How The Doctrine of The Trinity in Christian Theology Shows Unification of The Aspects of The God, The Son, and The Holy Spirit

Introduction

The Doctrine of the Trinity is the teaching that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are three distinct divine persons in one God. As we all know, we cannot know everything there is to know about God, because God himself is self-revealing. Theologians have many reasons why the Trinity has meaning in our lives today. Although this doctrine is not explicitly defined in scripture, there are many passages that point to the Trinity. Since God’s transcendence is utterly incomprehensible, which is beyond our capacity to fully understand, the Trinity is very difficult to grasp or comprehend. That is why this doctrine brings up questioning aspects of Christianity.

Understanding the Trinity

Rausch introduces the Trinity as another self-revelation of God, which is a divine mystery within itself. He contemplates that the Trinity is “at the heart of the Christian faith” (Rausch, 2003, p. 59). In order to truly understand the Trinity, one must have an understanding and belief in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit as three in one. The question that commonly gets asked here is, if there is one God, how can there be three? There are several Old Testament scriptures that allude to more than one person within the Godhead. Two scriptures that allude to the Godhead as three in one are Psalm 45:6-7 and Isaiah 6:8. Although they don’t specifically say it, they set the basis for the plurality of God. As stated before, The Doctrine of the Trinity is not found in scriptures but it is grounded in them. The New Testament has many scriptures that give evidence to the fact that early Christians had some sort of awareness of God’s work taking place through Christ and the Spirit. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus instructs his disciples to baptize people “in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Rausch, 2003, p. 61). This clearly states that the Godhead consists of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are not separate but united as three distinct divine persons.

Traditional and Contemporary Views

In the article “Three in One” by William C. Placher, he mentions how the traditional Trinitarian terminology does not fully embody the aspect of how the Trinity fits together. Rather, the terms were developed to sustain the mystery of God. He also reviews the relationship of Immanent Trinity and Economic Trinity, which are two ways of contemplating upon the Trinity. The Immanent Trinity focuses on the inner divine life of God while the Economic Trinity focuses on how God is revealed as triune. Rausch further explains that Karl Rahner insisted that the Immanent and Economic Trinity are inseparable from each other. Placher also states that the doctrine of the Trinity is about believing “God is really like Jesus,” or essentially “to understand the story of Jesus as the story of God” (Placher, 2007).

The Creeds and the Filioque Controversy

I have not fully understood the development of the Trinity. However, I do know that it is the foundation of the two main creeds, the Nicene Creed and the Apostles’ Creed. They both have different ways of contemplating the Trinity, but what they share is the affirmation that Jesus is God. I have found that when I read about the doctrine of the Trinity, there is a lot of confusion or division among the procession of the Holy Spirit, or in other words, the filioque. The East wanted to emphasize the monarchy that the Holy Spirit comes from the Father and the Father alone. However, the Western churches added to the creed without the consent of the Eastern churches, asserting that the Holy Spirit is relatively a bond between the Father and the Son (Rausch, 2003, p. 66). Despite the controversies, the Trinity can influence life today because “relationality is at the very heart of the mystery of the divine” (Rausch, 2003, p. 67). This is why we cannot fully understand the Trinity.

Personal Reflections

Growing up, I thought the Trinity simply consisted of God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is actually far more complex than that. These readings and class discussions have taught me to look and question what I actually believe in. I have encountered other views of the Trinity, but I was so fixed on what I believed that I never questioned why I believed in such things until now. I really didn’t understand the things I was reading until I started reading with an open mind. These articles have meaningful lessons for life, such as: God is love, to trust in God’s revelation, and unity and diversity. Those three things theologians see as essential to life today are all grounded in scripture, just like the Doctrine of the Trinity. A scripture that proves that God is love is in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If He didn’t love, we would not have salvation in Jesus Christ. We also have been taught to trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5). That alone says we should trust that He knows and not our own understanding of what we know. There are many scriptures that point to the diversity yet unity of people. We are all made in God’s image but in diverse ways. By reading and discussing this doctrine, I have yet to fully understand and justify the truth behind it, but I guess that is the meaning behind the divine mystery which we are always contemplating upon.

Conclusion

The one quote that stood out to me throughout reading all these articles is that “God is in all; all is in God,” which encapsulates many questions I had about the Trinity. This quote will forever resonate with me when someone asks about the Trinity, because although they are three, they are one, just divine and distinct.

References:

• Rausch, T. P. (2003). Theology for beginners. Paulist Press.
• Placher, W. C. (2007). Three in one: Essays on the trinity. Westminster John Knox Press.