The Glory of the Eternal Trinity
- revpdr
- May 26, 2024
- 3 min read
It is comparatively unusual event to know precisely when a feast came into general use, but we know that the Feast of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity became of obligation in England during the Archiepiscopate of Thomas Becket 1162-70. It caught on in England so that, rather than it replacing the First Sunday after Pentecost in such a manner that the rest of the week remained Pentecost I, the English moved the whole of the Pentecost season back a week, and renamed the Sundays after Pentecost as 'after Trinity' with the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for Pentecost 1 becoming that of Trinity 1. This change also affected parts of Germany and Scandinavia where English customs were influential. This historic change was brought about as a response to the Albigensian heresy or Catharism, which was both a revival of the fourth century Manichean heresy, and a sort of mediaeval New Age movement, which denied the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and much other basic Christian teaching, and imported the concept of Dualism from Zoroastrianism. It had become a major problem in southern France and helped spur the foundation of the Order of Preachers as a counter-measure against heresy.
The liberal side of Christianity, and well as some of the weird Pentecostal sects like to believe that the Holy Trinity was a later addition to Christianity, but an examination of the New Testament, and even bits of the Deutero-Canonical books would argue otherwise. The understanding of the Holy Trinity that we find in the Nicene Creed is very much that of Chapters 14 to 17 of St John's Gospel (65-75AD), and the same teaching is to be found in the Synoptic Gospels (55-70AD), and the Epistles of Paul (50-64AD), so as soon as the Apostles started writing down the tradition about Jesus, they did so with a Trinitarian understanding of God.
It is actually pretty hard to understand Christianity without accepting the doctrine as
"Jesus loves me this I know, For the Bible tells me so..."
may tell us the basic fact that we are saved through the love of the Father, expressed in the Son, through the work of the Holy Spirit, but it does not tell us much of the how, who, what, where, when of Christian dogma. The Christian life is very much an offering to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit with the doctrines of the incarnation, atonement, justification, sanctification, Baptism, and the Lord's Supper ultimately only making sense if one accepts the idea of a Trinitarian God. Yet, although it is one of the most basic doctrines of the Christian faith it is very difficult to explain mainly because it is an expression of that profound mystery which lies at the heart of God. In the end we have to rely on Scripture summarized in Creedal statements such as the Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds to form our understanding of what God has revealed of Himself as Unity in Trinity, and Trinity and Unity.
Although the Athanasian Creed gets a bad rap today because of the damnatory clauses, or more correction warnings at the beginning and end of the text, it is a pretty good summary of the doctrine of the Trinity stressing both the unity of the Godhead, and also the way in which the three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - relate to one another. I suggest that you read through the text prayerfully and thoughtfully, meditating on the mystery of our Salvation. The following table is shamelessly stolen from Steadfast Lutherans, and most of the hymns referenced also appear in Anglican hymnals:
Athanasian Creed | Scripture | Hymn |
Whoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the catholic faith. (1) | Lord Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word (LSB 655) | |
Whoever does not keep it whole and undefiled will without doubt perish eternally. (2) | ||
And the catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance. (3-4) | Holy, Holy, Holy (LSB 507) | |
For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Holy Spirit is another. (5) | ||
But the Godhead of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is one: the glory equal, the majesty coeternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit: (6-7) | ||
the Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, the Holy Spirit uncreated; (8) | ||
the Father infinite, the Son infinite, the Holy Spirit infinite; (9) | ||
the Father eternal, the Son eternal, the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet there are not three Eternals, but one Eternal, just as there are not three Uncreated or three Infinites, but one Uncreated and one Infinite. (10-12) | ||
In the same way, the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, the Holy Spirit almighty; and yet there are not three Almighties but one Almighty. (13-14) | Gen. 17:1, 18:14, Ps. 62:11, Matt. 19:26, Mark 14:36, Luke 1:35, John 5:21, 1 Cor. 8:4, 12:4, 12:11, Eph. 1:20-21, 3:20-21, Phil. 3:20-21, Col. 2:9-10, Heb. 1:3, 1 Pet. 3:22, Rev. 1:8, 4:8, 11:17, 15:3, 16:7, 16:14, 19:6 | |
So the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God; and yet there are not three Gods, but one God. (15-16) | Gen. 1:26, Is. 9:6, Matt. 1:23, 28:19, John 1:1, 1:14, 6:27, 10:30, 20:28; Acts 5:3-4, 20:28, Rom. 9:5, 1 Cor. 2:10-11, 3:16, 6:19, 8:4, 2 Cor. 1:21-22, 3:17, Col. 1:15-17, 2:9, Tit. 2:10 | |
So the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Spirit is Lord; and yet there are not three Lords, but one Lord. Just as we are compelled by the Christian truth to acknowledge each distinct person as God and Lord, so also we are prohibited by the catholic religion to say that there are three Gods or Lords. (17-19) | ||
The Father is not made nor created nor begotten by anyone. The Son is neither made nor created, but begotten of the Father alone. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son, neither made nor created nor begotten, but proceeding. (20-22) | Gen. 1:1, John 1:14, 1:18, 3:16, 3:18, 5:26, 14:26, 15:26, 16:7, 1 Cor. 8:6, Col. 1:16-17, 1 John 5:20, Rev. 4:11 | (LSB 876) |
Thus, there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons, one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits. (23) | ||
And in this Trinity none is before or after another; none is greater or less than another; but the whole three persons are coeternal with each other and coequal, so that in all things, as has been stated above, the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity is to be worshiped. (24-25) | ||
Therefore, whoever desires to be saved must think thus about the Trinity. (26) | ||
But it is also necessary for everlasting salvation that one faithfully believe the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. (27) | Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence (LSB 621) | |
Therefore, it is the right faith that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is at the same time both God and man. (28) | ||
He is God, begotten from the substance of the Father before all ages; and He is man, born from the substance of His mother in this age: perfect God and perfect man, composed of a rational soul and human flesh; equal to the Father with respect to His divinity, less than the Father with respect to His humanity. (29-31) | ||
Although He is God and man, His not two, but one Christ: (32) | ||
one, however, not by the conversion of the divinity into flesh, but by the assumption of humanity into God; one altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person. For as the rational soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ, (33-35) | ||
who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead, (36) | I Bind Unto Myself Today (LSB 604) | |
ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from whence He will come to judge the living and the dead. (37) | ||
At His coming all people will rise again with their bodies and give an account concerning their own deeds. (38) | ||
And those who have done good will enter into eternal life, and those who have done evil into eternal fire. (39) | ||
This is the catholic faith; whoever does not believe it faithfully and firmly cannot be saved. (40) |
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