ANGLICAN
TRAINING INSTITUTE,
June 1994
TOPIC: THE DIVINE TRINITY
LECTURER: REV. (DR)
PriscAquila Christian Resource Centre http://priscaquila.t35.com
CONTENTS
THE TRINITY:
ANSWER TO ALL MYSTERIES
SCRIPTURAL BASIS OF THE TRINITY
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE
TRINITY
Ecumenical Councils on the Trinity
Heretical Teachings before Nicaea
Heretical Teachings from Nicaea onwards
SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY OF THE TRINITY
INTRODUCTION:
The doctrine of the Trinity of the Godhead is the Church’s
best understanding of the One True God, Who is revealed in the Scriptures of
the Old and New Testaments. The doctrine of the Trinity of the Godhead is too great for the human
mind, yet it is the most important truth for the salvation of humanity. When
writing about the Trinity C.C. Richardson put it this way:
“No doctrine is so important and so
implicitly difficult in Christianity”
To some theologians the Trinity is a problem and an enigma;
however, Trinity should be seen as the solution and an answer to a problem, if
it is received humbly and willingly by faith as a revealed and Gospel mystery. Without
the revelation of the truth of the Trinity, one would not make sense of the
Biblical Scripture, Salvation of humankind from consequences and condemnation
of sin, the Divinity of the Godhead and personal relationship with God. The truth of the Trinity needs
not and cannot be proved by philosophical reasoning (for in itself, it is a
proof of all that reason cannot philosophize) but proclaimed and taught for it
is the ultimate doctrine of the One True God, which is revealed through Christ
and the Gospel. Allen Richardson puts it thus:
“There is no problem at all of reconciling
the divinity of Christ and the Spirit with Jewish monotheism.”
The doctrine of the Trinity makes the fullness and
personhood of the Godhead known (
THE TRINITY: ANSWER TO ALL MYSTERIES
Only in the context of a triune God could eternal
salvation by redemption be possible. Otherwise we end up with insufficient
conjectures like illumination, karma, restitution, cyclic sacrifices, or cyclic
reincarnations, equilibration, annihilation, or the despair of agnostic
atheism.
The God that is not Triune is impersonal, alone
and lonely, dependent, not self-existent, not self-revelatory nor redemptive. A
non-triune deity does not deserve any worship nor moral/spiritual religion,
since it cannot offer salvation from sin and death. Only the Triune
self-relating God could be God of peace and harmony, God of life and goodness,
God of love and mercy, and God of power and justice.
In the doctrine of the Trinity is revealed the
explanation of all things and the meaning for all things created and uncreated;
past, present and future; moral, material and mental; visible and invisible,
from creation till eschaton.
Only in the glorious Trinity is humanity offered
eternal salvation through predestination, propitiation and regeneration; unto
election, redemption and sanctification.
The revelation of the mystery of the Trinity is
final answer to the menacing question of being and existence.
SCRIPTURAL BASIS OF
THE TRINITY.
(I) THE DIVERSITY AND PLURALITY IN THE UNITY OF
THE GODHEAD AS FOUND IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
For both Christians and Jews, “The Lord our God is one
God”, (Deut 6:4) (The Shema)
“For us there is only one God” (1Cor 8:6), “And there is no other but one”
(1Cor 8:4). However the Jews affirm the unity of God without further
affirmation of the Trinity (THREE PERSONAL MANIFESTATIONS OR THREE
ANTHROPOMORPHIC SUBSISTENCES) in this unity as the Christians do. This is
because in the Old Testament, there is only enough evidence to show the
plurality or diversity in the unity of the Godhead.
1. There are passages that refer to
God with plural name “Elohim”
though God is clearly said to be one.
2. There are also passages where
God himself is quoted as referring to himself as “Us” (Gen 1:26; 3:22; 11:7;
Isa 6:8).
3. There are passages where God is
referred to as thrice holy (Isa 6:3) and as thrice benedictory (Num 6:24-26).
4. There are passages that attribute
personal deity to the Wisdom and Word of God (Prov 8;
Ps 33:6-9).
5. There are passages that show
God, His Word and His Spirit working together as Divine unity (Gen 1: 2-3; Isa
63:8-10).
6. There are also passages that
speak of the Messiah as God (Ps 2; Isa 9:6).
7. There are “Theophany” passages that refer to
“the Angel of the Lord” as God yet distinct (Gen 18; Exd
3:2-6; Judges 13:2-22).
Therefore the monotheistic Jewish religion of the O.T.
points, though vaguely, to the Trinity. For it shows personal diversity and plurality in the Godhead and it points to
no other persons than Yahweh, the
coming Messiah (i.e. the Son, the Word and the
Wisdom of Yahweh) and the Spirit of
Yahweh. However the Jews still find it difficult to accept the Trinity up till
today. All the same, the Jews believe that God has personal characteristics
(Anthropomorphism) and should be related to as a Person, not a cosmic super-force.
(II) THE
TRINITY IN THE UNITY OF THE GODHEAD AS FOUND IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
Whereas the Trinity is implicit in the O.T., it is quite
explicit in the N.T. With the revelation of the Tri-personal nature of God, the
NT adds a new dimension to the doctrine of God. Hitherto the study of God would
have at its best been limited to:
1. The existence and being of God
(either as a non-personal FORCE or a purposeful, spiritual and PERSONAL Being).
2. The perfect Nature of God as
evident in
(a)
Perfect names;
(b)
Perfect attributes which are:
i)
Natural (i.e. Oneness, Personhood,
Infinity, Eternity, Immutability, Sovereignty, Omnipresence, Omniscience and
Omnipotence.) and
ii)
Moral (i.e. Goodness, Holiness and
Righteousness)
3. The work of God in Creation and
Preservation – i.e.
However with the revealed truth
of the Trinity, a lot of dimensions have now been made known to humanity about
the nature and the work of God (such as the plurality of anthropomorphic
PERSONS in the ONE Divine Essence and
His Redemptive work of grace). Also a whole new vista of relating with God has
been opened (such as our personal
walk with God and Personal
indwelling and purposeful
leading by God through the Holy Spirit). Today therefore, we do not only talk
about worshipping of the real-living, perfect and powerful God but also about walking with the purposeful, Tri-Personal God who is the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit. This is the unique offer of Christianity to humanity. This
offer of ultimate revelation also makes the ultimate demand on each human, to
relate with and love God with all our spirit, soul, mind, strength, heart,
body, and substance.
This new offer by Christianity
about the essential nature of God as “Three-Persons-in-one” God and how the
three Persons-in-God are significant in reaching humanity for our salvation is
evident from the following passages of the NT Scriptures:
1. At the annunciation, Lk 1:35
2. At Christ’s baptism, Matt
3:13-17
3. In Christ’s teachings, e.g. John
10:30; 14:6,7,26; 4:26, 15:26
4. In the Baptismal formula of the
Great Commission, Matt 28:19
5. In the Pentecostal sermon, Acts
2:32-33
6. In the Apostolic Benediction,
2Cor 13:14
7. In the Apostolic teachings:
(a)
On the Spiritual Gifts, e.g. 1Cor 12:4-6;
(b)
On the mystery of Election e.g. Eph 1:3-14; 2Thes 2:13-14; 1 Pet 1:2;
(c)
On the Atonement, e.g. Heb 9:14;
(d)
On the work of Redemption, e.g. Eph 2:18;
(e)
On the mystery of Adoption, e.g. Gal 4:4-7;
(f)
On the Unity of the Church, e.g. Eph 4:4-6;
(g)
On worship access Eph 2:18, and worship singing Eph 18-20;
(h)
On the mystery of the Apostolic ministry e.g. Eph 3:2-5.
And so on and so forth.
Also the NT contains other
verses that refer to Christ as God: John 1:1-2; 14; John 1:18; John 20:28; Rom
9:5; Tit 2:13; Heb 1:8; 2Pet 1:1; 1John 5:20.
These all declare the divinity of Christ.
Again the personality of the divine Spirit, the Holy Spirit
of God, is very clear from the NT as in the following:
1. He is referred to in the
personal pronoun e.g. John 14:26; 15:26.
2. He has will, 1Cor 12:7
3. He has intellect 1Cor 2:11
4. He has affection, Eph 4:30; Rom
15:30
5. He indwells, 1Cor 3:16
6. He intercedes, Rom 8:26
7. He speaks Act 28:25
8. He leads Rom 8:14
9. He guides, Jn
16:13.
The Holy Spirit is therefore a personal Spirit not an
impersonal force or power.
With these staggering revelations in the NT, the only
conclusion is that God is one, but He subsists in three Persons of the Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is a great mystery. The fullness of the
Godhead is the three Persons of the Godhead (Not three separate or substitute
‘individualities’ as such, but three intra-relating and co-existing ‘Persons’ or anthropomorphic Subsistences
of the one true God).
HISTORICAL
DEVELOPMENT OF THE TRINITY.
(I) COUNCILS AND FORMULATIONS ON THE TRINITY
Over the years men have sought to see if the NT or even the
OT has further revelations about these persons in the Godhead. Others have dismissed
the whole revelation as too much to be true. But the NT church has stood up to
defend the Christian revelation for the past 2000 yrs against any unbiblical
falsification or discredit.
Seven ecumenical councils, which were ever held by the
Church universal, were mainly to formulate the Orthodox biblical truth on the
Trinity. Outside the council many theologians sought answer to some questions
that have arisen from this new revelation. Some got things mixed up others got
things straightened out. Sometimes it was with the nature of the Persons of the Trinity;
some times it was with the relation
among the Persons within the Trinity.
It was Tertullian of Carthage who first used the term
Trinity to describe the THREENESS of God as he discovered it in the NT. Other
terms used in the time of Tertullian (i.e. 200 AD) were Holy Triad or the Triad
in the Godhead. This Triad or Trinity was referring to anthropomorphisms of the
Godhead called the subsistences or emanations (Greek=hypostasis)
or the persons (Greek=prosopon) or the performance characters or responsible agents or
relational identities (Latin=persona) of the Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit.
As a result of this flux of teachings the
1. The Councils of
This first council was summoned
by Emperor Constantine. It discussed the Arian controversy and declared that
the Son is HOMO-OUSIOS (same substance) with the Father and drafted the Nicene
Creed. Athanasius of Alexandria played a prominent role here.
2. The Council of
Political intrigue by the Arians
against, and genuine reflections on the Nicene Position had become on the
increase. So the Church universal came together again to review their position.
At the end they confirmed the Nicene Creed and anathematised Arianism.
3. The Council of
This rejected Nestorian doctrine
of separation of the Natures of Christ and accepted the Alexandrian biblical
doctrine of the union of the two Natures even in the virgin’s womb without
losing His divine power and functions at any time.
4. The Council of
Confirmed the formulation at
The other three ecumenical councils at Constantinople 553
and 680 at
(II) HERETICAL TEACHINGS REJECTED BY THE COUNCILS
Before the council of
1. Marcionism (AD 150). This claimed that the God of
the OT is not the same as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Their Christ was
not born but appeared suddenly from Heaven. To them the OT God was the Creator
God who is harshly righteous while the Father of Christ, the Redeemer God is
merciful. Macionism was condemned by the Church
Doctors and Fathers as non-apostolic and against Scripture.
2. Gnosticism (AD 100-200). This was a syncretistic
religion of Greek philosophy and Middle-eastern superstition, mingled with
Christian ideas. To them Christ was neither God nor man. He only seemed to be
human. He did not come in the flesh, He did not die nor resurrect. Only those
born with natural ability to know the God-of-lights could be saved from the
shackles of the Creator-God! This was rejected entirely by the Church as
Anti-Christian (1John 2:21-23; 4:1-6).
3. Montanism (AD 150). This claims that the special
gifts of the Holy Spirit for its followers including ecstasies, prophecies and
revelations are equal in authority with that of the Apostles. The Church
reacted to Montanism by fixing the Canonical
Scriptures as the rule of faith and discouraging the use of Spiritual gifts
which claimed extraordinary authority outside or above the Scriptures.
4. Docetism (AD 80). This taught that Christ “seemed” (Gk = doceo) to be human, because they
believed that true divinity can never come in contact with evil matter and
humanity, as the Greeks thought. This was condemned by the Church as
unscriptural.
5. Ebionism (AD 100). This was an offshoot of Jewish Messianic Christianity. To
them Christ was an ordinary man but was divinely appointed. This was rejected
by the Church teachers as unscriptural.
6. Sabellianism or Modalistic Monarchianism (AD 200). These, in order to avoid teaching what appeared to
present God as more than one, they taught that the Son was another mode of
existence of the Father, so is the Spirit. The Father was the mode of God in
the OT, the Son was the form of God in the time of Christ and the Spirit was
the mode that God revealed himself after the ascension. The Church condemned
the doctrine because it means that it was the Father who was crucified as the
Son (Patripassionism). Again it means that the Son is
not seated at the right hand of the Father. Modalism
is also called economic or dispensational Trinitarianism
– that God changes into a different form for every
dispensation!
7. Adoptionism or Dynamic Monarchianism
(AD 200). This
is another unscriptural attempt to avoid preaching Faith in what appeared be
more than one God (though God is more than one Person and in God there is
pluralism). It taught that the Holy Spirit was the same as the Christ. This
Christ (i.e. Holy Spirit) came upon a man called Jesus of Nazareth at his
baptism, hence making him the Saviour. So Jesus was an ordinary man, but
because of his righteousness God adopted him as His Son, by giving him the
Christ (i.e. Holy Spirit). This was rejected totally by the Church.
While reaffirming their stand against all the above
heretical doctrines of God, the Church was faced with another major heretical
movement, which was lead by an Egyptian Presbyter called Arius (256-336 AD).
His teaching called Arianism was what led to the
summoning of the council of
1. Arianism: Arius, under the influence of Adoptionism
and Greek philosophy of God and creation, taught that God could not create the
material world (Since matter is evil and has no link with true divinity as the
Greeks taught). Arius also taught that the Christ was created by God in
eternity, so that Christ would create other creations including the Holy
Spirit. To Arius there was a time Christ was not; therefore he is not
co-eternal with the Father and not the same-substance (homo-ousios) with the Father. At best he
could only be of like-substance (homoi-ousios) with the Father. Again the Son had a divine
soul and a human body so that he is neither fully man nor fully God but
somewhere in-between (i.e. demi-god?).
During the two-month-long
council, a few like Eusebius of Nicomedia supported Arius while the rest like
Alexander of Alexandria (whose secretary was Deacon Athanasius) and Eusebius of
Caesarea who was the most learned man of his time supported Athanasius who eventually
championed the orthodox biblical truth against Arius’ philosophical view.
Athanasius led the drafting of the Nicene Creed, which presented Christ as homo-ousios
(not homoi-ousios)
with the Father as the Scripture plainly teaches. The Sonship of Christ implies same-substance John 1:1-4; 5:8; 10:30; 14:9, 11; exact-image Heb 1:3; and fullness
Col 1:19; 2:9; with/of God the Father, NOT A DIMINUTION of the Godhead.
Arius and his followers began
political intrigue and confusion in order to reinstate their heresy. Later a
group called Macedonians led by one Macedonius pushed
a modified form of Arianism (semi-Arianism),
backed with their political connections. As a result another council was
summoned at
At
2. Apollinarianism: This was a mid-way stand between Athanasius and Arius. He
disagreed with Arius in everyway but held that the Logos became the soul of
Christ. So that Christ has no human soul but divine soul and human flesh. This
was rejected together with Arianism because it denies
that God truly took up flesh and became man and was in everyway like us except
in sin (John 1:14; Heb 4:15).
3. Nestorianism: (400 AD). Nestorius of Constantinople
taught that the two natures of Christ (divine and human) were separate. This
implies that the Logos was not incarnate in Christ but in fellowship with the man Jesus (as the case with OT saints) or morally indwelling the man Jesus (as the case with
NT saints). The Person of the Son then,
was not a unity and the divine was not present in the womb of the Virgin Mary.
So that Mary could not be said to be the God-bearer (Theotokos)
but at the most, Christ-bearer (Christ-tokos). This
was discussed at
What happened is
that the Son humbled Himself in the incarnation
and birth, was humiliated willingly in His passion
and death, and was exalted in His resurrection
and ascension. This is what self-emptying (giving up of reputation) in
Philippians 2:5-9 mean.
True
Christological doctrine that would agree with the Scriptures must present the
Christ who is the Mediator between God and man and a Saviour of man from the wrath
of God, reconciling man to God. If He was less than God, He could not reveal
God nor reconcile anyone to God. If He
was less than man or was superman or demigod, He could not identify with
humanity either on the cross or at the right hand of the Father. In fact if the
full divinity was lost, what would become of the universe during Christ’s life
and death? If the divinity was enclosed as the soul in a semi-babe or semi-man,
what portion has full humans in such a Christ?
4. Eutycheans and Monophysites: These attempted to present a
Christ, which is a third sort of being (demigod) with a composite nature in
which the two natures were fused in one. Hence their Christ is neither true God
nor true man and so could NOT be a mediator between God and man. This was
rejected at
SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY
OF THE TRINITY.
THE
SCRIPTURAL DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY
The scriptural doctrine of the Trinity was championed by
many Church Doctors and Fathers of the 4th Century. These were
Athanasius, the Cappadocia Fathers, and Augustine of Hippo. The
For the Cappadocians:
The Father is the “cause” and “fount” of Deity not begotten
The Son is caused by generation not creation
The Spirit is caused by procession not creation
For Athanasius and Augustine the Spirit also proceeded from the Son, not only from the
Father. The Cappadocians could only condone a
procession of the Spirit from the Father through the Son. Augustine basing his teaching on the fact that “God is Love” likened the Father as the
Lover, the Son as the Beloved and the Spirit as the Love shared. Love usually proceeds
from the lover as well as the beloved.
While the Eastern Church remained under the influence of
the Cappadocians the
A summary of the Orthodox biblical doctrine of the
Trinity is found in
the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed (Quiqunque vult) and the
Apostles Creed as well as the Chalcedonian formula on
the union of the two natures in Christ. The main tenets of the doctrine are
outlined below:
1.
There is only one God of one indivisible substance or essence (1Cor
8:4).
2.
Within this one and the same substance or essence of the Godhead, there
are three Subsistences (hypostasis) or three Persons
(prosopon);
these are the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Through these three
anthropomorphic Subsistences God has revealed Himself
in a personal way such that we can personally relate with Him.
3.
The three Persons or Subsistences are not
three Gods but one God co-equal in glory (John 17:5) and in power (Rom 15:19;
Matt 28:19) and in majesty co-eternal (Heb 9:14; Rev 1:8) and uncreated;
therefore they are to be believed, worshiped and obeyed together as one and
same God and Lord, not as three Gods.
4.
The three Persons in the Godhead, work together in fulfilling God’s
gracious mission to mankind such as creation (Gen 1:1-3) election (Eph 1:3-14)
and redemption (Heb 9:14); nevertheless each of these Personal Subsistences become prominent for particular purpose:
(a)
God the Father is very prominent in creation. He made man "in His own image” (i.e. moral, personal
and spiritual), to rule in a beautiful world;
He preserves the creation by His providence and controls it by His governance;
(b)
God the Son is particularly known for redemption; He was born man to
identify with mankind, died to bring about man’s forgiveness and resurrected to
bring new life to humanity – as many as believe;
(c)
God the Holy Spirit is very prominent in Sanctification; He came to
convict man of sin, baptise as many as believe into Christ through the new
birth, and fill the believer with His divine grace (gifts and fruit) unto a
perfect man.
5.
The Son and the Spirit are subordinate to the Father only in relation (Jn 14:28) but not in essence (John 10:30):
(a)
The Father is the Fount of Deity, neither begotten nor proceeding;
(b)
The Son is begotten from the Father in eternity but not proceeding;
(c)
The Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son in eternity (John
14:26; 15:26; Acts 2:33), but not begotten.
6.
The Son is fully God and fully man, of one substance (homo-ousios)
with the Father as regards his Godhead and of same substance with humanity as
regards his manhood, like us in all aspects apart from sin (Heb 4:15); so in
the one Person of the Son, there are two distinct and full natures preserved in
union.
7.
This divine nature of the Son was begotten of the Father before all
worlds, while his human nature was born of the Virgin Mary in the world.
This is the Christian
doctrine of “One God in three Person” and “three Persons in one God”, the
mystery unveiled by the Christian Faith to the human race.
Last Updated January 29, 2009
By The Ven
Dr. I. U. Ibeme
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