Christian belief in the Trinity

Do Christians worship one God, or three? At many baptisms the minister pours water three times and says the words of Matthew twenty-eight, verse nineteen. The words are "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Three are named, yet the word is name, singular, and never names. It would be natural to conclude that Christians worship three gods who work as a team. Christians reject that firmly, and they give reasons for it. Those reasons begin with what Christians mean by one.

Christians are monotheists, meaning they believe in one God. Their source is a line from the Hebrew scriptures that Jesus himself quoted, Deuteronomy six, verse four: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one." Christians hold that oneness together with the Trinity. The Trinity is the belief that there is one God who exists as three Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Person here does not mean a separate being, like three people in a room. It means a distinct someone within the one God, able to love and to relate to the other two. Here is a puzzle to try. If the Son is fully God, is the Son one third of God? No. Christians believe each of the three is wholly God, never a part or a fraction, which is what makes the Trinity so hard to picture. Christians describe the relationship between the three in four ways. They are distinct, so the Father is not the Son. They are equal, so none is greater. They are eternal, so none was made later. And they are one in being, so there is only one God. Now three descriptions, and only one matches Christian belief. The first says the Trinity is three gods who always agree. The second says it is one God who appears as the Father, then as the Son, then as the Spirit, at different times. The third says it is one God existing as three Persons at once. Which description matches what Christians believe, the first, second or third? The third description. The first is three gods, which Deuteronomy six rules out. The second is one God changing costumes, and the baptism of Jesus, later in this video, answers that picture.

Each Person has a part that Christians stress. The Father is the creator and a loving parent, the one the creeds call "maker of heaven and earth." The Son is Jesus, who Christians believe is God in human form. How God became human is the subject of the video on Christian belief in the Incarnation. The Holy Spirit is God present and active in the world and in believers now. Christians believe the Spirit guides them, gives them strength and helps them pray. Learning the three one at a time can pull an answer off course. When a question asks about the Trinity, the answer has to be about the three as one God. One report, written about a question on the Trinity, records common wrong answers that gave information about the individual Persons. It says those answers could not be credited, because the answer had to refer to the Trinity as a whole. The fix is to end every point on the whole, because what any one Person does is the one God at work. Compare two openings for an answer about the Trinity. The first says: the Holy Spirit gives Christians strength to pray. The second says: Christians believe the Father, Son and Spirit are one God, so when they pray, they pray to the one God through all three. Which opening keeps to the Trinity as a whole, the first or the second? The second opening does. The first is true for Christians, but it talks about one Person on its own.

The clearest statement of the Trinity is the Nicene Creed, a statement of belief agreed by early Church councils in the fourth century. Many churches say it together at the Eucharist or Mass every Sunday. Its English wording differs between churches. The quotations here come from the Church of England's Common Worship text, and the Catholic Mass uses a slightly different translation. It begins: "We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth." It starts with one God before it names any Person. Of the Son it says he is "God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God", and "of one Being with the Father." The Catholic text says "consubstantial with the Father", which means the same: one shared divine being. So Christians believe the Son is fully God, the same God as the Father, and neither a lesser god nor a created being. The Creed's lines on the Holy Spirit begin with a title and a role: "the Lord, the giver of life." What does calling the Spirit Lord tell Christians about the Spirit? That the Spirit is fully God, not a force or a lesser being, because in the Creed, as in Christian prayer, Lord is the title given to God. The Creed adds that the Spirit "with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified." That puts the Spirit on the same level as the other two, which is why hymns and prayers praise all three together. One phrase divides churches. Catholic and most Protestant churches say the Spirit "proceeds from the Father and the Son." Orthodox churches say the Spirit proceeds from the Father, without the words and the Son. Now a longer task. Explain two beliefs the Nicene Creed teaches about the Holy Spirit, and use a source of wisdom and authority. Pause it there and work it out for yourself. Belief one. The Creed calls the Holy Spirit "the Lord, the giver of life". Christians believe the Spirit is fully God and the source of all life. Because of that, Christians pray to the Spirit for strength and guidance. Belief two. The Creed says the Spirit is worshipped and glorified with the Father and the Son. This means Christians see the Spirit as equal to the other two Persons, which is why their worship praises all three together. The Creed's own words are the source here, and they can carry the development too. A weaker answer would describe what the Spirit did at Pentecost and never mention the Creed. The question asked what the Creed says, so that answer misses it, however true it is. A report on a question about beliefs in the Nicene Creed draws that line clearly. It says the best responses quoted the Creed and explained it, while the weaker ones did not refer to the Creed and listed beliefs instead. The habit is quote, then explain: a short phrase of the Creed, then what it leads Christians to believe or do. Now a different check. A question asks for beliefs found in the Nicene Creed. The first belief offered is that the Spirit is the Lord, the giver of life. The second is that the Spirit came down on the disciples at Pentecost. Which belief would be off the question, the first or the second? The second belief is off the question. Christians hold it, but Pentecost is not in the Creed. When a question names the Creed, use only what the Creed says.

Christians find the Trinity in the Bible, even though the word Trinity never appears there. The clearest scene is the baptism of Jesus, in Matthew three, verses thirteen to seventeen. Matthew three, verses sixteen and seventeen, say that "heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.'" Now look for all three Persons in that one moment. Where is each Person of the Trinity in that scene? Jesus, the Son, stands in the river. The Spirit comes down like a dove. The Father speaks as the voice from heaven. Now a reason question. Why do Christians say that scene rules out one God in costumes? Because, as Christians read it, all three appear at the same moment, distinct but together. One Person switching roles could not be in three places at once. That is how a linked answer works. Each detail of the scene comes with the belief it supports: three Persons acting together, distinct but united, one God. One examiner's report notes some students merely told the story of Jesus's baptism without linking it to the belief. The habit that avoids it is one detail, then one belief, sentence by sentence, so the story never stands on its own. Galatians four, verse six, names all three in one sentence: "God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, 'Abba, Father.'" Abba is an Aramaic word for father, used warmly, the way a child speaks. In John's Gospel, Jesus says "I and the Father are one", in chapter ten, verse thirty, and tells a disciple "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father", in chapter fourteen, verse nine. Christians read these as the Son and the Father sharing one being.

The belief shapes Christian worship every week. Baptism is in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, as Jesus commanded in Matthew twenty-eight. Many Christians make the sign of the cross with the same three names, and many prayers end with "Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit." Many Christians also describe prayer itself in Trinity terms: they pray to the Father, through the Son, in the power of the Spirit. Catholic, Orthodox and most Protestant churches hold the Trinity as central to the faith. Unitarian churches, such as the Christadelphians, see it differently. Christadelphians believe God is one Person, the Father. They believe Jesus is God's Son but not God the Son, and that the Holy Spirit is God's power at work rather than a Person. Their reason is that they read Deuteronomy six as one Person. They also point out that the word Trinity and the Creed's wording are not found in the Bible itself. Christians who hold the Trinity agree that how three can be one is hard to grasp. Many call the Trinity a mystery, meaning something God has revealed that human minds cannot fully understand. Teachers sometimes reach for pictures. Saint Patrick is said to have used a shamrock, three leaves on one stem. Another picture is water, which can be ice, liquid or steam. Where does the shamrock picture fall short of what Christians believe? Each leaf is only a part of the plant, while Christians believe each Person is fully God. Water falls short too: it changes from one form to another, which sounds like one God switching costumes. Last comes an evaluation. The statement says Christians can understand the Trinity completely just by reading the Nicene Creed. For the statement: the Creed was written to settle this very question. It names one God, names each Person, and says the Son is of one Being with the Father. Many Christians recite it every week, so it shapes their belief more than any other text. Against it: the Creed states what Christians believe but does not explain how three can be one, and most Christians call that a mystery. Christians also learn the Trinity from scripture, like the baptism in Matthew three, and from worship. Christians even differ over one phrase in it, since Orthodox churches leave out the words and the Son, while Christadelphians reject the doctrine altogether. Which single word in that statement should an answer weigh most carefully? Completely. The Creed sets the belief out well, but a strong answer might conclude it cannot make the Trinity fully understandable, so the statement goes too far.

Four questions now, to pull the Trinity together.

First, what belief does Deuteronomy six, verse four, give Christians? That there is one God. "The LORD our God, the LORD is one."

Now, what do Christians mean by the Son being of one Being with the Father? That the Son shares the one divine being of the Father, fully God and not a lesser god.

Many churches use a blessing that has not come up so far. It comes from Second Corinthians thirteen, verse fourteen: "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit." How does that blessing show belief in the Trinity? It joins three Persons in a single blessing, and Christians receive it as one gift from one God.

Now the final one. What do Christadelphians believe the Holy Spirit is? They believe the Spirit is the Father's power in action, rather than a third someone.

Back at the font, the water is poured three times, once for each Person: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is poured in one name, because Christians believe the three are one God.

If you could explain the Trinity to a friend now, with a phrase from the Creed and a verse from the Bible, give this a thumbs up. You could teach this one, and you never need it again. If not, leave it unmarked for a return visit, save it, and try saying distinct, equal, eternal and one out loud once, because it sticks better that way.

Next in the chapter is Christian beliefs about God as Creator in Genesis. Hopefully that's next in your feed, but if not, search for ScholaFly R, S, oh one, oh three.

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