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Summary in 400 words or less:
The doctrine of the Trinity is a cornerstone doctrine for the Christian faith. Although it is sometimes seen to be a contradiction, this could not be further from the truth. This accusation is often leveled because of a poor understanding of the terms used in this important locus of theology, and can easily be responded to by a proper explanation of the doctrine.
First, a few definitions that are important. The language of the Trinity was appropriated from Aristotelian metaphysics and uses a few specific terms that are critical. The first is ousia (substantia in Latin). This Greek term is sometimes translated as “nature”, “being” or “essence.” In a technical sense, this term refers to a set of attributes that define what it means to be something. In our context, it refers to the set of attributes that define what it means to be God. We call this the divine nature. The second term to be aware of is hypostasis (persona in Latin). This Greek term is usually translated as “person.”
The orthodox historical expression of the Trinity is: “Three persons in one substance” and appears as early as the second century. This immediately overcomes one objection that the Trinity was a doctrine that was created at the Council of Nicaea in AD 325.
The most common and serious accusation of the Trinity is that it is logically incoherent. “How can something be both three and one?” the antagonist asks, “Is this not a violation of the law of non-contradiction?” This stems from a misunderstanding of the difference between hypostasis and ousia. The Law of non-contradiction states that something cannot be *A and *non-A at the same time and in the same way. So the objection leveled is “How can God be one (A) and three (non-A) at the same time. The answer is that God is not one and three in the same way. God is three in one way, and one in a different way. That is, God is three in person (there are three divine persons) and one in another way (there is one divine nature). Since the objection is leveled against an argument that Christians do not make, it is by definition a straw man and clarifying the actual doctrine overcomes the fallacy put forward by your opponent.
Scripture for YouVersion:
Deuteronomy 6:4, Matthew 3:13-17, 28:19, John 1:1, 10:30, Ephesians 4:4-6
Short audio/video:
Three questions (1 fill-in-the-blank, 1 multiple choice, and one discussion question):
References for further reading:
What is the Trinity? – RC Sproul
Our Triune God – Philip Graham Ryken
The Christian Faith (Chapter 8) – Michael Horton
Life in the Trinity – Chapter 3 – Donald Fairbairn
Collaboration notes:
I think we may need to break up the Trinity into multiple sections. Perhaps one for each major objection. – Tony Arsenal
CLEE – good idea.
E. A. Abbott’s “Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions” I think is one of the best explanations of how a being can be three yet one.
The fictional account takes the view of objects on a plane, free in two dimensions. One day, a three dimensional object (a sphere) passes through their “land” (or plane), which boggles their minds. (If we added to this analogy, imagine a fork, prongs first, passing through the plane.) Just as a three-dimensional object is somewhat incomprehensible to two-dimensional objects, a Being who is free in four dimensions (or at least not bound in the four dimensions) would be difficult for three-dimensional beings to understand. And we say that God exists outside of Time.
Collaborators: Tony Arsenal, Chris Lee (CLEE)
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From what I understand from my study, the trinity explains God as subsisting in a fellowship of three. The fellowship of the three perichoretically and in perfect love forms the basis of reality which is relationality. God in his essence is relational being. One in power, work, will and desire and three in hypostasis or persona. This hypostasis or persona is unlike a psychological person, a human individual. It is three ontological persons who make up the Trinity. We should understand that we are trying to explain someone who transcends space and time and we do not know what that means. All we can know about God has been communicated to us in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the image of the invisible God who resides in unapproachable light. From what is revealed to us through Jesus of nazereth the primary source of our information about Trinity, we should understand God the Father as present in the Son(I in the father and the father in me) and Jesus revealing the father. The relationship was not taken apart even when Jesus took on human flesh and became a man. Jesus also says that “he was with the father before the world began”. The Holy Spirit has been variously called the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the ‘another’ who will replace the presence of Jesus on Earth and will carry on the mission of God through the Church. He will reveal Jesus and will point towards Jesus.
The Trinity has three distinctions which should be maintained with the same time maintaining the unity. From what is revelaed through Jesus, we can see that God the father of Jesus is divine. Jesus of the same substance with the father is divine and Holy Spirit who is Spirit of father and the Son is also divine. The three hypostasis together subsist as one God. The One God subsists in three hypostasis.
Even though there are various explanations of trinity this is what I found from my personal study of the Bible!
The word trinity has become a stumbling block to many people. But this is the cornerstone for our Christian belief and our salvation. I’ll try to explain it briefly!
OLD TESTAMENT/ OLD COVENANT PERIOD:
The time during which he made a covenant with Abraham and then gave the ten commandments to Moses. God spoke to people through his holy spirit.
Even though Jesus who is God’s word and the holy spirit existed along with the father from the beginning they were not expressed as trinity during the old covenant time. I have seen some theologians quoting John 1:1 to say that Jesus existed as a trinity from the beginning. They use the verse “the word was with
God”. Because the word ‘with’ is used instead of “the word was in God”. They say that they existed as trinity right from the beginning but that is a wrong understanding of concept. A word is considered as a word only when it is spoken out and a word is never inside a person. A word is spoken out by the movement of articulators and it always proceeds out.
As a part of the old covenant when men disobeyed God and willfully obeyed satan an animal sacrifice was performed to atone for it. When man disobeyed God he sold his life to satan. So a blood was offerd to reddem the life of the man as we know that life is in the blood. In the old testament it was a blemishless animal that was offered. But it became ritualistic and meaningless.
NEW TESTAMENT:
God wanted to pay a price to redeem mankind from satan forever. So he wanted to replace the animal’s blood with his own blood as a price once and for all. So he himself wanted to come to this earth and pay the price. But the father God is holy, he can not see sin and no one has ever seen him. So he sent his word in the form of a flesh to atone for the sins of men. That’s why the incarnate word of God is called the son of God. (Just because the term son of God is used his birth cannot be compared to the birth of a human child. THIS TERM IS USED BECAUSE THIS IS THE CLOSEST TERM WE CAN USE TO MAKE HUMANS UNDERSTAND. After Jesus death, resurrection and ascension the holy spirit was sent to the listeners to empower them and guide them.
That’s why it became important to explain God in terms of trinity in the new covenant period or the new testament period!!
FATHER GOD:
The father God is the creator , holy, who cannot see sin and whom no one
has seen (I Timothy 6:15,16). It is his will that happens in all the world
(Ephesians 1:12; Matthew 6:10; II Timothy 1:9; Ephesians 1:9, 10).
JESUS:
Jesus is the incarnate word of God. I don’t see many people explaining about
Jesus this way. But our fore fathers were familiar with it as we see in the
Christmas hymn ” O come all ye faithful”. Every year we sing “Word of the father now in flesh appearing”
The father God honored his word above all his names (Psalms 138:2). None of the words of God is spoken in void. It accomplished its purpose and returns to the
father (Isaiah 55:11)
Isaiah who prophesied about the birth of Jesus has also mentioned it in Isaiah 9:6-8. Jesus is the word of God who became flesh or the word of God took the form of a man and was born in Bethlehem as a baby John 1:1-3, 14, Hebrews 4:12, 13, I John 5:7; Rev 19:13.
He is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of God’s being
Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3. That’s why Jesus said whoever has seen him has
seen his father. This is the reason why he is also called the son of God!
Because God created everything with his word, we also read that God created
everything through Jesus (John 1:3; Hebrews 1:2; Colossians 1:16)
Jesus was sent to this earth to fulfill some actions in this earth
decided by the father (Jesus does not do anything on his own will) John 5:19-
21; John 17:4; John 4:34; John 12:49, 50; John 6:37,38; John 5:36; John 15:10,
15; John 5:17; John 6:45; Hebrews 10:7-10; John 14:10.
Father God has given authority over everything to Jesus (John 3:35;
Colossians 1:16; John 5:27; John 13:3; I Peter 3:22; Ephesians 1:20 – 23) but
after Jesus defeats all the enemies he will hand back the authority to father
God (I Corinthians 15:24 – 26).
Because Jesus is the word of the father God, the word that comes out of
the father God’s mouth is first conceived in the thoughts of the father God. Then it is spoken out. This is the very reason Jesus said his father is greater than him (John 10:29). This is also the reason why Jesus said he does not know the hour
of his coming. Because Jesus is the word of the father, the word is
realized only when it is articulated. That does not make Jesus any inferior to
the father God. By commonsense will anyone say that a person’s word is greater
than the person himself. The relationship between Jesus and the father is
also similar.
Jesus is the incarnate word of God. The Bible is the inspired word of God. The Bible is the word of God written down by the inspiration of the holy spirit for our benefit (II Timothy 3:16, 17). This is why the Bible says we are born again through the word of God (I Peter 1:23). That’s why the Bible has got the same power which Jesus had! This inspired word of God which is the verses of the holy Bible is written in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (II Corinthians 3:3).
HOLY SPIRIT:
Holy spirit is the spirit of the father God who is sent to this earth to empower
believers and to carry out the father’s will after Jesus left this earth (I John4:13; I Peter 4:14.
When Jesus was in this earth he was in the form of a human flesh 100% human
100% divine. (Romans 8:3; Hebrews 5:7,8; Philippians 2:5-9). Thats why Jesus said if anyone blasphemes against him that will be forgiven. Whereas there is nothing human about a holy spirit he is the spirit of the father god, thatswhy if anyone blasphemes the holy spirit there is no forgiveness in this life or after life!
The Holy spirit is a spirit. THE WORD “PERSON” IS USED BECAUSE WE DON’T HAVE A BETTER TERM TO EXPRESS HIS IDENTITY.
The holy spirit does not do anything on his own will but he fulfills the will of the father (John 16:13 – 15; Romans 8:27; I Corinthians 2:10-12). Can you imagine your spirit doing something different from what your mind thinks?
Some people mistakenly think that the Holy spirit has independent will and for that they quote I Corinthians 12:11. But if we read Hebrews 2:4 we see the same work being done by God. In I Corinthians it says holy spirit distributes the gifts to show how inseparable God and Holy spirit are in their decisions! When Peter says that Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit in the next verse we see Peter telling him that he lied to God. (Acts 5:3,4).
If a persons spirit is grieved the person is automatically grieved. We can read
in Psalms when David says that his spirit is grieved. That does not make his
spirit into an independent person. So if the holy spirit is grieved we grieve God automatically. But many insist that the holy spirit can be grieved alone.
Holy spirit is a subsistence of the trinity God and not a person as commonly
used in human terms! We also should understand that as humans we are not able to send our spirits out of our body but the all powerful God can do that. Even satan also does a similar work by sending his evil spirit into this earth to accomplish evil works. We read an example of this in Mark 5:1-13.
Because the father God is omnipresent, omnipotent and eternal. His word
(Jesus Christ) and his spirit (Holy spirit ) are also omnipotent, omnipresent
and eternal. The father God created this world through Jesus his word which was
brought alive by his spirit (the holy spirit). We can see this very clearly in
the creation of Adam Genesis 1:26 – 28; 2:7,8.
Jesus and holy spirit were sent by the father to fulfill his will on this earth! That’s why the three of them are going to witness about the work they did here on this earth (I John 5:7). This is also understandable by the command which God gave to Moses in which he said any issue should be accepted with the testimony of two or three witness (Deuteronomy 19:15).
IF ANYONE WANTS A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF THE TRINITY JUST
TAKE FEW MOMENTS TO THINK AND LEARN ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YOUR BODY, THE PRODUCTION OF WORDS FROM YOUR MOUTH AND YOUR SPIRIT.
THE TRINITY CONCEPT BECOMES PRACTICAL, THE BIBLE COMES ALIVE AND NO ONE CAN DENY TRINITY!
I ALSO WANT EVERYONE TO UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS NOTHING INCORRECT IN COMPARING THE IMAGE OF GOD AND THE IMAGE OF MAN BECAUSE GOD CREATED MAN IN HIS OWN IMAGE (GENESIS 1) !