The word Trinity has been an appealing name to me since my childhood. Perhaps, my upbringing in a spiritual family is a reason although I admit that my knowledge of Trinity was rather little when in my twenties, I named my spoken English and Music Institute, Trinity Institute of Spoken English & Music. I became seriously intrigued with the richness of the doctrine of the Trinity as I took over the responsibility of the Church started by my dad late Rev.Kambham Vedanayakam in 2007. In this paper, I would like to present the richness of the doctrine of Trinity with the hope to comprehend the utmost incomprehensive doctrine of Trinity and its role in promoting Ecumenism.
The twists and turns through which the Triune God migrated from the center
…show more content…
The attempt to answer this question leads to the Christian doctrine of the Trinity: God is the transcendent One who has become one with humanity in the person of Jesus Christ and through whose spirit we and the whole cosmos are being brought to fulfilment. Trinity affirms, “There is but one living and true God....., and in the unity of this Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; the Father, the son, and the Holy ghost.” Because of the heavily psychological connotation of the word “person” in contemporary usage, it is a natural temptation to imagine that the Father, the son, and the spirit constitute three distinct consciousnesses, three centers of activity, three concrete beings. That is why theologians as Augustine, Karl Barth, and Karl Rahner were reluctant to use the term “person” and coined other phrases such as Seinsweise (modes of being: Barth) or distinct Subsistenzweise(manners of subsisting: Rahner) to refer to the Father, the Son, and the …show more content…
In Christian theology, God is symbolised as a divine Father primarily because Christ is symbolised as the divine Son. The Gospel of Mark describes Jesus as the Son of man and the Son of God. The contrast and connection are dramatically portrayed in the anguish of the Gethsemane prayer where Jesus begins: “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” The untranslated Aramaic address to the heavenly Father, Abba, seems important. It marks a special relationship between Jesus and the holy One of Israel. From the Talmud and writings from first-century Antioch we learn that abba meaning “daddy” and imma meaning “mommy” were terms used by small children when speaking to their parents. They connote close family relations and familiarity. “To a Jewish mind,” writes Joachim Jeremias, “It would have been irreverent and therefore unthinkable to call God by this familiar word.” Jesus sought to pass this intimate relationship with God on to his followers via the medium of prayer. Jesus teaches the disciples the Lord’s Prayer. The third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, is significant here. The Holy Spirit empowers Christians to pray like Jesus and effects the same intimate communion in their lives. When we cry, ‘Abba!Father!’it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” The Father –Son relationship
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.
...nity. The Holy Spirit allows human beings to become closer to God, and the relationship between the Father and the Son. After writing about both the Trinity and Salvation, I have learned that they are immensely interconnected. The Trinity allows human beings to find Salvation. All in all, the Trinity is not three separate parts, but one part with three different essences.
The Bible never makes of the specific reference of the trinity, the Bible does talk about the divine existence of each of the three members of the Trinity, God (The Father), The Son (Jesus Christ), and the Spirit (The Holy Spirit). It is still a complex idea for me to understand fully but scripture does indeed tell of the work and existence of the trinity.
Three equals one. Out of all of the statements made by the Christian faith, perhaps none is more confusing. The Doctrine of the Trinity has been questioned for decades and many Christians do not even understand it. Colin E. Gunton argues that this does not have to be so. Instead, he calls the Western Church to learn from Eastern Orthodoxy and allow Trinitarian thinking to permeate every aspect of the church. It is when the Western Church embarrasses “The Forgotten Trinity” (the name of the chapter) in thinking and in worship, that we not only learn the nature of God, but how we should live in light of it.
The trinity is perhaps one of the more complicated, and possibly confusing, doctrines found in Scripture concerning Deity (the Godhead). It is a doctrine that is fully embraced by some who claim to be Christians, while others deny it whole heartedly. Islam, which claims to worship Yahweh (they do not), vehemently denies the idea of the trinity; they claim that to believe such is to embrace polytheism (the belief in multiple gods). With much confusion in the religious world regarding this matter, it is important to look to the Bible, which is the source of truth (John 17:17), to find what the truth is regarding the trinity.
In this essay, I investigate the Trinity, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and how God understood. I will also consider how this can be communicated in the church today. Essay 1 : What does it mean to say the one God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit? My understanding is that in the Triune relationship, God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In other words, God is three persons in one.
Chapter four addresses the divisions within the Corinthian church, such as jealousy, quarrelling and their defective view of the church. The apostle Paul links their view of the church to church leadership stating “If they had a true view of the church, they would have a true view of the leaders of the church” (p79). The situation was that their view was lower for the church and higher for the leaders thus they were boasting about the leaders. Paul’s view was that the Corinthian church was spoon feed Christians not maturing as they should. Paul’s reference to addressing the church as worldly did not mean they were unregenerate because they did possess the Spirit but they were not being spiritual, not being controlled by the Holy Spirit. He goes on to say “They have experienced new birth by the Spirit but have remained babies in Christ; they have not yet become mature in Christ” (p80) The Apostle most likely would express the same opinion about many Church congregations today. Many churches are elated with their church growth, but it is often superficial. If the church does not offer a real growth opportunity the journey is short lived. The church fills up with Christians not participating in the sanctification process. As with many churches today the Corinthians had a self-serving attitude about themselves and their church. The Corinthians would have never behaved the way they did if they had a higher view of the church and what it stood for and a lesser view of the leaders. Paul outlines three visions of the church “each of which has important implications” (p82). The first metaphor is agricultural: God’s field (v9) 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God...
The ministries of Jesus and the Holy Spirit are closely related, each one serving an individual purpose while complimenting the other. Although the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all one in the trinity, they each have different roles that they play. The Holy Spirit plays an active part in our lives, as does Jesus. The role of the Spirit changed with Jesus. When Jesus died and rose from the cross, He opened up a new doorway for us, a new opportunity for us to experience the Holy Spirit. The Spirit became active and real to us in a way that He never could before. Today, our lives are focused on Jesus, focused on His love and sacrifice. His present ministry is seen through His believers. We are His lights in this present dark world.
In the Christian Worldview God is to be a spirit according to Luke 24:39 (New King James Version) “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle
Around the time after Jesus’ resurrection, Christians were confused and they needed answers. Jesus was just arisen from the dead. The Church now had Jesus and God to look to, but who was the leader of it all? Who were they to worship? Where does the Spirit fit into all of this? After many questions, they looked to Scripture. Christians have had the belief of Monotheism and that there is One God. Yet, it wasn’t until the Church looked to Scripture that they pieced together what is now known as the Holy Trinity.
“The practice of baptism in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in the second century propelled the development of the trinitarian theology” (LaDue 48). According to Collins, the trinity can be defined by three statements “1. There is only one true God. 2. This one true God exists as three distinct persons. 3. Each person is fully divine” (Collins 29-31). The three people that make up the trinity are the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. First there is the Father. There are many Bible passages where God is referred to as the Father, this can be concluded because He alone created all things and His first human creation, Adam, was called the son of God. Jesus is God’s son and he was sent by his father, the Father, to offer humanity salvation from their sins. The “God of the Israelites reveals himself as a distinct, unique, superior deity who is always there. God’s being there is what defines him” (LaDue 14). The Israelites sometimes see the God Yahweh as an imitation of the trinity in the old testament, but they do not have distinct leveled personalities. Although God is distinct and unique, the idea that He is superior can be a false assumption as all the persons of the trinity have equal power and divinity. Another person of the trinity is the Holy Spirit. Yes, the Holy Spirit is a person. This is a common misconception of the
Rea, Michael. ed. Oxford Readings in Philosophical Theology: Trinity, Incarnation, Atonement. Vol.1. New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 2009
The doctrine of the Trinity, as seen in the Christian bible, is primary to the Christian faith. The word “Trinity” does not actually appear in the bible; it is a theological label meant to summarize certain teachings of certain passages of scripture, and is crucial to properly understand what God is like, how He relates to us, and how we relate to Him. It may also raise many difficult questions including what does it mean that God is a Trinity? While it is difficult for us to fully understand everything about the trinity, it is quite possible to answer questions like this one and come to a solid grasp of what it means for God to be three in one.
Trying to explain the Holy Trinity is like trying to explain the 3D dimension to a 2D person, it's hard. Commonly, people would use analogies to describe the Trinity, which will eventually end up as heresies. It's earlier to describe the Trinity because Jesus basically already did the work for you, through the Scriptures. Through the Scriptures, it shows us the unity and distinction between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The unity of the Trinity is best shown in the gospels where the Holy Spirit “guides you to all truth” (John 16:13), and the Father “will give you whatever you ask him” (John 15:16), showing a unity of love between the Trinity.
In John 10:30 Jesus says; “I and the Father are One.” By this, He meant that He and God were the same. For example, God and the Son of God both created everything (1 Corinthians 8:6) (Morgan, 211–212). The Holy Spirit is also God too, as one can read in 1 John 5:7–8: “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” This Holy Divinity is called the Trinity- a group of three, as One. “In the name of the Trinity the living God is revealed” (Robinson, 187) This Trinity is God, the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit. “The Triune God is an all-sufficient God, all-sufficient for Himself and all-sufficient for His people” (Robinson,