The Trinity to Nazienzus is absolutely essential in his Five Theological Orations, and in them he defines the “Father is the Begetter and the Emitter; without passion of course, and without reference to time, and not in a corporeal manner.” This means that “though numerically distinct there is no severance of Essence.” Christ is not subordinate to the Father, and the Holy Ghost is not subordinate to the Father or the Son; the Godhead is Triune in unity and is of the same substance. Even though the Holy Spirit and the Son “are from [the Father], though not after Him,” they still share the same essence as Him in the Trinity. This is an important distinction, because any part of the Godhead that has not existed for all time would not be God by definition. Nazienzus explains this by saying that the “cause is not necessarily prior to its …show more content…
He goes so far to say that the “notion of Two Sons, one of God the Father, the other of the mother” warrants the loss of adoption into God’s Kingdom. God and man have two distinct natures, just as the body and the soul are two distinct natures, “but there are not two sons or two gods” in the person of Jesus. This is valid because it adheres to scripture, and because the alternative is heresy. There are plentiful examples of the divinity of God, one being John 8:58, where Jesus proclaims to the dismay of the Pharisees “before Abraham was, I am,” which caused them to try and stone Him for what they considered blasphemy. His humanity can be seen in Matthew 4:2 where He hungered after fasting for 40 days and nights, and in Mark 15:37 where the human person of Jesus died on the cross, even though his deity descended to Sheol. This shows the validity of the Trinitarian model, which means that “the Three are One and the same in Godhead,” as Christ is still the fully functioning second person of the
Bonhoeffer, Dietrick. The Cost of Discipleship, New York,NY 10022: The Macmillan Company, Published 1959. 344 pp. $1.95
The Trinity in Christian culture is a belief that God is represented in three major forms. In various works of art to include more plainly; The Trinity by Agnolo Gaddi. God is shown in his three most popular forms. God the Father, God the Son known to be Jesus Christ, and God the Holy spirit in the form of a white dove. This painting was done between ca. 1390-1396 by has mentioned before Agnolo Gaddi. Gaddi is from Florence, Italy and is the son of Taddeo Gaddi and the grandson of Gaddo Gaddi whom are all famous painters. Agnolo Gaddi died in 1396. Before his death he is said to have done a few popular pieces to include: Virgin Mary in the Prato Cathedral, Madonna Enthroned with Saint and Angels, and Coronation of the Virgin. His final
The same is true for Christ’s humanity. Everything that it means to be a human is true of Christ, with the exception of sin. The two natures of Christ remain distinct and maintain their own nature. The two natures do not change one another and they do not combine to make a third kind of being. Christ has two natures, but is still one person. The Chalcedonian Creed explains this concept best when it
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
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
It is important to note the defined goals of the Trinity. One being that God sent His Son, Jesus did not send God. Jesus tells us in John 6, that He came to do the will of His Father. Jesus was not doing His own selfish will but everything He did was for His Father. Jesus and God sent the Holy Spirit according to Jesus’ words in John 14:26, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you”. It is necessary to recognize the distinctions of the roles of the Trinity as if the roles were not distinctive there would be no Trinity.
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.
Masaccio’s famous religious painting, “The Holy Trinity”, is known for the engagement of linear perspective to create an image that goes beyond just paint on canvas, (or should I say wall?) by creating the illusion of depth. This painting addresses many religious concepts by setting up different levels and layers in the constructed space. The characters depicted are made up of four groups of human figures, which include the Trinity (God the father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit), the Virgin Mary and Saint John, a pair of donors, and a skeleton on a tomb at the bottom of the picture. There is an apparent point of separation, which is made clear due to each group being on separate levels. Their difference in power is fundamental feature in
This was the question that popped up in my head after reading the first chapter of The Orthodox Way, God as Mystery. More ironically, before they answered my question did they tell me that Jesus Christ is God and Holy Spirit is God as well. Usually multi-identities are not an issue for me or for anyone, but this time is a little, or a lot, different when it comes to God. In the chapter, God as Trinity, “The Christian God is not just a unit but a union, not just unity but a community… He is Trinity: three equal persons, each one dwelling in the other two by virtue of an unceasing movement of mutual love” said Ware (P. 27). Ono thing that needs to be confirmed first is that there is only One God, and God is the one essence embracing three persons. Secondly, in the case of Trinity a person is not just an individual, as opposed to that three human persons always “retain their own will and own energy no matter how closely they co-operate together” (P. 30). This indicates the property of “distinction but never separation” within the three persons; they are distinct as in differentiation and they are never separate because of the relationship formed by the shared one will and one energy. As a consequence, we surely have to turn to the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit if we want to know God holistically, especially the Oneness of God (Jones,
The definition of the Trinity according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is “the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead according to Christian dogma.” The basis of the Trinity is that there is God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There are three separate parts, yet they make up one. While this is confusing to the naked ear, it actually makes logical sense on a deeper level. Scholars and philosophers struggled for years to give a valid explanation of the Trinity. It was not until Tertullian in the 2nd or 3rd century AD that a satisfactory explanation was given. Tertullian came up with the Trinitarian Doctrine, which basically
I will like to crave your indulgence to the fact that "Nicene concept of Trinity" is never stated in the Bible, and it is that early Christians as well as the scriptures clearly points out the fact that Jesus was fully divine and pre-existent. For the fact that, none of the early Christian theologians fully asserted the doctrine of the Trinity, not even a speculation about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. According to the father of the paganism description of Trinity "God can in no way be described." (Schindler 148).
Despite many attempts of reform and revolution, the Qing Dynasty gradually collapsed. People could barely provide the basic needs for themselves. The wine industry declined along with the empire. Qing Dynasty was defeated in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), resulting Taiwan was ceded to Japan. Japan has colonized Taiwan for 50 years (1895-1945). In 1907, Japanese colonial government decided to impose liquor production tax because the financial difficulty caused by the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). The establishment of new taxation caused a major change in the style of the liquor business. The smaller business was driven to close due to large cost increase and some in order to survive they merge into larger companies and corporatized.
Trinity is one God. Each of the persons of the trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit “is God whole and entire”. I believe that the trinity of persons consists of one substance and one essence. Each of the persons is that supreme reality, the divine substance, essence or nature. Each of the three persons are distinct from one another, but known to be related to one another.
For most of us, faith development is a process. We grow in wisdom and stature and favor with God. As a Christian woman I know that my consciousness about the feminist agenda has evolved in stages also.