Biblical Basis of Trinity

The term Trinity cannot be seen in the Bible

But the concept or idea of Trinity can be seen very powerfully in the Bible

1.There Is A Plural Noun Used With A Singular Verb

A hint of the doctrine of the Trinity can be found in the first verse of the Bible.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1).

The Hebrew word for God is Elohim.

Elohim is a plural noun but it is used here with a singular verb bara.

In the remainder of the Old Testament, when Elohim speaks of the true God, it is always used with a
singular verb.

The conclusion to be drawn is that in some sense God is both singular and plural.

The doctrine of the Trinity states this - within the nature of the one God there are three eternal persons.

Another Plural Name For God - Maker

There is another instance in the Isaiah where there is a second plural name for God.

For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name; the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
the God of the whole earth he is called (Isaiah 54:5).

The word translated, "Maker" is plural in Hebrew.

Therefore we have a second Hebrew word that is plural that is used of God.

2. God Says "Let Us"

We find a further hint of the Trinity in Genesis 1.

Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild
animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth" (Genesis 1:26).

The phrase "let us" again gives the idea of plurality.

The word "us" cannot refer to angels because angels do not create.
Therefore, in the first chapter of the Bible we have a hint of the Trinity with the plural title Elohim used
with a singular verb and God speaking and saying, "Let us."

More References To God Being Referred To As "Us"

The words "let us" is used elsewhere of God speaking in Genesis.

After Adam and Eve sinned the Bible records.

Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now,
he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever (Genesis
3:22).

At the incident at the Tower of Babel we read God saying.

Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another's
speech (Genesis 11:7).

Isaiah the prophet recorded God saying.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said,
"Here am I.

Send me" (Isaiah 6:8).

The Clearest Old Testament Statement

There is one statement in the Old Testament that gives a fairly clear indication of the Trinity.

Come near me and listen to this: "From the first announcement I have not spoken in secret; at the time
it happens, I am there.

"And now the Sovereign LORD has sent me, with his Spirit.

3. The concept of the angel of the Lord

Throughout the Old Testament we catch glimpses of an agent of Yahweh who sometimes behaves as if
he were the presence of the Lord, and at other times he appears to be an emissary.

It’s easy to understand how a trinitarian theologian, informed by the New Testament, would recognize
the angel of the Lord—a figure who seems to be with God and to be God— as a christological figure.

“The angel added, ‘I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to
count.’”—Genesis 16:10 (emphasis added)
“‘Do not lay a hand on the boy,’ he [the angel of the Lord] said. ‘Do not do anything to him. Now I know
that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.’”—Genesis 22:12

This is what the LORD says - your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who
teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go (Isaiah 48:16,17).

In verse sixteen, God the Son is speaking.

He identifies the Father [the Sovereign Lord] and His Spirit as having sent Him.

In the next verse, the Son is clearly spoken of as the Lord.

Consequently these verses identify three distinct Persons who are God without denying the fact there is
only one God.

There Is A Distinction Between The Lord In Heaven And The One On Earth

The Old Testament also makes a distinction between the Lord who is in heaven and the one on earth.

Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah - from the LORD out of the
heavens.

Thus He overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities - and also the
vegetation in the land (Genesis 19:24).

“On that day the Lord will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be
like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord going before them.”—
Zechariah 12:8

Many think that the angel of the Lord is a Christophany—a manifestation that, while distinct from
God, is also God.

4. The concept of wisdom personified (Proverbs)

In the book of Proverbs, we are introduced to the wisdom of God personified as a woman.

This personification is a speaking agent who is difficult to distinguish.

We’re left wondering if this is just a way of talking about God or if it’s an agent sent from God.

Many theologians would suggest that the personification of wisdom in Proverbs allude to a trinitarian
reality

5. The concept of the Lord’s “word” personified

There are points in the Old Testament where God’s very word is personified as it would be if God’s Word
referenced Jesus.

“For the word of the Lord is right and true;

he is faithful in all he does.”—Psalm 33:4

“The grass withers and the flowers fall,

but the word of our God endures forever.”—Isaiah 40:8

In his gospel, John describes Jesus as the Word of God.

This sheds new light on the on many of the Old Testament references to God’s Word.

6. The Spirit of God in the Old Testament

Similar to the personification of wisdom in the Old Testament, many things said about the Spirit “going
forth” or “being with” seem to indicate agency.

It seems throughout the Old Testament that the Spirit is the self-conscious immanence of God, as well
as the revelation of God.

God’s Spirit also seems to dwell with God’s followers, and seems to act as an objective personality.

“Do not cast me from your presence

or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.”—Psalm 51:11–13

“Yet they rebelled

and grieved his Holy Spirit.
So he turned and became their enemy
and he himself fought against them.”—Isaiah 63:10

“Come near me and listen to this:

‘From the first announcement I have not spoken in secret;
at the time it happens, I am there.’
And now the Sovereign Lord has sent me,
endowed with his Spirit.”—Isaiah 48:16

Jesus promises us the Spirit in the New Testament, and in Acts we see the Spirit’s advent at Pentecost.
In light of this, it’s no surprise that this would reframe our understanding of God’s Spirit in the Old
Testament.
7. Abraham was Visited by Three Men

(Genesis 18-19)

Many Christians take Genesis 18 and 19 as proof for their trinitarian views.

They claim that the three persons who appeared to Abraham as he sat in his tent door under the oaks of
Mamre were actually the first, second and third persons of the Trinity i.e. three personalities of Trinity

These three visitors whom Abraham entertained were heavenly, and Abraham and Sarah were in the
company of God Himself.

The story teaches us that God is aware of what is happening on earth, and He is involved.

God can even visit or send His heavenly messengers to help fulfill His plans.

We may not always realize whom we are speaking with, so we should treat everyone as though they
were on special assignment from God.

8. OT passages where more than one person is expressly named

These are passages where the Lord speaks of himself or the Messiah in a repetitive, reduplicative way:

“Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever;

a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
by anointing you with the oil of joy.”—Psalm 45:6-7

The Lord says to my lord:

“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet.”—Psalm 110:1

The repetitive expressions of God in some Old Testament passages may point to various persons in
the Trinity.

9. Passages where the name of God is repeated three times

There is a rich tradition of interpreting passages where God’s name is repeated three times as a
trinitarian reference.

The most referenced example of this is Numbers 6:24–26:

“The Lord bless you
and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.”

Many theologians believe passages, like this one in Numbers, demonstrate a preview of the Trinity by
repeating God’s name in threes.

10. Each Member Is Specifically Mentioned In The Old Testament

In addition, each member of the Trinity is mentioned in the Old Testament.

God The Father

There are Old Testament passages that refer to God the Father.

For you are our father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O
LORD, are our father; our Redeemer from of old is your name (Isaiah 63:16).

Malachi wrote.

Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another,
profaning the covenant of our ancestors? (Malachi 2:10).

The Son Is Found In The Old Testament

The Son finds mention in the Old Testament.

The Psalmist wrote.

Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. Your royal scepter is a scepter of equity; you love
righteousness and hate wickedness.

Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions (Psalm
45:6,7).

In the Second Psalm we read.

I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. I will tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to me, "You are my
Son; today I have begotten you (Psalm 2:6,7)

Later, in that same Psalm, it says.

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed
are all those who put their trust in him (Psalm 2:12)

In the Book of Proverbs it says.

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! (Proverbs 30:4).

The Messiah Has Divine Titles

God's Son, the Messiah is described with divine titles.

"The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will raise up to David Or up from David's line} a
righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land" (Jeremiah
23:5,6).

Isaiah wrote.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be
called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).

The Angel Of The Lord

The Angel of the Lord has the power to forgive sins

"See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I
have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not
forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him (Exodus 23:20,21).

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit, or the "Spirit of the Lord," is also mentioned in the Old Testament. In the Book of
Genesis we read.

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of
God was hovering over the waters (Genesis 1:2).

Isaiah recorded the following.

The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him - the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel
and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD - and he will delight in the fear of the
LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears (Isaiah
11:2,3).
Isaiah also wrote.

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to
the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and
release from darkness for the prisoners (Isaiah 61:1).

Later Isaiah wrote.

Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy and he himself
fought against them (Isaiah 63:10).

The Spirit of God is distinguished from the Lord in the account leading up to the Flood.

Then the LORD said, "My spirit shall not abide in mortals forever, for they are flesh; their days shall be
one hundred twenty years" (Genesis 6:3)

11. The Trinity Is Foreshadowed In Benedictions

The Trinity is also foreshadowed in the triple benediction of Numbers 6:24-27.

The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the
LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace. So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will
bless them.

The doxology of Isaiah 6:3 also gives hint of the Trinity.

And they were calling to one another: Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his
glory (Isaiah 6:3).

Jacob Blessed Joseph Three Times

When Jacob blessed his son Joseph, he used the name of God three times. Each time God's name was
identified differently.

Then he blessed Joseph and said, "May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,
the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the Angel who has delivered me from all
harm may he bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham
and Isaac, and may they increase greatly upon the earth (Genesis 48:15,16).

While this is not conclusive, the triple benedictions are consistent with the doctrine of the Trinity.

Why Is There Not More Said?

If the doctrine of the Trinity is true, then why don't we find more explicit references in the Old
Testament?

Part of the answer may lie in the culture in which the Old Testament was written.

Israel was surrounded by nations who were all polytheistic - they believed in many gods.

It was important for Israel to realize that the God of the Bible is the only God who existed.

Consequently the oneness of God was stressed.

After this truth was firmly understood by Israel then the Lord revealed further truth about His basic
nature - that He is a Trinity.

Summary of Trinity in OT

Although the Trinity is not explicitly taught in the Old Testament, the basis of this doctrine is certainly
found there.

First there is the use of the plural noun for God Elohim that is used with a singular verb.

This gives a hint of the Trinity.

The Hebrew word for Maker, which describes God, is also in the plural.

There are also passages where God speaks of himself with the words, "Let us."

This is another possible reference to the Trinity.

There are also specific passages where the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are mentioned.

Add to this passages that foreshadow the Trinity with the triple benediction.

These passages, however, do not reveal the doctrine of the Trinity.

This was left for the New Testament to accomplish.

The Old Testament does not have a developed doctrine of the Trinity.

However truths about the Trinity are foreshadowed in the Old Testament

Trinity in the NT

1.Luke 3:21-22 (at the baptism of Jesus) - "Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also
had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, / and the Holy Spirit descended upon him
in bodily form like a dove.
And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." (parallels in
Mark 1:10-11; Matt 3:16-17; John 1:32)

2. Matthew 28:19 (conclusion of the Gospel) - "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..."

3. John 14—16 (Last Supper Discourse) - The Holy Spirit, as the "Spirit of Truth" and the "Paraclete," is
intimately related to the Father and the Son (see esp. 14:16-17; 14:26; 15:26; 16:7, 13).

4. Galatians 4:4-7 - "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born
under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as
children.

And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"
So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God."

5. Romans 8:14-17 - "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption.

When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of
God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ--if, in fact, we suffer with him so
that we may also be glorified with him."

6. 2 Cor 13:14 (concluding prayer of the letter) - "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and
the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you."

7. 1 John 4:2, 9, 13-15 - "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh is from God... God's love was revealed among us in this way:

God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him... By this we know that we abide
in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. / God
abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God."

8. 1 Peter 1:2-3a - Peter writes to "who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and
sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood: May grace and
peace be yours in abundance. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

9. " 1 John 5:5-6 - "Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of
God?

This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water
and the blood.

And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth."
Connections between the Father and the Holy Spirit

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

John 4:23-24 - " But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the
Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those
who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

Acts 2:1-36 - The Holy Spirit of God is poured out on the disciples at the feast of Pentecost (see esp.
2:33).

Connections between Father and Son, showing the divinity of Jesus

1. Matt 11:27 - "All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son
except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses
to reveal him." (parallel Luke 10:22)

2. John 1:1-18 - Jesus Christ as the divine word/logos, the light and life of the world, the "only-begotten
Son" of the Father

John 5:17-19 - "But Jesus answered them, 'My Father is still working, and I also am working.'

For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the
Sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.

Jesus said to them, 'Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the
Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.' "

John 10:30, 38 - "The Father and I are one." "...the Father is in me and I am in the Father."

John 14:8-11a - "Philip said to him, 'Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.' Jesus said to him,
'Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen
the Father.

Connections between the Father and the Holy Spirit

Luke 11:13 - " If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more
will the heavenly Father give the HolySpirit to those who ask him!"

John 4:23-24 - " But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the
Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those
who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

Acts 2:1-36 - The Holy Spirit of God is poured out on the disciples at the feast of Pentecost (see esp.
2:33).
Luke 11:13 - " If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more
will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

John 4:23-24 - " But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the
Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those
who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

John 4:23-24 - " But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the
Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those
who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

Acts 2:1-36 - The Holy Spirit of God is poured out on the disciples at the feast of Pentecost (see esp.
2:33).

Trinitarian Belief in the Early Church

1. Creed

Enumerating the three persons of the Trinity (Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit), the first section of
the creed ascribes the divine attributes to each individually.

Thus, each person of the Trinity is described as uncreated (increatus), limitless (Immensus), eternal
(æternus), and omnipotent (omnipotens).

Apostles' Creed120–250

Creed of Nicaea – 325

Nicene Creed (Nicaea-Constantinopolitan Creed) - 381

Chalcedonian Creed – 451

Athanesian Creed – 500

In all these creed speak clearly about the faith in the trinity.

2. Baptism Formula

Around the turn of the first century, the Didache directs Christians to "baptize in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

Ignatius of Antioch provides early support for the Trinity around 110, exhorting obedience to "Christ,
and to the Father, and to the Spirit".

The Trinitarian formula is the phrase "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit"

(Koinē Greek: εἰς τό ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς καί τοῦ Υἱοῦ καί τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος, romanized: eis tó ónoma
toû Patrós kaí toû Huioû kaí toû Hagíou Pneúmatos;
Latin: in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti), or words to that form and effect, referring to the three
persons of the Christian Trinity.

It is often followed by an "amen".

The Trinitarian formula is used in baptism

3. Trinity was the rule of faith in the early Church

The word rule (Latin regula, Gr. kanon) means a standard by which something can be tested, and the
rule of faith means something extrinsic to our faith, and serving as its norm or measure. The Trinitarian
belief was the rule of faith in their lives.

Since the faith is Divine and infallible, the rule of faith must be also Divine and infallible; and since faith
is supernatural assent to Divine truths upon Divine authority, the ultimate or remote rule of faith must
be the truthfulness of triune God in revealing Himself.

The rule of faith (Greek: κανών της πίστεως, Latin: regula fidei) is the name given to the ultimate
authority or standard in religious belief.

It was used by Early Christian writers such as Tertullian.

The phrase is sometimes used also for early creeds.

4. Early Christian Inscriptions

Inscriptions of Christian origin form, as non-literary remains, a valuable source of information on the
development of Christian thought and life in the early Church.

They may be divided into three main classes: sepulchral inscriptions, epigraphic records, and inscriptions
concerning private life.

The material on which they were written was the same as that used for heathen inscriptions.

For the first two and most important classes the substance commonly employed was stone of different
kinds, native or preferably imported.

Epitaph

An epitaph (from Ancient Greek ἐπιτάφιος (epitáphios) 'a funeral oration'; from ἐπι- (epi-) 'at, over', and
τάφος (táphos) 'tomb') is a short text honoring a deceased person.

Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a
figurative sense.

In many of the epitaph of the early Christians there was an inscription of the trinity.
"In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen", and continues: "May the God
of the spirit and of all flesh, Who has overcome death and trodden Hades under foot, and has graciously
bestowed life on the world, permit this soul of Father Schenute to attain to rest in the bosom of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

5. Testimony of the Martyrs

Many martyrs in the early Church gave strong testimony of faith regarding the faith in the trinity like St.
Polycarp, St. Sicily etc

St. Ignatius of Antioch

Ignatius, second bishop of Antioch, who was martyred in Rome around 110 AD, wrote a series of letters
to churches in Asia Minor on his way to be executed in Rome.

The conjunction of Father, Son and Holy Spirit appears in his letter to the Magnesian church:

Study, therefore, to be established in the doctrines of the Lord and the apostles, that so all things,
whatsoever ye do, may prosper both in the flesh and spirit; in faith and love; in the Son, and in the
Father, and in the Spirit;

in the beginning and in the end; with your most admirable bishop, and the well-compacted spiritual
crown of your presbytery, and the deacons who are according to God.

Unitarians would argue that Ignatius is not indicating that the Father, the Son and the Spirit 'are one
substance anymore than he is saying flesh and spirit are one substance'.[13]

6. Unanimous Testimony of the Fathers

Almost all the fathers of the early Church testified their strong faith in the Trinity.

The first defense of the doctrine of the Trinity was in the early 3rd century by the early church father
Tertullian.

He explicitly defined the Trinity as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and defended his theology against
"Praxeas", though he noted that the majority of the believers in his day found issue with his doctrine.

7. Teaching of the Council

The concept of the Holy Trinity continued to develop over the course of the third century and was finally
adopted as doctrine by the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE.

8. Trinity in the Didache

The Didache (/ˈdɪdəkeɪ, -ki/; Greek: Διδαχή, translit. Didakhé, lit. "Teaching"), also known as The Lord's
Teaching Through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations (Διδαχὴ Κυρίου διὰ τῶν δώδεκα ἀποστόλων τοῖς
ἔθνεσιν), is a brief anonymous early Christian treatise written in Koine Greek, dated by modern scholars
to the first or (less commonly) second century AD.

Given its literary dependence on the Gospel of Matthew, it is not surprising that the Didache follows the
Gospel of Matthew in designating the a triadic formula as the baptismal formula:

After the foregoing instructions, baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
in living [running] water…. If you have neither, pour water three times on the head, in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. —Didache 7:1

The first line of this treatise is "The teaching of the Lord to the Gentiles (or Nations) by the twelve
apostles".

The text, parts of which constitute the oldest extant written catechism, has three main sections dealing
with Christian ethics, rituals such as baptism and Eucharist, and Church organization.

The opening chapters describe the virtuous Way of Life and the wicked Way of Death

The Lord's Prayer is included in full. Baptism is by immersion, or by affusion if immersion is not practical.

Fasting is ordered for Wednesdays and Fridays.

Two primitive Eucharistic prayers are given.

Trinitarian theology of the Fathers

The Didache

“After the foregoing instructions, baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit, in living [running] water. . . . If you have neither, pour water three times on the head, in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Didache 7:1 [A.D. 70]).

Ignatius of Antioch

“[T]o the Church at Ephesus in Asia . . . chosen through true suffering by the will of the Father in Jesus
Christ our God” (Letter to the Ephesians 1 [A.D. 110]).

“For our God, Jesus Christ, was conceived by Mary in accord with God’s plan: of the seed of David, it is
true, but also of the Holy Spirit” (ibid., 18:2).

St. Justin Martyr

“We will prove that we worship him reasonably; for we have learned that he is the Son of the true God
himself, that he holds a second place, and the Spirit of prophecy a third.
 For this they accuse us of madness, saying that we attribute to a crucified man a place second to the
unchangeable and eternal God, the Creator of all things; but they are ignorant of the mystery which lies
therein” (First Apology 13:5–6 [A.D. 151]).

Theophilus of Antioch

“It is the attribute of God, of the most high and almighty and of the living God, not only to be
everywhere, but also to see and hear all; for he can in no way be contained in a place. . . . The three days
before the luminaries were created are types of the Trinity: God, his Word, and his Wisdom” (To
Autolycus 2:15 [A.D. 181]).

Irenaeus

“For the Church, although dispersed throughout the whole world even to the ends of the earth, has
received from the apostles and from their disciples the faith in one God, the Father Almighty . . . and in
one Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became flesh for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit” (Against
Heresies 1:10:1 [A.D. 189]).

Tertullian

“We do indeed believe that there is only one God, but we believe that under this dispensation, or, as we
say, oikonomia, there is also a Son of this one only God, his Word, who proceeded from him and through
whom all things were made and without whom nothing was made. . . .

We believe he was sent down by the Father, in accord with his own promise, the Holy Spirit, the
Paraclete, the sanctifier of the faith of those who believe in the Father and the Son, and in the Holy
Spirit” (Against Praxeas 2 [A.D. 216]).

“And at the same time the mystery of the oikonomia is safeguarded, for the unity is distributed in a
Trinity, placed in order, the three are the Father, Son, and Spirit.

They are three, however, not in condition, but in degree; not in being, but in form; not in power, but in
kind; of one being, however, and one condition and one power,

because he is one God of whom degrees and forms and kinds are taken into account in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (ibid.).

“Keep always in mind the rule of faith which I profess and by which I bear witness that the Father and
the Son and the Spirit are inseparable from each other, and then you will understand what is meant by
it.

Observe now that I say the Father is other [distinct], the Son is other, and the Spirit is other.

This statement is wrongly understood by every uneducated or perversely disposed individual, as if it

meant diversity and implied by that diversity a separation of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” (ibid., 9).
“Thus the connection of the Father in the Son, and of the Son in the Paraclete, produces three coherent
persons, who are yet distinct one from another. These three are, one essence, not one person, as it is
said, ‘I and my Father are one’ [John 10:30], in respect of unity of being not singularity of number” (ibid

Cyprian a.d. 200–258

After the resurrection, the apostles are sent by the Lord to the heathens, they are bidden to baptize the
Gentiles “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”

It is a command of Christ himself that the heathen to be baptized in the full and united Trinity.

And at the same one can obtain remission of sin in Christ Himself

ca. 220: Hippolytus of Rome

In the early 3rd century, Hippolytus of Rome wrote a treatise Against Noetus, in response to a Christian
from Smyrna named Noetus who had been promoting Patripassian views, which Hippolytus deemed
heretical.

One who receives baptism and born again through God to salvation has need of both Father and Son
and Holy Spirit and will not obtain salvation apart from the entire Trinity, and it is not impossible for
them to become partaker of the Father or the Son and the Holy Spirit.

This is most clearly pointed out by the Apostle Paul, when demonstrating that the power of the Trinity is
one and the same, in the words, "There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; there are diversities
of administrations, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God
who worketh all in all.

But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit: withal."

From which it most clearly follows that there is no difference in the Trinity, but that which is called the
gift of the Spirit is made known through the Son, and operated by God the Father.

. So that in this way the power of the Father is greater than that of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and
that of the Son is more than that of the Holy Spirit... (Origen, First, 33-4 [I.3])

ca. 256: Novatian

Novatian, presbyter of Rome, wrote the oldest extant Christian treatise that is specifically dedicated to
and entitled On the Trinity
It was written in response to a number of views deemed heretical by Novatian, and particularly against
Sabellius, who had maintained that the Trinity was divided into three prosopa, or "characters by which
God is revealed to man, the Trinity being one of revelation, not essence".

For Scripture as much announces Christ as also God, as it announces God himself as man.

It has as much described Jesus Christ to be man, as moreover it has also described Christ the Lord to be
God.

Because it does not set forth him to be the Son of God only, but also the son of man; nor does it only
say, the son of man, but it has also been accustomed to speak of him as the Son of God.

So that being of both, he is both, lest if he should be one only, he could not be the other.

For as nature itself has prescribed that he must be believed to be a man who is of man, so the same
nature prescribes also that he must be believed to be God who is of God….

Let them, therefore, who read that Jesus Christ the son of man is man, read also that this same Jesus is
called also God and the Son of God. —Treatise on the Trinity,

Some, referring to chapter 31 of On the Trinity, maintain that when Novatian referred to Christ as 'God'
he was still excluding him from being 'the one true God'.

A.D 262: Pope Dionysius

According to Athanasius of Alexandria, in the mid-3rd century Pope Dionysius wrote a letter to Dionysius
of Alexandria criticizing Sabellius's views on the relations between the Son and the Father, as well as
some who attempted to refute Sabellius's views.

He quotes parts of Dionysius' letter in On the decrees of the Council of Nicaea .

In this letter it is clear that Dionysius used the word Trinity (Greek Trias) to explicate the relations
between Father, Son and Holy Spirit:

Next, I may reasonably turn to those who divide and cut to pieces and destroy that most sacred doctrine
of the Church of God, the Divine Monarchy, making it as it were three powers and partive subsistences
and godheads.

I am told that some among you who are catechists and teachers of the Divine Word, take the lead in this
tenet, who are diametrically opposed, so to speak, to Sabellius' opininons;

for he blasphemously says that the Son is the Father, and Father the Son, but they in some sort preach
three Gods, as dividing the sacred Unity into three subsistences foreign to each other and utterly
separate.
For it must be that with the God of the Universe, the Divine Word is united, and the Holy Ghost must
repose and habitate in God; thus in one as in a summit, I mean the God of the Universe, must the Divine
Trinity be gathered up and brought together....

Neither, then, may we divide into three godheads the wonderful and divine Unity...Rather, we must
believe in God, the Father Almighty; and in Christ Jesus, his Son; and in the Holy Spirit; and that the
Word is united to the God of the universe.

'For,' he says, 'The Father and I are one,' and 'I am in the Father, and the Father in me.

For thus both the Divine Trinity and the holy preaching of the Monarchy will be preserved.

A.D 265: Gregory the Wonderworker

Gregory was Bishop of Neocaesarea in Asia Minor, and wrote a Declaration of Faith which treats the
Trinity as standard theological vocabulary.

There is one God.... There is a perfect Trinity, in glory and eternity and sovereignty, neither divided nor
estranged.

Wherefore there is nothing either created or in servitude in the Trinity; nor anything super-induced, as if
at some former period it was non-existent, and at some later period it was introduced.

And thus neither was the Son ever wanting to the Father, nor the Spirit to the Son; but without variation
and without change, the same Trinity abides ever. —Declaration of Faith.

St. Augustine of Hippo

For Augustine, the Father’s role in the creation narrative is as the one who begets the Son through the
Spirit, and the one who creates all things through them.

This is one of Augustine’s most pointed emphases on the work of the Father.

Augustine explains that “the Trinity, my God — Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit [is] Creator of the entire
creation.”

So God the Father creates with and through God the Son and God the Spirit, giving the divine persons
co-equal tribute for the creation of all things.

This, for Augustine, is derived from the statement, “let us make man in our image”

Without the Son as Mediator,

it is only foolishness to pretend Son as wisdom. (Romans 5:6), (Romans 8:32).

Without the incarnation or paschal elements of Christ’s work, there is no true reflection of his work on
man’s behalf.
For Augustine, a living relationship with Christ must include reconciliation to God through the payment
for sins.

This is why the Son of God “appeared among mortal sinners as the immortal righteous one, mortal like
humanity, righteous like God.

Because the wages of righteousness are life and peace (Romans 6:23).” Christ “came into the Virgin’s
womb . . . so that mortal flesh should not for ever be mortal.”

only through the “true Mediator” God in the flesh could man find salvation.

The Holy Spirit dwells within believers and unites them to the Godhead.

By sharing in God’s life, believers will share in his rest for eternity.

So finding rest in God is not only a disposition of the affections or the will; rest is something intrinsic
within God and therefore intrinsic within the souls of those united with him.

Augustine also explains that the Holy Spirit is the giver of the knowledge of God.

No one knows or loves the things of God except through receiving his Spirit.

The triune God is reclaiming his kingdom and redeeming all things, including all human beings.

The gospel has an inescapably Trinitarian shape.

The Father has chosen to reveal his love to us through the sacrifice of the Son and the sending of the
Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:9–14).

St. Agustine

He proposes the Model of the Mind.

He talks about the mind's ability to remember, to understand, and to will.

When we remember a story, we had to have understood the words that were being said and you need
to will yourself to recall that story.

When we seek to understand a concept, we have to remember what the concept is and will ourselves to
understand it.

When we will or desire something, we must understand what we are willing, and we must remember
what we are willing.

Thus, while a certain act like remembering might be more visible or tangible, it necessarily depends on
understanding and will.
As these acts can never be fully separated, so too with God: “The divine Persons are also inseparable in
what they do.

But within the single divine operation each shows forth what is proper to him in the Trinity, especially in
the divine missions of the Son's Incarnation and the gift of the Holy Spirit” (CCC, 267).

While we might see the work of the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit more distinctly in particular situations
(the Father in Creation, the Son on the Cross, the Spirit at Pentecost), we can never divorce one from the
other: “Because it does not divide the divine unity, the real distinction of the Persons from one another
resides solely in the relationships which relate them to one another” (CCC, 255).

The Father reveals the Son, the Son reveals the Father, and the Father and the Son are revealed by the
Holy Spirit.

In this model, Augustine argues that memory, understanding, and will do not belong to three separate
lives, but to one life.

They are not the faculties of three separate minds, but of one mind, one substance- though functionally,
they are distinct.

Augustine adds a caveat that this Trinity of the mind requires self-reference in order for it to work
properly, i.e. the mind remembering, understanding, and loving itself.

Augustine adds a warning that this Trinity of the mind requires self-reference in order for it to work
properly, i.e. the mind remembering, understanding, and loving itself.

But his admirable piety did not allow him to stop there.

Augustine went on to argue that mere self-reference is not the true end goal of the mind, but rather, the
Trinity of the mind is a true Trinity and image bearer when contemplating its eternal maker.

When the mind is distracted in contemplating finite realities, however, it cannot be said to truly image
God.

St. Thomas

St. Thomas Aquinas begins his teaching on the Trinity by asserting that "God is Father, God is Son, and
God is Holy Spirit," and that these are not three but one God.

Further, God's Word is also part of his existence.

Aquinas calls speech the offspring of the intellect, which he conceives as its father.

Thus, God's word proceeds from him, as a son proceeds from his father.

Aquinas quotes from the Gospel of St. John (c. 100), saying that the Word is synonymous with the Son.
 Since in God being and understanding are identical, the Word is synonymous with God and has his
"same essence and nature."

The Son and the Father are "consubstantial" and should not be thought of as having a relationship
through "carnal generation."

Further, God's Word exists always, just as God has existed always.

The Word "has a perfect likeness to the Father" and is "absolutely perfect."

To forestall the error of thinking that God's word proceeds from him "by way of nature," the creed says
it proceeds by the power of God's will—"begotten, not made."

Since a known object is in the knower, the beloved must also be in the lover.

"Consequently God is in himself as beloved in lover.“

When the lover draws the beloved to himself, the act of loving is perfected.

In humans the likeness of a person is transferred to their offspring.

Model of love by Thomas Aquinas

Father lover

Son beloved and

The Holy Spirit is love

But God is a spirit, so he "is substantially in himself as beloved in lover."

In God is a spirit who is the love of God.

He does not love himself by any act outside his essence but rather by his very essence.

The Holy Spirit, who represents divine love, subsists in divine essence in the same way as the Father and
the Son does.

In the Nicene Creed the Holy Spirit is said to "proceed from the Father and the Son."

The relations between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit should be thought of as real relations and not
"merely mental relations."

They are three persons and three hypostases, meaning they are "subsistent and complete."

No divine person can proceed from God unless he proceeds "as the Word, whom we call the Son, or as
love, whom we call the Holy Spirit."

Therefore, there can never be more than three persons in God.

God the Father has the properties of paternity (in begetting the Son) and innascibility, meaning he does
not proceed from another person.

The Father also shares with the Son spiration, meaning active love resulting in the Holy Spirit.

The Son shares with the Father spiration and also has the property of filiation, meaning he proceeds
from the Father.

The Holy Spirit is a single principle of the Son and Father, says Aquinas.

The only property that distinguishes the Holy Spirit from the other two persons of God is procession, in
that he proceeds from both the Father and the Son.

Thus God has five properties:

innascibility,

paternity,

filiation,

spiration, and

procession.

Aquinas points out that these properties may be better called notions, since properties imply something
attributed to one individual alone, while spiration pertains to both Father and Son.

Further, the persons of God are distinguished by their relations to one another, although God the Father
has the notion of innascibility, which is a nonrelation.

He also has paternity, while the Son has filiation and the Holy Spirit has procession.

The Father and Son have spiration in common.

God does not have matter or form, nor is God universal or particular; even still, the divine persons do
have properties.

For God personal properties "are the subsisting persons themselves."

Aquinas explains that the relationship between the divine persons and the divine essence is like the
relationship between "individual supposita" and "common nature."

A suppositum is an individual person, and each person has in common human nature.

Thus, the divine persons have in common divine essence.

Aquinas explains that the relationship between the divine persons and the divine essence is like the
relationship between "individual supposita" and "common nature."
A suppositum is an individual person, and each person has in common human nature.

Thus, the divine persons have in common divine essence.

Aquinas explains that the relationship between the divine persons and the divine essence is like the
relationship between "individual supposita" and "common nature."

A suppositum is an individual person, and each person has in common human nature.

Thus, the divine persons have in common divine essence.

Your self-knowledge is distinct from you but is definitely a part of you, and you could even say it
proceeds from you.

In humans, self-knowledge usually evolves in childhood when we reach the age of reason, somewhere
around first or second grade (e.g., Lizzie, six years old, saying: "Mom, why do I have to be a separate
person?").

So each of us, being self-aware, has a relationship of knowledge between ourselves and the concept we
have of ourselves.

And the two end-points of that relationship (self and self-knowledge) also have a relationship of varying
degrees of love or hate: we either hate ourselves, or are rather pleased with ourselves, or are
somewhere in the middle.

So each of us, being self-aware, has a relationship of knowledge between ourselves and the concept we
have of ourselves.

And the two end-points of that relationship (self and self-knowledge) also have a relationship of varying
degrees of love or hate: we either hate ourselves, or are rather pleased with ourselves, or are
somewhere in the middle.

The relations by which the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are distinguished from one another are
real relations, and not merely mental relations.

Those relations are purely mental which do not correspond to anything found in the nature of things,
but depend on intellectual apprehension alone.

Thus right and left in a stone are not real relations, but only mental relations; they do not correspond to
any real disposition present in the stone, but exist only in the mind of one who apprehends the stone as
left, because it is, for instance, to the left of some animal. On the other hand, left and right in an animal
are real relations, because they correspond to certain dispositions found in definite parts of the animal.

Therefore, since the relations which distinguish the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit really exist in
God, the relations in question must be real relations, and are not merely mental relations.
These relations cannot inhere in God accidentally, because the operations on which the relations follow
directly are the very substance of God, and also because, as was shown above, there can be no accident
in God.

Hence, if the relations are really in God, they cannot be accidentally inherent, but must be subsistent.

How it is that what is an accident in other things, can exist substantially in God, is clear from the doctrine
previously set forth.

Arius and Arianism

Arius – Alexandrian Church 256-

336 AD

Well-educated and cultured

• Seen as a religious and ascetical
man
• The ‘heresy’ that he started
divided the Church and Empire
• ‘The whole world groaned to
find itself Arian’ – St. Jerome
• Caught popular imagination

Teachings of Arius

• God as unoriginate (agennetos) source of all reality ‘alone ingenerate, alone eternal, alone without
beginning, alone possessing immortality’

• Four premises:
• The Son is a creature formed out of nothing by fiat (beget) perfect creature,
but not self-existent

• As a creature, the Son must have had a beginning ‘we say the son has a
beginning whereas God is without beginning’ Slogan: There was a time when he was not.
• The Son can have no communion or direct knowledge of the Father.

As a creature, ‘alien from and utterly dissimilar from Father’s essence’

• The Son must be liable to change and even sin
• Consequences of Arius Teachings:
• Son of God was more of an honorary title
• Reduces Son to more or less a demi-god
Arius from the Scriptural Texts

• Prov 8 ‘Lord created me’

• Acts 2:3 ‘made Him Lord’
• Rom 8: 29 ‘first-born’
• Col 1:15 ‘first-born of all creation’

• Heb 3:2 ‘Who made him’

• John 14:28 ‘Father greater than I’
• Various texts that illustrate weakness, ignorance, suffering, and development

Arianism

• Central to Arian exegesis and theology was Proverbs 8:22-25

• Emphasis was placed on the verb ἔκτισέν (create) and γεννᾷ (begotten, brought forth)
• John 1:1 also very important – especially absence of the definite article with θεὸς (theos – a god rather
than the god)

Proverbs 8:22-25
• The LORD created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts
of long ago. 23 Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning
of the earth. 24 When there were no depths I was brought forth, when
there were no springs abounding with water. 25 Before the mountains
had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth-- (Proverbs
8:22-25 NRS)

• κύριος ἔκτισέν με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἔργα αὐτοῦ 23 πρὸ τοῦ
αἰῶνος ἐθεμελίωσέν με ἐν ἀρχῇ 24 πρὸ τοῦ τὴν γῆν ποιῆσαι καὶ πρὸ
τοῦ τὰς ἀβύσσους ποιῆσαι πρὸ τοῦ προελθεῖν τὰς πηγὰς τῶν ὑδάτων
25 πρὸ τοῦ ὄρη ἑδρασθῆναι πρὸ δὲ πάντων βουνῶν γεννᾷ με
(Proverbs 8:22-25 LXT)

Against Arians
• "And so God Himself, as he really is, is inexpressible to all.

He alone has no equal, no one similar ('homoios'), and no one of the same glory.

We call Him unbegotten, in contrast to him who by nature is begotten.

We praise Him as without beginning, in contrast to him who has a beginning.

We worship Him as timeless, in contrast to him who

in time has come to exist.
He who is without beginning made the Son
a beginning of created things.

He produced him as a son for Himself,

by begetting him.

He [the Son] has none of the distinct characteristics

of God's own being For he is not equal to, nor is he of the same being
('homoousios') as Him."

Council of Nicea – 325 AD

Constantine in attendance
• Unity both of Church and Empire a
concern
• Results of council: Arianism
condemned
• Raises other questions regarding
the humanity and divinity of Christ;
divinity of Holy Spirit
• 50 years of controversy,
excommunications, and theological
warfare

Nicea’s Solution

• ‘begotten, not made’

• ‘true God’ i.e., not God in an inferior or secondary sense
• Heretical:
• Father preexists the Son
• Son a creature produced out of nothingness
• Son subject to moral change or development
• Athanasius’ later thinking reflects Nicea:

• Arianism undermined Christian doctrine of God by insisting that the Trinity or Triad is
not eternal and this is close to polytheism
• Makes nonsense of liturgical customs (baptismal formulas, prayers to Son, etc.
• Soteriology: only if mediator himself was divine could humans hope to reestablish
communion with God

The Council Speaks

• Of the same ‘substance’ as Father (homoousios)

• Arius denied the homoousios of the Son – he did not deny the Son’s
unity with the Father, but his divinity
• Cf. homoiousios – of similar or like substance

The issue of the council was not the unity of God, but the Son’s co-
eternity
• There never was when he was not! (ouk en hoti ouk en)
• Son’s full divinity and equality with the Father out of whose being he
was derived and whose nature he shared

The Trinity
• Trinitarian controversy – relation of Logos to Father (and Holy Spirit)
• Arians – Logos perfect creature, but not consubstantial
• Orthodox (Nicea) Logos consubstantial with Father
• Relation of Logos to humanity (incarnation):

Homoousios: One Substance of God

A term first defined by the first general council of the Church to identify Christ's relationship to the
Father.

It was chosen by the council to clarify the Church's infallible teaching that the second Person of the
Trinity, who became man, is of one and the same substance, or essence, or nature as God the Father.

The Arians, who were condemned at Nicaea, held that Christ was "divine" only in the sense that he was
from God, and therefore like God, but not that he was literally "God from God, one in being with the
Father.“

(Etym. Greek homoousios, of one essence, consubstantial.)

Homoousios: One Substance of God

At the Council of Nicea it was homoousios that was at issue.

Is the Son "one substance" with the Father?

If the Son was the Word inside of the Father before his begetting in eternity past, then he is one
substance with the Father.

In other words, he's made of the same divine "stuff," "substance," "material," or "essence" as the Father
because he came out of the Father.

If he was created from nothing, then God must have used something to create him; probably whatever
he created the angels with. Greek Christians simply called that substance "matter."

If that's what the Son was made from, the Nicene council reasoned, then he's not really God.
The First Council of Nicaea in 325 debated the terms homoousios and homoiousios.

The word homoousios means "same substance", whereas the word homoiousios means "similar
substance".

The council affirmed the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Godhead) are of the homoousious (same
substance).

This is the source of the English idiom "differ not by one iota."

Note that the words homoousios and homoiousios differ only by one 'i' (or the Greek letter iota).

Thus, to say two things differ not one iota, is to say that they are the same substance.

The Council of Nicea selected the word "homoousios" for what came to be called the Nicene Creed.

This word means 'of one or the same substance'; thus the Church insisted on the essential and absolute
unity of the Father and the Son; in English translation:

"And [I believe] in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God... being OF ONE SUBSTANCE with
the Father..."

The actual words, "homoiousios" and "homoousios", do not appear in the text of the NT.

The root word, "ousios", does occur -- but only twice: in Luke 15:12,13, in the parable of the Prodigal
Son, where it signifies the possessions of the father, and the inheritance of the son.

It is derived from the verb "to be", and thus seems to suggest -- very fundamentally (but also very
vaguely and flexibly) -- what one is or what one has.

This doctrine summarized in "homo-ousios" was expanded to teach, even more fully, the one substance
of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit -- ie the Trinity!

Perichoresis

Perichoresis (from Greek: περιχώρησις perikhōrēsis, "rotation") is a term referring to the relationship of
the three persons of the triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) to one another.

It is to describe the relationship between the divine and human natures of Christ.

It describes the 'necessary being-in-one-another or circumincession of the three divine Persons of the
Trinity because of the single divine essence, the eternal procession of the Son from the Father and of
the Spirit from the Father and (through) the Son.
The word itself comes from the Greek peri, meaning "around," and chorein, meaning "to give way" or
"to make room."

Perichoresis could be translated as "rotation" or "going around."

Some scholars picture this as a sort of choreographed dance.

All members of the dance move as one, precisely and fluidly, to create a meaningful work together.

Though this Greek word does not appear in the New Testament, the idea is expressed.

Most directly, in the Gospel of John, Jesus tells the disciples about the coming of the Holy Spirit and His
relationship with God the Father, and His own relationship with God the Father.

He says, "When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his
own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to
come.

He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you" (John
16:13–15).

Perichoresis is an abiding presence of one person into the other like wine and branches in John 15.

The relationship among the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one of glory, generosity, and action.

The idea of divine relationship focuses each member of the Trinity on One another, and on us.

Theologians also refer to perichoresis in describing how Jesus is fully God and fully man.

In Titus we read that Jesus is the God we hope for: "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing
salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-
controlled, upright,

and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great
God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawessness and to purify for
himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works" (Titus 2:11–14).

Jesus was born a baby, experienced joy, sorrow, astonishment, anger, and all manner of emotions.

He suffered physical pain and anguish, and death.

We must, though, remember that although Jesus was fully human, He never sinned.

Hebrews 4:15 says, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin."
And finally, perichoresis can refer to how God, in His omnipresence, "intersects" with all creation.

In Colossians, Paul writes about this when describing Jesus:

"For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth,

visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created
through him and for him.

And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:16–17).

Properties of the Father, Son and the Spirit

Property is the one which make distinct one person from the other.

What makes Father distinct from other persons is His Fatherhood and he never becomes Son.

What makes Son distinct from the Father and the Holy Spirit is His Sonship.

Son never becomes Father. Son always remains as a Son.

What makes Spirit distinct from others persons is His spiration.

Son or Father would never become spiral.

It is the Holy Spirit Himself that makes relational of father to the Son or Son to the Father, therefore
Holy Spirit is absolute spiration.

Relations in Trinity

There are four internal divine relations in the Holy Trinity, of which only three are really distinct
relations.

To grasp this very important concept in the theology of the Triune God, we begin by considering again
what we have said of the Trinitarian processions, namely, that there are two processions, generation
and spiration.
By procession is meant the origination of the Son from the Father by way of the intellect (generation)

and the origination of the Spirit from the Father and/through the Son by way of the will (spiration).

These processions are used to explain how God can be one "substance" or "nature" and yet three
"persons" at the same time without self-contradiction.

These two processions give rise to four "real" relations in the deity but only three "opposed" relations,
which are called "persons."

The two missions refer to the visible sending of the Son into the economy of salvation in the Incarnation,
and the invisible sending of the Spirit at the Pentecost.

Father -> Son (Paternity – a relation of origination) it is active generation.

Father <- Son (Filiation – a relation of procession)

It is passive generation.

Father and Son-> Holy Ghost (Active Spiration – a relation of origination)

Father and Son <- Holy Ghost (Passive Spiration – a relation of procession)

The first relation is from Father to the Son which is called active Generation.

The second relation is from Son to the Father it is passive generation.

The third relation is father and the son to the spirit which is active spiration

The fourth relation from the Holy Spirit to the Father and the Son (as one principle) which is called
passive Spiration

Third relation is from Father and Son-> Holy Ghost (Active Spiration – a relation of origination)

To the Father and Son (from the Holy spirit) <- Holy Ghost (Passive Spiration – a relation of procession)

FILIOQUE

The filioque clause refers to an addition to the Nicene Creed.

The phrase "I believe . . . in the Holy Ghost which comes from the Father" was changed to "I believe . . .
in the Holy Ghost which comes from the Father and the Son." The Latin word filioque, meaning "and
Son," is the source of the name of the filioque clause.

At the heart of the controversy is a debate over the sending of the Holy Spirit into the world: was it the
Father who sent the Spirit, or the Father and the Son together?

The Latin term filioque means "and [from] the son," referring to whether the Holy Spirit "proceeds" from
the Father alone or both from the Father and the Son.
The insertion of "and the Son" was such a strong source of contention that it served as part of the
theological divide that split the Western Church into the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox
Church in A.D. 1054.

To this day, these two church bodies are in disagreement on this issue.

In the Orthodox tradition, the Nicene Creed reads, "We believe in the Holy Spirit … who proceeds from
the Father," while in the Catholic tradition it reads, “We believe in the Holy Spirit… who proceeds from
the Father and the Son."

The Orthodox position is based on the tradition of the ecumenical councils, which specify "from the
Father" only.

The Catholic position is based on longstanding traditions of the western Church Fathers, local councils,
and several popes.

The Council of Nicea, in 325 C.E., also known as the First Ecumenical Council, affirmed a belief in the
Trinity, but was concerned primarily with the relationship between God the Father and God the Son.

It did not deal directly with the question of the Holy Spirit's relationship to the Father and the Son.

Its creed simply stated, "We believe in the Holy Spirit."

In 381, the First Council of Constantinople, also known as the Second Ecumenical Council, addressed the
issue of the Holy Spirit more directly.

On the basis of John 15:26b—"I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from
the Father, he will testify about me“

—it modified Nicea's creed by stating that the Holy Spirit "proceeds from the Father."

This creed was confirmed at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 C.E.

The aforementioned councils were all considered "ecumenical" and, therefore, binding on all orthodox
Christians.

In the West, however, Saint Augustine of Hippo followed Tertullian and Ambrose in teaching that the
Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son, though subordinate to neither.

Other Latin Church Fathers also spoke of the Spirit proceeding from both the Father and the Son.

While familiar in the West, however, this way of speaking was virtually unknown among the ancient
churches of the Greek-speaking Eastern Roman Empire.

(However, a regional council in Persia, in 410, introduced one of the earliest forms of the filioque in its
version the creed, specifying that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father "and from the Son.")
The first Latin council to add the phrase and the Son (filioque) to its creed was the Synod of Toledo in
Spain in 447.

The formula was also used in a letter from Pope Leo I to the members of that synod.

The addition came about in opposition to fifth century manifestations of a form the Arian "heresy"
which was prevalent among the Germanic tribes of Europe.

By affirming the Holy Spirit's procession from both the Father and the Son, the bishops at Toledo
intended to exclude Arian notions that the Son was something less than a co-eternal and equal partner
with the Father from the very beginning of existence

At a the third synod of Toledo in 589, the ruling Visigoths, who had been Arian Christians, submitted to
the Catholic Church and were, thus, obliged to accept the Nicene Creed with the addition of the filioque.

The filoque was later accepted by the Franks, who, under Pippin the Younger and his son Charlemagne,
rose to dominance in Europe.

In the West, the filioque was thus widely accepted as an integral part of the Nicene Creed and an
integral part of the battle against the Arian heresy.

Some westerners, however, demonstrated a sensitivity to eastern concerns that the filioque
represented an innovation that was clearly not part of the received tradition of the ecumenical councils.

In the early ninth century, Pope Leo III stated that although he personally agreed with the filioque, he
opposed adopting it formally in Rome.

As a gesture of unity with the East, he caused the traditional text of the Nicene Creed—without the
filioque—to be displayed publicly.

This text was engraved on two silver tablets at the tomb of Saint Peter.

However, the practice of adding the filioque was retained in many parts in the West in spite of this papal
advice

The filioque entered the controversy in 867, when Photius formally rejected the pope's claims and cited
the filioque as proof that Rome had a habit of overstepping its proper limits not only in matters of
church discipline but also in theology.

A council was convened with over a thousand clergymen attending.

This synod excommunicated Pope Nicholas and condemned his claims of papal primacy, his interference
in the newly converted churches of Bulgaria, and the innovative addition of the filioque clause to the
western version of the Nicene Creed.
The filioque was now formally considered by the Eastern church to be a heresy.

He was forced to resign in 886 when Leo VI took over as emperor and Photius spent the rest of his life as
a monk in exile in Armenia.

He is revered by the Eastern Orthodox Church today as a major saint.

On the death of Ignatius in October 877, Photius again resumed office, having been recommended by
Ignatius prior to his death.

He was forced to resign in 886 when Leo VI took over as emperor and Photius spent the rest of his life as
a monk in exile in Armenia.

He is revered by the Eastern Orthodox Church today as a major saint.

Council of Florence

At the Council of Florence in the fifteenth century, Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaeologus, Patriarch
Joseph of Constantinople, and other bishops from the East traveled to northern Italy in hope of gaining
reconciliation with the West and the aid of Roman armies in their conflict with the Ottoman Empire.

That, in the future, Orthodox and Catholics should refrain from labeling as heretical each other's
traditions on the subject of the procession of the Holy Spirit.

That the Catholic Church should declare that the condemnation made at the Second Council of Lyons
(1274) of those "who presume to deny that the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and the
Son" is no longer applicable.

Biblical Evidences for Filioque

Several Bible passages have been used to argue that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and
the Son.

John 15:26 says, "But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of
truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me."

In this verse, it is clear that Jesus claims to send the Spirit, and that the Spirit also "goes out" from the
Father.

In John 14:26 Jesus says, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name…"
Again, both the Father and the Son are involved in the coming of the Holy Spirit.

John 14:16 says, "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever."

Another consideration is the titles given to the Holy Spirit in the New Testament.
He is called "the Spirit of Christ" (Romans 8:9), "the Spirit of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:19), and "the
Spirit of his Son" (Galatians 4:6).

In each case, the Holy Spirit is associated with the Son, a teaching that would support the filioque
clause.

Finally, during one of Jesus' post-resurrection appearances, He said to the disciples, "Receive the Holy
Spirit" (John 20:22).

This seems to plainly state that the Holy Spirit came from the Son.

To say the Holy Spirit proceeded from only the Father and not the Son neglects this passage and others
or reinterprets them.

While the human mind cannot fully comprehend the relationship among the three Persons of the
Trinity, we can look at the words of the Bible.

Scripture makes it clear that the Holy Spirit proceeded from both the Father and Son, and so the filioque
clause is a plausible way to express the fact.

God as our father

The word father describes one who gives life or who creates, originates, exemplifies or founds
something.

For example, James Naismith is considered the “father” of basketball because he created the game over
100 years ago.

Abraham is called the father of the faithful since his faith exemplifies what all need to strive for (Romans
4:16).

God as Father

In Christianity, God is known as God the Father, God our Father, and God the Father of Jesus.

It is through these truths of a relationship with our creator that God is seen as father over all creation
and personally to believers through grace.

• Cautions about Trinity

•
1. The Trinity is something God wants us to know.
• If you believe the Bible reveals that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, then you ought to
believe that God made this known because he wants us to know it. "The secret things belong to
the LORD," but God's tri-unity is not among those secret things, or he wouldn't be talking about
it and neither would we. "The things that are revealed belong to us" (Deut 29:29).

•
2. The doctrine of the Trinity is not illogical.

• It doesn't teach that God is three persons in one person, or three beings in one being, or three
in one in some abstract sense. It teaches that God is three persons in one being. Partly because
there are no other examples of such a thing, God's tri-unity transcends our rational
comprehension. But it doesn't violate logic or make a claim that it nonsensical.

• God's tri-unity transcends our rational comprehension. But it doesn't violate logic or make a
claim that it nonsensical.

•
3. You should give up on looking for an illustration of the Trinity.

• God's triunity is one of those divine realities that have no parallel, like "being the creator of
everything from nothing," or "being omnipotent." Any illustration you think of for such realities
is vastly more unlike God than like God.

4. The Father sent the Son and the Holy Spirit to save us; that is why we know about the Trinity.

• God didn't make his triunity known to us by informing us of facts about it. Instead, he made it
known through the incarnation of the Son and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The revelation
of the Trinity took place in those acts, which God then explained.

•
5. God would have been the Trinity even if nothing existed but God.

• The doctrine of the Trinity is a teaching about God's eternal, essential being. So even if
everything we know about the Trinity is derived from God's outward works as creator and
(especially) redeemer, the Trinity would have been itself even without having done these things.

•
6. The Trinity is always bundled with the gospel.

• It's the doctrine of who God must be if salvation is what we think it is. The Father who gave his
Son and Spirit to save us must be a Father who always had a Son and Spirit. If you describe the
Trinity and then have to tack on the fact that the Trinity saves, you probably described it too
abstractly in the first place. The Bible bundles Trinity and gospel, and so should we.
 • 7. You're already soaking in it.

• Whether you have been attending to it or not, everything about the Christian life works only
because there is a Trinitarian reality underlying it. If you got saved, you got picked up by the
Trinity and brought into God's own fellowship. Learning about the Trinity is a matter of learning
the deeper reasons why this Christian life works.

•
8. Prayer and worship have a Trinitarian structure.

• Every time Christians approach God, they come before God (the Father) in the name of Jesus
(not in their own name) by the power of the Spirit (not by their own power). Again, this is true
even if they're not consciously thinking about it.

9. You don't have to choose between being Christ-centered or being Trinity-centered.

The simple reason for

this is that Christ is Trinity-centered, right in the middle of the Trinity as the Son sent by the Father and
filled with the Spirit. If you focus on Jesus properly, you will find yourself necessarily focusing on the
Trinity—as long as you don't focus on Jesus in a Father-forgetful or Spirit-ignoring way.

•
10. You can be a good Trinitarian without talking about the Trinity all the time.

• The doctrine of the Trinity is the vast, deep background behind all our theology, and when we
explicitly talk about it we make a comprehensive claim about who God is if the gospel is true.
But often the background stays in the background, and enables us to say particular things about
Jesus, discipleship, the cross, the Holy Spirit, and so on, without making the big picture explicit.

• That's how the New Testament mostly does it, so you're in good company. Go ahead and talk
about the Trinity sometimes and think about it deeply sometimes. Praise the Trinity at all times,
and when necessary, use the word "Trinity." But don't feel like you have to focus mentally on
this gigantic doctrine at all times in order to be a good Trinitarian.