The following article by Van Lees concerns the Biblical doctrine of the
Holy
Trinity. It is a enlightening and informative article.
May God bless,
Carl
my website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
my blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/
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THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY
by Van Lees
One of the more important and central doctrines of Christianity is the
doctrine of the Trinity. The concept that there is one God that subsists
in
three persons is essential to the Christian faith. J. Oliver Buswell,
Jr.,
in his Systematic Theology of the Christian Religion states, "The doctrine
of the Trinity is indispensable for the harmony and unity of other major
doctrines in the Christian system" (p. 126). A good example of the
essentiality of the doctrine of the Trinity is its relation to the
incarnation of Christ. It would be impossible to conceive of God becoming
man, dying for the sins of man, and rising from the dead apart from the
concept of the Trinity.
"For God (the Father) so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
Son
(the second person of the Trinity) that whosoever believeth in him
(through
the conviction and enabling work of the Holy Spirit, John 16:8; Eph.
2:1-8)
should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16) (Buswell., p.
128).
The doctrine of the Trinity is not an arithmetic paradox; it does not
teach
that one equals three. The doctrine propounds that there is but one God,
that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is each God; and that the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is each a distinct person - a
self-conscious being. The classic definition of the Trinity is: God is
one
in essence and three in person. The reason people usually have trouble
understanding this is that we are accustomed to the idea that "one person
equals one essence." While there is mystery involved in the Trinity, it
is
not irrational; it does not present an antinomy.
The doctrine of the Trinity is not explicitly, but rather implicitly set
forth in the Scripture. This format, however, in which the doctrine is
presented does not cause it to be an unbiblical concept. B. B. Warfield,
in
his article, "The Biblical Doctrine of the Trinity" states: "The doctrine
of
the Trinity lies in Scripture in solution; when it is crystallized from
its
solvent it does not cease to be Scriptural, but only comes into clearer
view
(Biblical and Theological Studies, p. 22)
The entire Bible is Trinitarian to the core. It is incorrect to advocate
that the New Testament is Trinitarian and the Old Testament is
monotheistic.
The doctrine of the Trinity is present in the Old Testament, but it is
enunciated more in the guise of intimation than direct revelation. Some
of
the indications of the Trinity in the Old Testament are: the employment of
plural pronouns in reference to God (Gen. 1:26; 3:22; 11:7; Isa. 6:8),
repetitions of the name of God that seem to distinguish between God and
God
(Psa. 45:6,7; 110:1), and threefold liturgical formulas (Numbers 6:24,26;
Isa. 6:3).
The Angel of God in the Old Testament is a particularly strong indication
of
the Trinity (Gen. 16:7-13; 22:1,2, 11-18; 31:11-13; 48:15,16; Exo. 3:2-6;
13:21 and 14:19; 23:20-23 and 33:14; 32:34 - compare Exo. passages with
Judges 2:1-4 and Exo. 20:1,2; Josh. 5:5:13-15; Judges 6:11-23; 13:18-22; 2
Sam. 24:16; Zech. 12:8). In every context the Angel of God speaks and
performs deeds as if he were God himself, but distinguishes himself from
God.
The Old Testament also contains references to the Son (Psa. 2:12) and to
the
Holy Spirit (Gen. 1:2). There are many passages which depict God's Word
and
Spirit as co-causes with God of his work (Gen. 1:2; Psa. 33:6; Isa 42:1;
Hag. 2:5,6). Included in this category are passages that tend to
personalize God's Word (Psa. 33:6; 107:20; 147:15-18; Isa. 55:11; 63:10).
The Trinity is also alluded to in those passages in which the Messiah as a
Divine speaker refers to the Lord and/or the Spirit as having sent him
(Isa.
48:16; 61:1 [see: Luke 4:16-18]; Zech. 2:10,11). The distinct persons of
the Trinity are also implied in Isaiah 63:9,10. Isaiah speaks of the
Lord,
the Angel of his presence, and his Holy Spirit as distinct persons.
These implications in the Old Testament that God is triune in his nature
were prepatory for the fuller revelation of the New Testament (ibid., p.
29,30). Concerning this B. B. Warfield states:
The Old Testament may be likened to a chamber richly furnished but dimly
lighted; the introduction of light brings into it nothing which was not in
it before; but it brings out into clearer view much of what is in it but
was
only dimly or even not at all perceived before. The mystery of the
Trinity
is not revealed in the Old Testament; but the mystery of the Trinity
underlies the Old Testament revelation, and here and there almost comes
into
view. Thus the Old Testament revelation of God is not corrected by the
fuller revelation which follows it, but only perfected, extended and
enlarged (p. 30, 31).
In the New Testament, the doctrine of the Trinity is not seen as a
gradually
developing doctrine; it appears as a fully mature concept. The theme of
the
New Testament caused the doctrine to be the fully established conception
of
God within the Christian community. The process of redemption was God's
complete revealing of himself to man; the incarnation and the subsequent
manifestations of the Holy Spirit set forth the full revelation of the
Trinity. Consequently, the New Testament writers did not consider
themselves to be departing from the God of the Old Testament, but rather
felt that the God of the Old Testament had made himself more fully known
to
man through the redemptive process. The doctrine of the Trinity
constitutes
the conception of God set forth through the incarnation of the Son and the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the basic proof that God is a
Trinity lies in the support for the deity of the Son and the deity of the
Holy Spirit. Thus, the whole mass of the New Testament is evidence for
the
Trinity because the core of the New Testament is concerned with the
documentation of the deity of Christ and the deity of the Holy Spirit
(Warfield, p. 35).
The New Testament abounds with proof for the deity of Jesus Christ. In
eight passages, Jesus is described by the Greek word Theos (God): John
1:1-3; 1:18; 20:28; Rom. 9:5; Titus 2:13; Heb. 1:8; 2 Pet. 1:1; 1 John
5:20.
Divine attributes, such as eternality (Isa. 9:6; John 1:1,2; Rev. 1:8;
22:13), omnipresence (Matt. 18:20; 28:20; John 3:13), omniscience (John
2:24,25; 21:17; Rev. 2:23), omnipotence (Isa. 9:6; Phil. 3:21; Rev. 1:8),
immutability (Heb. 1:10-12; 13:8), and in general, every attribute of the
Father is ascribed to the Son (Col. 2:9).
The New Testament also depicts Jesus as exercising Divine prerogatives and
works: creation (John 1:3,10; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2,10), providence (Luke
10:22; John 3:35; 17:2; Eph. 1:22; Col. 1:17; Heb. 1:3), the forgiveness
of
sins (Matt. 9:2-7; Mark 2:7-10; Col. 3:13), resurrection and judgment
(Matt.
25:31,32; John 5:19-29; Acts 10:42; 17:31; Phil. 3:21; 2 Tim. 4:1), and
the
final dissolution and renewal of all things (Eph. 1:10; Heb. 1:10-12;
Phil.
3:21; Rev. 21:5) (see: Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof, p. 94, 95).
The New Testament also affirms the deity of Jesus in calling him Yahweh.
Old Testament prophecies concerning Yahweh are quoted in the New Testament
as being references to Jesus (compare Mal. 3:1 and Luke 1:76; Joel 2:32
and
Rom. 10:13; Isa. 45:23 and Rom. 14:10). (Buswell, p. 104, 105). These
examples are adequate to demonstrate that the New Testament contains a
myriad of proof for the deity of Jesus Christ.
The deity of the Holy Spirit may be proven through a line of reasoning
similar to that used to demonstrate the deity of the Son. Peter uses the
terms Holy Spirit and God interchangeably in Acts 5:3,4, thus directly
calling the Holy Spirit God. Divine attributes are ascribed to the Holy
Spirit: omnipresence (Psa. 139:7-10), omniscience (Isa. 40:13,14, compare
with Romans 11:34), omnipotence (1 Cor. 2:11; Rom. 15:19), and eternality
(Hebrews 9:14). Divine works are performed by the Holy Spirit such as
creation (Gen. 1:2; Job 26:13), regeneration (John 3:4,5; Titus 3:5), and
the resurrection of the dead (Rom. 8:11) (Berkhof, p. 97, 98).
The Holy Spirit is also ascribed the qualities of personhood and
personality
in Scripture. These qualities consist of mind, will, and emotions. For
example, in Romans 8:26, 27, the Holy Spirit helps in prayer, searches
hearts, is said to have a mind, and intercedes for the saints (see also 1
Cor. 2:11).
1 Corinthians 12:11 states that the Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to
various Christians "just as he wills." Ephesians 4:30, in providing
ethical
exhortations, urges Christians not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, thus
attributing emotion to the Holy Spirit. In Acts 5:3,4, Peter said that
Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit. One does not lie to an impersonal force.
This passage not only affirms the deity of the Holy Spirit, but also
demonstrates his personhood. The following passages teach that the Holy
Spirit will teach, speak, guide, convict of sin, witness, comfort, glorify
Christ, give gifts, etc. All of these are qualities of personality: John
14:26; 15:26; 16:14; Acts 13:1-3; 16:6,7; 20:22,23; 21:11; Rom. 8:14-16,
26,27; 1 Cor. 2:10,11; 12:1-3, 12,13; Galatians 5:22-25; Ephesians
1:13,14;
4:30; Titus 3:3-5; Hebrews 10:29; Jude 20; Revelation 22:17.
These proofs of the deity of the Son and the Holy Spirit implicitly teach
the triune nature of God.
Even though the doctrine of the Trinity is basically taught implicitly in
the New Testament, it is also explicitly set forth in numerous passages.
The teaching of Jesus affirms a Trinitarian concept of God. Concerning
this
B. B. Warfield states: He [Jesus] has much to say of God his Father, from
whom as His Son He is in some true sense distinct, and with whom He as He
represents the is in some equally true sense one. And He has much to say
of
the Spirit, who represents Him Father, and by whom He works as the Father
works by Him (ibid. p. 37).
A good example of this is the discourses of Jesus in the gospel of John.
Jesus is direct in his assertions that he and the Father are one (John
10:30) and that this oneness entails a unity of interpenetration (John
10:38; 14:10,11). Jesus' unity with the Father is seen clearly by his
claims
of eternality (John 8:58; 17:5,18) (ibid. p. 38). His speaking of himself
as the Son of God (John 5:25; 9:35; 10:36; 11:4) also affirms his equality
with the Father because the Jewish usage of the term "son of. . ."
conveyed
the idea of equality and identity of nature. The Jews understood that
when
Jesus called himself the Son of God, he was identifying himself as equal
and
identical with God (John 5:18; 10:33) (Buswell, p. 105). Jesus also
stressed that he possessed a personal distinctness from the Father. He
explained his presence in the world as involving a coming forth out of God
(John 8:42; 16:28). Jesus spoke objectively of the Father sending him into
the world (John 8:42; 17:21), of an interchange of emotions between the
Father, himself, and his disciples (John 16:26, 28, 30; 17:33), and of his
having fellowship with the Father (John 7:29). Therefore, Jesus not only
claims a oneness with the Father, but also purports that there is a
distinction of person between them: a subject-object relationship that
involves an exchange of emotions, such as love (John 17:23,24) and of an
action and reaction upon each other (John 17:8) (Warfield p. 39).
The teaching of Jesus also supports the deity of the Holy Spirit and
declares that a subject-object relationship also exist between the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit. In Jesus farewell discourse, he stated:
"These things I have spoken to you, while abiding with you. But the
Helper,
the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you
all
things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you (John
14:25,26 NASB)." This passage demonstrates a personal distinctness
between
the three persons of the Godhead. The unity of the Father, the Son, and
the
Holy Spirit, however, is set forth in the same discourse. After stating
that the Spirit would come in his stead, Jesus said that he would not
leave
his disciples as orphans, but that he would come to them (John 14:18).
Therefore, in this discourse, Jesus indicated that there is a unity
between
himself and the Holy Spirit. Consequently, the teaching in John 14
indicates a distinctness of the persons in the Godhead and also indicates
that where the Spirit is present, so also is Christ, and where Christ is
present, so also is the Father; both a distinction and unity of the
persons
of the Godhead is suggested and, thus, the doctrine of the Trinity is
presupposed (Buswell, p.114-115).
The most direct pronouncement of Jesus concerning the Trinity is found in
the great commission. Matthew 28:19 states: "Go therefore and make
disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and
the
Holy Spirit. . . (NASB)." Before examining what this passage asserts, it
is
important to note what it does not assert. It does not say, in the names
(plural) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, as if to
indicate three different persons. Neither does it state, in the name of
the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as if to imply that the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit are designations for a single person. The passage does declare the
unity of the Godhead in its singular use of "name;" it also sets forth the
distinctness of each person in the Godhead through the repetition of the
definite article before each name. Therefore, this passage teaches the
unity of the Godhead, in that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
each
have a common usage of the one name; it also designates a distinct
personhood to each of the three members of the Trinity: the Father, the
Son,
and the Holy Spirit (Warfield, p. 42).
B. B. Warfield summarizes this well:
This is a direct ascription to Jehovah the God of Israel, of a threefold
personality, and is therewith the direct enunciation of the doctrine of
the
Trinity. We are not witnessing here the birth of the doctrine of the
Trinity; that is presupposed. What we are witnessing is the authoritative
announcement of the Trinity as the God of Christianity by its Founder, in
one of the most solemn of His recorded declarations (p. 44).
The triune nature of God, evidenced in the redemptive process, underlies
the
teaching of the New Testament. It is an assumed fact and a pivot upon
which
the early Christian community's conception of God turned.
Historically, a theological problem arose concerning the relationship
between the three persons of the Trinity. Neo-Stoic and Neo-Platonic ideas
existent in the second century influenced Christian thought. The result
was
that a concept of the Godhead arose that proposed a subordination of the
Son
and the Holy Spirit to the Father in their modes of subsistence
(Logos-Christology). Monarchianism, a reaction against this concept of
the
Godhead, stated that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were only
different expressions of the one Divine person. The Church, particularly
through the work of Tertullian, came to a balance between these two
positions. Under the leadership of Athanasius, the Church's formal
declaration of the Trinity was set forth by the Council of Nicea in A. D.
325 (Warfield, p. 57-58). However, traces of subordinationist thought
were
still present in the Nicean Creed in the form of the idea of an eternal
generation of the Son. This concept is captured in the Nicean Creed by
its
phrase: "God out of God" (theos ek theou). Eternal generation essentially
postulates that the Father is the beginning or author of the being of the
Son. Consequently, only the Father has being in himself. Eternal
generation
does not mean a creation of the Son by the Father and it does not suggest
a
pattern modeled after human generation (i.e. there is no reference to a
female personage in the Godhead). Neither does it attempt to separate or
divide the Divine essence. The concept does claim that the Son is
eternally
begotten or generated by the Father. The eternality of the Son was
recognized by the Church at the time of the Council of Nicea in that
claimed
that the Son was eternally begotten. This concept, however, tends to
subordinate the Son to the Father in modes of subsistence as well as
operation because it uses elements of language that are inherent from the
Logos-Christology.
These tendencies toward the essential subordination of the Son led to a
misinterpretations of John 15:26. Instead of correctly interpreting the
verse in its immediate context that after the ascension of Christ, the
Holy
Spirit would be manifested in the Church, the early Church followed
subordinationist ideas and postulated that the Holy Spirit "proceeded"
from
the Father and the Son (the Eastern branch of the Church claimed the Holy
Spirit "proceeded" only from the Father). The Church said this
procession,
like the generation of the Son, is eternal and, therefore, protected the
deity of the Holy Spirit. However, this concept also tended to
subordinate
the Holy Spirit ontologically and, thus, make him a quasi-dependent being
(Buswell, p. 119). Therefore, the Nicean Creed defended the essential
deity
of the Son, but it contained components of subordinationist thought which,
if unwarrantably emphasized, could make the Son inferior to the Father
ontologically. This same subordinationist thought could also lead to the
Holy Spirit being understood as ontologically inferior. Because of these
problems, it became necessary in later church history to reassert the
self-existence of the Son and the Holy Spirit.
John Calvin, in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, reemphasized
that
the Son was God in himself. In Book 1, Chapter 13, Article 19 of the
Institutes. . ., Calvin cites Augustine for support and contends that the
Father and the Son is each God in respect to himself, but each derives his
personhood of Father or Son from the relationship he sustains with the
Father or Son. Calvin emphasizes this point in 1,13,25 in stating that
each
person of the Trinity is deity and exists in himself. However, the
personhood of each member of the Trinity stems from his relationship with
the other persons of the Godhead. Therefore, the Father is not the
deifier
of the Son. Finally, in 1,13,29, Calvin says, "Indeed it is foolish to
imagine a continual act of begetting, since it is clear that three persons
have subsisted in God from eternity." In summary, Calvin contends that
the
Son is God in himself and derives his hypostatic distinction of Son from
his
relationship to the Father and the Father is God in himself and derives
his
hypostatic distinction of Father from his relationship to the Son. The
nature of this relationship simply remains a mystery since God has not
revealed it.
The solution to the seeming paradox of an equality and subordination
existing in the Trinity simultaneously lies in understanding the
difference
between the ontological and economical Trinity. Ontologically, each
member
of the Trinity is equal; each is God in himself and has self-existence.
However, Scripture teaches a subordination of the Son to the Father and
the
Holy Spirit to the Father and the Son in an economic or administrative
sense. In the administrative aspects of redemption, the Father sends the
Son and the Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit. There exists,
therefore, a divine order in the intra-personal relationships of the
members
of the Trinity. However, the modes of procession between the members of
the
Godhead are a mystery; the mode of paternity or filiation between the
Father
and the Son is an incommunicable property. Therefore, it is impossible to
explain the precise nature of the relationships between the different
members of the Godhead. It is important, however, to maintain a balance
between the ontological Trinity and the economic Trinity; neither must be
allowed to overshadow the other. Historically, serious errors have
occurred
particularly when the administrative aspects of the Trinity have been
applied in an ontological sense. This has usually resulted in the Son and
the Holy Spirit being demeaned.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism summarizes the doctrine of the Trinity
well:
Are There more Gods than one? There is but one only, the living and true
God. How many persons are there in the Godhead? There are three persons
in
the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are
one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory (Questions 5, 6).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Berkhof, Louis. 1939. Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids: Eardman's.
Buswell, J. Oliver, Jr. 1962. A Systematic Theology of the Christian
Religion. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Calvin, John. 1960. Institutes of the Christian Religion. Philadelphia:
The
Westminster Press.
Warfield, B. B. 1952. "The Biblical Doctrine of the Trinity." Biblical and
Theological Studies. Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing
Company.
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