the trinity

the bible is

NOT a anachronistic theology

doctrine of the trinity (today)

three persons that share one essense or substance

most of the building blocks of trinitarian doctrine came from ?

the Gospel of John

what does the hebrew bible / old testament say?

there is only one god , who alone creates and saves

Proto-Trinitarian

means that while the Bible does not clearly state HOW the three persons of the Godhead are one, it does provide the material that is later used to construct such explanations.

hebrew bible on the messiah

No one writing in the Hebrew Bible would have considered a human being to be on the same level as God, not even God's anointed who would be considered an 'instrument' of God on earth, as their religion was very strictly monotheistic.

why do texts from the hebrew bible make it difficult for the trinity

as God explicitly states there that are no other gods (i.e. no others worthy of worship) besides God alone

what does the new testament say

seems to suggest positions of subservience for Jesus and the Spirit with respect to the father

Gospel of John on the trinity

all three are never explicitly stated as one only Jesus and the Father are ‘one‘, the spiriy is personified in its own right.

The reference to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit at the end of Matthew's gospel is indicative of

the existence of a Trinitarian formula used in liturgical practice

liturgical practices

a set way of doing a religious ritual, so anything of this usually happens in a church.

Johns Gospel on Jesus and the Father

Jesus says both 'the Father and I are one" AND "the Father is greater than I" resulting in some confusion as to the perfect equality of Jesus and God 'the Father.'

Trinitarian debates in context

Theology NOT done in a vacuum, always influenced by culture and historical context, not only interpreting and application of scripture but philosophy too

Athenagoras of Athens

a good representation of what Christians were up against, accusations of atheism, concerns about polytheism, claims of monotheism when worshipping (seemingly) three separate entities

"theology is not done in a vacuum," I mean

theologians do not operate apart from culture or their historical contexts, therefore, beliefs do not come from 'voids' that exist independently of historical and social context.

The ideas about the Trinity put forth by Athenagoras were meant to

explain that their unwillingness to worship the emperor as a God is the result of their monotheistic God of the Hebrew Scriptures, just in a different way than their Jewish counterparts. He is defending against accusations of atheism (refusal to worship the emperor) and polytheism (that they also worship Jesus as a god while illegally refusing to worship the emperor).

Arius

was an elder in Christian faith , used sciprture to argue his own understanding of the nature of the trinity,

Arian Debate: Arius’ View

the Son was not coeternal nor consubstantial with the father, but was begotten out of time, the Father is superior to the Son

coeternal

equally eternal; existing with something else eternally.

cosubtantial

of the same substance or essence

begotten

sort of created

Athenasius argues that

that the Son is coeternal and is cosubstantial with the father

Arian debate : Orthodox view

Athenasius and other view that the father and teh son are of the same substrance etc..

Nicene Creed/ Council of Nicaea

Arius loses the debate and, coeternality and cosubstantiality of the Son is made official in this

The Aristotelian Explanation

this understanding of substance is used to explain how the three persons of the trinity can share one substance without undermining accepted cahracteristics of God(like indivisibility and immutability)

It is reasoned that the three persons share

essential qualities of divinity(those qualities that make something what it IS), while departing from in nonessential qualities (like embodiment)

heretic

someone who believed views opposed to official Christian teaching

Arius was not always considered a heretic

because he was originally a member of the church hierarchy who also used Scripture to defend his views.

Arius argued that

the Son came from the Father and therefore cannot be of the same substance, as that would mean the substance was divided At stake for Arius is the indivisibility and immutability of God, which he thinks cannot be maintained if the two are of the same substance and the Son 'comes from' the Father.

The Orthodox position about the consubstantiality of the persons of the Trinity is explained

using the definition of substance found in Aristotelian metaphysics, where sameness of substance means sameness of essential qualities

The Fathers of the Church could reason that the three persons of the Trinity shared the same substance (the essence of divinity)

based on their possession of the qualities that make them what they are (divine), like eternality, immutability, ability to save, ability to create, etc.

LaCugna on the Trinity

instead of questionging the trinity or wh God is a certian way or not but to take God as God is, and have faith and total confidence in God.