the need for the doctrine of the trinity
Christian God exists as three Persons - Father (Creator), Son (Redeemer), Holy Spirit (sustainer)
the doctrine was necessary to define the relationship between these three Persons
what the doctrine of the trinity asserts
- The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three distinct persons
- Each Person is fully God; the three are coexistent, coeternal and coequal
- There is only one God; the doctrine does not split God into three parts
who coined the word ‘trinity’?
Tertullian, 3rd cent.
when was the doctrine formalised and what did it state?
Nicene Creed (325 CE), stated that the Son was ‘of one substance’ (Greek homoousius) with the Father
what was the doctrine designed to counteract?
what Tertullian saw as three contemporary heresies - arianism, sabellianism, adoptionism
adoptionism
the belief that Jesus was an ordinary man who became the Son of God only at his baptism
sabellianism
the belief that Jesus was divine but not human
arianism
the belief that Jesus was the highest of all created beings but not of the same substance as God
biblical foundations of the doctrine of the trinity - Old Testament
God the Father is often referred to in the plural - Genesis 1:1 - Elohim, a plural noun (the singular is El) - the same word is used many times in the OT.
Genesis 1:26 - ‘let US make humankind in OUR image’
biblical foundations of the doctrine of the trinity - New Testament, Jesus
Jesus is often referred to as God - John 1 says that Jesus was the word and that word was God and that all things were created through him
John 20:28 - ‘my Lord and my God’
Philippians 2:10 - Paul writes ‘he was in the form of God’
biblical foundations of the doctrine of the trinity - New Testament, Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit too is referred to as God - John 14:23 the indwelling of the holy Spirit is linked to the indwelling of Jesus and his Father.
In the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18 - he sends the disciples to baptise all nations ‘in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’
Council of Constantinople
381 CE - Nicene Creed amended - ‘who proceeds from the Father’
Council of Toledo
589 CE - ‘and the Son’ (Latin - fillioque)
added to reflect the thinking of influential 4th/5th century theologians e.g. Augustine of Hippo, Hilary of Poitiers
the idea had become widely accepted in the Latin-speaking West but not in the Greek-speaking East
The Great Schism
1054 CE - divided the Eastern and Western Church and continues to this day. Sparked by the filioque controversy and other issues largely based on misunderstandings between the Greek and Latin traditions
immanent trinity
what God is - e.g. three Persons, one God
economic trinity
what God does - e.g. Father creates, Son redeems, Holy Spirit sanctifies
Western church on trinity
Augustine does not differentiate between the immanent and economic trinity, and believes we can know the trinity because there are traces of the trinity in the human soul (e.g. a triad of self-knowledge: memory, understanding, will). The Western church follows Augustine’s argument.
Eastern church on trinity
Augustine’s argument is unacceptable because human beings cannot base the doctrine of the trinity on their own experience. That confuses the incomprehensible STRUCTURE with its ACTIONS. It also makes the nature of God depend upon created beings. Therefore immanent is not the same as economic
