Threefold nature

It was mentioned in Chapter 14 that, “God is manifested as an undivided unity in a threefold nature of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit being of equal substance and are tangible wherefore are called persons.” We have to define the words applied here to obtain clarity of the terms used.

Being equal in substance here means being of the same essence and not of being of a physical matter. It can be conceptualized having essential significance. The Godhead being tangible does not limit its nature as can be touched or felt by touch. The word tangible here means being definite or precise in purpose wherein you can specify its nature; and you can relate it likely to your own.

Lastly, “being tangible wherefore are called persons”, means they being of definite fashion whether visible or intelligible, are classified like the pronouns, as of the three classes of them in grammar. In the baptism of Jesus, the Father was indicated as the speaker (the first person) with Him saying “my” beloved Son; the Son was disclosed as the subject spoken to (the second person, ‘you’ or as in ‘this’); while the Holy Spirit (falling as the third person, ‘He’ though if indicated was found in other scripture texts) was symbolized as the subject spoken somehow attached and is identified to the Godhead being apparent or visible to John the Baptist.

It is revealed in the Old Testament that the word for God is “Elohim” or ‘persons’ (plural) and is different from “El” or ‘person’ (singular) though God in a threefold nature is considered as one thus forming the Trinity in an undivided unity. This explanation reiterates that God being Triune though the Holy ‘One’ is beyond human comprehension and is therefore classified as “a mystery”.

According to a fellow man of God in one of the other Trinitarian churches, “The Trinity is a biblical concept that expresses the dynamic character of God, not just a Greek idea pressed into Scripture from Philosophical or Religious speculation. He further elaborates that while the term Trinity does not appear in the Scripture, the Trinitarian structure appears throughout the New Testament to affirm that God Himself is manifested through Jesus Christ by means of the Spirit.

In the documentation compiled through a certain Jerry M. Henry, it says that two errors appear in history while considering the Trinitarian doctrine. These were ‘Tri-theism (Three-gods)’ and ‘Unitarianism’. In Tri-theism, the error is made by emphasizing the distinctiveness of the Godhead to the point that the Trinity is seen as three separate Gods, or ‘Christian Polytheism’. On the other hand, Unitarianism excludes the concept of distinctiveness while focusing solely on the aspect of God the Father. In this way, Christ and the Holy Spirit are placed in lower categories and made less than divine. Both errors compromise the effectiveness and contribution of the activity of God in redemptive history.

Somehow in the magazine ‘Know the Truth’, a catholic publication, in its banner statement in an article ‘TRINITY’ IN THE BIBLE, it says that those who deny the Divinity of Jesus are compelled to deny the Divine nature of the Holy Spirit. For them, “The Trinity of God” is beyond human understanding. So they deny it. They just forget the fact that God, who created man, can never be a slave of human intelligence. Furthermore, they consider the Holy Spirit as an angel or one of the seven spirits before the throne of God, this doctrine being erroneous as opposed to the doctrine of the Catholic ‘Trinitarians’.

We can find in Genesis 1:26 the following passage: Then God said: “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness.” In the succeeding verse, it says, “God created man in His image; in the divine image, He created him; male and female He created them (Genesis 1:27).” Thus, herein, the likeness of God is plural as He creates both the male and the female human beings, Adam and Eve. To Fr. Paul Kaiparambadan, as Adam and Eve shared one flesh, the Father and the Son shares also in one substance. Adam and Eve were one spirit, just like Father and Son shares one Spirit (Malachi 2:15). Thus, the whole creation becomes the ‘image’ reflection, or mirroring of the manifold life of Divine nature of Trinity.

Likewise, the Lord who came down to see the tower of Babel said, “If now, while they are one people, all speaking in the same language, they have started to do this, nothing will later stop them from doing whatever they presume to do.” Then he further conveyed, “Let Us then go down and there confuse their language, so that one will not understand what another says (Genesis 11:5-7),”

Anti-Trinitarians said that the above occurrence of the name of God in the Old Testament being in plural form was possible because he was talking with the angels and cherubim surrounding him. But the above passages clearly testifies that the Triune God is in threefold nature consisting of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit, and they converse together even before angels, seraphim and cherubim are created. A great example of God that is plural being in singular form was that occurrence when Jesus called his Father in singular form while he was about to die on the cross. He had these words while on the cross, “El, El, lema sabachtani,” meaning, “My Lord, my Lord, why had you forsaken me.”

God as a single individual “El”, with him defined as Love, is invalid, and without the experience of ‘love’ if there is an absence of the one whom he loves in the person of the Son. Their deeds were made manifest through the Holy Spirit with the Bible saying that the Holy Spirit exists with God in the passage, “Now the Lord has sent me and His Spirit.”

Let us implore the name of the Triune God in our prayers.

Trinity as concept

With the Trinity to my discovery seemingly emerging as the sole truth to the Trinitarians among the plenty of faith explanations in different Christian religions, paraphrased as assessed even in the early Christian faith, though the Godhead maybe be fused as one or are distinguished apart, herein God is manifested as an undivided unity in a threefold nature of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit being of equal substance and are tangible wherefore are called persons.

Though truth is sizeable, if we contemplate what enlightenment we may derive by reading the scriptures asking that we may be inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Trinity is still a mystery where its divine truth are taken as sacred and are beyond our human understanding, even if we struggle our differences in our religious beliefs whether in theological or philosophical arguments.

God being “love” exists as one who loves that one who is loved, and with the result of their love to each other, manifesting as the Spirit Paraclete, that though He was hovering in the face of the waters in the creation, in the time right for God He then took the form of a flesh and is molded with body, soul and spirit just like us who are patterned to the image and likeness of this God who is the only begotten Son in body form.

Even Paul when he came to the disciples in Corinth did not become a proud witness in such a way that he may speak, he instead communicates not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, as he humbly declares to the Corinthians his testimony about God (I Corinthians 2:1). Paul worded his speech in imitation of the Master who having humbled himself (Philippians 2:8), was inclined to empty himself taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance (Philippians 2:7), obedient to death, even death on the cross (Philippians 2:8).

Though we don’t see the word Trinity in the Bible, the Trinity is present in the expressed image of the person of Christ, he having the spirit of the Father present as the spirit Holy Ghost in the body of Jesus. The Trinity was first used by St. Theophilus of Antioch in his book ‘Epistle to Antolycus’ in A.D. 180 with the Trinity having the Greek Word “triados” and the Latin word “trinitas” reiterated also in the magazine ‘Know the Truth’.

It says in the magazine that those who worked behind the creation of the canonical book ‘Bible’ believed and accepted ‘The Trinity’ as God’s revealed truth handed over to them by the apostles. Likewise we believe that the Trinity was biblically viewed as one who having this concept as balanced proves that while there is unity, it also shows distinctiveness among the three persons.

Though the Old Testament shows some features that are related to the ones that can be found in the New Testament, it does not mean that the Godhead is knowable from the Old Testament. The Trinity has opened to us an explanation which attests that the Triune God has distinguishing features, which we can find in the New Testament, yet does not infringe the concept of the oneness of God in the Old Testament. St. Theophilus in his work ‘Modesty’ wrote: “Trinity of the one Divinity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit” (chapter 22).

To explain the Trinity in four types of passages, we have Matthew 28:19, Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. As we continue in the next scripture text, it is said, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you (2 Corinthians 13:13). Moreover, Peter as the apostle of Jesus Christ in his greetings to the chosen sojourners of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, said, “in the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification by the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ: may grace and peace be yours in abundance (1 Peter 1:1-2).” And the fourth type of passage was one that which John did greet the seven churches of Asia: “Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne (Revelation 1:4).

These four passages supports the Trinitarian doctrine with the clearest scriptural reference in the fashion that which each person of the Godhead is distinguished from each other yet they closely relate in their inner relationship being One God in undivided unity.

In reference to the document provided by a fellow Trinitarian church as it is documented by Jerry M. Henry, I Peter 1:2 shows that the Trinitarian formula is followed with allusion to each person of the Godhead. The scattered Christians are reminded through reference to the Trinity that their election (foreknowledge of the Father) and redemption (the sanctifying work of the Spirit) should lead them to the holy living obedience for the Son.

He also explained that though the New Testament depict evidences for asserting the truth about the Trinity presented in a systematic form, the scattered segment from various writers that appear throughout the New Testament reflect a seemingly accepted understanding that exists without a full-length discussion. It is embedded in the framework of the Christian experience and simply assumed as true. He further emphasized that the New Testament writers focus on statements drawn from the obvious existence of the Trinitarian experience as opposed to a detailed exposition.