Barth
Barth’s definition of the trinity greatly relies on Christian’s understanding the way in which God must reveal himself to us. For this reason it is important that the Son and Spirit cannot be seen as subordinate to God. This rationale leads Barth to disagree with Augustine’s lexical choice to refer to the parts of the trinity as “persons.” Barth argues that “persons” may denote a separation between the Father, Son, and Spirit. Barth then gives a historical account revealing how referring to the Triune God by “persons” may have caused several problems in early church theology. Barth suggests that “modes of beings” better describes the Triune God whom is concerned with wholly revealing and wholly concealing himself to us within God’s being.
Tanner-Christ
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Tanner expertly describes the “person” of Jesus as the Word to further emphasize his roles apart from “the Son” or “Christ.” After clarifying the “person” of Jesus, Tanner explains Jesus’s role with the other members of the trinity through Gospel narratives. This reveals how the Triune God can be one and equal t the same time. It also revealed how we can see the relationship of the members of the trinity through the shared patterns and actions mutually accomplished in Scripture. Tanner also writes hos Biblical imagery is enlightened through the personification of the trinity. Tanner ends through showing how the trinity has been comprehended by both the Western and Eastern church, as well as how the trinity is present in sacramental
Barth, once again, provides a spiritual view of scripture and not a subjective approach and interpretation. Barth’s claim there is no room for natural revelation or even a doctrine of verbal inspiration. God speaks only through his Word and scripture is testimony to God’s self-revelation. The importance of this is establishing the role of scripture in the ascendency and authority of the church congregation as unique in that it can be, and only be, through the authority of the Scripture.
As a result, fellowship, prayer, Bible study, worship, and most importantly salvation in its purest form can be discerned and acted upon correctly. In addition, a further understanding can be thus gained regarding the person of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Finally, heresies and heretical groups or beliefs can lead God’s followers astray from the truth and create an improper understanding, and thus relationship with God. Positions past and present have, and are, attempting to mislead Christians about the Trinity. A skewed view of the Trinity can result in a view of God as either divinely apart from creation or simply a better version of all the best attributes of humans. Some positions even take away from the Divinity of Jesus Christ. All of these views severely diminish who God is and alters a proper and true relationship and worship. It is a necessity that these errant views be exposed as a hindrance to God in order not to mislead God’s followers. Likewise a Biblically sound explanation of the Trinity is needed. As a result, a true and pure knowledge of the concept of the Trinity is crucially needed to understand God and be obedient to the Bible.
God the Son is revealed in the Christian Scriptures. God the Spirit is revealed in the Church. The Trinitarian doctrine states that there are three co-eternal, equal persons in God, which is the notion of unity within community. The Trinitarian doctrine was further developed and defined at the councils of Nicaea in 325 CE and Constantinople in 381 CE. God was always trinity, however gradually this reality became known through revelation. Jesus calls God and speaks of the spirit which indicates a plurality in God. The difficulty is reconciling the concept of monotheism with the notion of God existing as three persons. The divine essence is common to all three, however the three persons have attributes or properties which distinguished them eg Fatherhood, sonship and sanctifying power. Once essence means that the actions (creation, redemption, sanctification) are attributable to all. Mutual relations is the concept that the terms Father and Son are not titles but expressions of a relationship and thus all three persons are co-equal
Trinity: The Trinity was a key feature of Christianity. The Trinity symbolized the three persons of God, the father, the son, and the Holy
There are three foundational points in this theological approach that provide comprehension for that which seems beyond understanding --- God in one being; God in three persons. First, the main idea is centered on joining with Christ in the continuing ministry that substantiates the
At the center of the Christian faith is a mystery. This mystery has everything to do with the identity of God, the nature of Christian community, the salvation history and our understanding of Christology. This is the mystery of the Trinity – how is the Godhead fully three persons, and yet one nature? Theophilus was the first to name the ‘triad’ nature of God in his letter To Autolycus in 170 A.D. Tertullian was the first to offer terminology to describe this mystery in Against Praxeas claiming “the Trinity” involved three ‘persons’ of one substance. This theology emerged from the Biblical witness, even though scripture offers no doctrine of the Trinity itself. Even more so, the development of the doctrine of the Trinity grew from the early church’s worship, witness and corporate experience. When faced with a mystery, heresies can’t help but emerge. Docetism and Arianism, Adoptionism and Monarchianism, Nestorianism and Monophysitism are just a few of the heresies that emerged in attempts to explain away the mystery. And yet, theologians from the second century to the twenty-first century are faced with the challenge of witnessing to this mystery in both the theologia and the oikonomia of the Trinity. The church experiences the economic Trinity as new believers are drawn into Trinitarian community through an ongoing
The Trinity consists of God, the Father, Jesus, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. The Christian faith recognizes there is one God and He is one with His Son, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The purpose of this essay is to describe the interrelationship of the three persons of the Trinity. This will include the concepts of the economic trinity, the essential trinity and the social trinity.
Saint Augustine, one of the best scholars of the early church, portrayed the Trinity as practically identical to the three sections of an individual: personality, soul, and will. They are three unmistakable viewpoints, yet they are conjoined and together constitute one bound together individual. The purpose of this research paper is to further emphasize, highlight, and defend St. Augustine’s conclusion that the Holy Trinity is one God existing in three persons according to the meeting at the Council of Nicea 325.
In conversation with Daniel Migliore give an account of what it means to confess that God is triune. Give care to an explication of “economic and immanent trinity,” and perichoresis.
“The Trinity is the basis of the gospel, and the gospel is the declaration of the Trinity in action.” (J I Packer, likesuccess.com) The Trinity consists of God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit, yet they make up one God. It is the simple philosophy of the 3-in-1 or three persons, one essence first brought up by Tertullian. It is this philosophy that allows Christianity to be a monotheism.
Outline the development of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity from the New Testament Church to the Nicene Creed.
The Bible and its text is trustworthy and reliable to its fullest, but on this journey in seeking the word of God can using it in how daily life is where arises an important question; How now is to understand the idea of the ‘Word of God” and its implications for how Christian theology is to be done. Karl Barth (1886-1968) a Swiss Protestant theologian who is one of the most substantial and influential recent works of Christian Theology in the twentieth century. In this text analysis of one of Barth teaching he breaks down in explaining what he means by “reflection” on the Word of God. Barth first address this three part: “the Word of God in a First Address in which God himself and God alone is the speaker, in a second address in which the
The Trinity is a doctrine that has and will continue to bring much controversy to the Christian faith. Yet it is important to understand that a practical approach to this topic can be very important. Having a full understanding of the Trinity is vital to the life of a Christian. The distinct, yet interwoven aspects of God’s character will affect every aspect of a believer’s life.
In the Christian faith triune God is very significant. “Christian” is Trinitarian, describing Jesus as the one whom the Father anoints (christos) with the Spirit so that the Spirit may anoint our own lives (16). Christians confess Jesus as the risen Lord of the universe, but is proclaimed to be inseparable from the one who sent him, the one Jesus knew intimately as “Abba,” or “dear Father.” The ultimate paradox of Christianity is Jesus. Having Jesus at its very center disclosed as the source, the meaning, and the definitive answer to all of human longings causes this ultimate paradox. Fatula goes on to discuss, that although Jesus is the triune God, many of the people would not identify this God as the living God we actually experience in our own daily lives.
God as Trinity, is a fact that all orthodox Christians can attest to with absolute certainty, however if we were to ask those same people “what does that mean for us, how does that affect the way we live our lives”? I suspect, most would not have an answer. For the majority of orthodox Christians, the Trinity is an abstract theological concept, that is best left for theologians to philosophise over, and has no place in the life of the average Christian. Karl Rahner, an Austrian philosopher and theologian, commenting on the “current neglect of the Trinity in the West” says: