In the article “The Forgotten Trinity”, a segment of Colin E. Gunton’s book Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, he targets a problem with the practice of the Trinity in the Church today. Gunton believes that the church has strayed from the essential tradition that it ought to follow- a culture solidified on not just one person of the trinity but all three. He makes this view clear with lines such as “Once upon a time we were a deeply Trinitarian culture”(4), and with questions such as “Is the worship of the Church truly informed by Trinitarian categories?”(5) Gunton’s aim is to clarify the God that Christians worship: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Gunton believes that a proper perspective on the Trinity is vital to the structure of the Church because the Trinity establishes God as a God of love and …show more content…
As Gunton states, “In God the three persons are such that they receive from and give to each other their unique personality”(16). It is through this relationship, this sharing of personality, that their love is expressed. By the means of Jesus and the Holy Spirit humanity gains access to this love. Gunton states that Jesus’ role to humanity is as God’s hand of salvation. In other words, by dying on the cross, Jesus delivered humanity into a state of being able to experience God’s love. By having this connection, humanity is able to delve deeper in relation with the Father. John 14:6 says, “No one comes to the Father except through me”(NIV). Jesus had to die so that the Holy Spirit could come, as explained later in verse 16, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever”(NIV). Due to humanity’s access to the Father being through both the Holy Spirit and Jesus, the importance of worshiping the Trinity in its entirety is raised significantly. Thus the Church cannot afford to undercut any one of these
Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you… so that he many give eternal life to all you gave him” (John 17:1-2). He continues, “I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth,” (John 17:19). Jesus’ prayer is to bring us into perfection with God, for us to know him, and understand his love for us. This is achieved through God’s loving sacrifice as evidenced in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life”. Opposite from the notion that we must sacrifice our first born sons for God, God sacrifices his son for us. This is made reality in the passion and suffering of
The medieval theologian Julian of Norwich was a mystic, writer, anchoress and spiritual director for her time. She is gaining in popularity for our time as she provides a spiritual template for contemplative prayer and practice in her compilation of writings found in Revelations of Divine Love. The insightful meditations provide the backdrop and basis for her Trinitarian theology’s embrace of God’s Motherhood found in the Trinity. Her representative approach of the all-encompassing unconditional love of a mother who nurtures, depicts Christ as our Mother ascending to the placement of Second hood within the Trinity while giving voice to the duality of God.
There are many facets of a relationship with God. They can be known in the Christian community as disciplines. Worship although identified as a Christian discipline is more about relationship, love and honour to the Father. It is the topic that will be discussed through out this paper.
The Gospel of John depicts Jesus not only as the son of God, but as the Word. The Word is God, thus Jesus is God in flesh. Jesus, the Word incarnate, was sent with a purpose, to shed light into the world. John 1:14 describes this light as the “grace and truth,” within Jesus. Yet, John 1:14, also depicted Jesus as a God, who “lived among us,” and through incarnate life showed the world “glory,” possible only through “a father’s only son.” John 1:14 functions by, one demonstrating Jesus as God (incarnate) and by two discussing the gifts only capable by Jesus. The christology reiterated within the quote, the belief of an incarnate God, echoes throughout the rest of the
To start the book, the author, Hall, discusses the main church subjects he is going to talk about. He mainly talks about the key focuses of the Church Fathers. This includes the question of the incarnation, the Trinity, and the question of humanity and the church. He relates and outlines these by relating them to the issues that arose with in the early church and how they came to solve them.
Basil offers great rebuttals to several objection on many matters as it relates to the Holy Trinity. There are no shortage of objections as well as successful and convincing counterarguments. It is St. Basil’s goal to preserve the faith and salvific work of the Trinity and in order to do so he must combat several arguments that intend to confuse the reader and lead one astray. The three persons of the Trinity are proven to be equal in dignity, will, and power with one another. While their functions may differ, it would be reckless and hazardous assume that they are otherwise different in nature. No terms or trickery, used by his opponents, whether in language or twisted scriptural examples continue to stand as he courageously refutes that the three hypostases are equal with one another and necessary for the doctrine, faith, and salvation of humanity to be complete. If anyone attempts to falsify this truth they are incapable of having a true understanding and relationship with the Trinitarian
Regular humans actually don’t understand what the Blessed Trinity is, but we know that there is God the Son, who is true God, God the Father, who is true God, and the Holy Ghost who is true God, which makes the Blessed Trinity. Even though there are three Persons in God it doesn’t mean that there are three Gods but instead there are three persons in one God which is why we don’t understand the Blessed Trinity. Before the fall of mankind, people already had infused knowledge of the Blessed Trinity from God but after the fall, God removed that infused knowledge of the Blessed Trinity. “The various comparisons used to illustrate the mystery of the Blessed Trinity or well summed up by Father Sheen as follows: ‘Just as water, ice and Steam are all manifestations of the same substance; just as the length, breadth and thickness of a cathedral do not make three Cathedrals, but one; just as carbon, diamond and graphite are manifestations of one and the same nature; Just as the color perfume in form of a rose do not make three roses, but one; just as the soul the intellect and the will do not make three lives, but one; just as 1X1X1=1 AND NOT 3, SO IN A MUCH MORE MYSTERIOUS WAY THERE ARE THREE PERSONS IN THE BLESSED TRINITY AND NOT ONLY ONE
First off I will tackle what the meaning of the Trinity is. Like I said earlier the Trinity is the idea of three person’s as one. A few ways to explain this were brought up in class. Some of these analogies are to compare the Trinity to things like a shamrock, a chain, or three coins. These are used to try to explain it to people because it shows things of a nature similar to the idea we are trying to explain. A shamrock is...
God the father offers love and salvation, Christ as true God and true man redeems through his sacrifices on the cross, The Holy Spirit inspires mankind dwelling in the church and heart of the
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary Christianity is, “The religion derived from Jesus Christ, based on the Bible as sacred scripture, and professed by Eastern, Roman Catholic, and Protestant bodies.” This definition is true; however, this definition is also extremely vague. The Christian faith believes that there is one triune God, the Trinity. The trinity consists of God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. This belief in the Trinity is rooted in scripture and professed in the Nicene Creed a statement on the basic beliefs of Christianity (Nicene Creed). After God created mankind, humanity eventually fell into sin and rebellion against God. Mankind is totally depraved and tainted with original sin, Romans 3:23 puts it clearly: “All have sinned and fall short
Rea, Michael. ed. Oxford Readings in Philosophical Theology: Trinity, Incarnation, Atonement. Vol.1. New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 2009
The supreme being of God exists in a trinity composed of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each member of triune has distinguishable characteristics as well as sharing common ones. In the act of salvation, these three beings contribute in different ways. “God the Father purposes redemption, Jesus, the Son, secures it, and the Holy Spirit applies it to the lives of those who receive it”(Packer 15). Just as the human body is composed of three main parts, the body, mind, and soul, but is all one person, The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three beings in one.
Now, we are going to examine the “third person” of the Trinitarian Trinity – The Holy Spirit. Between the three “components” of the godhead, the easiest to comprehend and the least misunderstood is The Holy Spirit. The original “three hypostases “ of God (by hypostases I mean essence) are God the Father, His Word (spoken word), and His (Holy) Spirit (the latter two are Gods inasmuch as they are an integral part of God). So the above with its three dimensions is the one true and eternal God. He was singular; an integer God united in Himself (Oneness Christians believe this) and alone in eternity. We have defined the Father (corresponding roughly to the body). We have defined the Word (corresponding to soul). Now we can define the Holy Spirit (corresponding to spirit). The spirit is a force (as the Jehovah Witnesses and others believe), or power that issues or emanates from the Father. It is the life force of God. It is the essence of God. It is invisible. It doesn’t have a form or shape. The Greek word for spirit is “pneuma” meaning “air”, “breeze”. That is the Holy Spirit. From the three “things” that make up God, the Father is the only
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." This verse - John 3:16 - is perhaps the most important in the Bible. Jesus Christ was the son of God, but he was also the son of man.
The Trinity is made up of God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This concept is what many Catholics believe in, but other worldwide religions believe in other beliefs. Out of all the three Divine Persons, “Jesus is the most qualified to bring the renewal of creation because it was through him that creation came into being” (Pohle February 7th). We as humans will have to face the consequences for actions that we have done in the past, present and future. Jesus has come into the world as a human to show his dignity and save us from sin; he was the world and of all creation. As we come to read more about Jesus we get to know Jesus more, we learn about what he did, how he did it and why he had to do these saving actions.