Mystery of the Trinity

http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/937/Mystery_of_the_Trinity.html ^ | June 11, 2006 | by: Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio

[Salvation]

Mystery of the Trinity

by: Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio

 

 

The Trinity has always been a difficult doctrine to swallow.  First of all, there is this statement from Sunday’s first reading: “The Lord is God in the heavens above and on the earth below, and there is no other.”  This was tough for anyone to accept in the days of the Old Testament when people generally honored sky gods, sun gods, water gods, and specialized gods for about every aspect of human life and every region of human habitation.  C’mon, there’s only one God?

We might smirk at the ancients, but we have a very similar problem today.  It flows from a philosophy called relativism, but winds up with much the same result.  You might believe in Jesus, I believe in Buddha, and our neighbor reveres Allah.  Your God is true for you, his is for him, mine for me.

 Yet the Bible insists, and the Catholic Church along with it, that there is only one God.  And that God is not an “it”, some impersonal “force”, but a “Him,” more truly personal than any of us.   In fact He is so personal, that from all eternity He is interpersonal–three persons in perfect union of will and activity, so perfect that they are truly One God, not three. Everything in our experience is finite, meaning that it has limits, including the degree of unity that we can have in our relationships.  God’s inner unity, the unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is unlimited and perfect, love pouring itself, one person into another, ceaselessly, at every moment, for ever and ever amen.

 The author of the Da Vinci Code is not the first to allege that the Church made up this whole Trinity thing.  Various sects in the first few centuries plus the Muslims made this accusation.  Then the Jehovah’s Witnesses rehashed it in the 19^th century, blaming the Roman Emperor Constantine.

 Bur really, everything but the term “Trinity” is right there in the Scriptures.  In Sunday's reading from Romans 8, Paul speaks of the Father, Christ Jesus, and the Holy Spirit all in the same few verses, distinct and yet one.  In John’s Gospel, Jesus dialogues with his Father in prayer, showing their distinction, yet boldly proclaims “The Father and I are One.”  Jesus, in this Sunday’s Gospel, sends forth the disciples to baptize people in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”  Note he does not say in the “names” but in the “name”, showing the unity of these persons.  And baptizing in this triune name demonstrates their equality as well, for what sense would it make to baptize in the name of three, one of whom is God and the other two of whom are not?

 But this feast of the Most Holy Trinity does not just celebrate the nature, grandeur, and beauty of God.  It also recalls that we have been baptized or plunged into this energizing reality of divine love.  God has drawn us in to share in the dynamism of his own inner life.  He has not called us servants, but friends.  It is not just the Holy Spirit who indwells our souls, but the entire Trinity who has made each of us a dwelling place.  The three divine persons are loving each of us in us and want to love others through us.

 Some charge that we call this doctrine a mystery because we want to cover up how illogical and preposterous it is.  No, it is a mystery because it exceeds our powers of imagination and comprehension.  But shouldn’t we expect the inner nature of God to be greater than our finite minds?  Any reality that our minds can master is by definition inferior to our minds.  The Supreme Being by definition has to be greater than our minds.

 Fabrication?  Impossible.  Human minds cook up things that other human beings are likely to buy.  Three gods?  People could handle that.  How about a hierarchy of one supreme God with two assistant demi-gods?  That would work.  Three equal but distinct persons in one divine being strains the brain too much to have been concocted by a bunch of theologians or politicians.

[Eagle Eye]

Jhn 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared [him].

This says that at no time has any man seen God. AT NO TIME....so if Jesus was God then either no one saw him or the Bible lied.

1Ti 1:17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, [be] honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

That refers to God Almighty, the Creator and Father of Jesus Christ.

God Almighty is invisible. That is why no man has seen Him at any time. Duh.

Col 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

Jesus is the image (an image is a representation of the real thing, not the real thing) of the invisible God.

As such, Jesus is the intermediary to God, and no one can get to God without going through Jesus.

Jhn 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

1Ti 2:5 For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

Jesus Christ, a man, is an intermediary, a mediator between men and God. God is invisible and has never been seen by man at any time.

[xone]

God is invisible and has never been seen by man at any time.

John 14:

5Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"

6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really knew me, you would know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

8Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."

9Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

[spunkets]

"If you really knew me, you would know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

Thanks. That's a quote of the man whose name is I AM.

[Eagle Eye]

So which part is a lie? You tell me since I think both are truth.

God is invisible and no man has seen him at any time.

Jesus was the perfect representation of God his father.

You can’t see God but you can see Jesus.

Who is Jesus? The Son of God. Duh.

[xone]

God is invisible and no man has seen him at any time.

Scriptural cite please. Especially the parts where Jesus isn't God.

Jesus told His disciples twice in the scripture I cited that if they had seen Him, they HAD seen the Father.

7If you really knew me, you would know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

Not a representation, the Father.

[Eagle Eye]

Considering that you cannot tell me how to reconcile your belief that Jesus is God with the Scriptures that say that no man has seen God at any time, I don’t see any reason to jump to answer your questions.

Swallowing camels with glee while straining at gnats.

[xone]

That refers to God Almighty, the Creator and Father of Jesus Christ.

John 1

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning.

3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood[a] it.

You might want to look close at verse 5 and pray for that understanding from God the Holy Spirit.

[Eagle Eye]

OMG you have got to be kidding me! You don’t know where in the Bible it says that God is invisible and no man has seen him at any time? What a dumbass you are! You not only have extreme ignorance, you expect me to do your homework for you?

Go look it up yourself you lazy fool.

Then get back to me with an apology.

[xone]

Scriptural cite please. Especially the parts where Jesus isn't God.

What a dumbass you are! .....you expect me to do your homework for you?.....Go look it up yourself you lazy fool.

I guess reading comprehension isn't your strong point.

Then get back to me with an apology.

LOL yeah, that's coming.

[Eagle Eye]

God is invisible and no man has seen him at any time.

Scriptural cite please. Especially the parts where Jesus isn’t God.

You 100% asked me to cite God being invisible and no man seeing him at any time.

My reading is fine.

Yours is spring loaded in the dumbass position. Stuck on stupid.

[Eagle Eye]

No pearls in front of you. None.

[xone]

No pearls in front of you.

I desire no pearls from demonstrated swine. They have already been trampled. Thanks for playing, please remain in the darkness from whence you came.

[wolfman]

to understand the trinity y’all gotta start thinking extra dimensionally.

[Eagle Eye]

Said the fool who doesn’t know the Bible says God is invisible!

[xone]

Said the fool who doesn’t know the Bible says God is invisible!

From the apparent idiot who thinks Jesus was invisible.

[Eagle Eye]

No. Jesus was visible. God is not.

No man has seen God at any time. Not at any time, NOT AT ANY TIME!

Jesus was the VISIBLE representation of the invisible God.

Jesus is the Son of God. God is the Father of Jesus Christ.

Deal with it.

[xone]

I do apologize after all, I thought I was debating a Christian. My mistake.

[spunkets]

"...you cannot tell me how to reconcile your belief that Jesus is God with the Scriptures that say that no man has seen God at any time,"

You were shown above that Jesus said He was God and that He specifically said, "anyone that has seen me has seen the Father." I believe Jesus not anyone else. When Jesus says something, I take that as fact, not what someone else says.

Also with regard to your claim that God is invisible, you have only provided Col 1:15, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation." Note however that this statement agrees with what God had been quoted as saying in John. Also Paul is not making a statement that an image of God = firstborn. Genesis 1:26 shows that could not be the case.

[xone]

Of course from the same who denies the following verses after Col 1:15 regarding creation in an earlier post.

[spunkets]

"Of course from the same who denies the following verses after Col 1:15 regarding creation in an earlier post."

For reference:
Col 1:16-20, "For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Of course one could say those passages refer to "the invisible god, but then that would necessarily make Jesus(said to simply be that god's intermediary and "image") a liar. Taking what Jesus said to be the truth, means Paul was speaking of Jesus and that Jesus is identically God Himself.