2B - The Trinity

What three things does the doctrine assert?

1) Father ,Son ,Holy Spirit = three distinct persons
2) Each person = fully God; coexistent, coeternal, coequal
3) Only one God; not split into three parts

Who coined the word 'Trinity'?

Tertullian, 3rd Century (word never appears in Bible)

When/how was the doctrine formalised?

- Nicene Creed, 325 CE
* Son was "of one substance" with Father

What were the three contemporary heresies that Tertullian saw?

1. Adoptionism
2. Sabellianism
3. Arianism

What is Adoptionism?

Jesus = ordinary man; only became Son of God after baptism

What is Sabellianism?

Jesus = divine, but not human

What is Arianism?

Jesus = highest of all created beings but not of same substance as God

What is the Old Testament biblical foundation for the Trinity?

- God the father is referred to in the plural
* Genesis 1:26-7 - "Let us make humankind in our image"

What is the NT biblical foundation for the Trinity?

- Jesus is referred to as God
* John 20:28 - "My Lord and my God"

When is the Holy Spirit referred to as God?

• Epistle to the Romans, 8:11 - tells readers of the Spirit of God

Give a quote for Christianity as monotheistic.

• 1 Corinthians 8:4 - "There is no God but one."

Why has the church never been able to adequately explain the doctrine?

• It is logically impossible
• Regards it as a mystery
• No human words can express the reality of God

When was the Council of Nicea?

325 CE

What was stated at the Council of Nicea?

Christians believe "in the Holy Spirit"

When was the Council of Constantinople?

381 CE

What was stated at the Council of Constantinople?

- Modified the Nicean Creed
- Christians believe "in the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father"
- This undermines the consubstantial nature of Holy Spirit, yet all present churches agreed to the new wording.

When was the Council of Toledo?

589CE

What was the order of the three councils?

1. Council of Nicea 325CE
2. Council of Constantinople 381CE
3. Council of Toledo 589CE

What was stated at the Council of Toledo?

- The creed now reads: "We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son."
- The three English words 'and the Son' are just one in Latin - filioque. This change was made to reflect the thinking of prominent thinkers like Hilary of Poitiers, Augustine of Hippo and Cyril of Alexandria

Christians believe "in the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son."
"and the Son" = 'filioque' in Latin

Why did the addition of 'filioque' cause controversy?

- It implies that the HS = subservient/inferior to the Father and Son, which should not be the case if the doctrine is to be upheld
- It was added without agreement from the 5 patriarchs of the Church

Whose thinking does the addition of filioque seem to reflect?

- The change was was a widely accepted idea in the Latin-speaking west - but not the Greek-speaking east.
- Those who oppose the filioque clause object because they believe the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son makes the Holy Spirit "subservient" to the Father and Son and may also collapse the distinction between the Father and the Son.

Augustine of Hippo
Hilary of Poitiers
Cyril of Alexandria
They all wrote about the HS proceeding "from the Father and the Son"

Where was filioque accepted/rejected?

Accepted: Latin-speaking West
Rejected: Greek-speaking East

How did Pope Benedict VIII cause the Great Schism of 1054?

- In 1014, he used 'filioque' for the first time in a Mass in Rome
- Made the change to the Nicene Creed w/o agreement of an Ecumenical Council
- Divided the Eastern/Western Churches to this day

What is the view of the West regarding filioque?

- The Eastern rejection denied the consubstantiality of the Father and Son ∴ is a form of crypto-Arianism

What is the view of the East regarding filioque?

- The interpolation of filioque indicated that the West was teaching a substantially different faith

Give a quote from Siecienski about the filioque controversy.

It has "destroyed the purity of the faith"

What is the Immanent Trinity?

Focuses on what god is rather than what he does
Three persons, one God

What is the Economic Trinity?

Signifies what God does
* Father - creates; Son - redeems; Holy Spirit - sanctifies

What is Augustine's view of the Trinity?

- Humans can know the Trinity from their own exp. ∵ there are traces of the Trinity in the human soul
- E.g. Triad of self-knowledge: memory, understanding, will
- He does not differentiate between the immanent and economic trinity

What did Schleiermacher try to do?

- Reconcile Enlightenment theology with traditional Christian beliefs
He dismissed the Trinity in his 1821 book 'The Christian Faith'

Who responded to Schleiermacher, and what did he argue?

- Karl Barth
- Tried to underline the central importance of the Trinity in Christian theology
"The doctrine of the Trinity us what basically distinguishes the Christian doctrine of God as Christian"

Give more information on Karl Barth's theory.

• The basis of the Trinity is how G has revealed himself to humans:
1) Son = objective "unveiling" of what God is
2) Spirit = subjective "imparting"
• Objective unveiling of G in J ≠ enough ∴ must also be a subjective recognition imparted by HS, which Barth illustrates by imagining two men witnessing J's crucifixion:
a) "There is a common criminal being executed"; has not recognised the unveiling of G in J
b) "There is the Son of God dying for me"; Holy Spirit has imparted the recognition of God in Jesus

Why does Barth endorse the use of filioque?

- Humans = incapable of responding to the objective revelation of God in Jesus, unless a recognition of that revelation is imparted to them by both the Holy Spirit, which proceeds from the hidden Father and the revealed Son
- Agrees w/ Aug. that the Immanent Trinity = reflected in the Eco. Trinity

Barth: explain the first criticism and response.

- Criticism (from the Eastern Orthodox Church): merging of Immanent + Economic, and endorsement of filioque = heresy
- Response: The Western Church has accepted this for centuries
- Not a strong response ∵ the issue still remains

Barth: explain the second criticism and response.

- Criticism (from Western theologians including, Moltmann): Barth's use of 'seinseweise' (mode of being), instead of 'person' to refer to members of the Godhead = Modalism
- Response: Barth used 'seinsweise' to avoid confusing 'person' with 'personality', as to say that G has three personalities = Tritheism
- Not a strong response ∵ still Modalism

Barth: explain the third criticism and response.

- Criticism: Does not distinguish between F, S, HS.
- Response: Distinguishes F from S by use of Greek, 'Logos asarkos' ('the Word w/o flesh') for Son, i.e., God the Son as he lived in the Godhead before incarnation, distinct from the Father

Barth: explain the fourth criticism and response.

- Criticism: Sees F, S, HS in one eternal repetition, they exist one after the other, which destroys the eternal unity of God
- Response: Barth insists that "He is the one God in each repetition" and highlights the unchanging nature of the eternal Trinity. G = "unimpaired unity" + "unimpaired distinction" as Revealer (F), Revelation (S), and Revealedness (HS)