often described as follows. The three persons of the Trinity share the same divine essence, the same divine nature. (Because there is only one Divine Essence, and the three persons are undivided, there is only one God; thus Trinitarian Christianity remains monotheistic.) The difference between them is only that the Father begets the Son, and the Son is eternally begotten of the Father. The Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father. The Son does not beget or proceed; the Father neither proceeds nor is begotten; the Holy Spirit nether begets nor is it begotten. There are no other differences.
The Western (Catholic) tradition is less timid about positive statements concerning the inter-relationship of persons in the Trinity. It should be noted that explanations of the Trinity are not the same thing as the doctrine itself; nevertheless the Augustinian west is inclined to think in philosophical terms concerning the rationality of God's being, and is prone on this basis to be more open than the East, to seek formulations which make the doctrine more intelligible.
For example, one explanation is based on deductive assumptions of logical necessity: which hold that God is necessarily a Trinity. On this view, the Son is the Father's perfect conception of his own self. Since existence is among the Father's perfections, his self-conception must also exist. Since the Father is one, there can be but one perfect self-conception: the Son. Thus the Son is begotten by the Father in an act of intellectual generation. By contrast, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the perfect love that exists between the Father and the Son: and as in the case of the Son, this love must share the perfection of real existence. Therefore, as reflected in the filioque clause inserted into the Nicene Creed by the Catholic Church, the Holy Spirit is said to proceed from both the Father "and the Son." The Eastern Orthodox church holds that the filioque clause, i.e., the added words "and the Son" (in Latin, filioque), constitutes heresy. Most Protestant groups that use the creed also include the filioque clause. However, the issue is usually not controversial among them because, their conception is generally less exact than is discussed above. The clause is often understood by Protestants to mean that the Spirit is sent from the Father, by the Son.
Dissent from the doctrine
Many Christians believe that the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity is so central to the Christian faith, that to deny it is to reject the Christian faith entirely. However there have been a number of groups both historical and current which identify themselves as Christians but yet have an alternative view of the trinity. One ancient sect, called Ebionism, said that Jesus was not a "Son of God," but rather an ordinary man who was a prophet -- a view of Jesus shared by Islam. Other groups have an understanding of the Trinity that differs from orthodox formulation shared by Catholics, Protestants, and Eastern Orthodox. These include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Jehovah's Witnesses (who reject the Trinity doctrine entirely), Christian Science, the Unification Church, Unitarian Universalists and Oneness Pentecostals (Who believe that there is one God with no essential divisions in His nature. He is not a plurality of persons, but He does have a plurality of manifestations, roles, titles, attributes, or relationships to man. Furthermore, these are not limited to three).
External links
- "The Oneness of God" by David K. Bernard (Series in Pentecostal Theology, Volume 1)
- [2] Andrei Rublev's icon of the Trinity, with discussion of the history of the Trinity in iconography.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, chapter on the Creed.
Disambiguation
For other uses of trinity, please see the disambiguation page. This entry refers to the religious, spiritual, or philosophical uses of the word.