The Importance of the Doctrine of the Trinity for the Christian Faith - Research Paper Example

? THE DOCTRINE OF TRINITY INTRODUCTION: How can one person have three persons in him and yet is not three but one single entity? Or how can three distinct persons exist in a single unit form? These are all mind boggling questions for any person trying to understand “The Trinity”. In Christianity, the first stone which the foundation of faith is built upon is the belief on the entity of God, His Triune existence. God is the most positive reality which is beyond our understanding. God is the uncaused being who is also omnipotent and omnipresent in nature. Basically Christian understanding concerning the Trinity starts from the two elements, namely His essense and His acts, which are the way of functioning of the three Persons in the Trinity. Human beings thus far haven't been able to have a frame of reference in order to explain the Mystery of Trinity and can never do that also. But only thing we can know is Logic cannot transcend divinity. If man's knowledge is like a drop of water, then the knowledge of God would be like an ocean which transcends all limits. Thus we don't have the eligibility, neither have we the capability to comprehend His mystery. His true entity no one can ever understand. Gregory of Nazianzen expresses God as, “One God, One in diversity, diverse in Unity, wherein is a marvel” (Second Theological Oration par. 1). We believe in His essence because we experience his energies. Rational bases even if are good, not always vital for stability of our faith. Still we have Scriptural resources, and historic theological literatures which definitely help us to grasp enough about the mystery of the Triune God. Only whatever is necessary for our finite understanding is revealed by God. In this paper, the writer would try to analyse how important the doctrine of Trinity is for the Christians, further looking through the historical development of the doctrine and the firmness of the doctrine in the minds of the Christians. IMPORTANCE OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY: As we said at the outset, Christian faith balances upon the reality of God, His Triune existence. The doctrine elaborates the reality of God and explains the mysteries. It reveals God's personality. It says that God is not simply a supernatural entity but He is a person with a personality. It brings into light the function of the Godhead in three streams- The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, explaining their acts in history of humanity and the sole focus to redeem humanity from the clutches of sin and death. The Father, the first Person in the Godhead is the sender of the Son who came down to earth, sacrificing all the glory of the Heaven, to offer Himself as a vicarious sacrifice for the sins of the entire humanity. The Father reveals the grandeur of His love for humanity through His Son. The Son is the second Person in the Godhead Who alone was qualified to do the task. He finished His work of bringing redemption for man by defeating death and overpowering the effect of sin. Moreover He became an ideal for being obedient, which was the very mistake of Man that brought sin into the world. Holy Spirit is the third Person in the Godhead Who is the transformer of human heart by the planting of Christ into his/her life through penitence, making him/her return from sin. He guides a person in the spiritual journey in this life making the person more like Christ every day. Without the Holy Spirit, the redemption offered by Christ cannot be experienced fully. “Redemption, therefore, in historic Christianity is initiated by the Father (Galatians 4:4), accomplished through the Son (1 Peter 3:18), and is applied by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5)” (Samples par.3). Thus the whole process of redemption which is the core of God's mission in this world is not feasible without the Trinity i.e. Father, Son and the Holy Spirit all together. Trinitarian concept of God also solves another problem. According to St. Augustine, only the God Who is united in His plural nature can be loving. Unless God is plural in Himself and is solitary, then the concept of love and knowledge of self would not be there in His thought. First He must have loved the co-nature. Those who believe in Him, are incorporated into His loving family. This is quite a thinkable thing concerning the threeness of God. Unless we grasp God in Trinity, our thinking would remain abstract concerning God, Who in the Scripture is always revealed through the Father figure, the humble and obedient Son, and the power in action, the Holy Spirit. Finally, The doctrine of Trinity distinguishes Christianity from other religions. That's why this is of much significance for the Christian faith. HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE DOCTRINE OF TRINITY: The doctrine of Trinity has developed in its firmness and is contributed by many thinkers throughout history. It doesn't mean that it was a thought concept which developed with the discourses and debates, but it was a mystery which was revealed by God and was discovered. After the Arian controversy, the doctrine was much supplemented to, thought upon and was clarified more and more remaining faithful to God's revelation. We have the Biblical stand points and also the valuable inputs of the early philosophers and Church Fathers' in this significant arena. Philo of Alexandria who lived in between 20 BCE and 50 CE to some extent has influenced the thinking of early Christians, who in turn was driven by Platonist thinking. He has told about God's creative power and sovereignty. Plotinus, in third century CE told that the Son and the Spirit come from the Father Who although not one, are one. There had been arguments in the “pro-nicene” period that the early Christians held God as one and that the Son is somehow subordinate to the Father. The real understanding of the then theologians are difficult to be investigated. Whatever, the concept of Trinity had not germinated and just the nature of Father and Son were in wide discussions. It was the Arian Controversy that stirred the water and waves started to arise. Arius of Alexandria taught that the Son was created by the Father and is not equal with Him. He was condemned, but many lay people supported him. This brought divisions and many types of council were called to sort it out. The Nicene council called by Emperor Constantine affirmed Father and the Son to be one and of same substance (homoousios). After the Nicene council majority of thelogians conceded the unity of the two persons of the Trinity as per John 10: 30. But by the Council of Constantinople in 381 CE, another thing had to be fixed. The Holy spirit was seen as subordinate to the Father and the Son. But in the Council, Bishop Athanasius again succeeded in handling this. The divinity of the Holy Spirit was redefined with the Father and the Son. Gradually after the Council, the Trinitarian understanding prevailed and those in opposition remained meagre in volume. Gregory (Nyssa) and Gregory (Nazianzus) along with Basil (Caesaria) put a great effort together to understand Trinity more. They added few new terminologies including them among the theological jargons concerning Trinity, “namely using hypostasis or prosopon for what God is three of, and ousia (along with phusis) for what God is one” (History of Trinitarian Doctrine par.26). Gregory of Nyssa maintained the early understandings, saying that The Three Persons of the Trinity are one in divine nature. “The triple distinction — essence, hypostasis, energy — is not a division of God?s being; it reflects the mysterious life of the "One-who-is" — transcendent, tri-personal, and present to His creation” (Meyendorff p.130) God is three in one and one in three. If we put the concept of essence, hypostasis and energy in simple words, God is one in essence, from whom the energy is exerted, the energy and the essence coexist. And though the both may seem logically different in form they are one in substance. Gregory of Nazianzus is considered as one of the most important contributors toward the doctrine of Trinity. His theological orations, particularly from the 27th oration through the 31st oration, deal with the issues concerning the doctrine of Trinity. In the 27th and 28th oration he describes about the necessary qualities of the theologians and the existence of God. In 29th oration he says that the Father is the Father in absolute sense, and so is the Son. He rejects the argument that the Son was begotten voluntarily and is operational beyond Father's will, yet concerning the 'how' of the Son's begetting, he just says that, it's not conceivable by our finite brains, who don't even have complete self-knowledge.(29th oration) He deals along, the argument of subjection also. Christ came down, leaving all the glory, to suffer and die. So the argument was that he was subject to God's command and was subordinate. Gregory tore that down saying that Christ did all that to raise us from the pit of death. He obeyed Father to teach us obedience (30th oration). The Spirit as he states is not subordinate to either Father or Son. Just like Eve was a fragment of Adam and Seth was begotten, doesn't mean they are different. They are of same substance. Thus is the Holy Spirit. He is neither subordinate, nor un-identical; He's the same as Father and the Son. Things which are not of one essence, when counted are plural, but this is the opposite case with an infinite being at front to be understood. (31st oration) St. Augustine has perhaps a big hand in the development of the doctrine. His writings are followed and studied by numerous theologians today. His marvellous work “On the Trinity” is still a treasure. He gave much devotion to study of the Holy Spirit and tried to connect Holy Spirit with the other two persons of the Trinity. He argued from the Biblical ground. Rather than narrating vastly about what would be helpful to understand the Trinity well, he spends more time on telling what kind of an attitude we need to approach the understanding of the trinity. He said that the Holy Spirit proceeeds from both the Father and the Son, which was explained later this way: The holy Spirit proceeded from the Father, but not the Son. He didn't proceed from the Son, rather in Christ He was given rise to. Further explained, the Holy Spirit's procession is from Father, and He abides in the Son. He used different analogies in His “De Trinitate” to explain the Trinity, like “lover, beloved and love” “attention, memory, inner vision” (Webb p.9) etc. During the medieval period, the Catholic understanding and orthodoxy was maintained in all the literature and theorizing until the reformation period in the 16 th century. But there were no attempts to give a fuller explanation on the 'what' and 'how' questions concerning the Trinity. Thomas Acqunas, gave some more explanation. He states God as “pure act”, emphasizing His auto-potentiality and simplicity. J.D. Scotus states that divinity is not divided as the humanity. That's why three humans can't be one, but three divines amount to be one. Three persons in the Trinity are essentially same but hypostatically are not. They are not clearly distinct in essence which would make them separable. But Scotus is not accepted by many and remarked as contradicting. In the reformation period (second decade of the sixteenth century), after the medieval era, many of the deformed developments in the doctrine were rejected and re-examined. Only what was compatible with the biblical apostolic teachings were held on to. Consequently divisions took place between the orthodox Trinitarians and those radical rationalists who believed that God is but one and there's no triune God, calling themselves as Unitarians. The debates have still not ceased. Theologians and sceptics are still vainly on the go to grasp it all and defeat each other. THE REASON OF THE FIRMNESS OF THE THREE IN ONE CONCEPT IN CHRISTIAN MIND: “The divinity has no need to manifest its perfection, either to itself or to others. It is the Trinity, and this fact can be deduced from no principle nor explained by any sufficient reason, for there are neither principles nor causes anterior to the Trinity” (Lossky p.47). The Christian faith has been from the beginning, very profound, doubtless, unshakable and firm. Some get the firmness from the bold teachings of the leaders, some through a close encounter with God in Spiritual life, some through strong biblical standpoints, and some through just the desire to remain blind and believe. We believe that the Trinity, though one in substance and essence but three in Person; and that the three are equal to each other and are distinct, but not three but one. The majority of believers give biblical points to justify their firmness in this belief. So let us analyse the Biblical say on Trinity. BIBLICAL GROUND: The old testament is vague about the trinity concept, but we have implicit references which indicate towards it. This is supported by the fact that only in and after the New Testament era, that the doctrine took a full fledged shape. The three poeple who came to Abraham, in Genesis 18 were as if one. Their talk was as if one man speaking. In Genesis 1: 26-27 we read, “Let Us make man in our likeness...” (Shimer p.3). God Himself is referring as plural. This may seem absurd but actually, intra-divine conversation is going on here. There are other instances in the Bible (Gen. 3:22; 11: 7; Isa. 6:8) of God's similar statement, which indicate that if God is involved in intra-divine conversation here then He must be plural within. The word, “elohim”, found in Gen.1:1 and elsewhere means “powerful ones”. This indicates the Trinity, Who are in essence powerful. This doesn't indicate to a single God involved in the creation act, but it indicates the three persons in Him Who are co-working in the creation. Apart from this, there is another instance in the prophetic writings, where the heavenly creatures are described as worshiping God, singing “Holy, Holy Holy.” The three 'Holy's are not uttered simply. They are addressing the Triune God and praising Him in His threeness. There are many such implicit references in the Old testament which give us a shadow of the concept. The New Testament gives us the basic necessary components which, though don't make an explicit doctrine concerning the Trinity, are certainly helpful enough to infer what they want to say on the subject. We the Trinitarians hold that what we get from the Bible concerning the Trinity is either an implicit teaching or the best explanation of it. In Matthew 28:18 onwards we see the great commission of the Lord to the disciples. He commands to make disciples people of all nations and commanded to make them baptized in Father, Son and the Holy Spirit's name. He could have just said Father and the Holy Spirit. But He didn't stop there going further and include the Son in the list. This is an affirmation of Christ of the share of equal status in the Godhead. So He is not subordinate. This refutes the Arian controversy of the fourth century. Mark 14: 62 reads about the Pharisees blaming Jesus of affirming Himself to be God. This makes it further clear that Jesus was God The God of Exodus expressed himself as “I AM THAT I AM”. And Jesus also states at many occasions of Himself as “I AM.” (e.g. John 8:58) “God, when He was speaking with Moses, did not say: “I am the essence” but: “I am who am” [Ex 3:14]. It is therefore not He-who-is who comes from the essence, but it is the essence which comes from He-who-is, for He-who-is embraces in Himself all being" (Meyendorff p.131) In the Gospel of John He says that He declares His unity with the Father. Father is Spirit, which is in work now. If we put it logically, if A = B and B = C, the A = B =C. Not pulling it much further, the apostle john will make it total clear for us that in the heaven three persons bear witness, namely Father, His Word, i.e. Son and the Holy Spirit. (1st John 5: 7) How can one deny which one cannot understand? If an ant denies that the planet earth is not round but flat, is there any solution to that? The ant is now raised on the palm of God and given the telescope to see the earth and know that it is round. But if the ant refuses to take the telescope or refuse to see through it or refuse to believe in what its eyes perceive, whose fault is that? God has revealed as much of Him that is understandable for humans. Our duty is to just trust Him completely. CONCLUSION: One of the most tantalizing, complex, complicated, debated topic, quite impossible to conceive, in Christendom is the doctrine of Trinity. It's mind boggling, and beyond approach of our finite mind. History has witnessed this. Numerous have come up with philosophical hypotheses, ideas, frame of references, parameters, formulas, etc., but none was or will be ever able to grasp the grandeur of this mystery. Of course the three persons in the Godhead acquire divinity which unifies them, but their individuality too is whole in nature and not subordinate in any means to another Person in the Godhead. Even though they are distinct, that doesn't undermine their equality and oneness. At the one hand the Persons in the Godhead all function in three distinct ways and carry out the acts with which in fact all three of them are unanimous. On the other hand God keeps on telling that He is in fact One and nowhere at all in the Scripture there is mentioning of three separate Gods. This poses a huge question in front of us as a mystery, but God Himself is answering our questions which rationality often denies to listen and just believe in. Next thing is that God is infinite in nature and cannot be contained by anything. He is Omni-present. So God cannot remain in a body. He is incorporeal. This can help us think about the mystery we aspire to grasp. Throughout the Scripture God declares Himself to be one and unique which is undigestable with the fact of His threeness often. It is straight forward. But people with sceptic attitude refuse to believe. All Three of Them are absolutely perfect in their actual natures and personalities. Bible tells us that there is no darkness in God. He is unchanging and He is transparent. The perspective of the viewer makes the difference. Works Cited History of Trinitarian Doctrine. Sanford.2009. Web. 18 March 2013. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/trinity/trinity-history.html Lossky, Vladimir. The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press. 1976. Web. 20 March 2013. Meyendorff, John. Excerpts from “Byzantine Theology” Historical trends and doctrinal themes. Samples, Kenneth. R. Why is the Doctrine of the Trinity Important? (part 1). Reasons to Believe. 2007. Web. 18 March 2013. http://www.reasons.org/articles/why-is-the-doctrine-of-the-trinity-important-part-1 Shimer, Ted. A Biblical Basic for The Trinity. n.d. Web. 20 March 2013. http://www.stumo.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Biblical-basis-for-the-Trinity.pdf Second Theological Oration. New Advent. 2009. Web. 18 March 2013. http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/310228.htm Webb, Eugene. Augustine’s New Trinity: The Anxious Circle of Metaphor. University of Washington. n.d. Web. 20 March 2013. http://faculty.washington.edu/ewebb/Gus.pdf Read More