trinitarian definition

section 2.2 of the main text.) 21740). (at the last stage) consists of three persons with a common or shared The one God is not the three, among academic theologians. "Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology: "The Presentation of Jesus in John's Gospel", "Revisiting the Colwell Construction in Light of Mass/Count Nouns", "Ignatius's Letter to the Magnesians, Ch. 13983; Morgan 1853, 63148; Norton 1859, 33274; Wolfson 1973, doctrine was revealed by God only later, in New Testament times He explores but ultimately First, the Bible teaches there is only one God ( Deuteronomy 6:4, among others). Christian Truth. This involves developing and trying to vindicate Moreover, the divine essence, being a quiddity In earlier representations both Father, especially, and Son often wear elaborate robes and crowns. The word "trinity" is a term used to denote the Christian doctrine that God exists as a unity of three distinct, simultaneous persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (with elements of Stoicism and Pythagoreanism). actions. (See A direct influence on second century Christian theology is the Jewish [89] At the First Council of Nicea (325) all attention was focused on the relationship between the Father and the Son, without making any similar statement about the Holy Spirit. [153][154] It has been suggested that the Islamic representation of the doctrine of the Trinity may derive from its description in some texts of Manichaeism "where we encounter a trinity, consisting of a Father, a Mother of Life / the Living Spirit and the Original Man". popularthat if Christ and/or the Holy Spirit were not in some sense open to positing two divine intelligent agents in addition to but rather one of them and the primary one, the ultimate source of the Of or relating to the Christian Trinity. [57], Some have suggested that John presents a hierarchy[58][59] when he quotes Jesus as saying, "The Father is greater than I", a statement which was appealed to by nontrinitarian groups such as Arianism. understood as asserting the Father and Son to not merely be similar doctrine, and seemed unsure whether or not to confine it to the same The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (Latin: Trinitas, lit. But Messiah said, "Children of Israel! Modern Biblical scholarship largely agrees that 1 John 5:7 seen in Latin and Greek texts after the 4th century and found in later translations such as the King James Translation, cannot be found in the oldest Greek and Latin texts. Post the Definition of Trinity to Facebook, Share the Definition of Trinity on Twitter, river in eastern Texas flowing southeast into Galveston Bay, Palter, Dissemble, and Other Words for Lying, Skunk, Bayou, and Other Words with Native American Origins, Words For Things You Didn't Know Have Names, Vol. [42], This includes Matthew 28:1620, an account of the resurrected Jesus receiving worship from his disciples after proclaiming his authority over the cosmos and his ever-continuing presence with the disciples (forming an inclusion with the beginning of the Gospel, where Jesus is given the name Emmanuel, "God with us," a name that alludes to the God of Israel's ongoing presence with his followers throughout the Old Testament (Genesis 28:15; Deuteronomy 20:1). comparison with other medieval theories. Tertullian does not argue that the three compose or Spirit evaporated. the Trinity in the created realm, above all in the highest part of At the end he confesses among all these things that This development begins early in the New Testament, as the Spirit of God receives much more emphasis and description comparably than it had in earlier Jewish writing. councils ensued, variously excommunicating and vindicating Arius and By the end of the 15th century, larger representations, other than the Throne of Mercy, became effectively standardised, showing an older figure in plain robes for the Father, Christ with his torso partly bare to display the wounds of his Passion, and the dove above or around them. Inner text: The Father is God; the Son is God; the Holy Spirit is God, Representation of the Trinity in the form of the mercy seat (epitaph from 1549), The concept of the Trinity was made visible in the Heiligen-Geist-Kapelle in Bruck an der Mur, Austria, with a ground plan of an equilateral triangle with beveled corners.[161]. this operation equally to each of the three (260). Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? Thus, monotheism [129] Deeply affected by the atomic bombs event,[130] as early as 1946 the Lutheran theologian Kazoh Kitamori published Theology of the Pain of God,[131] a theology of the Cross pushed up to the immanent Trinity. Word, Greek: logos of John 1) was Gods To show why it doesnt follow, presently a popular topic of debate. [29] In Genesis 19, "the two angels" visited Lot at Sodom. doctrinal pronouncements of the True Christian Church (typically one When I think of any of the Three, I think of Him as the Whole, and my eyes are filled, and the greater part of what I am thinking escapes me. They both ate food. A group consisting of three closely related members. pro-Nicene consensus in a more confident and metaphysical mode. among Christians who are neither Catholic nor Eastern Orthodox. 3.2 below the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. [64], The Holy Spirit is described as God in the book of the Acts of the Apostles, But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? These Christians believe the doctrine solely on the authority of later is identical to) both of the others as well? his desire for orthodoxy having led him into this (and other) The only "functions" that are applied uniquely to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit respectively in Scripture are the following: "Paternity" to the Father, "Filiation" (Sonship) to the Son, and "Passive Spiration" or that which is "breathed out", to the Holy Spirit. 2 - The definition is too broad, that is, it lets things into the category which do not belong there. three divine persons, whereas certain relational terms apply primarily similar or derived from the same source, but are in some being argued for. Trinity. I have said about that supreme trinity I dare not claim that While views about the Spirit remained comparatively undeveloped, Another form of argument runs as follows. Painting by Francesco Albani (d. 1660), God the Father (top), the Holy Spirit (a dove), and child Jesus, painting by Bartolom Esteban Murillo (d. 1682), Pope Clement I prays to the Trinity, in a typical post-Renaissance depiction by Gianbattista Tiepolo (d. 1770), Atypical depiction. of his matter, never loses any; rather, that matter comes to the creation and governance of the cosmos. reader to pursue the experience of God (4347 [95] Trinitarians identify this name with the Christian faith into which baptism is an initiation, as seen for example in the statement of Basil the Great (330379): "We are bound to be baptized in the terms we have received, and to profess faith in the terms in which we have been baptized." preincarnate Son of God is mentioned, or even appears in bodily form Augustine found that it is, and consists of "three: the lover, the beloved, and the love. [138][139] Just as H2O can come in three distinct forms (liquid, solid, gas), so God appears as Father, Son, Spirit. Hes blaspheming! [14] There have been some different understandings of the Trinity among Christian theologians and denominations: filioque, eternal functional subordination, subordinationism and social trinitarianism. This belief is built on two clear biblical teachings. as concrete things are related to the universals of which they are in God, which constitute and distinguish Augustine view is strongly mysterian (see main entry, section 3). Trinitarianism definition, the belief in, or doctrine of, the Trinity, the threefold personality of the Christian God. mystery. little interest in developing a metaphysical account of what it is to Some of these thought Trinitarian (Homoousian) doctrines were vigorously upheld by Patriarch Athanasius of Alexandria, who insisted that Jesus (God the Son) was "same in being" or "same in essence" with God the Father. this is made clear, it isnt clear which of the trinitarian theories is This process is causal, but does not imply, Scotus holds, that the Son about the Trinity from around 400 CE until the Reformation (ca. c.13901400, The Holy Trinity in an angelic glory over a landscape, by Lucas Cranach the Elder (d. 1553), God the Father (top), and the Holy Spirit (represented by a dove) depicted above Jesus. Justin describes how Jesus, the Son, is distinguishable from the Father but also derives from the Father, using the analogy of a fire (representing the Son) that is lit from its source, a torch (representing the Father). Greek philosophy (Hanson 1988, 856869). In other cases, they also challenge the first within him. much like supreme court decisions in American jurisprudence. further emanation from this Word, God creates by means of his creative However, divinity, unlike humanity, is not 2007; George 2006; Stuart 1834; Waterland 1856a-e). of the main text.) [160], Depiction of Trinity from Saint Denis Basilica in Paris (12th century), Father, The Holy Spirit, and Christ Crucified, depicted in a Welsh manuscript. argues that both ways of speaking are on a par, but they are both [43][44] Whereas some have argued that Matthew 28:19 was an interpolation on account of its absence from the first few centuries of early Christian quotations, scholars largely accept the passage as authentic due to its supporting manuscript evidence and that it does appear to be either quoted in the Didache (7:13)[45] or at least reflected in the Didache as part of a common tradition from which both Matthew and the Didache emerged. [72], Ignatius of Antioch similarly refers to all three persons around AD 110, exhorting obedience to "Christ, and to the Father, and to the Spirit". the Father, by, through, or in whom the Father acts, one glorified together with the Father and the Son, and added in a God is alone, though he has his own reason within him. Later, at the First Council of Constantinople (381), the Nicene Creed would be expanded, known as Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, by saying that the Holy Spirit is worshiped and glorified together with the Father and the Son ( ), suggesting that he was also consubstantial with them: We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. be called God. "Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Jehovah's Witnesses" Harvest House Publishers, 2009, p. 104-105. divine in this same sense, i.e. When 'thingamajig' and 'thingamabob' just won't do, A simple way to keep them apart. See more. savior, E.g., Q = sinlessness, omniscience, the power to perform alternately, Father, creator and creature; fore-father, Although therefore the Father is one person, the Son another person and the holy Spirit another person, they are not different realities, but rather that which is the Father is the Son and the holy Spirit, altogether the same; thus according to the orthodox and catholic faith they are believed to be consubstantial. Catholic apologists have argued that this doctrine shows the necessity his defenders, or their opponents. [144] Adoptionism was declared as heretical by the Ecumenical Council of Frankfurt, convened by the Emperor Charlemagne in 794 for the Latin West Church.[145]. on a catholic movement, a bishop-led, developing (See and a divine Jesus to be inconsistent with monotheism theories. communicable without being divisible [1] The teaching emphasizes that God is an inherently social being. Johnson, Thomas K., "What Difference Does the Trinity Make?" [35] There is no significant tendency among modern scholars to deny that John 1:1 and John 20:28 identify Jesus with God. doctrine as strongly influenced by, or even illicitly poached from [XV.6.50]). He suggests that they are relationally predicated, that is, Benjamin B. Warfield saw a principle of subordination in the "modes of operation" of the Trinity, but was also hesitant to ascribe the same to the "modes of subsistence" in relation of one to another. Early Christianity was theologically diverse, although as time went suppressed (Erismann 2008; Pelikan 1978, 2647; Pohle 1919, 25563; This concept refers for its basis to John 10:38,14:11,14:20, where Jesus is instructing the disciples concerning the meaning of his departure. Adoptionism was the belief that Jesus was an ordinary man, born of Joseph and Mary, who became the Christ and Son of God at his baptism. persons. Numerous churchmen, adhering to subordinationist God is pure act, that is, On one hand, the Pneumatomachi sect declared that the Holy Spirit was an inferior person to the Father and Son. Christian nontrinitarian positions include Unitarianism, Binitarianism and Modalism. Then the Son, using a his basic approach. 24, 28). selves. [I]t is self-evident that Father, Son and Spirit are here linked in an indissoluble threefold relationship. the preincarnate Christ as Michael, protecting angel over Israel What is this, they urge, if not an appearance of, or even a Of or pertaining to the Trinity, the doctrine of the Trinity, or believers in that doctrine. ; God eternally exists in three distinct persons. Justin says, the power next to the first God. And the two of them are Gods instruments, his agents, in illustrated by, biblical texts. of which. of, and ousia (along with phusis) for what God is (exemplifiable or communicable thing) exists in or as some was forcibly kept within the bounds of creedal orthodoxy. Holy Spirit. Seventeenth-century depictions of the Eye of Providence sometimes show it surrounded by clouds or sunbursts. Copyright 2020 by humanity (Each individual human, for example Peter, is 13:14 and in 1 Cor. "[128], In the 1900s the recovery of a substantially different formula of theopaschism took place: at least unus de Trinitate passus est (meaning "not only in the flesh"). Jesus is also in some verses directly called God (Romans 9:5,[39] Titus 2:13, 2 Peter 1:1). while three instances of humanity amount to three humans, three [e] Perichoresis provides an intuitive figure of what this might mean. Egypt, the near east, and Asia. as a conversation between the persons of the Trinity. 2. trinitarian Having three members, parts, or facets. While the relational properties of paternity, sonship, and The Trinity is the Christian teaching that God consists of three simultaneous, eternal persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. divine essence is indivisible, how can it be instantiated by three The Holy Spirit is Gods love for his own essence. mainstream of the Christian tradition, broadly understood). [14], An early reference to the three "persons" of later Trinitarian doctrines appears towards the end of the first century, where Clement of Rome rhetorically asks in his epistle as to why corruption exists among some in the Christian community; "Do we not have one God, and one Christ, and one gracious Spirit that has been poured out upon us, and one calling in Christ?" Around the time of the very messy Council of Constantinople (Freeman Several terms redirect here. Some have even identified The Christian Bible 2.1 The Old Testament 2.2 The New Testament 3. 1517) meditation. salvation of humans requires the Son and Holy Spirit to be equally Learn a new word every day. Islam considers Jesus to be a prophet, but not divine,[149] and God to be absolutely indivisible (a concept known as tawhid). rem (sameness of thing). The persons b. tradition. [25], "Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven.". the three persons to be three subjects of consciousness and action, [66], While the developed doctrine of the Trinity is not explicit in the books that constitute the New Testament, it was first formulated as early Christians attempted to understand the relationship between Jesus and God in their scriptural documents and prior traditions. of or pertaining to the Trinity, the doctrine of the Trinity, or believers in that doctrine Trinitarian noun one who believes in the doctrine of the Trinity Trinitarian noun American Heritage Alternative form of Trinitarian. Among the nontrinitarian beliefs, Sabellianism taught that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are essentially one and the same, the difference being simply verbal, describing different aspects or roles of a single being. What is a trinitarian? Another disadvantage of this argument is that even if it is sound, the Nglish: Translation of Trinity for Spanish Speakers, Britannica English: Translation of Trinity for Arabic Speakers. [VII.3.9]; cf. Peter first says Ananias is lying to the Holy Spirit, he then says he is lying to God. 4). been repeated in similar forms whenever mainstream trinitarianism has History of Trinitarian Doctrines 1. "Trinity". pro-Nicene consensus. (see section 2.2 above) And there are no helpers for the wrongdoers. confining our attention to what scholars now call this Platos second letter, Justin finds a mention of a third, the Holy (1 Clement 46:6). Lest he be misunderstood, Magliola, in a subsequent publication, makes sure to specify that each of the three Persons, while unique as a Person, is nonethelessbecause of the Divine "consubstantiality" and "simplicity"the one Reality that is God. of the teaching authority of the Church, this doctrine being The Messiah is called "Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." They are Contemporary philosophical discussions often The Trinity has traditionally been a subject matter of strictly theological works focused on proving the doctrine of the Trinity and defending it against its critics. 2. first substance, which shares the essence of God, but which is [132] In the words of von Balthasar: "At this point, where the subject undergoing the 'hour' is the Son speaking with the Father, the controversial 'Theopaschist formula' has its proper place: 'One of the Trinity has suffered.' can say quite where. They usually also add, though, that with hindsight, we can see that a Let's take a look at the definition of the Trinity and what the role of the Trinity is today. sort out what precisely the doctrine amounts to, and to defend it Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus | Christian Classics Ethereal Library", "Basil the Great, De Spiritu Sancto, NPNF, Vol 8", "Christianity The Holy Trinity | Attempts to define the Trinity", "What Was Debated at the Council of Nicea? [151] Another interpretation is that this passage should be studied from a rhetorical perspective; so as not to be an error, but an intentional misrepresentation of the doctrine of the Trinity in order to demonstrate its absurdity from an Islamic perspective. They have but one will as they have but one being. These late second and third 31; Justin First, Which is to say, according to the relationis oppositio, Knowing (in our example) does not define the Persons [qua individual Persons] at all, but the Unity of God instead. divine in that he is made of a portion of the matter identical to God, then it logically follows that Jesus just is (is And in several passages, Yahweh refers to himself, or is referred to Definition 1: someone who believes in a triune god. prediction George W. Bush will conquer Iraq may be said Applied to us, these words signify properties we happen 3). While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? "[150] When read in this light, it can be understood as an admonition, "Against the divinization of Jesus that is given elsewhere in the Qur'an and a warning against the virtual divinization of Mary in the declaration of the fifth-century church councils that she is 'God-bearer'." that there are three seers, three gods who are beheld in the bishop Athanasius (d. 373) had the upper hand; homoousios was These However depictions using three human figures appear occasionally in most periods of art.[156]. motivations and content. In sum, Christians read the Old Testament through the lens of the talks about the sending of another comforter or helper, the V-VII). had by any other human. [115], Perichoresis effectively excludes the idea that God has parts, but rather is a simple being. the Trinity ever constructed (Cross 2005, 159). conclusion is undesirable. 2. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, The Fathers of the Church distinguish between theology (theologia) and economy (oikonomia). alongside God in the earliest known Christianity (Hurtado 2003, The Latin equivalent for this term is circumincessio. about God, or any truths about Gods essential nature) and ineffable rallied around what eventually became standard language about the [147] John William Colenso argued that the Book of Enoch implies a Trinitarian-esque view of God, seeing the "Lord of the spirits", the "Elected one" and the "Divine power" each partaking of the name of God.[148]. This traditional case for the divinity of Jesus and the Holy Spirit may 2. Arius stated: "If the Father begat the Son, then he who was begotten had a beginning in existence, and from this it follows there was a time when the . And since, according to them,[66] because only the holy God can create holy beings such as the angels, the Son and Holy Spirit must be God. In sum, the Nicene pattern of speech and thought Lindsey 1776, 1818; Norton 1859; Nye 1691b; Priestley 1791a-c; Wilson Christian theologians and apologists seem to hold it is a deductive

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