The doctrine of the Trinity is one of my favorite doctrines. However, for many years, I was afraid to fully embrace the doctrine because I didn't understand it. Perhaps you feel the same way. Of course, this is also one of the favorite doctrines that unbelievers love to attack because it is so difficult to understand and even more difficult to explain and defend. I'm hoping this series will equip you with a few tools to encourage you to embrace this beautiful revelation of God and be able to share that gift with others. Don't be deceived! There are many individuals who claim to be Christians along with various cults who proclaim the name of Jesus Christ yet reject the doctrine of the Trinity. This is unacceptable! Orthodox Christians must accept the doctrine of the Trinity even if they don't understand it and can't explain it. Ok, done preaching for a bit. There are many Christian doctrines that have multiple positions and eventually I'll post a myriad of those doctrines. The doctrine of the Trinity is not one of those doctrines. Orthodox Christians accept it, non-Christians do not. Stand your ground and keep digging for the truth...I'll bring a shovel!
The Problem
I will grant you that this doctrine is one of, if not, the most perplexing theological concepts advanced by any major theological system of beliefs. Although adherence to the doctrine is essential to the orthodox Christian’s inclusion within the Church, adherence is never a requisite that precludes questioning or the quest for understanding. Developing and understanding the doctrine of the Trinity is no different. However, reaching a complete “understanding” of the Trinity is precisely the problem. Specifically at issue and the primary focus of this writing is the apparent contradiction between the clear teaching that God is one while at the same time experiencing God’s revelation of himself as three distinct persons—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. However, the apparent contradiction with God’s “three-in-oneness” is just that—an apparent contradiction. A true contradiction would state that God is one and not one at the same time or three and not three at the same time. This, however, is not the case. Instead, the difficulty with the Trinity, in addition to being mysterious, is largely rooted in the limitation of language and a misunderstanding of previously accepted terminology. Although we are still constrained by the limitations of language, a closer look at some of the terminology used to describe and define the Trinity might alleviate some of the confusion usually associated with this very crucial doctrine. First, however, it might be helpful to briefly review the events that necessitated the development of the doctrine and how the doctrine reached its current understanding.
Jesus and Jewish Monotheism
It is hard to argue that the Jewish faith is anything but fiercely monotheistic. This is imminently clear from the Old Testament biblical teaching known as the Shema: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” (Deut. 6:4) Although we will take a closer look later at how the Old Testament intimated at the plurality of God, for the time being we will consider the crucial event that has created the tension between monotheism and the Trinity. The central figure that precipitated the need to develop this doctrine is Jesus. It is accepted within orthodox Christianity that Jesus is not only fully human but is simultaneously fully God. It is not the purpose of this writing to defend the deity of Christ specifically but to make that assumption generally in order to develop a clearer understanding and defense of the Trinity. It is with this assumption that the tension with monotheism begins. During the first four centuries of the Church, various attempts were made to try and explain how God is Father, Son and Spirit without falling into the polytheistic trap of claiming three gods. As a consequence, a number of hypotheses were advanced.
Modalistic Formulations
In order to maintain that God is only one person, the modalist makes the claim that God is one person that has revealed himself to us in three different forms. Wayne Grudem writes, “…in the Old Testament God appeared as ‘Father.’ Throughout the Gospels, this same divine person appeared as ‘the Son’ as seen in the human life and ministry of Jesus. After Pentecost, this same person then revealed himself as the ‘Spirit’ active in the church.”[1] Although at first glance this appears to be a nice, neat package that explains God’s revelation of himself to us in three different ways, it fails to take into consideration the eternal relationship between Father, Son and Spirit. Furthermore, the hypotheses falls flat at Jesus’ baptism when the Father speaks, the Son is baptized and the Spirit descends upon him. In short, this event in the life of Jesus necessarily demonstrates that God cannot be one person manifest in three different ways at the same time.
Arianism
Receiving its name from Arius, a bishop of Alexandria, Arians taught that there was some time when Jesus and the Spirit did not exist. Instead, Arius insisted that both were created by God. Although he was willing to concede to a certain level of deity for both the Son and the Spirit, neither was equal to the Father. Arius depended heavily on biblical texts identifying Jesus as “only begotten” and “first-born over all creation” while at the same time neglecting the biblical text demonstrating that there was never a time when Jesus did not exist. Instead, the church council convened in A.D. 325 at Nicea to address the issue of Jesus’ divinity once and for all and developed a formal church position that was used to formulate the doctrine of the Trinity at the Council of Constantinople in A.D. 381.
Orthodox Formulation
Basil and Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa, also known as “the Cappadocians,” may have been the most influential in the development of Trinitarian theology during the fourth century. They made the crucial distinction between “essence” (ousia) and “persons” (hypostaseis). Lewis and Demarest write, “By ousia they meant one invisible, divine nature, and by hypostaseis they meant mode of being or personal center with independent existence and unique characteristics.”[2] God’s essence or ousia is undivided. In other words, all three persons are equally God. The differences in the persons or hypostaseis are functional or relational as opposed to essential. Consequently, the Father is the source of creation through the Son as the agent of creation through the power of the Spirit who consummates creation.
There are “trinities,” of sorts, in various faiths. My ebook on comparative mysticism, "the greatest achievement in life," summarizes five of them.
ReplyDeleteMahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism speak of Trikaya, or three bodies: Nirmanakaya is the Buddha in human form, Sambhogakaya is celestial Buddha and Dharmakaya is the formless essence, or Buddha-nature. The “Three Jewels” are the Buddha, the dharma (his teachings) and the sangha (the community of monks and nuns).
Christianity has its Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit referring to God, Jesus Christ and their spiritual bond of unity. In Christian mysticism, the three ways of the spiritual life are the purgative in being purified from sin, the illuminative in true understanding of created things, and the unitive in which the soul unites with God by love.
Hinduism’s trimurti are the threefold activities of Brahman: in Brahma as creator, in Vishnu as sustainer and in Shiva as destroyer. Saccidananda are the triune attributes or essence of Brahman: sat, being, cit, consciousness and ananda, bliss. The three major schools of yoga are bhakti, devotion, and jnana, knowledge and karma, the way of selfless action.
In Sufiism of Islam, nafs is the ego-soul, qalb is heart and ruh is spirit. Heart is the inner self [soul], hardened when it is turned toward ego and softened when it is polished by dhikr, remembrance of the spirit of Allah. Initiation guides them from shari`a, religious law, along tariqa, the spiritual path, to haqiqa, interior reality.
In the Kabbalah of Judaism, sefirot – sparks from the divine – have three fulcrums to balance the horizontal levels of the Tree of Life: Da`at (a pseudo-sefirot) is knowledge combining understanding and wisdom; Tiferet is beauty, the midpoint of judgment and loving kindness; Yesod is the foundation for empathy and endurance.
Ron, I appreciate your expertise in the areas of Eastern and Middle-eastern mysticism. However, I must respectfully clarify your comments about the Christian Trinity. You are correct that the Trinity refers to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. However, you make a correlation of the the Father as God, the Son as Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit as their spiritual bond of unity. If that is your position, it is not an Orthodox understanding of the Trinity. If you read my posting closely, you will see that the Trinity is comprised of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Three distinct persons with an equal and indivisible essence of divinity. Thank you for your comments and I welcome you to read my upcoming posts on this topic. Also, I would be curious to know which of the various trinitarian concepts you believe is true and why. Blessings to you.
ReplyDeleteJoe, the Nicene Creed speaks of the Holy Spirit as a "Person." Meister Eckhart, among others, considers it their spiritual bond.
ReplyDeleteAll of these trinitarian concepts are true to the believers in the mystical traditions of each faith. Unfortunately, many with orthodox religions ignore - and sometimes attack - mysticism as heretical.
Ron, First of all, I really appreciate your comments.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct that the Holy Spirit is a person distinct from the Father and the Son. Meister Eckhart may be referring to the spiritual bond between the Holy Spirit and our own spirit when we, as believers in Jesus Christ, are indwelt by the Holy Spirit when we first come to faith.
With respect to your statement that all these concepts are true to believers in each faith tradition, do you then believe that truth is relative? If so, does that mean you believe in everything? If not, how do you make a distinction between what is true and what is not and on what basis do you make that distinction? I am willing to tell you that the Christian Trinity is the truth because I believe that God, as revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, is the one and only God. Consequently, in my worldview, the rest cannot also be true.
I am among those who are proponents of Christian mystics such as St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila and many others. However, it cannot be said that their beliefs were anything but orthodox. I'm not sure what you are referring to as "attack - mysticism as heretical" but I will say that not every mystic practice falls within the scope of Christian Orthodoxy.
Joe, I respect and understand your position as a Christian. I was raised as a Congregationalist and was active in my church. Protestants - in general - view mysticism as heretical; most Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox today do not. As you know, however, St. John of the Cross was persecuted during his lifetime; now he is a Doctor of the Church.
ReplyDeleteAbsolute Truth, i.e. divine Truth, is beyond the grasp of the human mind. I call mystical awareness suprarational consciousness, but that is just a word. I believe that words - even those of sacred scriptures - can only hint at divine Truth. In that sense, they are relative truths.
This is my personal response to your questions; I do not expect you to agree with me. I have met similar objections by bloggers of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism...each of whom are convinced that their way is the only way (or, at least, the very best way).
Ron, Thank you so much for continuing this dialogue with me. I realize that we disagree but I'm thankful that you are willing to have this discussion with me in this public forum.
ReplyDeleteBefore we conclude our discussion, I wanted to comment on a couple of things you said in your last comment. Considering your history as a Congregationalist, I'm sure that what follows will come as no surprise to you. You say that divine Truth is beyond the grasp of the human mind and that each faith tradition believes that their way is the best way. Both of those statements may have been true at some point in time but once God entered our lives in the person of Jesus Christ, that changed when he said, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life." I don't think Jesus used those words by accident. I'm pretty sure that the quest for Truth and guidance on the Way to eternal Life is not new to our generation. Therefore, to put an end to that quest, divine Truth stood before us in the flesh to personally show us the Way to eternal Life which is faith in Jesus Christ.
Thank you again for your willingness to listen and dialogue. Please continue reading my blog in the future for a continuation of this series and a variety of other topics.
Joe, in a parting comment here is a quotation from "Orthodox Spirituality," by a Monk of the Eastern Church (St. Vladimir Seminary Press 1945, 1987):
ReplyDelete“...essential foundations of Orthodox spirituality. The aim of man’s life is union with God (henosis) and deification (theosis). The Greek Fathers have used the term “deification” to a greater extent than the Latins. What is meant is not, of course, a pantheistic identity, but a sharing, through grace, in the divine life. Union with God is the perfect fulfillment of the “kingdom” announced by the Gospel, and of that charity or love which sums up all the Law and Prophets. ‘We are made sons of God’ says St. Athanasius.”