Most Holy Trinity: Relationship

Today we celebrate the Most Holy Trinity, the first major tenet of our faith.  In order to be a Christian one must believe in the Trinity, defined and understood as three Divine persons, the Father, the Son – Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.  Each person is distinct yet they coexist in unity, they are One.  If one does not believe that then one is not Christian.  Since I take it most who are reading this are Christians and have some understanding of the Trinity it still leaves us asking questions.

How can three persons be one?  Are there three gods?  Was Jesus always God’s Son, even before He took human flesh?  Is God a man, a woman, or neither?  There are probably many other questions we can ask, but these are sufficient for now.

Lets start with first question, how can three persons be one?  Most questions of our faith are answered through analogy.  Simply put, many of us can remember in Religious Education, CCD as it was called for us, were taught, the Trinity is like a three leaved clover, one stem with three leaves, i.e. three distinct leaves making up one thing.  A very simple explanation, one that works, but nevertheless not completely sufficient of an answer especially as we get older and begin to ask deeper and more involved questions.

Another analogy we can use for the more mature and inquisitive mind is that of comparing marriage to the Trinity.  When two people get married we believe that they become one flesh, both in the physical and to a great degree, spiritual sense.  Both persons remain their individual selves, but do you notice, especially in a good healthy marriage how both persons anticipate the needs of the other, how they very often think alike, and how easily we can observe the married couple’s “oneness.”  They are distinct from one another, though very much one.  Now, no human analogy will sufficiently and completely answer the question of three persons being one, but the analogies do help.

The second question which asks, are there three gods is answered both in Scripture and through logic.  The prophet Isaiah writes, “Thus says the Lord, Israel’s King, ‘its redeemer, the Lord of hosts: I am the first, I am the last; there is no God but me.” (Is. 44:6, NABRE)  And in Deuteronomy, “The Lord our God is one Lord.” (Duet. 6:4, NASB)  In a couple of chapters before from Deuteronomy, “Know that the Lord he is God; there is none else beside Him.” (Duet. 4:35, NASB)  However, as Christians we believe that Jesus is also God as well as the Holy Spirit.  We do not believe that there are separate gods who in some analogous way are one.  We believe that each is distinct and that each is fully God, the one God.  Some references for Jesus being God can be found in the Gospel of John 1:1-3, again in John 8:58 – cross referencing that with Exodus 3:14-17, as well as Revelations chapter 22 verse 13.  As for the Holy Spirit being God please reference the following: Acts 28:25 in light of Is. 6:9-10, Jn 14:16-17, 1 Cor 3:16, Acts 5:3-4, to name a few.

We also believe that God is neither male nor female, but that both male and female have been given free will and reason, both which God has.  God is intelligent – He reasons, as well as being free, He is under no constraint, nor is He compelled or moved in any way.  When God is depicted as being moved by human beings, either to anger or compassion it is a way of describing God’s interaction with humanity, interactions that move us towards love, hopefully.  Why then do we call God Father and not Mother?  God has both parental attributes, but He is called Father, both in the communal sense – all of us, as well as in the individual sense – he is my Father.  To understand why we do not use the term God is our mother or my mother is that Scripture never calls Him that.  It may make analogy to motherly affections or attributes but the people of Israel nor did Jesus refer to God specifically as mother.  For more on this please see http://www.ewtn.com/library/Theology/NOTMOTHR.HTM

The last question about God the Son, the Eternal Word always being God’s Son even before Jesus was born, i.e. God the Son becoming Incarnate is true, the second person of the Trinity was always the Son of God.  C.F. 1 John 4:9, God sent His only begotten Son into the world.  He does not simply send the Word or something, but an actual distinct person whom God the Father refers to as His Son even before the Son was born in the flesh.

When it comes to the Trinity as time goes by and more and more people reflect on it we gain further and deeper understanding, yet our minds continue to ask questions, which is good.  God is that never ending font of wisdom, we can never tap into completely or fully, but we continue to search it out nevertheless.   It is love that compels us to search, for we search out He who fashioned us.  We also search out one another in this journey we call life, for we are social beings by our very nature, we crave relationship.  We crave it because it is an attribute or characteristic our very nature which we have received from God Himself, who is also relationship by His very nature, one in which we understand and believe to be God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  May Almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Fr. John

picture depicts when the Most Holy Trinity visited Abraham, taken from http://lavistachurchofchrist.org/Pictures/Patriarichal%20Age/target0.html