The Trinity
What do you mean when you say Trinity?
When we say Trinity we mean that the God of the Bible, that is YHWH, is three Persons in One.
Does the Trinity mean we worship three gods?
No. We believe that there is only one God and one Lord. Yet God exists eternally as three distinct Persons.
Does the Trinity, or any Person of the Trinity, have a beginning or end?
No. All persons of the Trinity are co-equal and co-eternal, meaning there was never a time when any Person of the Trinity did not exist.
Can we say that the Son and the Holy Spirit are created by the Father?
No. All three Persons of the Trinity are uncreated. However, the Son is begotten of the Father – begotten, but not made. Similarly, the Holy Spirit proceeds forth from the Father and the Son. This is why we say that the Father is the first Person of the Trinity, the Son second, and the Holy Spirit third.
How does the Trinity operate in history?
God, in Trinity, always operates in unity throughout time. While Scripture in many times and places names specific persons of the Trinity as acting (especially in the case of the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit), in cases where the Person is not named, we are right to understand the whole Trinity as operating. In all cases where a Person is named, we believe that the Trinity operated in unity, even if that operation was through one Person (as in the crucifixion).
(Genesis 11:7; Psalm 8; John 1:1-2; 1 John 5:8)
How ought we to pray??
Yes. We worship God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, therefore we may direct our prayer and worship to each and/or all Persons of the Trinity.
What does the Trinity reveal about God?
In the doctrine of the Trinity I learn deeply the nature of the God we worship. In Scripture, we find blessings in the names of each person of the Trinity, and we find the Trinitarian formula as the proper means by which people are baptized. But more than blessings, prayers, and baptism, the Trinity introduces the idea of a divine community of love, of which we as humans are images. We learn how to intimately love and be loved in the way that God in Trinity loves.
Resources
- Making Sense of the Trinity by Millard Erickson
- Trinity Without Hierarchy edited by Michael Bird and Scott Harrower (advanced)