THEO 5 J
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Apr 3, 2024
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THEO 5 J
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The essential elements of the doctrine of the Trinity are, first, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are united in an inextricable way. Though they are distinct from each other, they partake in an eternal unity. The nature of how this works has been debated through the centuries of church leadership, but its first orthodox teaching accepted into the church was decided in 381 AD at The Council of Constantinople.1 Perhaps the most significant tenet of the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity is the deity of Christ. There were early teachings that developed within the church that questioned the full deity of Christ, including those of Theodotus and Paul of Samosota.2 The other issue is not to abandon the oneness of God lest the doctrine devolves into tritheism, against which Erickson says there are two primary safeguards. The first, Erickson states, “Was noted that if we can find a single activity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit that is in no way different in any of the three persons, we must conclude that there is but one identical substance involved.”3 The example that he refers to that meets this standard is that of revelation. He explains, “Revelation originates in the Father, proceeds through the Son, and is completed in the Spirit.”4
These doctrines help our understanding and deepen our faith by inspiring us as Christians to value and engage with each person of the Trinity. Christ is valued in His
authority. This affects our understanding of salvation. His sacrifice was sufficient. Also, Jesus had the authority to pass on special power and authority to his disciples whom he left in charge to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth, as is recorded in Matthew 28:18-20. Then concerning the Holy Spirit, this is the essential member of the Trinity whom Jesus told the disciples to wait for because it would empower them to face the challenges they were to face. That same Spirit is available to Christians today and remains essential to living according to the Word and also to overcome the spiritual forces against which we fight today. Again, to fight against the temptation to divide the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Erickson references
Augustine and Calvin as teaching, “the actions of any one of the persons of the Trinity are actually actions in which all three persons participate.”5
There is no perfect comparison to God’s three-in-oneness in the physical world, but still there are several attempts that can help our understanding so that we can at least have some idea. One early example comes from that Justin and Tatian. According to Erickson, they “used the imagery of the impossibility of separating light from its source, the sun. In this way they illustrated that, while the Word and the Father are distinct, they are not divisible or separable.”6 One of the most profound illustrations comes from Augustine who “utilizes analogies drawn from the
human personality.”7 What these illustrations help us to see is the doctrine of the Trinity is not paradoxical and dues not portray God in contradictory ways. It encourages our faith in the reliability of Scripture. This however does not deny that the Trinity is “incomprehensible” to us. “We cannot fully understand its mystery.”8 With God, who is beyond our finite capacity for understanding by His infinite character, there will always be a mystery on this side of eternity.
1 Millard Erickson, Christian Theology, Third Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 304.
2 Ibid., 303.
3 Ibid., 305.
4 Ibid., 306.
5 Ibid., 308.
6 Ibid., 302.
7 Ibid., 311.
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