Frederic H. Chase, Jr. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. To respond on your own website, enter the URL of your response which should contain a link to this post's permalink URL. Your response will then appear possibly after moderation on this page. Want to update or remove your response? Update or delete your post and re-enter your post's URL again.
Learn More. Previous post. Next post. Three persons. The Holy Trinity. View all of Joshua Steele's posts. Leave a comment Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Previous post Psalm 2: Quare Fremuerunt Gentes? Why Do the Nations Rage? Next post Silence and Violence. Paul identifies that Christians are called to model their lives around the lived example of Jesus Christ and to live by the teachings of God through the Holy Spirit. Hence, the implications of the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity for Christian life is the call to hear and respond to the truth of God.
To clarify this further, and to contextualise this understanding within this course as preparation to be a catechist and a permanent deacon, the implications of the Trinitarian mystery will be examined, first, generally for all Christians; second, particularly for catechists; and, third, specifically for permanent deacons.
First, St. Therefore, the implications of the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity for the apostolate of Christian life is that all are called to serve God and strive to know God more fully. Second, catechesis is the act of teaching others in the faith and truth of God CCC , 4. As such, catechists are called to introduce, clarify and instruct on the mysteries of the faith.
As has been articulated above, the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is key to understanding all other mysteries of faith because it is the basis for coming to comprehend and know the essence of God.
The implications of this for the life of a catechist is to recognise, as St. Paul stated above, that everyone has already been called to enter into a relationship with God and the catechist is called to provide the clarity of the mystery of the Trinity to allow those relationships to flourish and bear fruit CCC , The completion being the understanding of the fullness and essence of God in the Most Holy Trinity, and the acceptance of the call to respond to live in communion with God. Consequently, the implication for the apostolate of catechists is that teaching the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is nothing short of teaching the message of salvation to all people and sustaining the life of the Church.
Third, in his first letter to Timothy , St. This provides a clear direction that anyone called to the permanent diaconate must hold fast to the grace and wisdom of God granted through revelation and remain faithful to the mystery revealed in the Most Holy Trinity. As stated previously, the Spirit is the full essence of God through which grace imparts wisdom to the faithful; wisdom of the laws and wisdom in living in accordance with the will of God.
Permanent deacons, therefore, must base their lives on the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity and work to draw others to the love of God. As previously noted, the sacraments are the mysteries of faith, i. Therefore, the implications of the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity for the apostolate of permanent deacons is that it establishes their call to participate in the mission of Jesus Christ by teaching how each of the mysteries of faith i.
The aim of this article has been to explain how the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life, and how understanding this mystery clarifies and illuminates all other mysteries of the Christian faith.
In doing this, the fundamental aspects of each part of the theological concept of the Trinity have been elucidated and contextualised within Christian doctrine, tradition and teaching.
The various ways in which the ultimate truths of reality are revealed were discussed and shown to illuminate the nature of God as a Trinity through the workings of God. The triune nature of God as three Persons in one was explained as the essence of God and further clarification of the meaning of mystery was given to identify how mysteries of faith - as understood as sacraments - each illustrate the salvific grace of God, which can only be fully understood through the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity.
Finally, the impact of understanding the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity on Christian faith was discussed, and the implications of this understanding for the apostolates of all Christians in general, catechists in particular, and permanent deacons specifically was explicated. What this has all demonstrated is the critical importance for all Christians to seek to understand the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity as the key to coming to a fuller knowledge of God as the basis, meaning and purpose of life.
Ambrose of Milan, Saint. On the mysteries and on repentance. Veritas Splendor Publications. Kindle Edition. Aquinas, T. London: Hackett Publishing. Augustine, Saint. On Christian Doctrine. Shaff Ed. The Complete Works of Saint Augustine. Bernhardt, R. Trinity as a framework for a theology of religions. Svensk teologisk kvartalskrift , 90 2 , Catholic Church. Catechism of the Catholic Church. London: Bloomsbury. The myths and gods of India: the classic work on Hindu polytheism. Flannery, A.
Vatican Council II: The conciliar and post conciliar documents. Northport, NY: Costello Publishing. Harvey, A. The use of Mystery Language in the Bible. The Journal of Theological Studies , Ignatius of Antioch St. Schaff Ed.
The ancient writers said that there were three distinct hypostases in one ousia ousia is the word now translated as substance - see below. There's a hint here of a very important concept in the idea of the Trinity. Actors playing a part in a play do so in relationship to other members of the cast, and a key element of the doctrine of the Trinity is that the three persons of the Trinity are in relationship with one another.
But "person" to modern people means, at the very least, a separate centre of consciousness, and more usually, an individual human being. That is not what it means in the definition of the Trinity. The idea that the three persons of the Trinity are separate individuals is the heresy of tritheism.
Unfortunately, modern theological translations of the word "persons" into phrases such as "distinct manners of subsisting" don't make things much clearer and that particular phrase, as it happens, sounds very like the heresy of modalism. This word is used to describe the coming forth of one of the persons of the Trinity from another or from both the others.
The use of this word in statements of the Trinity is a reminder that there is movement and dynamic energy in the Christian concept of God. It comes from the Greek word ousia , which means "beingness", but it has a more restricted meaning in this context than it had had to the ancient Greek philosophers who coined the word.
A substance is a thing which fully exists; a presence in the universe - so for example, a dog is a substance. Although in the case of God this is not a substance made of matter.
The key concept of substance is that of unity - it's not separate from the three persons of the Trinity, it's what makes them one. Search term:. Read more. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets CSS enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience.
Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets CSS if you are able to do so. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Find out more about page archiving. The Trinity Last updated Bible and why Christians believe in the Trinity The Bible and why Christians believe in the Trinity Christianity adopted this complicated idea of God because it was the only way they could make sense of One God in the context of the events and teaching of the Bible.
Keith Ward, Religion and Creation, Matthew Making use of the Trinity Is the Trinity a useful idea? Karen Kilby.
Gerald S. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, World without end. Amen Trinitarian doxology. Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee; Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty, God in three Persons, blessed Trinity! I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity, by invocation of the same, the Three in One, and One in Three. Shine, Jesus, shine, fill this land with the Father's glory; blaze, Spirit, blaze, set our hearts on fire.
Patrick Henry Reardon. How are we to live and relate to others so as to be most Godlike? Social implications The Trinity as a power structure The relationships within God as a Trinity discredit any hierarchical power structure in which those lower down are dominated and oppressed by those above them. This idea can be developed in Church life: in the hierarchical model power and authority in the church flow in one direction from God, through senior and junior clergy, down to the lay people in the Trinitarian model there is a church of mutual self-giving and equality that emulates the community of the Trinity.
In this the members communicate with each other in a spirit of love that accepts responsibility for the well-being of each individual and that of the whole community. In this way the Church, and each church and community become a unity in which diversity flourishes and in which differences are seen as valuable and essential elements in the substance of these institutions. The Trinity and Liberation Theology The liberation theologians thought it was essential to start thinking about the Trinity by focusing on its three-ness first, then its oneness.
Essential and Economic Trinity Essential and Economic Trinity Some of the problems of the Trinity arise from confusion between the internal life and nature of the Trinity itself and the external life or "self-revelation" of God. There are two ways of looking at God in Trinitarian terms: The Essential also called Immanent or Ontological Trinity looks at the essence or substance of God; at what God is actually like in himself as he stands outside the created universe.
It's how God appears to God. Warning: This is an unusual use of the word immanent , which Christians often use to refer to God's actions in the world. The Economic Trinity is concerned with humanity's experience of God; in human lives, in creation, in salvation; and derives the nature of God from that experience. This is how God appears to humanity. Some theologians point out that only the Son and the Spirit are directly met in the Economic Trinity. Is his face something he merely displays, or does his face unambiguously disclose his heart?
Victor Shepherd. Karl Rahner, The Trinity, Trinitarian heresies Trinitarian heresies Some theories of the Trinity are so wrong that they have been declared heretical. Father: The creator and the law giver Son : The revealer, the Messiah and the redeemer Holy Spirit: The sanctifier and giver of eternal life One of the standard analogies for the Trinity is a good example of modalism: The Trinity is like water because water comes in three forms - ice, water, steam.
Tritheism Tritheism portrays Father, Son and Holy Spirit as three independent divine beings; three separate gods who are linked together in some special way - most commonly by sharing the "same substance" or being the same sort of thing. Monarchianism Monarchianism stresses God as One and downgrades the idea of the Trinity; it comes in various versions: Adoptionism Christ was born human and adopted by God at his resurrection or baptism.
Arianism This isn't a strictly Trinitarian heresy but it's relevant because it's the idea that the Son is in some way less fully God than the Father. What the row was about The Churches were arguing about whether the Son played any part in the origin of the Spirit as one of the persons of the Trinity from the Father, who is the only ultimate source. The doctrine of 'dual procession' This is the name that theologians give to the idea that the Spirit proceeds from both Father and Son.
The arguments The arguments in the dispute are highly technical, and seem pretty dull to anyone except a theologian - but they stirred hugely passionate debates in the church because they were about something that mattered terribly: the nature of God. To get a flavour of the passion the debate aroused, look at this comment from a 9th century Patriarch Encyclical to the Eastern Patriarchs.
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