|
The following are questions with
answers taken from various Wikipedia articles. This is to
highlight some relevant points on the subject—"Trinity or
Trinitarianism"—which people should understand before continuing
the bible study. The answers are excerpt taken from the full
articles written on the subject. You can readily study the full
articles written on the subject by clicking on the source link
after each answer.
Note: The answers to the following religious questions are
taken from various Wikipedia articles due to their neutral point
of view principle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view
However, it is still highly recommend that you search the
internet for more information on the subject.
_______________
Having
learned that monotheism―belief in one God, in the the Abrahamic
religions, Judaism, Islam and Christianity, does not necessarily
mean belief in the same God (Lesson-2B.1). This is also true in
Christianity who all profess to be monotheists but they do not
also necessarily believe in the same God because the
vast majority of Christians are Trinitarian monotheist, but a small
percentage of Christians are Unitarian monotheist (Lesson-2B.2). Let
us therefore continue our study of the Trinitarian
monotheist belief in the Trinity.
The Trinity Doctrine:
2C.1
What is the
Trinity?
From the Wikipedia article on
the Trinity, these are written:
The
Christian doctrine of the Trinity teaches the
unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three persons
in one Godhead.[1]
The doctrine states that God is the Triune God,
existing as three persons, or in the Greek
hypostases,[2]
but one being.[3]
(Personhood in the Trinity does not match the common
Western understanding of "person" as used in the English
language—it does not imply an "individual,
self-actualized center of free will and conscious
activity."[4]:pp.
185-6. To the ancients, personhood "was in some
sense individual, but always in community as well."[4]:p.186
Each person is understood as having the one
identical essence or nature, not merely similar
natures.) Since the beginning of the third century[5]
the doctrine of the Trinity has been stated as "the one
God exists in three Persons and one substance, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit."[6]
God in three
persons
According to the Trinity doctrine, God
exists as three persons, or
hypostases, but is one being, that
is, has but a single divine nature.[80]
Chalcedonians—Roman Catholics, Orthodox
Christians, Anglicans and
Protestants—hold that, in addition, the
second person of the Trinity—God the
Son, Jesus—assumed human nature, so that
he has two natures (and hence two
wills), and is really and fully both
true God and true human. In the Oriental
Orthodox theology, the Chalcedonian
formulation is rejected in favor of the
position that the union of the two
natures, though unconfused, births a
third nature: redeemed humanity, the new
creation.
The members of the Trinity are said
to be co-equal and co-eternal, one in
essence, nature, power, action, and
will. As stated in the Athanasian
Creed, the Father is uncreated, the Son
is uncreated, and the Holy Spirit is
uncreated, and all three are eternal
with no beginning.[81]
It has been stated that because three
persons exist in God as one unity,[82]
"The Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit" are not three different names
for different parts of God but one name
for God,[83]
because the Father can not be divided
from the Son or the Holy Spirit from the
Son. God has always loved, and there has
always existed perfectly harmonious
communion between the three persons of
the Trinity.
Source: Wikipedia, Trinity,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity
(as of Apr. 5, 2010, 16:11 GMT).
The TRINITY
DOCTRINE is stated as follows: (Based on the above
references)
- Trinity
teaches the unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as
three persons in one Godhead.
- The doctrine
states that
GOD is the TRIUNE GOD, existing as three
persons, but one being.
- Each of the
persons is understood as having the one identical
essence or nature, not merely similar natures.
- Since the
beginning of the third century
the doctrine of the Trinity has been stated as "the one
God exists in three Persons and one substance, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit."
- Members of
the Trinity are said to be co-equal and co-eternal, one
in essence, nature, power, action, and will.
- The Father
is uncreated, the Son is uncreated, and the Holy Spirit
is uncreated, and all three are eternal with no
beginning.
- It has been stated that
because three persons exist in God as one unity, "The
Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" are not three
different names for different parts of God but one name
for God.
The Trinity in the Old Testament:
2C.2
Does the Old
Testament of the Holy Bible explicitly teach the Trinity?
From, The Encyclopaedia of
Religion (1987):
"Exegetes
and theologians today are in agreement that the Hebrew
Bible does not contain a doctrine of the Trinity, even
though it was customary in past dogmatic tracts on the
Trinity to cite texts like Gen. 1:26 'Let us make
humanity in our image, after our likeness.' Although the
Hebrew Bible depicts God as the Father of Israel and
employs personifications of God such as Word, Spirit,
Wisdom, and Presence, it would go beyond the intention
and the spirit of the Old Testament to correlate these
notions with later Trinitarian doctrine..."
[The Encyclopaedia of Religion, 1987]
From the Wikipedia article on
the God in Judaism, these are written:
Judaism is based on a strict monotheism. This doctrine
expresses the belief in one indivisible God. The
worship of multiple gods (polytheism) and the concept of
a Singular God having multiple persons (as in the
doctrine of Trinity) are equally heretical in Judaism.
The prayer par excellence in terms of defining
God is the Shema Yisrael, originally appearing in
the Hebrew Bible: "Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God,
the Lord is One", also translated as "Hear O Israel, the
Lord is our God, the Lord is unique/alone."[Deut. 6:4]
Source: Wikipedia, God in Judaism,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_in_Judaism
(as of Apr. 7, 2010, 00:30 GMT).
The Old Testament or the Hebrew
Bible does not contain the doctrine of the Trinity.
-
Although the Hebrew Bible
depicts God as the Father of Israel and employs
personifications of God such as Word, Spirit, Wisdom,
and Presence, it would go beyond the intention and the
spirit of the Old Testament to correlate these notions
with later Trinitarian doctrine..."
-
Judaism is based on a
strict monotheism. This doctrine expresses the belief in
one indivisible God.
The worship of multiple gods
(polytheism) and the concept of a Singular God having
multiple persons (as in the doctrine of Trinity) are
equally heretical in Judaism.
The Trinity in the New
Testament:
2C.3
Does the New Testament of the Holy Bible
Teach the Trinity?
From the Wikipedia
article on the Trinity, these are written:
The New Testament does
not have a formal doctrine of the Trinity
and nowhere discusses the Trinity as such.
However, Southern Baptist theologian Frank
Stagg emphasizes that the New Testament
does repeatedly speak of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit to "compel a
trinitarian understanding of God."[7]
The doctrine developed from the biblical
language used in New Testament passages such
as the baptismal formula in
Matthew 28:19
and took substantially its present form by
the end of the 4th century as a result of
controversies in which some theologians,
when speaking of God, used terms such as
"person", "nature", "essence", "substance",
terms that had never been used by the
Apostolic Fathers, in a way that the Church
authorities considered to be erroneous.[6][8][9][10]
References used from Scripture:
The New Testament
does not use the word "Τριάς" (Trinity)
nor explicitly teach it, but provides
the material upon which the doctrine of
the Trinity is based.[22]
It required reflection by the earliest
Christians on the coming of Jesus and of
what they believed to be the presence
and power of God among them, which they
called the Holy Spirit; and it
associated the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit in such passages as the Great
Commission: "Go therefore and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit"[Matt. 28:19]
and Paul the Apostle's blessing: "The
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the
love of God and the fellowship of the
Holy Spirit be with you all,"[2
Cor. 13:14]
while at the same time not contradicting
the Jewish Shema Yisrael: "Hear, O
Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is
one."[Deuteronomy 6:4][1]
According to
Christian tradition the Trinity was
introduced by the Gospels and Jesus
Christ[24]
"Therefore go and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, and teaching them to
obey everything I have commanded you."[Matt. 28:19-20]
Jesus thus mentions the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit in a phrase that may
suggest that there is one name that
encompasses all three.
However, some
scholars dispute the authenticity of the
Trinity and argue that the doctrine is
the result of "later theological
interpretations of Christ's nature and
function."[33][34]
The concept was expressed in early
writings from the beginning of the
second century forward. Some believe the
concept was introduced in the Old
Testament book of Isaiah written around
700 years before Jesus, copies of which
were preserved from 300 years before
Jesus in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Source: Wikipedia,
Trinity,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity
(as of Apr. 5, 2010, 20:19 GMT).
The following
information are taken from above references:
-
The New
Testament does not have a formal
doctrine of the Trinity and nowhere
discusses the Trinity as such.
- However,
Southern Baptist theologian Frank
Stagg emphasizes that the New
Testament does repeatedly
speak of the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit to "compel a
trinitarian understanding of God."
-
The
doctrine developed from the biblical
language used in New Testament
passages such as the baptismal
formula in
Matthew 28:19
-
The
Trinity took substantially its
present form by the end of the 4th
century as a result of controversies
in which some theologians, when
speaking of God, used terms such as
"person", "nature", "essence",
"substance", terms that had never
been used by the Apostolic Fathers,
in a way that the Church authorities
considered to be erroneous.
-
The New
Testament does not use the word "Τrinity"
nor explicitly teach it, but provides
the material upon which the doctrine of
the Trinity is based.
-
It
required reflection by the earliest
Christians on the coming of Jesus
and of what they believed to be the
presence and power of God among
them, which they called the Holy
Spirit; and it associated the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in such
passages as the Great Commission:
"Go therefore and make disciples of
all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit".(Matthew
28:19)
-
and Paul
the Apostle's blessing: "The grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ and the
love of God and the fellowship of
the Holy Spirit be with you all,"[2
Cor. 13:14] while at
the same time not contradicting the
Jewish Shema Yisrael: "Hear, O
Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord
is one."
-
According to
Christian tradition the Trinity was
introduced by the Gospels and Jesus
Christ "Therefore go and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them
in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit, and teaching them
to obey everything I have commanded
you."
(Matthew 28:19)
-
Jesus thus
mentions the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit in a phrase that may
suggest that there is one name that
encompasses all three.
- However,
some scholars dispute the authenticity
of the Trinity and argue that the
doctrine is the result of "later
theological interpretations of Christ's
nature and function."
-
The
concept was expressed in early
writings from the beginning of the
second century forward.
-
Some
believe the concept was introduced
in the Old Testament book of Isaiah
written around 700 years before
Jesus, copies of which were
preserved from 300 years before
Jesus in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Isaiah 9:6
The New
Testament does not have a formal doctrine of the Trinity and
nowhere discusses the Trinity as such. The New Testament
does not use the word "Trinity" nor explicitly teach it, but
Trinitarians claim that it provides the material upon which
the doctrine of the Trinity is based.
Why the
Trinity doctrine is not in the Bible
2C.4
What is the reason
why the doctrine of the Trinity is not explicitly stated in the
Bible?
From the Wikipedia article on the Trinity, these are
written:
Scriptural texts cited as
implying support
The diverse
references to God, Jesus, and the Spirit
found in the New Testament were later
systematized into a Trinity—one God
subsisting in three persons and one
substance—to combat heretical tendencies
of how the three are related and to
defend the church against charges of
worshiping two or three gods.[32]
The doctrine was not explicitly stated
in the New Testament and no New
Testament writer expounds on the
relationship among the three in the
detail that later writers do. Thus,
while Matthew records a special
connection between God the Father and
Jesus the Son,[Matt. 11:27]
he falls short of claiming that Jesus is
equal with God[Matt. 24:36][32]
although John is more explicit and
writes that Jesus Christ told the Jews:
"I and the Father are one".[John 10:30]
Source: Wikipedia,
Trinity,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity
(as of Apr. 5, 2010, 20:19 GMT).
The basic
reason why the Doctrine of the Trinity is not explicitly
stated in the New Testament is that . . . . . .
-
No New Testament
writer (Christ's Apostles and disciples) ever
expounded on the
relationship among the three (Father, Son and
Holy Spirit) in detail.
-
The diverse references to God, Jesus,
and the Holy Spirit found in the New
Testament were later systematized into a
Trinity—one God subsisting in three
persons and one substance.
You can
easily verify the scriptural basis of the Trinity Doctrine
in the succeeding lessons.
________________________
|
