Maine: I will try to explicate the three to you every bit to the full as I perchance can but you need to understand that every bit worlds we can non to the full grok the full complexness or admiration of God or his nature. We are told in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “ Now we see but a hapless contemplation as in a mirror ; so we shall see face to face. Now I know in portion ; so I shall cognize to the full, even as I am to the full known. ”[ 1 ]We need to appreciate therefore that until we see God “ face to face ” we will ne’er to the full be able to understand Him. This is the instance because as worlds we have a limited linguistic communication[ 2 ], limited apprehension and mind[ 3 ], and we exist in a limited universe and have finite heads.[ 4 ]The consequence of this is that we have to accept that we can ne’er to the full understand the construct of the triune God this side of Eden or so seek to to the full explicate it as rather merely our words, heads and constructs of this universe are non able to grok it. This aside God has chosen to uncover information about himself in the Old and New Testaments, and in our Christian experiences that give us insights into His nature and to enable us to try to understand him more. We can do analogies and addition apprehension of Him through these, but at the terminal of such an analysis we will ever seemingly stop up with a paradox, which rather merely reminds us that God is a cryptic God who rather justly is beyond our apprehension[ 5 ].
Maine: As you right indicate out, the word ‘Trinity ‘ is non mentioned in the Bible[ 6 ]and no specific philosophy is spelt out in Bible sing it. The philosophy of the Trinity has been developed out of necessity to explicate the ways that God reveals himself to us in Bible[ 7 ]. Within the Old Testament there are hints that point us towards the tri-nature of God, for illustration through the personified Wisdom of God, Word of God and Spirit of God[ 8 ]. In the New Testament, with the birth and Resurrection of Jesus and the reaching of the Holy Spirit we see God clearly expressed through tri-natures in the signifier of God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit[ 9 ]. It appears “ the entirety of God ‘s salvaging presence and power can onlyaˆ¦ be expressed by affecting all three elements ” of Father, Son and Holy Spirit[ 10 ]11.
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Inquirer: I appreciate that we can ne’er to the full explain or understand the Three this side of Eden but bearing this restriction in head can you try to explicate the Three to me as efficaciously and every bit merely as possible?
Maine: I will make my best. There have been many efforts to explicate the three throughout history. These have ever proved unequal, but some more so than others which have resulted in some positions being proclaimed dissident[ 12 ]such as the position that the three facets of the Trinity are God uncovering himself in different ways at different times[ 13 ], Jesus is a created being and the Holy Spirit is an property of God[ 14 ], and God, Jesus and Holy Spirit are three separate equal and independent existences who are all Godhead[ 15 ].
At the Southern Cross of these issues was the inquiry of whether God is one substance with three natures[ 16 ]( could be viewed as 1/3+1/3+1/3=1 )[ 17 ]or three separate Godhead existences ( could be viewed as 1+1+1=3 )[ 18 ]. If we accept the first as fact how do we account for the fact that Bible states that the Father sent the Son, as the deduction so is that God would be directing himself? If the latter is true so this suggests there are in fact three different Godhead existences which sums to polytheism. These viing positions created jobs in the early church so they met to seek and decide the issue. They put frontward the position that God is one being and three people ( which could be viewed as 1x1x1=1 )[ 19 ]20. This was aimed to accommodate the two positions together by recognizing the “ irreducible unity to God and an irreducible threeness to God ”[ 21 ]. While this does that, in that it maintains that God is three personalities yet besides one being, it still strikes us as self-contradictory and beyond our full apprehension.
There are two common positions of the Trinity presently predominating: the Social Trinity position and the Economic Trinity position. I will seek to analogize both of these for you so you can make up one’s mind which you think is most appropriate or helpful to you. I remind you that no analogy is perfect, particularly non 1s based in the physical universe[ 22 ]as they fail to capture the personality of God although they can still be helpful. The best 1s are by and large the personal 1s and it is these types of analogy therefore that I will give as illustrations.
The Social Trinity views that God is three Persons in community with each other. The analogy of a household unit is utile here as we can hold a hubby, married woman and kid, who communicate with each other and love each other, and although they are united by the community of the household, they are besides three separate persons[ 23 ]. Together the Godhead ( the three individuals of God ) is a community being wholly united and all involved in all facets of God at work in human history. So for case all three individuals were involved in creative activity and salvation[ 24 ]. This position of God besides reminds us that God did non necessitate to make as he already had perfect love and communicating and relationship within the Godhead community but He chose to make and He chose to uncover Himself to us through the Son in the Spirit.[ 25 ]. This analogy still does non look perfect as there is the suggestion of tri-theism ( polytheism ) which means that there is non one God but Gods, and there is besides confusion around the inquiry of how three godly existences, which are all powerful and all knowing can portion love which includes support, and sharing experiences as the really fact they are all knowing and all powerful should contradict the demand for that support and sharing of experiences[ 26 ].
The position I am most comfy with is the Economic Trinity. This states that God is one Godhead being with three distinguishable personalities, each one being responsible for a different function in “ the manner in which God has ordered the redemption of humanity in history ”[ 27 ]. We see God is one but non wholly separated from creative activity as we see Him at work within it. His activity in the universe, in history and today, is complex and reveals His integrity and besides the differentiations of the three ; each responsible for different parts of it. The complexness of human experience of salvation is hence a consequence of the 3 individuals of the Godhead playing in distinguishable but co-ordinated ways in human history whilst staying united in the Godhead[ 28 ]29.
I feel the best analogy for this is that of a individual who has multiple personalities. Peoples with this upset are one individual yet can substitute between three different personalities which can hold wholly different names and character traits. One personality can discourse with another and uncover information that the other one did non cognize. In relation to the Three we can see the Godhead as the individual and the Father, Son & A ; Holy Spirit as different personalities within that individual. Merely as the different personalities can pass on with each other so can the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When the Father emptied himself in the embodiment of the Son, the Son was emptied of His power and cognition. Therefore he did non cognize all the Father knew and was no longer ubiquitous or all-knowing, in this manner he was genuinely adult male. The incarnational Son prayed to the Father, as we do, and performed miracles through the power of the Holy Spirit life in him instead than from any power He retained. He could command devils but merely through the authorization He had as the Son, non through any power He had. Therefore we can see how the analogy can work in footings of one personality non sharing the same cognition and traits as the others.
A more experiential position of this was presented by John Macquarrie[ 30 ]. He describes the Father as “ aboriginal Being ” . This means that the Father is the “ beginning of non merely whatever is but of all possibilities of being. ” The Son is described as the “ expressive Being ” who is the Primordial Being ‘s manner of showing himself in to our universe of existences and creative activity. Not merely do we see the expressive Being in creative activity ( as the Word ) but besides in the Being of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is described as the “ unitive Being ” in that His map is to “ reconstruct the integrity of the Being with the existences ” ( us )[ 31 ]. In this position we see ourselves created by the Father, and although fallen the Father reaches out to us and relates to us in the signifier of the Word which becomes Jesus Christ incarnate and whom, through His Resurrection, clears the manner for our redemption. The Holy Spirit lives in us and alterations us to go like Jesus Christ, so that we can be reunited with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
