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General Information
The Trinity refers to the Christian understanding of God as a unity of three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All are equally God and so one, each sharing in the divine attributes of ultimacy, eternity, and changelessness; yet they are distinguishable in their relations to each other and in their roles within creaturely and human life and destiny.
The doctrine of the Trinity is a postscriptural attempt to bring to coherent expression diverse affirmations about God, all of which seemed necessary to a full statement of Christian experience and belief. First, from the Hebrew Scriptures and the clear tradition of Jesus' teaching, the church affirmed that not only is God one, but he is also the creative and sovereign Father and thus, by implication, transcendent of finite limits, time, and change - all of which characterize God's creatures.
Second, it was affirmed that Jesus Christ was more than a great prophet adopted by God; rather he was "the Son of God," "the Word made flesh," the divine Logos itself incarnate in a man. Third, the Holy Spirit, from whose presence the community of believers received their faith, their confidence in the truth of that faith, their holiness, and, above all, the efficacy of both baptism and the Eucharist, was necessarily also God - God's presence in their midst. For Christians, then, the one God appeared in what they called a threefold "economy," in, so to speak, three forms or modes.
Difficulties soon emerged in formulating and understanding this threefold "economy." Divergent views led early to numerous Trinitarian controversies such as those over subordinationism (the teaching that the Son is subordinate to the Father and the Holy Spirit to both; see Arianism) and modalism (the view that the three modes are transitory; see Monarchianism and Sabellianism). The Councils of Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381) outlined the dogma of the Trinity in express rejection of these teachings.
The Nicene, or Niceno - Constantinopolitan, Creed has defined through the ages, for both Catholic (Roman and Orthodox) and Reformation (Lutheran, Reformed, and Anglican) churches, the basic doctrine of the Trinity. Catholic and Protestant theology has sought in various ways to make the doctrine stated at Nicaea comprehensible.
Saint Augustine's lucid analogies of the divine Trinity in our experience of ourselves as memory, understanding, and will, and in our experience of our own existence as characterized by being, truth, and love, have been the point of departure for most subsequent study. In the religious thought of the Enlightenment (17th and 18th centuries), there was a strong reaction against Trinitarianism as an "orthodox" mystery without basis in either experience or reason - this was the view of Unitarianism and Deism and of much 19th century liberal theology. The great figures of 20th century theology - Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, and, most recently, Karl Rahner - despite their diversity of outlook, have again found the Trinity a central, in fact an unavoidable, structure for expressing the Christian understanding of God.
Langdon Gilkey
Bibliography
E J Fortman, The Triune God: A Historical Study of the
Doctrine of the Trinity (1972); B J F Lonergan, The Way to Nicaea:
The Dialectical Development of Trinitarian Theology (1976); B M
Stephens, God's Last Metaphor: The Doctrine of the Trinity in New
England Theology (1981); C Welch, In This Name: The Doctrine of the
Trinity in Contemporary Theology (1952).
By the Trinity is meant the unity of three persons in one Godhead; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Representing God as one, the Scriptures also ascribe divinity to Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Ex 20:3 De 4:35,39 6:4 1Sa 2:2 2Sa 7:22 1Ki 8:60 2Ki 19:15 Ne 9:6 Ps 86:10 Isa 44:6-8 45:22 Jer 10:10 Joe 2:27 Zec 14:9 Mr 12:29 Joh 17:3 Ro 1:21-23 1Co 8:4-6 Ga 3:20 Eph 4:6 1Ti 2:5
De 32:6 2Sa 7:14 1Ch 29:10 Ps 89:26 Isa 63:16 Jer 3:19 Mal 2:10 Mt 6:9 Mr 11:25 Lu 12:30 Joh 4:21,23,24 2Co 6:18 Php 4:20 Jas 1:17 1Jo 2:15,16
Ps 2:1-11 Mt 11:27 25:34 Mr 8:38 14:36 Joh 5:18-23,26,27 Joh 10:15,30 17:1 Ac 2:33 Ro 15:6 1Co 8:6 15:24 2Co 11:31 Ga 1:1-4 Eph 1:2,3 4:5,6 Php 1:2 1Th 3:11,13 2Th 2:16 1Ti 1:2 2Ti 1:2 Tit 1:4 Phm 1:3 1Pe 1:2,3 2Pe 1:17 1Jo 1:3 1Jo 4:14 Jude 1:1 Re 3:21
Mic 5:2 Joh 8:56-58 17:5 1Co 15:47 Php 2:6,7 Col 1:17 1Jo 1:1 Re 22:13,16 * read 13 & 16 together
Mt 11:27 28:18 Lu 20:41-44 Joh 3:13,31 Ac 10:36 Ro 14:9 Eph 1:20-22 Php 2:9,10 Col 1:15,17,18 Heb 1:4-6 1Pe 3:22 Re 1:5 3:14
Joh 1:3 Col 1:16 Heb 1:2,10
Isa 9:6 Mt 28:18 Joh 10:17,18 11:25 1Co 1:24 Php 3:21 Col 2:10 2Ti 1:10 Heb 1:3 Re 1:8
Mt 18:20 28:20 Eph 1:23
Mic 5:2 Joh 1:1 Re 1:8
Mt 11:27 Lu 10:22 Joh 2:24,25 21:17 Ac 1:24 Col 2:3 Re 2:23
Ps 102:24,25 Heb 1:8-10 Isa 7:14 9:6 Mal 3:1 Mt 1:23 Joh 1:1 20:28 Ac 20:28 Ro 9:5 Eph 5:5 Php 2:6 Col 2:9 Tit 1:3 2:13 Heb 1:8-10 Ps 102:24,25 2Pe 1:1 1Jo 5:20 Re 17:14 19:16
Mt 2:11 14:33 15:25 Lu 24:52 Joh 5:23 Ac 7:59,60 1Co 1:2 2Co 12:8,9 Ga 1:5 Php 2:10 1Th 3:11,12 2Ti 4:18 Heb 1:6 Ps 97:7 2Pe 3:18 Re 5:13
Ge 1:2 6:3 Ne 9:30 Isa 63:10 Eze 36:27,28 Ac 2:16,17
Joe 2:28 Mt 10:20 Lu 12:12 Joh 14:16,17 15:26 Ac 5:3,4 28:25
Ro 8:14 1Co 3:16 Ga 4:6 Eph 1:13 1Th 4:8 Heb 2:4 1Pe 1:2
Mt 3:16,17 28:19 Mr 1:10,11 Lu 3:21,22 Joh 14:26 15:26 16:13
Ac 13:2,4 15:28 Ro 8:26 1Co 12:11
Ne 9:20 Isa 44:3 Eze 36:26,27 37:14 Joe 2:28 Mt 3:11
Joh 3:5,6 14:26 Ac 9:31 Ro 8:9,11,14 1Co 6:11 2Co 1:22 5:5
Ga 4:6 5:22 Eph 1:13 3:16 1Th 1:6 2Th 2:13 Tit 3:5 1Pe 1:2
1Jo 3:24 Re 22:17
Mt 28:19 Ro 8:9,14-17 2Co 13:14 1Pe 1:2 Jude 1:20,21
Trinity is a word not found in Scripture, but it is used to express the doctrine of the unity of God as subsisting in three distinct Persons. This word is derived from the Gr. trias, first used by Theophilus (A.D. 168-183), or from the Lat. trinitas, first used by Tertullian (A.D. 220), to express this doctrine.
The propositions involved in the doctrine are these:
(Easton Illustrated Dictionary)
Trinity is the term designating one God in three persons. Although not itself a biblical term, "the Trinity" has been found a convenient designation for the one God self-revealed in Scripture as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It signifies that within the one essence of the Godhead we have to distinguish three "persons" who are neither three gods on the one side, nor three parts or modes of God on the other, but coequally and coeternally God.
The main contribution of the OT to the doctrine is to emphasize the unity of God. God is not himself a plurality, nor is he one among many others. He is single and unique: "The Lord our God is one Lord" (Duet. 6:4), and he demands the exclusion of all pretended rivals (Deut. 5:7-11). Hence there can be no question of tritheism.
Yet even in the OT we have clear intimations of the Trinity. The frequent mention of the Spirit of God (Gen. 1:2 and passim) may be noted, as also, perhaps, the angel of the Lord in Exod. 23:23. Again, the plural in Gen. 1:26 and 11:7 is to be noted, as also the plural form of the divine name and the nature of the divine appearance to Abraham in Gen. 18. The importance of the word (Ps. 33:6), and especially the wisdom, of God (Prov. 8:12ff.) is a further pointer, and in a mysterious verse like Isa. 48:16, in a strongly monotheistic context, we have a very close approach to Trinitarian formulation.
In the NT there is no explict statement of the doctrine (apart from the rejected I John 5:7), but the Trinitarian evidence is overwhelming. God is still preached as the one God (Gal. 3:20). Yet Jesus proclaims his own deity (john 8:58) and evokes and accepts the faith and worship of his disciples (Matt. 16:16; John 20:28). As the Son or Word, he can thus be equated with God (John 1:1) and associated with the Father, e.g., in the Pauline salutations (I Cor. 1:3, etc.). But the Spirit or Comforter is also brought into the same interrelationship (cf. John 14-16).
It is not surprising, therefore, that while we have no dogmatic statement, there are clear references to the three persons of the Godhead in the NT. All three are mentioned at the baptism of Jesus (Matt. 3:16-17). The disciples are to baptize in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (Matt. 28:19). The developed Pauline blessing includes the grace of the Son, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost (II Cor. 13:14). Reference is made to the election of the Father, the sanctification of the Spirit, and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ (I Pet. 1:2) in relation to the salvation of believers.
The fact that Christian faith involves acceptance of Jesus as Savior and Lord meant that the Trinity quickly found its way into the creeds of the church as the confession of faith in God the Father, Jesus Christ his only Son, and the Holy Ghost. The implications of this confession, especially in the context of monotheism, naturally became one of the first concerns of patristic theology, the main aim being to secure the doctrine against tritheism on the one side and monarchianism on the other.
In the fully developed doctrine the unity of God is safeguarded by insisting that there is only one essence or substance of God. Yet the deity of Jesus Christ is fully asserted against those who would think of him as merely adopted to divine sonship, or preexistent, but in the last resort created. The individuality of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is also preserved against the notion that these are only modes of God for the various purposes of dealing with man in creation or salvation. God is one, yet in himself and from all eternity he is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the triune God.
Trinitarian analogies have been found by many apologists both in nature generally and in the constitution of man. These are interesting, but are not to be thought of as providing a rationale of the divine being. More pregnant is the suggestion of Augustine that without the Trinity there could be no fellowship or love in God, the divine Triunity involving an interrelationship in which the divine perfections find eternal exercise and expression independent of the creation of the world and man.
Rationalist objections to the Trinity break down on the fact that they insist on interpreting the Creator in terms of the creature, i.e., the unity of God in terms of mathematical unity. More scientifically, the Christian learns to know God from God himself as he has acted for us and attested his action in Holy Scripture. He is not surprised if an element of mystery remains which defies ultimate analysis or understanding, for he is only man and God is God. But in the divine work as recorded in the Bible the one God is self-revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and therefore in true faith he must "acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity."
G W Bromiley
(Elwell Evangelical Dictionary)
Bibliography
K. Barth, Church Dogmatics, I/1, 8-11; J.F.
Bethune-Baker, An Introduction to the Early History of Christian
Doctrine, 139ff.; W. H. Griffith Thomas, The Principles of Theology,
20-31; J. Moltmann, The Trinity and the Kingdom; R. W. Jensen, The
Triune Identity; P. Toon and J. Spiceland, One God in Trinity; E. J.
Fortman, The Triune God; D. M. Baillie, God Was in Christ; C. W. Lowry,
The Trinity and Christian Devotation; E. Jungel, The Doctrine of the
Trinity; K. Rahner, What Is the Trinity? C. F. D. Moule, "The NT and
the Doctrine of the Trinity," ExpT 78:16ff.; T. F. Torrance, "Toward an
Ecumenical Consensus on the Trinity," TZ 31:337ff.
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