CHRISTIANITY: The Trinity, Points for clarification

EXPLORING CHRISTIANITY - THE TRINITY

THE BIBLE
Can we trust a book written 2000 years ago?

EYEWITNESS
Did the writers of the New Testament get their picture of Jesus right?

GOD - MAN
Is Jesus really God?

RESURRECTION
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?

RELIGIONS
With so many religions, why Christianity?

SUFFERING
If there is a God, why is there so much suffering?

TRINITY
Understanding the Trinity.

SCIENCE
The complementary nature of Science & Christianity.

FORGIVENESS
What it is and why it matters?

GUIDANCE
How does God guide?

REPENTANCE
What it is and why you can't get to heaven without it.

BORN AGAIN
What does it mean to be converted and born again?

SAVING FAITH
The kind of faith that will get you to heaven

ASSURANCE
Can I know for sure that I am going to heaven?

TRUTH
What is truth and does it matter?

MORALITY
Does it matter how we live? A Christian view of morality.

THE CHURCH
God's vision for his family, the Church. A call to the churches of the new millennium.

PURPOSE
How can I find a great purpose for living?

IDENTITY
Who am I; Finding my true identity as a human being and as a child of God.

SELF-ESTEEM
How can I feel good about my self? The Christian basis for proper sel-esteem.

LIFE AFTER DEATHChristianity's Hope & Challenge.

THE CROSS
Why did Jesus Die? What the Bible says about the Cross.

Grace
The importance of grace in the New Testament.

Points for clarification

There are four other matters that require some clarification before moving on to Part 2.

The unity of the Trinity

Though each of the Persons of the Trinity exercises a different role in meeting our needs and preparing us for future glory, these roles often overlap. They exist in a unity of love, and all their purposes towards us are achieved in harmony with one another. Thus, Jesus can say, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30). Often similar activities are attributed to different Persons of the Trinity. As the Holy Spirit is so intimately associated with both God the Father and Jesus, he is not only called "the Spirit of God", but also"the Spirit of Christ" (Romans 8:9; Galatians 4:6; Philippians 1:19). Paul can sometimes use a form of shorthand. Instead of saying, "Christ lives in his people by the Spirit", he simply says that Christ lives in his people (e.g. Romans 8:10; Galatians 2:20).

The submission of Jesus to the Father

"While Jesus lived on earth the Father was greater then he. That was Jesus' choice, for our eternal good"

There are those who argue against the traditional understanding of the Trinity by pointing out those passages in the New Testament where Jesus is spoken of as being in submission to the Father. He declared that the Father had sent him (John 5:30), that he only did what the Father told him to do (John 12:49), and that the Father was greater than he (John 14:28).

This is explained by Paul in Philippians. "Jesus...being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness...he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:6-8). In order to reconcile us to God and lift us up to his level, he came down to our level. He took upon himself our full humanity. "Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity...he had to be made like his brothers in every way... "(Hebrews 2:14-17). That meant that he behaved towards his heavenly Father in the manner in which we are meant to behave, in submission and obedience. That he was willing to take not only our human nature on himself, but also the consequences of our sins, demonstrates the amazing self-giving love and condescension of God. While Jesus lived on earth the Father was greater than he. That was Jesus' choice, for our eternal good.

In the same way the Holy Spirit chooses to submit himself to both the Father and the Son. One of his chief ministries is to focus our attention on Jesus, rather than himself. Thus, Jesus can say of the Spirit, "He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you" (John 16:14). This submission in love, for our benefit, is in no way inconsistent with the full divinity of each. Rather, it is an example of the way we ought to behave towards one another (Philippians 2:5)!

Glimpses of the Trinity in the Old Testament

The Trinity is not something that the writers of the New Testament thought up, and which contradicts all that God had revealed to his people over preceding centuries. There are hints of the Trinity in the Old Testament which can be seen more clearly in the light of the fuller revelation of God that came to us through Jesus. The idea of the Trinity did not take God by surprise!

Of the 377 instances of the Hebrew word for breath, wind and spirit in the Old Testament, there are approximately 94 that refer to the Spirit of God. His activity there is associated with God's power in creation or in the lives of individuals. He equips people for leadership, inspires prophecy and the revelation of God's truth through chosen individuals. He is the presence of God with his people. These activities are also associated with the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. His coming to indwell God's people in a new way, as happened on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2), was clearly foretold (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:25-27).

There are many prophecies about the coming of Christ throughout the Old Testament. There are times when God appears to individuals in human form (e.g. Joshua 5:13-15; Daniel 10:4-11). Some would see here the appearance of the second Person of the Trinity, Jesus, prior to his literal taking of human nature in Bethlehem.

Some would see hints of the Trinity in the plural term "us" used for God (Genesis 1:26), or in the threefold "Holy, holy, holy" of the angel's worship (Isaiah 6:3). It is interesting that the Hebrew word translated "one" in the famous statement of Deuteronomy 6:4, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one," that precedes the command to love him with all our heart, soul and strength, is a word that does not necessarily mean "one single individual". It is a word that "stresses unity while recognising diversity within that oneness" (Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament: Harris, Archer, Waltke).

Not an invention of the fourth century church

Some have tried to argue that it was the church of the fourth century that came up with the idea of the Trinity and that we have been stuck with it ever since - except for those groups that have "seen the light". This is simply not historically accurate. All the pointers towards the truth of the Trinity were there in the personal experiences of the first Christians and the New Testament writings right from the beginning, as I have sought to show.

The First Council of Nicaea (now Isnik in modern Turkey) held in AD 325, which spelled out the doctrine of the Trinity in its simplest credal form (known to us today as the Nicean Creed), was called by the Emperor Constantine because of divisions that had arisen among Christians. These divisions had arisen largely because of the teaching of a priest, Arius, who taught truths that were contrary to the generally accepted views of the church. Specifically, he taught that Jesus was inferior to God the Father. His views were rejected by the Council. Of all the bishops present at Nicaea (traditionally 318, though the exact number is uncertain) only two failed to subscribe to its decision.

The debate at Nicaea centred largely around the person of Christ. The Creed, one of the few authentic documents to survive from the Council, contains declaration of belief "in the Holy Spirit" without elaboration. Other creeds written over the following hundred years developed further emphasis on the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Of the early Church Fathers, Irenaeus and Origen share with Tertullian the responsibility for the formulation of the doctrine which later was expressed in the creeds. Athanasius led the debate at Nicaea. At the hands of Augustine a century later it received a formulation, enshrined in the Athanasius Creed, that is accepted by Trinitarian churches to this day. After receiving further elucidation at the hands of John Calvin it passed into the Reformed faith.

It is important to state that all this debate was undergirded by appeal to the writings of the New Testament. The ultimate decisions were made on the basis of the teaching of Jesus and his apostles. As Gordon Fee expresses it, it was precisely on the basis of the experience and language of the New Testament church that "the later church maintained its biblical integrity by expressing all of this in explicitly Trinitarian language." The teaching of the New Testament still remains today the basic reason why the vast majority of Christians acknowledge God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Having explored some of this teaching, let us move on to the question, "Does it make sense?"