Father, Son, and Holy Spirit : The One God (original) (raw)
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The Asbury Journal, 1994
A pastor once told his congregation, in what might have been for him a moment of profound honesty, that he mistrusted anyone who claimed to understand the doctrine of the Trinity. Unfortunately, in spite of a twentieth-century resurgence of interest, many still view the Trinity as one of the greatest Christian mysteries and perhaps some, like our erstwhile pastor, tend to suspect anyone who thinks it intelligible. Wolfhart Pannenberg, the German systematic theologian, notes that as soon as "it appears that the one God can be better understood" without the doctrine, it "seems to be a superfluous addition to the concept of the one God even though it is reverently treated as a mystery of revelation."' These-things suggest that two possibilities are open to theology. Either it can show that the one God can only be properly understood from a trinitarian construal, or it can allow the doctrine to wither as "superfluous" and unimportant. Pannenberg is convinced that the former choice is the correct one. Robert Jenson summarizes the sentiment: Christians do not have "a God ," about whose ideas Jesus then perhaps contributes some information. They have the particular God of whom the man Jesus is one identity, and who therefore is triune in the first rather than the second place. 2 [emphasis added] Further, Jenson suggests a point that Pannenberg makes explicit in his Systematics-without the doctrine of the Trinity, Christianity as such cannot survive. Pannenberg expresses the point as follows :
A Different Look at the Trinity
Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Theologia Orthodoxa, 2018
The doctrine of the Trinity seems difficult to understand today. In the New Testament, there is a unity of revelation and action between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, although a unity of essence is not clearly expressed. We can discern the Old Testament roots of the implied divinity of Jesus and also of the divinity of the Spirit. Yet, from these manifestations of the one God it is difficult to arrive at a doctrine of the Trinity. While the metaphysical terminology of the early church leads to such a doctrine, the biblical witness could only arrive at a doctrine of the Trinity in a mediated way. It suffices that there is a unity of action of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, without the need to fathom the mysteries of the Trinity with regard to their exact mutual relations and their status over against each other. As the New Testament affirms, decisively is that God was and is in Christ for our salvation and that God is present through his Holy Spirit so that there is life.
Pannenberg and the Unity of God: God's Infinite Nature in Eternity and in Time
p. 1 from several criticisms. First, proofs of God have been severely critiqued over the centuries. Second, the notion of finding a discernable God of biblical witness within creation alone has proved challenging. Pannenberg adds to this critique with his own concern that the biblical texts should not be turned into "documents with supernatural authority" 2 but as important historical data. Instead of starting with God's unity, Pannenberg reverses the traditional approach and starts with the revelation of the Trinity of God and then argues for the unity of God.
The Trinity and the Bible: How All Scripture Testifies to One God in Three Persons
Teleioteti, 2022
To write on the Trinity is to enter a minefield of presuppositions-presuppositions of theology, exegesis, grammar, logic, philosophy, etc. However, at the heart of Godʹs self-revelation in the Bible is God's tri-unity, that God is three, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Confessional Christians would identify this claim, that God is Triune, as a necessary condition of true Christian faith. To be Christian is to follow Christ who is the 2nd person of the Trinity. Yet, does following this Christ mean following the 2nd hypostasis who is eternally begotten of the Father, sharing with him his ousia? That is a more difficult question, isn't it? Indeed, many faithful men and women in my life could not make heads or tails of the latter claim while worshipping and following the Christ of the former. So, what does it mean to be Trinitarian? This book is about that question, what does it mean to be a Christian who worships a triune God, to be ʺTrinitarianʺ? Is the Trinity a doctrine, arrived at through second-order reflection on the Biblical data several hundred years after the canon closed, or is it something else? Is it, perhaps, a presupposition about the reality of God that has shaped the Christain imagination, that has shaped the framework Christians bring to the world, throughout created history?
Historical Overview of the Doctrine of The Trinity
There is a constant and persistent temptation in Christian circles to pine for the days gone by. Whether this is an unhealthy yearning for the pure Christianity of the reign of the religious right, an overwhelming urge to sit in a pub with Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin while they wax poetic over proper and pure theology, or head back to the time of Augustine because those guys had everything down. The most pervasive example of this is the longing to return to the time of Acts 2 church purity. This misguided nostalgia misses the blemishes that have filled every age of church history and, in doing so, misses the consistent work of the Spirit of God in and on his people. While this nostalgic position assumes that the early church enjoyed flawless and full theology, actual history highlights how difficult a road the brothers and sisters in the early church walked as they sought to properly understand the Scriptures and worship God. The doctrine of the Trinity is a perfect example of this. Rather than floating down from heaven engraved on stone shamrocks, this doctrine was formulated over many years and through much adversity. The doctrine of the Trinity has been under constant and consistent assault throughout the history of the church because of its status as proper representation of God and the blessing it is to believers.
The Orthodox Doctrine of the Trinity
Priscilla Papers, 2012
Author: Kevin Giles Publisher: CBE International The doctrine of the Trinity is the primary doctrine of the Christian faith. It expresses our distinctive Christian understanding of God. Sadly, many contemporary evangelicals are inadequately informed on this doctrine, and the evangelical community is deeply and painfully divided on this matter. In seeking to promote unity among evangelicals by establishing what is to be believed about our triune God, I outline in summary what I conclude is the historic orthodox doctrine of the Trinity and then provide a biblical and theological commentary on my summary in a second and longer article, which follows.