Wow, this is my third post this week!
This is the first paper that I'm posting. It's long, ten pages or more, printed in MLA format. So it's lengthy here too. It was my term paper for Christian Theology I, last semester.
Enjoy!
-R.T.
Preface
I didn't cover this well in my paper, so I wanted to fill you guys in. During the inter-testamental period, rabbinic teachings and the shift of second temple Judaism produced a belief, always held by a minority, but held by some until the second century AD, called the two-powers belief, or, as it was later called, the two-powers heresy. This was the view that God was two powers, a greater and a lesser, based on Genesis 18, the use of the plural "Elohim," and other Old Testament evidences of what we call Triune theology.
The eventual label of heresy was given to this view because it was too close to Christianity, so Judaism rejected it completely a century or two after Christ because it allowed for a smoother transition from Jew to Christian, and it made the two seem too similar, which the Jews disliked, quite intensely. Most Christians have never heard of this view, but it's definitely and interesting tidbit one comes across studying Christology, Triune theology, and Second-Temple Judaism.
Introduction
The following is made up of two parts: My argument for the correct view of the Trinity of God as outlined, described, and supported in Scripture, and the Scriptural support for that case. First, I will state the case for the doctrine of the Trinity as I believe it to be true, then deal with several passages I believe to support that view.
For the benefit of the reader, I will be using the terms “Triune theology,” and “the doctrine of the Trinity,” along with any similar terms to mean the belief itself. Many writers on this topic refer to “the Trinity” meaning the belief, but this would be akin to calling theism “God” and calling God “theism.” You do not call the belief and the being by the same name; therefore I will say “the Trinity” only when referring to God, not when referring to the belief that God is triune. However, when I write that an author or passage “articulates the Trinity” I mean to say that they are stating truths about God’s nature being triune.
A Statement of the Doctrine of the Trinity
I believe triune theology to mean the belief that the Godhead is a united being, comprised of three interdependent persons: Father, Son, and Spirit. They are co-equal, co-eternal, one and yet three. Each is God, but each one is neither of the others. They never contradict, work against, or conflict. They are three persons, equal, and of one nature.
This has been the view held by the Church since, at the very latest, the first council of Nicaea in AD 325, and I believe, based on the Scripture that supports it, since the time of Christ. There have been various heresies surrounding the nature of God as triune, particularly in regards to the nature of Christ. They have been addressed by various councils and synods for thousands of years, and have always been held by smaller fringe groups within the Church. The view I adhere to, and claim that Scripture supports, is what I believe to be the mainstream Christian view of God as triune held by the Church for nearly all of its history (Bercot, 651-656).
The two best historical articulations of triune theology are, in my opinion, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed.
The Nicene Creed is shorter, simpler, and contains only the essential doctrines of the Christian faith.
“We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made…he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified…” (The Trinity Hymnal, 849-850)
The Athanasian creed came about much later, roughly the ninth century. The authorship is contested, and many deny the creed as worth anything since its author is unknown and it was originally written in Latin (Catholic Online). I find that reason to throw out something true and good to be insufficient. All truth is God’s truth, and if we do not know who wrote it but it is true, then it is still true. Here is a long excerpt from the Athanasian Creed:
“…We worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity. Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is all One, the Glory Equal, the Majesty Co-Eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. The Father Uncreate, the Son Uncreate, and the Holy Ghost Uncreate. The Father Incomprehensible, the Son Incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost Incomprehensible. The Father Eternal, the Son Eternal, and the Holy Ghost Eternal and yet they are not Three Eternals but One Eternal. As also there are not Three Uncreated, nor Three Incomprehensibles, but One Uncreated, and One Uncomprehensible. So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not Three Almighties but One Almighty.
“So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not Three Gods, but One God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not Three Lords but One Lord. For, like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by Himself to be God and Lord, so are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion to say, there be Three Gods or Three Lords. The Father is made of none, neither created, nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone; not made, nor created, but begotten. The Holy Ghost is of the Father, and of the Son neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.
“So there is One Father, not Three Fathers; one Son, not Three Sons; One Holy Ghost, not Three Holy Ghosts. And in this Trinity none is afore or after Other, None is greater or less than Another, but the whole Three Persons are Co-eternal together, and Co-equal. So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity is Trinity, and the Trinity is Unity is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved, must thus think of the Trinity.” (Catholic Online)
As you can see, these contain a good articulate definition of what we believe the Godhead, or Trinity, to be. It is, therefore, an accurate articulation of our beliefs.
Now that I have stated what I believe to be true, and given some of my historical reasons for believing as I do, let us dive into the Scripture behind triune theology.
The Old Testament and Jewish beliefs about God
As Christians it is important for us to remember that we are grafted into the Jewish faith (Romans 11). As such, what the Judaism taught in the first century is something we should spend a lot of our time studying. We should also spend a great deal of time studying God in the Old Testament, since that is how we know the context into which our Beloved Savior came, and what His world was like while a man on earth.
As for how Judaism sees the position Christians hold of Triune theology, they reject it entirely. They find it a direct contradiction to the oneness of God. If He is three, how can He be one? In Deuteronomy 6:4-9, known to Judaists as the Shemah, is the most important part of Jewish liturgy. It is a prayer given by Moses, and states in its opening line “The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” The following lines tell Israel to bind this to their right hands, their foreheads and their doorposts. This is why Jewish homes and businesses often have a box on the right door post as you enter, known as a mezuzah—it usually contains the prayer in Hebrew. Jesus even cites this Himself as the most important commandment in Mark 12:29.
Being such an instrumental part of Jewish culture and thinking, the oneness of God is paramount. Therefore any dogma that started in the remotest way to take away the oneness of God was rejected by mainstream Judaism, and by the end of the first century the wall against that belief was fully constructed. It was considered a Christian belief, not a Jewish one. For a Jew belief that God is triune is as heretical sounding as if a Christian were to claim Jesus wasn’t a real man, and none of the Bible ever happened. We would find it absurd, and claim that the person adhering to such a belief is not a true believer in the doctrines of the Christian faith.
The Jewish rejection of triune theology is part of why they reject Christ, and it is to their extreme detriment. Just because they interpreted the Old Testament to contradict the doctrine of the Trinity does not mean they are correct. They also have strong evidence for triune theology in the Old Testament.
For instance, remember Genesis 1:1—when it says “In the beginning God created…” This is a riddle in Hebrew: God is plural, but the action of creating is singular, which would be considered improper grammar, for the point of emphasis. It is a plural noun with a singular verb, an example in English would be “We am.”
Consider also Genesis 15: God makes a covenant with Abraham. At that meeting a slain animal, split in two, is passed between by a blazing firepot and a flaming torch. Normally only the partakers of the covenant pass through the pieces of the slain animal, yet Abraham does not—only the beings represented by fire and fire. It could be interpreted, and is by many Christians, to be the Trinity: Slain Son, Father and Spirit passing through in a covenant of blood—all Three being One. Or consider Genesis 18:
Abraham sees three men and runs to meet them. He refers to them as “my lord” (note the singular). Then the storyteller, Moses, calls the one of them that is speaking to Abraham “LORD.” Meaning that these three, referred to as singular and acting as one, are in some way Yahweh the God of Abraham. Near the end of the chapter Abraham continues talking with the LORD and the men continue to Sodom and Gamorrah. At the beginning of Genesis 19 “the two angels arrived.” Then later on in the same chapter the LORD calls down fire from the LORD in heaven—a sort of “little Yahweh” talking to “big Yahweh” in heaven.
Overall, however, the oneness of God emphasized in the Old Testament gives us great insight in how unified they are, or how much they are one. This means that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit are all one. “The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” While the Old Testament itself does not contradict the view of triune theology, and one could argue that in some cases supports it, the overall emphasis is on the unchanging, immutable, oneness, and unity of God.
Jesus’ view of God and the Spirit in the Gospels
The most obvious appearance of the Trinity in the Gospels, and possibly the most powerful in all of Scripture, is at the baptism of our Lord in Matthew 3, particularly just after He was baptized. In the final verses of the account God’s Word says “And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’ ” Here we have very clearly three divine beings: A Son, a Spirit, and a Voice.
Jesus Himself recognizes the Trinity and articulates it in the final words of Matthew's Gospel, known as the great commission, possibly the most world-changing words ever spoken: And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Notice that “name” in this passage is singular. The commission is not to baptize in the names of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but in their name—singular.
Another Gospel passage that deals extensively with the nature of the Trinity is John 1. John is offering a solution to the riddle of Genesis 1 by saying “In the beginning…” and then explaining that the plurality was because the Word, which became flesh and dwelt among us that we may have life, was God and was with God. And it was the Light (John 1:1-14). This passage very clearly outlines that the Father and the Son are coeternal, coequal, and one in substance and nature. John even goes so far as to claim that the Son was involved in the creation to the point of being its origin—that nothing exists that doesn’t come through and from Him. That is very strong language to parallel the Son to the Father and make them equal and the same.
John deals more with this concept directly, including the Holy Spirit, in John 14:15-20:
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you… Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
As you can clearly see, Jesus is saying that He and the Father are one, and the Spirit is going to be with us and in us. Spirit will come to us, and Jesus will come to us—which implies that Jesus is one with the Spirit.
Throughout John’s Gospel, Jesus continually makes the statement that he is. “I am…” He is making Himself equal with the Father, He is referencing Exodus 3:14, when God tells Moses that He is: “I am that I am,” or “I am who I am,” and to tell Israel “that I AM has sent you.” Jesus then tells His followers that He is: “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” (John 14:6). Consider John 13:19-20: “I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” (Emphasis added) Note that Jesus refers to the one He will send, meaning the Spirit, and to the one who sent Him, meaning the Father. If you receive the Spirit you receive the Son, and whoever receives the Son receives the Father. This is a clear articulation of the tri-unity of the Godhead.
In Acts 2:32-33 we see this promise come to fruition: “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.” It seems clear that the Gospel writers were hearing Christ articulate the nature of the Trinity and promises surrounding it, and then saw it come to fruition at Pentecost.
The Epistles
Peter recognizes the Trinity as being one in the opening lines of his first letter, 1Peter 1:1-2: “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ…according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.”
There are dozens of references in the New Testament that could be given for Paul’s belief in triune theology, but these two should suffice. First, in 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, when speaking on the gifts of the Spirit, Paul has this to say: “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.” Paul is saying that any gift we have comes from the Godhead, any service we do is to the Godhead, and any action we are capable of taking is only by the empowerment of the Godhead.
Second, Paul recognizes the Trinity in his final blessing in 2 Corinthians 13:14: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Paul is blessing them in the name of the Godhead.
This is very clearly developed throughout the rest of the God’s Word, but as it is neither possible nor necessary to exhaust every Scriptural articulation of the doctrine of the Trinity in this paper, for the sake of space and time, those should suffice. Below you will find first my bibliography, followed by a chart of the development of the doctrine of the Trinity in the early church, and descriptions of each belief and heresy.
Bible
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotes are from:
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV). Wheaton, IL: Good News Publishers: Crossway Bibles, 2001.
All paraphrases are original.
Works Directly Cited
Bercot, David W. A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs. Seventh Printing. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1998.
The Trinity Hymnal. Revised Edition, Twelfth Printing. Suwanee: Great Commission Publications, Inc., 1990.
Catholic Online. The Catholic Encyclopedia. 2008. 15 November 2008
Other References, Used Generally in Research
Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology. Leicester / Grand Rappids: Inter-Varsity Press / Zondervan Publishing House, 1994.
Luthers Small Catechism with Explanation. Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2005.
New Dictionary of Theology. Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 1988.
Packer, J.I. Concise Theology. Carol Stream: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1993.
Ridolfi, Brian. "What does The Bible say about..." The Ultimate Bible Answer Book. Chattanooga: AMG Publishers, 2005.
The Heidelberg Catechism with Scripture Texts. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1973.
Ware, Timothy. The Orthodox Church. New York: Penguin Books, 1963.
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