WP 116: The Trinity

Father, Son AND Holy Spirit? How do we understand the trinity?

 

Consensus of belief:

The undivided early Christian church set forth a unifying creed that was meant to serve as a definitive but not exhaustive statement. This is known as the Nicene Creed, more technically correctly called the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. It was formulated in two universal councils of the Christian churches’ leaders in the Roman Empire: the Council of Nicaea (325) and the Council of Constantinople (381). If one wants to know what the Christian consensus—the Great Tradition—says about who God is, that creed is the convenient and right place to look. All three major branches of Christianity—Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant—affirm the faith of Nicaea, which is another way of saying they affirm the Trinity.

 

NICENE CREED: We believe in one God, the Father All Governing, creator of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten from the Father before all time, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not created, of the same essence as the Father [homoousion tō patri], through Whom all things came into being, Who for us men and because of our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became human. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried, and rose on the third day, according to the Scriptures, and ascended to heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father, and will come again with glory to judge the living and dead. His Kingdom shall have no end. And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and life-giver, Who proceeds from the Father, Who is worshiped and glorified together with the Father and the Son, Who spoke through the prophets; and in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. We confess one baptism for the remission of sins. We look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.

 

Another way of summing up the trinitarian belief about God is by way of an acrostic that contains the acrostic TRIUNE:

 

Three recognized as God; 

Regarded as three distinct persons; 

Immanent and eternal, not merely economical or temporal; 

United in essence; 

No inequality; 

Explains all other doctrines yet itself inscrutable.

 

“How a single being can be faithfully and somewhat accurately described as both a single mind with multiple dimensions and a community of persons knitted together inseparably in a bond of love is beyond complete understanding. Nevertheless, divine revelation requires that God be described in both ways.”

 

Olson, Roger E.; The Mosaic of Christian Belief (p. 156); InterVarsity Press, Kindle Edition. 

Recommended Reading: The Mosaic of Christian Belief by Roger E Olson

 

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