Bible Questions and Answers
Published 10/09/2013
In Christianity there is the concept of the “Holy Trinity” - what explanation can be given for this definition according to the Bible? How can you explain to me the principle of the trinity of God in simple words? How can the Holy Spirit, Jesus, and God be separate individuals and yet one? What is the essence of the Trinity?
Answer:
There are literally hundreds of passages in the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments, that there is only one God. Christianity is a religion of monotheism, not tritheism. In my answers to difficult questions you will find a list of perhaps fifty passages. Paul tells us that there is only one God. I will quote Deuteronomy 6:4, which is worth hundreds of passages that absolutely state that there is one God: “Hear, O people of Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!”
How many Gods do Christians believe in?
In short: the Christian Church believes in one God, who is one in essence, but trinitarian in Persons.
Now a little more detail.
From the books of Holy Scripture (Old and New Testaments) the Church firmly knows that God is one. But from the same books and patristic interpretations on them it follows that He is alone, not in the sense in which we can say this about any person. God is one, but not alone. It is triune: there are three Divine Hypostases, or Persons.
Each of the Persons is God in all His fullness, all God, entirely. Each Hypostasis of the Trinity has all the Divine power, all the fullness of power, all the glory, etc. Any action of the Holy Trinity is performed by all three Persons, so that Orthodox theologians talk about the single action and single will of the three Hypostases. Nevertheless, these are precisely three independent Persons, and not three, say, “masks” that the Divinity alternately puts on and in which He reveals himself.
The trinity of God is spoken of in the Creed, the key confessional formula approved at the first two Ecumenical Councils in 325 and 381 A.D. When we pronounce the Creed, we confess faith “in the One God the Father Almighty... and in the One Lord Jesus Christ , the Son of God... and in the Holy Spirit, the life-giving Lord...".
God is one, but threefold - how can an ordinary believer, and not a theologian, understand this?
To help believers come closer to understanding the mystery of the Holy Trinity, the Church Fathers offered analogies from our earthly world. For example, Gregory the Theologian gave examples with the sun, its light and heat, as well as with a water source, stream and river; Basil the Great - with a rainbow divided into stripes of different colors; Blessed Augustine - with the human mind, thought and word; Dionysius the Areopagite - with three candles giving a single light. But all such “illustrations” borrowed from the earthly world must be treated as very imperfect metaphors, understanding that they inaccurately describe the relationship of the three Divine Persons and do not allow one to truly penetrate into the mystery of the Trinity being.
Can a Christian address each of the three Persons of the Holy Trinity?
Undoubtedly: in the prayer “Our Father” we turn to the Father, in the Jesus prayer to the Son, in the prayer “Heavenly King, Comforter” - to the Holy Spirit. Who does each of the Divine Persons recognize Himself as and how can we correctly recognize our conversion so as not to fall into the pagan confession of three gods? Divine Persons do not realize themselves as separate Personalities.
- We turn to the Father, who eternally gives birth to the Son, whose spokesman is the Holy Spirit, who eternally emanates from the Father.
- We turn to the Son, eternally begotten of the Father, whose spokesman is the Holy Spirit eternally proceeding from the Father.
- We turn to the Holy Spirit as the exponent of the Son, who is eternally born of the Father.
Thus, our prayers do not contradict the teaching about the unity (including will and action) and inseparability of the Persons of the Holy Trinity.
Why is the doctrine of the Trinity so important to Christians?
To put it quite simply, because it serves as the basis of the Christian view of the world, of what is the driving force and meaning of our lives.
From the Gospel we know: God is love (1 John 4 :8). Love is not just one of the characteristics of God, not just His relationship to created beings, but a key principle of Divine existence. God is love always, He was love even before He created the world, and He will remain love after the earth and all the works on it are burned up (2 Pet 3:10 ). The existence of the world is not a necessary condition for God to be love. He is love already in Himself.
But in love there are always at least two parties who love each other. And, if God really is love, He cannot be a Person closed in Himself, as, for example, the famous philosopher and scientist Gottfried Leibniz believed. He must be at least a Two.
We are familiar and understand the situation when two people love each other. But the Holy Scripture says something much less understandable about God: He is the Trinity and He is love.
Perhaps it will be a little easier for us to understand this if we look at a family in which there is a father, mother and child. Mother and father love each other, but do not completely isolate themselves on each other, but generously share this love with the third child (or with children, if there are several of them).
It happens that a married couple does not have children, but even then their love can be poured out on someone else, be it an adopted child, elderly parents, or even some stranger in need of help (this is how they lived, giving themselves to those in need, for example, the childless Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov and his wife Elizaveta Feodorovna).
Of course, relationships between people cannot be directly projected onto Divine reality. And yet, the example of the family shows that true love cannot have a “third wheel.”
“Trinity implies equality of rights for more than two, it makes love perfect,” emphasizes Archpriest Maxim Kozlov, professor at the Moscow Theological Academy.
“Perfect love is the paradoxical unity of two facts: on the one hand, the existence of several “I”s that love each other while remaining separate, and, on the other hand, the highest degree of unity between Them,” wrote the famous Romanian theologian Archpriest Dumitru Staniloe in the 20th century . - There can be no other justification for love in the world, no other purpose for the existence of the world, other than the existence of perfect eternal love. Love in the world presupposes as its source and goal eternal perfect love between several Divine Persons.”
Of course, we will never be able to exhaustively explain why God is threefold: the human mind cannot comprehend the mystery of Divine existence. Theologians are just trying to describe the relationship of the three Hypostases with the words that are at their disposal, and to understand what follows from this for the Church and for every Christian.
How to understand the words “God is Love”
According to the definition given by the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, God is love. But God is love not because He loves the world and humanity, that is, His creation - then God would not be completely Himself outside and apart from the act of creation, would not have perfect being in Himself, and the act of creation would not be free, but forced by the very “nature” of God. According to the Christian understanding, God is love in Himself, because the existence of the One God is the co-existence of the Divine Hypostases, existing among themselves in the “eternal movement of love,” according to the words of the 7th century theologian St. Maximus the Confessor.
Each of the Persons of the Trinity does not live for Himself, but gives Himself without reserve to the other Persons, while remaining completely open to their response, so that all three coexist in love with each other. The life of Divine Persons is interpenetration, so that the life of one becomes the life of another. Thus, the existence of the God of the Trinity is realized as love, in which the individual’s own existence is identified with self-giving.
What does the New Testament say about the Trinity?
In the books of the New Testament, the three Persons of God are directly spoken of in only two places. Firstly, in the Gospel of Matthew. The risen Christ commands the apostles: Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19 ). Theologians traditionally draw attention to the fact that here we are talking about one name, but three Persons are named.
And, secondly, in the First Epistle of the Holy Apostle John the Theologian. There is a verse in this book: For three bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one (1 John 5 :7). True, there is a difficulty with these lines - they may not have been in the original text of the Message. In any case, they are not in any of the oldest surviving manuscripts of the New Testament in Greek - neither in the Codex Sinaiticus, nor in the Vaticanus (both dating from the 4th century), nor in the Alexandrian (5th century). The ancient Church Fathers, with a few exceptions, did not quote this verse. Therefore, today many Western editions of the New Testament are published without these words.
There are, however, quite weighty arguments in favor of the authenticity of this verse, notes Archpriest Oleg Davydenkov, Doctor of Theology, Professor at the Orthodox St. Tikhon Humanitarian University. It has been established, in particular, that the controversial lines were contained in the so-called Itale - an Old Latin translation of the Bible, made in the 2nd-3rd centuries from the Greek original. This verse is also contained in many Syrian and Armenian ancient manuscripts. In the middle of the 4th century, Saint Athanasius the Great referred to it, and a little later - Saint Gregory the Theologian.
It is possible that these lines disappeared from Greek manuscripts through the efforts of the Arians, suggests Father Oleg. Arians were the followers of the Alexandrian heretic Arius, who considered Jesus Christ not to be God, but only the highest of God’s creations. For several decades of the 4th century, the Arians played a dominant role in that part of the Church that was located in the eastern Roman Empire, including the territories of Greece and present-day Turkey. In the West, the Arian heresy never had serious support. Perhaps this is why in the old Latin translation of the Bible and in those translations that were carried out from Latin, the lines about the “three heavenly Witnesses” were preserved.
The Father is the source of the existence of the Son and the Holy Spirit
The Father (being beginningless) is the only beginning, the source in the Holy Trinity: He eternally gives birth to the Son and eternally gives birth to the Holy Spirit. The Son and the Holy Spirit simultaneously ascend to the Father as one cause, while the origin of the Son and the Spirit does not depend on the will of the Father. The Word and the Spirit, in the figurative expression of Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, are the “two hands” of the Father. God is one not only because His nature is one, but also because those Persons who are from Him ascend to a single person.
The Father has no greater power or honor than the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Is this all there is about the Trinity in the New Testament?
No, not all of them. We talked only about direct New Testament indications of the trinity of God. And there are many indirect ones, but no less important.
For example, all the Gospels speak of the Baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Jordan River, during which a unique event occurred - the appearance of the entire Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit descended on Jesus Christ in the form of a white dove, and the voice of God the Father thundered from heaven: This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Matthew 3:17 ). In honor of this event, the Church established a special holiday, which it called the Epiphany (or Baptism of the Lord), and in its troparion - a special hymn explaining the significance of the celebrated event - proclaimed: “When You, Lord, were baptized in the Jordan, the worship of the Most Holy Trinity: for the voice of the Father testified of You, calling You the beloved Son, and the Spirit in the form of a dove confirmed the truth of this word” (Russian translation of the Church Slavonic text).
True, when describing this event, the evangelists do not call the Holy Spirit God, but His Divine dignity is repeatedly emphasized in other New Testament books.
During his farewell conversation with his disciples, the Lord Jesus Christ calls the Holy Spirit another Comforter, who will abide with the apostles forever and teach... everything (John 14:16 , 25). With the same word παράκλητος (in this case translated as “Comforter”) Christ called Himself a little earlier.
In the book of the Acts of the Holy Apostles, Peter denounces Ananias, who tried to deceive his fellow Christians, and says: Why did you allow Satan to put into your heart the idea of lying to the Holy Spirit and hiding from the price of the land?.. You lied not to men, but to God (Acts 5:3, 4).
For the Apostle Paul, the expressions “temple of God” and “temple of the Spirit of God” are synonymous: Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God lives in you? (1 Cor. 3:16).
There are many other places in the Holy Scriptures that testify to the Holy Spirit as an independent Person of the Most Holy Trinity. And even more so, in the New Testament there is no shortage of evidence of the Divinity of Jesus Christ.
Sometimes you hear that all such testimonies are collected in one place - the Gospel of John: it is here that the Savior says I and the Father are one (John 10:30 ), whoever has seen Me has seen the Father (John 14 :9), here He accepts the confession of the Apostle Thomas My Lord and my God! (John 20:28 )…
Even if this Gospel were the only basis for our faith in the Divine dignity of the Lord Jesus, faith itself would not be shaken by this. But in fact such evidence is scattered throughout the New Testament.
Let us at least remember the parable of the Last Judgment, in which Christ Himself, calling Himself the Son of Man, sits on the throne of glory, turns out to be the Judge of all nations and the Commander of the angels (Matthew 25 :31-46). Let us recall a fragment of the Gospel of Luke, when the Savior heals ten lepers and, surprised that only one of them returned to thank Him, says: Were not ten cleansed? Where is nine? How did they not return to give glory to God except this foreigner? (Luke 17 :17–18). Let us finally remember the Apostle Paul, who writes to the Galatians that the Gospel he preaches is not human, for he received it and learned it not from man, but through the revelation of Jesus Christ (Gal. 1 :11-12), to the Colossians - that In Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col 2 :9-10), and to the Romans - that Christ is “God over all, blessed forever” (Rom 9 :5).
How to understand the Trinity of God?
Pastor Miron VOVK
Hello! I have a question for you about the Trinity of God. Different denominations explain this issue differently or avoid it. The Triune God is three Persons who are united with each other in deeds, thoughts, etc.? Or is it three Persons in one God?
Some argue that God the Father gave birth to Jesus Christ, which He did not always exist. Do you think this is right?
Others say that God the Father has His Spirit - God's (Spirit of the Father). Jesus Christ has the Spirit of Christ. Or do God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit have one Spirit? If a person is mistaken in these matters or it is open to him, then will he not perish in his sincere misunderstanding of the Triune God? I would like to receive comprehensive information on these issues, because it is very important to know what the Bible says about this. Thank you in advance.
With respect, Nadezhda
It's great to know that people are reading, studying and meditating on God's Word. We must know Him very well in Whom we have believed, although even with all our efforts we will not be able to fully know God; we will always have questions that are difficult to answer. But let us remember this important truth: “What is hidden belongs to the Lord our God, but what is revealed belongs to us and to our sons forever...” (Deut. 29:29). And to know God means to study what God says about Himself.
In contrast to the pagans who surrounded the Israelites, God's people believed in one God. Here are some testimonies about God recorded on the pages of Holy Scripture: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one...” (Deut. 6:4). “I am the Lord, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me...” (Isa. 45:5). The concept of monotheism is also emphasized in the New Testament. For example, the Gospel of Mark records verbatim the words of Jesus Christ from the book of Deuteronomy, quoted above. Or the words of the Apostle Paul: “...We have one God the Father, from whom are all things, and we are to Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we through Him” (1 Cor. 8:6). But this conviction of one God does not contradict the Christian concept of the Triune God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. What does it mean?
In Hebrew, the word "God" is often used in the plural. What does it mean? The following comparison can be made. In Russian we use the word “council”, for example, village council, city council. And when we hear this expression, we understand that the council always consists of several individuals. The same applies to the word “God” - very often the writers of the Bible, when conveying the direct speech of the Creator, use the corresponding expressions in the plural: “... Let us make man in Our image, in Our likeness...” (Gen. 1:26), “Behold , Adam became like one of Us...” (Gen. 3:22). “...Let us go down and confuse their language there...” (Gen. 11:7), etc. Therefore, when we use the word “God,” we mean three Persons of the Divine.
But the writers of Holy Scripture often pay attention to one particular Person of the Godhead, highlighting its special actions, and then the Spirit of God, God the Father or Jesus Christ are spoken of as different persons, for example: “And now he has sent Me (the Son of God. - Author) .) The Lord God (Father - Author) and His Spirit (Holy Spirit - Author)" (Is. 48:16).
The first coming of Christ to our earth reveals to us the truth about the Triune God even more clearly. From the Gospel we learn that the Divinity is the unity of three eternal Persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Between these Personalities there are unique relationships that are not always fully understood by people.
There is no separation between the Persons of the Triune God, but each Person has His own divine powers and properties.
In human society, supreme power is concentrated in the hands of one person - the president, king or other ruler. With God, sovereignty rests with all three Persons of the Godhead. Although God does not exist in one person, He is one in purpose, thought and character. This unity does not eliminate the particularities of the Persons of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It may be noted that there is a distribution of functions among the personalities of the Divine. Order is the first law of heaven, and God's actions are orderly. And we can assume that God the Father acts as the Source, God the Son as the Mediator, and God the Holy Spirit brings fulfillment.
The Incarnation of Jesus Christ beautifully depicts the relationship of the three Persons of the Godhead based on common service. The Father agreed to give His Son, Christ gave Himself, and the Holy Spirit made the birth of Jesus possible. The words of the angel Mary clearly show the participation of all three Persons of the Godhead in the incarnation of Jesus Christ: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). All three Persons of the Godhead were present at Christ's baptism: the Father supporting the Son (Matt. 3:17), Christ being baptized as an example for us (Matt. 3:13-15), and the Holy Spirit empowering Christ (Matt. 3). :16; Luke 3:21-22).
The early church baptized people in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19). The apostolic benediction mentions all three Persons of the Godhead: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:13).
In the matter of saving people, each Person of the Godhead performs His own special task. The ministry of the Holy Spirit does not at all complement the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made on the cross of Calvary. The reconciliation accomplished on the cross becomes the property of man when, through the Holy Spirit, Christ enters the heart of the believer.
Often people misunderstand the truth about God the Father. Many are familiar with what Christ did on earth for humanity and what the Holy Spirit does in the human heart. But they imagine God the Father as the “God of the Old Testament,” and, as some think, He is the God of vengeance, acting according to the principle: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth (Ex. 21:24). And at the same time, they do not pay attention to the words that speak about the character of God: “... The Lord God, loving and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin...” (Ex. 34: 6-7).
Was there a time when Christ did not exist? If we think humanly, then if Christ was born, it means that first there was the One who gave birth to Him. But the Bible does not tell us about such a time. On the contrary, Holy Scripture speaks of the eternity and immutability of Christ. The sacred Old Testament names of God - Jehovah, or Yahweh - are also used in relation to Jesus. And the prophecy about the birth of Christ in Bethlehem says that His beginning is from the days of eternity: “And you, Bethlehem-Ephrathah, are you small among the thousands of Judah? From you will come to me one who is to be ruler in Israel, and whose origin was from the beginning, from the days of eternity” (Mic. 5:2). And what eternity and infinity are is difficult for people - temporary residents on earth - to understand. Let me emphasize once again that the Bible does not tell us about a time when the Father existed and the Son did not exist. From the very beginning we see only Their joint actions.
Various comparisons are often made to explain the Trinity of God. I like the apple comparison. When we say the word "apple", what do we mean by it? Peel, pulp or seeds in an apple? Probably all together. But when we want to plant an apple tree, we talk about seeds; when we want to eat an apple, we talk about the pulp; When we want to peel an apple, we talk about the peel. In other words, we pay special attention to that part of the apple that we currently need. Thus, when we single out one of the Persons of the Godhead, we pay special attention to the action of that Person.
The Bible also reveals to us that the Holy Spirit is a Person and not a faceless force. By reading the Holy Scriptures we learn that the Holy Spirit has qualities that belong only to the Person. For example, the expression: “according to the Holy Spirit and us” (Acts 15:28), the first Christians perceived Him as a Person. The Holy Spirit teaches (Luke 12:12), persuades (John 16:8), directs the affairs of the church (Acts 13:2), helps and intercedes (Rom. 8:26), has feelings and can be offended (Ephesus 4:30), experiences neglect from people (Gen. 6:3). These actions of the Holy Spirit characterize Him as a Person, and not an impersonal force emanating from God.
From the very beginning, the Holy Spirit coexisted inseparably with God the Father and God the Son. He fulfills God's plan for man in this world. According to the Bible, the Holy Spirit took part in the creation of the earth. Life originates from Him, and it is sustained by Him. The special ministry of the Spirit is reflected in the fact that He creates a new heart in a person open to God. The Lord transforms and creates man through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The truth about the Holy Spirit is also revealed through Jesus Christ. When the Holy Spirit descends on believers, He acts as the Spirit of Christ, and His main activity is focused on the saving mission of Christ. The mission of Jesus Christ and the mission of the Holy Spirit are completely interconnected.
The question is often asked: who has the right to send the Holy Spirit into this world - Jesus Christ or God the Father? When Christ speaks of the mission of the Holy Spirit in this world, He speaks of two sources from which He proceeds. Christ points to God the Father: “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever...”, and also to Himself: “...I... will send Him (the Holy Spirit. - Author) to you...” ((John 14:16; 16:7). Other similar statements can be cited. Consequently, the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son. I will emphasize once again that there is such a unity between them that we may not It is always clear.On any issue, the three Persons of the Godhead do not have different opinions, because everything They do is perfect.
And your last question: if a person is mistaken in the matter of understanding the Divine, will he not perish? The question of salvation or death of a person is decided only by God. It is not given to us to judge the eternal fate of man. The decision of God's judgment will be correct, fair and final. You can deceive people, but you cannot deceive God. He knows not only our actions, but also all our intentions, motives, desires. If a person did not know how to serve God correctly because he did not have the opportunity to find out, this is one situation. But if a person had the opportunity and did not want to find out the complete truth, the situation is completely different. It is even worse if a person knows how to serve God, but does not want to humble himself before Him. We must make every effort to apply everything we learn about how to serve God in our daily lives. And with your life glorify the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. “...That all may honor the Son as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him” (John 5:23).
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