On the Trinity

Chapter 1

1. INTRODUCTION

In this chapter we shall attempt to set forth in as clear language as possible the basic truths which the Church holds concerning the doctrine of the Trinity. We shall first present the Scripture evidence on which the do

Chapter 2

I. There Is but One Living and True God.

One of the most common objections alleged against the doctrine of the Trinity is that it involves tritheism, or a belief in three Gods. The fact of the matter, however, is that it stands unalterably opposed to tritheism

Chapter 3

II. While God in His Innermost Nature Is One, He, Nevertheless, Exists as

Three Persons. The best concise definition of the doctrine of the Trinity, so far as we are aware, is that found in the Westminster Shorter Catechism: "There are three persons within the Godhead; the Father, the Son and

Chapter 4

III. The Terms "Father," "Son" and "Holy Spirit" Designate Distinct

Persons Who Are Objective to Each Other. -- 16 of 78 -- The terms Father, Son and Spirit do not merely designate the different relations which God assumes toward His creatures. They are not analogous to the terms Creat

Chapter 5

3. FURTHER SCRIPTURE PROOF

While there is no single passage in Scripture which sets forth the doctrine of the Trinity in formal, credal statement, there are numerous passages in which the three Persons are mentioned in such a manner as to exhibit

Chapter 6

4. THE TRINITY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

In regard to all of the great doctrines of the Bible we find that revelation has been progressive. What is only intimated at first is set forth clearly and fully as time goes on. The obscure hint in the Old Testament is

Chapter 7

Genesis. This is true of doctrines such as those of redemption, the Person

and work of the Messiah, the nature of the Holy Spirit, and the future life. But in regard to no other doctrine is this more true than in regard to that of the Trinity. Indirect allusions to the Trinity were permitted by

Chapter 8

5. ONE SUBSTANCE, THREE PERSONS

Much of the opposition to the doctrine of the Trinity has arisen because of a misunderstanding of what it really is. We do not assert that one God is three Gods, nor that one person is three persons, nor that three Gods

Chapter 9

6. MEANING OF THE TERMS "FATHER", "SON", AND "SPIRIT"

To our occidental type of mind the terms "Father" and "Son" carry with them, on the one hand, the ideas of source of being and superiority, and on the other, subordination and dependence. In theological language, however

Chapter 10

7. SUBORDINATION OF THE SON AND SPIRIT TO THE FATHER

In discussing the doctrine of the Trinity we must distinguish between what is technically known as the "immanent" and the "economic" Trinity. By the "immanent" Trinity we mean the Trinity as it has subsisted in the Godhe

Chapter 11

8. THE GENERATION OF THE SON AND THE PROCESSION OF

THE HOLY SPIRIT The kindred doctrines of the Eternal Generation of the Son and of the Eternal Procession of the Holy Spirit are admittedly doctrines which are but very obscurely understood by the best of theologians. Cer

Chapter 12

Book I, Chap. 13).

Procession of the Holy Spirit. The Procession of the Holy Spirit has commonly been understood to designate "the relation which the third person sustains to the first and second, wherein by an eternal and necessary, i.e.,

Chapter 13

9. THE TRINITY PRESENTS A MYSTERY BUT NOT A

CONTRADICTION To expect that we who do not understand ourselves nor the forces of nature about us should understand the deep mysteries of the Godhead would certainly be to the last degree unreasonable. Of all the Christi

Chapter 14

10. HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF THE DOCTRINE

During the first three centuries of the Christian era, theological discussion was centered almost entirely on the relationship subsisting between the Father and the Son, to the almost complete neglect of the doctrine of

Chapter 15

1. The Nicene Creed (325):

"We believe in one God—And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father—And in the Holy Ghost."

Chapter 16

2. The Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (381):

In this creed the clauses concerning the Father and the Son are practically the same as in the Nicene Creed. But the article concerning the Holy Ghost is changed to the following: "And in the Holy Ghost, who is the Lord

Chapter 17

3. The Athanasian Creed (origin and time uncertain, but the most logical

and elaborate of the creeds): "And the Catholic Faith is this: that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the Substance; for there is one Person of the Father, a

Chapter 18

4. The Augsburg Confession (1530), the oldest Protestant creed and the

accepted standard of Lutheranism: "There is one Divine essence which is called and is God, eternal, without body, indivisible, of infinite power, wisdom, goodness, the Creator and Preserver of all things, visible and inv

Chapter 19

5. The Thirty-Nine Articles (1571),—the creed of the Church of England

and of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States: "There is but one living and true God. And in the unity of this Godhead there are three Persons, of one substance, power and eternity, the Father, the Son, and

Chapter 20

6. The Westminster Confession (1647),—the creed of the Presbyterian

Church, with which the Canon of the Synod of Dort, the symbol of the Reformed Church, agrees quite closely: "There is but one living and true God. In the unity of the Godhead there are three Persons, of one substance, po

Chapter 21

11. PRACTICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE DOCTRINE

The doctrine of the Trinity is not to be looked upon as an abstract metaphysical speculation, nor as an unnatural theory which has no bearing on the practical affairs of life. It is rather a most important revelation con