Trinity

THE TRINITY
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Dr. Paul Manuel—2002

"The Shield of the Trinity" (Scotum Fidei)

The standard Trinitarian formulation describes God as three persons in one essence, co-equal and co-eternal. This doctrine originates in the early church (before Catholicism) and finds support in several New Testament passages, although the term 'trinity' (Latin Trinitas) does not appear in this regard until the third century.¹ When the Bible mentions Father, Son, and Spirit together, they are distinct individuals (not three gods) yet having the same status (all fully God).²

Matt 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

2 Cor 13:14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

This is most clearly stated with the person of Jesus, who identifies himself with the Father.

John 10:30 I and the Father are one.

The predicate nominative is literally "one thing," not the same person—they are distinct personalities—but the same substance ("god stuff"). As John writes,

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The Father and the Son are separate individuals, but they consist of the same material, they possess the same qualities, and they pursue the same agenda.³

Despite their similarities, members of the trinity do not have the same responsibilities.⁴

• Jesus became subject to the Father in order to fulfill his redemptive mission.⁵

Phil 2:6 [Jesus], being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!

• Likewise, the Holy Spirit's activity is also subject to the Father's direction."⁶

Cor 5:5 Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Again, this is essentially a NT doctrine, so references to deity in the OT are to the Father mainly, to the Spirit occasionally, and to the Son rarely (only in messianic prophecy).⁷

Because of this limitation, some Christians have found Trinitarian allusions in unlikely places, suggesting that...

• The common Hebrew word for God(plural) is an oblique reference to the trinity, or
• "The angel of the Lord" was the pre-incarnate Christ,⁸ or
• References to the heavenly court include Jesus.⁹

There is, however, no real support for any of these suppositions.

Attempts to explain the trinity or, at least reduce it to more comprehensible terms, often resort to analogous three-in-one models. Because no analogy is perfect, though, each of these breaks down at some point. The most common analogies to explain the trinity include:

• The anthropological model

• The trinity is like the three parts of man: body, soul, spirit.
• But these parts are not separate personalities.

• The phasal model

• The trinity is like three states of matter: solid, liquid, gas (and plasma).
• But these states do not exist simultaneously.

• The temporal model

• The trinity is like the three tenses of time: past, present, future.
• But these tenses do not exist simultaneously.

• The spacial model

• The trinity is like the three dimensions of space: height, width, length.
• But these dimensions are not separate personalities.

• The structural model

• The trinity is like the three legs of a stool, each support equally important to the single piece of furniture.
• But these legs are not separate personalities.

While these analogies all illustrate the three-in-one concept and may be helpful, they are all limited in some way.

Perhaps, in part, because of the difficulty there is in understanding this doctrine, alternate explanations to the trinity have arisen.

• Unitarianism

• There is one God who exists as a single person; only the Father is deity.

• Modalism (also Oneness Pentecostalism)

• There is one God who manifested Himself in different forms (modes) at different times.

• Binitarianism

• There is one God who exists in two persons: the Father (Jehovah) and the Son (the angel of the Lord); the Spirit is an impersonal force.

• Arianism

• There is one supreme God (the Father), while the Son, a created being, is a lesser god; the Spirit is an impersonal force.

Orthodox Christianity rejects such formulations as heretical.

Trinitarianism is not an Old Testament doctrine; biblical support comes only from New Testament references. This is perhaps because it did not become necessary to distinguish members of the godhead until the incarnation (and, some might add, until Pentecost). In any case, evidence Christians claim for the trinity in the OT is circumstantial at best (e.g., plural pronouns, angel of the LORD).¹⁰ Yet even in the NT, support for the trinity is not especially strong.¹¹ There are clear affirmations of Jesus' deity, but there is only one such assertion of the Spirit's deity. I bring this to your attention, because it is important to realize that some of our beliefs do not rest on as solid a biblical foundation as other beliefs. While we can and should hold to them, we must be careful how vehemently we argue for them and how much we make other beliefs depend on them.

For example, because I recognize that the case for the inspiration of Esther is not as strong as for the inspiration of Isaiah, my faith in the authority of the Bible would not collapse if I suddenly discovered that Esther does not belong in the canon. Likewise, because I recognize that evidence for the deity of the Spirit is not as strong as for the deity of Jesus, my faith in God would not collapse if I suddenly discovered that the Spirit is not a distinct person. Just as more of my belief system depends on the inspiration of Isaiah than it does on the inspiration of Esther, so more of it depends on the deity of the savior than on the deity of the Spirit. I am not implying that Esther is not inspired or that the Spirit is not a distinct person; I am merely advising you to put the emphasis for what you believe where scripture puts the emphasis.

Be confident where the Bible is clearest, and cautious where it is not.

Bibliography

• Brown, Harold O.J., 1984, Heresies: The Image of Christ in the Mirror of Heresy and Orthodoxy from the Apostles to the Present. Garden City: Doubleday & Company, Inc.
• Manuel, Paul (http://paulwmanuel.blogspot.com), 1995a, "The Angel of the LORD."
• Manuel, 1995b, A Reader's Digest Approach to Theology.
• Manuel, 1999, What Does It Mean to Worship?
• Manuel, 2008, Praying through the Bible: A Reporter's Investigation.
• Manuel, 2010, Toward Meaning. "Poetics—Literary Constraints."

Endnotes

[1] The term is not biblical, but its use as a theological designation of the Godhead appears several times in the early Church Fathers.

• Theophilus of Antioch (d. 181/8)

To Autolycus 2.15 In like manner also the three days which were before the luminaries, are types of the Trinity, of God, and His Word, and His wisdom.

NB: This is the first use of the term, although not clearly referring to persons of the Godhead.

• Tertullian of Carthage (150-220)

Against Praxeas 2 As if in this way also one were not All, in that All are of One, by unity (that is) of substance; while the mystery of the dispensation is still guarded, which distributes the Unity into a Trinity, placing in their order the three Persons — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.... 11 ...all the Scriptures attest the clear existence of, and distinction in (the Persons of) the Trinity....

• Clement of Alexandria (150-220)

Macanus Chrysocephalus: Parable of the Prodigal Son 6 "And put a ring on his hand." [Luke 15:22b] Here is the mystery of the Trinity; which is the seal impressed on those who believe.

• Hyppolitus of Rome (d. 236)

Fragment on Prov 9:1 "And she hath furnished her table: "that denotes the promised knowledge of the Holy Trinity.

Against the Heresy of One Noetus 14 For it is through this Trinity that the Father is glorified. For the Father willed, the Son did, the Spirit manifested.

• Origen of Alexandria (185-253/4)

de Principiis 3.2 ...baptism was not complete except by the authority of the most excellent Trinity of them all, i.e., by the naming of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.... 5 ...he who is regenerated by God unto salvation has to do both with Father and Son and Holy Spirit, and does not obtain salvation unless with the co-operation of the entire Trinity;

6.2 For in the Trinity alone, which is the author of all things, does goodness exist in virtue of essential being....

• Gregory Thaumaturgus of Neo-Caesareia (in Pontus, Bishop 240-270)

On the Trinity All (the persons) are one nature, one essence, one will, and are called the Holy Trinity....

A Declaration of Faith ...a perfect Trinity, in glory and eternity and dominion, neither divided nor alien.

• Methodius of Tyre (d. 311)

Discourse 8.10 Whence also they are called the third part of the stars [Rev 12:4a], as having gone astray with regard to one of the three Persons of the Trinity.

Some Christians think the term is a product of Roman Catholicism but, as these occurrences show, "Trinity" predates even the Church Councils. (Moreover, the first four Councils—Nicea 325, Constantinople 381, Ephesus 431, Calcedon 451—all precede Rome's assumption of ecclesiastical authority over the western church.)

The doctrine does not receive official adoption until the Council of Nicea in 325. Nevertheless, the church rejected as heretical tritheism and three unipersonal views of God (see the extensive discussion in Brown 1984).

• Dynamic Monarchianism (includes two forms of Subordinationism)

• Cerinthus (c. 100) held that there is only one God, that Christ is merely a man, and that the Spirit is an impersonal force. Ebionism, an early 2d c. Jewish-Christian sect, as well as Socinianism and Unitarianism, both starting in the late 16th c., advocated this view.

Contra 1 John 5:6 This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

• Arius, presbyter of Alexandria (d. 336), held that there is only one Almighty God, the Father and eternal creator, who is superior to Christ, the Son and first created being, who is superior to the Spirit. Jehovah's Witnesses advocate this view. Adoptionism, a variation of this position advocating that the man Jesus became the adopted son of God, appeared in 6th c. Spain.

• Modalistic Monarchianism (also called Patripassianism)

• Sabellius (c. 200) held that one person revealed himself at different times in different ways under different names (i.e., as Jah in OT, as Christ in Gospels, as Holy Spirit in Acts). Unitarianism holds to this as well.

The pervasiveness of belief in the trinity is also evident in Christian hymnody, where the term itself and Trinitarian formulas are common.

• Glory Be to the Father (anon, c. 200): "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost"
• Creator of the Earth and Sky (St. Ambrose, 375): "O three in one, blest trinity" (v. 6)
• O Trinity, O Blessed Light (St. Ambrose, 397): "O trinity, O blessed light, O unity of princely might.... One in three, we praise you, blessed trinity" (vv. 1, 3)
• Holy God, We Praise Your Name (anon, 4th c.): "Holy Father, holy Son, holy Spirit, three we name you, while in essence only one, undivided God we claim you" (v.4)
• I Bind unto Myself Today (St. Patrick, c. 430): "I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity, by invocation of the same, the Three in One, and One in Three" (v. 1)
• With Golden Splendor (Elpis, 500): "Now to the glorious trinity...who in unchanging unity, one Lord sublime" (v. 6)
• O Word Immortal (Emperor Justinian., 565): "O Word immortal of eternal God.... One of this ever blessed trinity.... In equal honor with the Holy Ghost, and with the eternal Father glorified" (vv. 1-2, refrain)
• Sing, My Tongue, the Glorious Battle (Venantius Honorius Fortunatus, c. 569): "to the Father and the Son, to th'eternal Spirit" (v. 5); "To the trinity be glory... God the three in one" (v. 10)
• Father, We Praise Thee (Gregory I, c. 600): "All-holy Father, Son, and equal Spirit, trinity blessed" (v. 3)
• O Kind Creator, Bow Thine Ear (Gregory I, c. 600): "Holy trinity, one God, unchanging unity" (v. 5)
• Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation (Latin hymn, c. 7th c.): "ever three and ever one" (v. 4)
• All Creatures of Our God and King (St. Francis of Assisi, c. 1225): "Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son, and praise the Spirit, three in one" (v. 5).
• O Love, How Deep, How Broad (anon, 15th c.): "the Trinity whom we adore forever and forevermore" (v. 6)
• We Believe in One True God (Tobias Clausnitzer, 1668): "Blest and holy trinity, praise forever be to thee" (v. 3)
• How Wondrous Great, How Glorious Bright (Isaac Watts, 1707): "see the blessed three and the almighty one" (v. 2)
• Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow (Bishop Thomas Ken, 1709): "Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost"
• Sinners, Turn: Why Will You Die? (Charles Wesley, 1742): "You, who he ordained to be transcripts of the trinity" (v. 6)
• Come, Thou Almighty King (anon, c. 1757): "To thee, great one in three" (v. 4)
• Holy God, We Praise Thy Name (Ignaz Franz, c. 1774): "three we name thee, while in essence only one" (v. 4)
• Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God Almighty (Reginald Heber, 1826): "God in three persons, blessed Trinity!" (v. 4)
• Eternal Father, Strong to Save (William Whiting, 1860): "O Trinity of love and power" (v. 4)
• The Church's One Foundation (Samuel J. Stone, 1866): "God, the three in one" (v. 5)
• Glory Be to God the Father (Horatius Bonar, 1866): "Great Jehovah, three in one!" (v. 1) 

[2] Other references to the trinity include:

Rom 15:30 I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.

1 Pet 3:18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,

That they are all three deity is evident in...

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Cf. John 10:30 I and the Father are one.

Act 5:3 Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? ...4d You have not lied to men but to God."

That they are all distinct persons is evident in...

Isa 42:1 [= Matt 12:18] Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations.

Matt 3:16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

Luke 1:35 The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. John 1:33 I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.'

John 3:34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.

John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.... 26 But the Counselor, 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.

John 15:26 When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.

Acts 10:38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

Rom 1:3 regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.

Rom 8:11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

2 Cor 1:21 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

2 Thess 2:13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Tit 3:4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,

Heb 9:14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

[3] These similarities allow Jesus and others to say...

John 12:45 When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me.

John 14:9b Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.

2 Cor 4:4b Christ...is the image of God.

Phil 2:6a Who, being in very nature God...

Col 1:18 He is the [visible] image of the invisible God....

John 1:18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.

Heb 1:3a The Son is... the exact representation of his being....

[4] For those differences in worship, see "Clarification: Who is the proper object of worship?" in Manuel 1999. For those differences in prayer, see "Excursus: The Trinity in Entreaty" in Manuel 2008.

[5] More than any other gospel writer, John recounts how Jesus conforms his will, his words, and his works to those of God the Father,

• His will

John 6:38 ...I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.

John 14:3 lb ...I love the Father and...I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.

• His words

John 8:28c I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.

John 12:49 ...I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it.

John 14:10b The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.

• His works

John 5:36b For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me.

John 10:32b I have shown you many great miracles from the Father.... 37 Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does.

Jesus' identification with the Father is thorough.

John 8:16b I stand with the Father, who sent me.

John 14:9b Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.

God does grant Jesus considerable leeway in a most important matter.

John 10:18b-c I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.

[6] In the Upper Room Discourse, Jesus predicts his sending the Holy Spirit, referring to a single event: the Spirit's testimony about Jesus at Pentecost

John 15:26 When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.

Cf. Acts 2:33 Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.

John 16:7c Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.... 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

Even on this occasion, though, the Spirit was ultimately "from the Father." Indeed, before and after that event, the Father alone directs the Spirit's activities.

• Before Pentecost

Exod 31:1 ...the LORD said to Moses... 3a ...I have filled him with the Spirit of God...

Exod 35:30b ...the LORD has chosen Bezalel... 31a and he has filled him with the Spirit of God...

Num 11:17b I will take of the Spirit that is on you and put the Spirit on them.... 25a Then the LORD...took of the Spirit that was on him and put the Spirit on the seventy elders.... 29 Moses replied..."I wish...that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!"

Neh 9:6a You alone are the LORD.... 20a You gave your good Spirit to instruct them.

Ps 51:11 Do not...take your Holy Spirit from me.

Ps 104:24a How many are your works, O LORD! ...30 When you send your Spirit, they are created....

Isa 42:1b I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations.

Isa 44:2a This is what the LORD says.... 3b I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring.... Isa 48:16d ...the Sovereign LORD has sent me, with his Spirit.

Ezek 36:22b This is what the Sovereign LORD says... 27 ...I will put my Spirit in you....

Ezek 37:12b This is what the Sovereign LORD says.... 14a I will put my Spirit in you and you will live....

Ezek 39:29b ...I will pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Sovereign LORD.

Joel 2:27a ...I am the LORD your God.... 28a I will pour out my Spirit on all people.... 29b I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

Zech 7:12a ...the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets.

Luke 11:13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

John 3:34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.

John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—17a the Spirit of truth.... 26 But the Counselor, 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.

• After Pentecost

Acts 2:17 "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.

Acts 10:38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

Acts 15:8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them,just as he did to us.

Rom 5:5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Rom 8:27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

1 Cor 2:10a but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.... 12a We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God....

1 Cor 6:19a Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?

2 Cor 1:21a Now it is God who... 22b ...put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit....

2 Cor 5:5a Now it is God who... has given us the Spirit as a deposit....

Gal 3:5 Does God give you his Spirit.. .because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?

Eph 1:17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

1 Thess 4:8b ...God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

1 John 3:21b . . . we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.... 24 Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

1 John 4:12b ...God lives in us .... 13b ...he has given us of his Spirit.

Even the Spirit's descent at Pentecost was ultimately at the Father's direction.

Acts 5:32 We are witnesses... and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.

[7] Exceptions for the Son are rare and may include....

Prov 30:4 Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and the name of his son? Tell me if you know!

[8] For discussion of this, see Manuel 1995a. Some might also include Melchizedek, but he is more often considered a type of Christ (see figures of representation in Manuel 2010).

[9] For references, see Angelology n. 20 in Manuel 1995b.

[10] Judaism rejects this doctrine, especially within its own ranks. Shabbettai Zevi (b. 1626), for example, believed in a trinity consisting of the Ancient Holy One, the Holy King or God of Israel, and the Divine Presence (Scholem 1972:1240). His formulation did not include the messiah. The rabbis rejected this position, as they did Zevi's personal messianic claims. Nevertheless, the rabbis, following Saadia Gaon (882-942), did accord Christianity the status of a monotheistic (versus polytheistic) faith by viewing trinitarianism (among gentiles) as a personification of divine attributes (Lapide 1979:85). Later, R Jacob Tam, a 12th C. tosafist, described trinitarianism as ("association/partnership"), saying the Christian belief that Jesus (and the Holy Spirit) participates with God in the divine nature is not idolatry (t Sanh 63b; t Bek 2b). Prohibited to Jews, this interpretation allows gentile believers to benefit from participation in the Noachide covenant without transgressing that covenant's prohibition of idolatry.

[11] That early Christians held a Trinitarian belief is evident in a late manuscript variant.

1 John 5:7 [KJV] For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

Comp. 1 John 5:7 [NIV] For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.

[12] There is one main passage:

Acts 5:3 Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God."