The real difference between the Divine Faces
How to understand that Divine Persons are really different between Themselves ?
— Not only three different names, but also real Faces
The teaching of the Church emphasizes the reality of the existence of Divine Persons who truly differ from each other. So, although God is one, there are three Persons in Him who really differ from Himself. This means that "Father", "Son", "Holy Spirit" are not only three different names, but real Persons.
How are the Persons of the Holy Trinity different from each other?
If the Divine Persons, as the Church teaches, really differ from each other, the question arises as to what is the basis of this real difference.
- Bogoslavian terminology
To define the unity of God and His trinity, the Church uses the concepts:
- Individuals differ not in nature, but in relationships
According to the teachings of the Church, in God, nature (essence, being) is one, and Persons really differ between Themselves only in relationships in which the so-called opposition of relationship takes place. "All is one in God" where it is not about oppositional attitudes. " In other words, everything is one and common in God with the exception of the relationship of the Father to the Son, the Son to the Father, and the Holy Spirit to the Father and the Son. Only in these three interpersonal relationships there is opposition.
- God is one in His essence
Divine Persons do not differ between Themselves by their nature. "The Father is the same as the Son, the Son is the same as the Father, the Son and the Father is the same as the Holy Spirit, that is, one God by nature." "Each of the three persons is this reality, that is, the Divine essence, being or nature." There is only one Divine Being in common for all Persons of the Holy Trinity.
When Jesus said: "I and the Father are one" (Jn 10:30), He meant the one Divine nature, which is common and one for all Persons of the Most Holy Trinity. "Divine Persons do not share the same Divinity, but each of Them is God as a whole." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 253)
God the Father
How is the Father different from the Son and from the Holy Spirit?
The Father differs from the Son and from the Holy Spirit not by His Divine nature, but by the fact that He is not born or emanated from anyone. Only the Father gives birth to the Son, who for the sake of our salvation became a man.
God's Son
How is the Son of God different from the Father and from the Holy Spirit?
- Son born of the Father
The Son of God is eternally born of God the Father and in this way He really differs from Him and from the Holy Spirit. This is the only difference. Neither the Father nor the Holy Spirit is born as a Son.
- Word
St. John calls the Son of God the Word: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1: 1). In this Word, the Father eternally and completely expresses Himself, that is, gives birth to the Son.
- Niceo - Constantinople
The faith of the Church in the true Deity of the Son of God, born from eternity of the Father, is expressed by Nicaeo - the Creed of Constantinople:
I believe "and in the One Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, from the Father born before all ages, God from God, Light from the Light, true God from true God, born, uncreated, consubstantial with the Father, through whom everything was created."
Holy Spirit
How is the Holy Spirit different from the Father and from the Son of God?
- From the Father and the Son descending (Catholic doctrine)
The Holy Spirit differs from other Divine Persons in that He comes from the Father and the Son. The Nicene-Constantinople Creed expresses this in the words: "And in the Holy Spirit (I believe), the Lord who gives life, from the Father and the Son that proceeds; Who, together with the Father and the Son, deserves worship and glory." The Holy Spirit is love with its own personality, which the Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father.
How does the Catechism of the Catholic Church relate to the teaching of the Orthodox Church on the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father through the Son?
- From the Father through the Son descending (Orthodox teaching)
The Orthodox Church teaches that the Holy Spirit does not come from the Father and the Son (in Latin Filioque), but from the Father through the Son. According to the teachings of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, these two ways of understanding the procession of the Holy Spirit, Eastern and Latin traditions, do not contradict each other, but are complemented.
“The Eastern tradition primarily reflects the nature of the Father's primary cause in relation to the Spirit. The Father and the Son, saying that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son (Filioque). She says this "in accordance with the law and reason", for the eternal order of the Divine Persons in their consubstantial communion implies that the Father is the first cause of the Spirit as "beginning without beginning", but also that, as the Father of the Only Begotten Son, He together with Him constitutes “the one origin from which the Holy Spirit proceeds.” This legitimate complementarity, if it does not become an object of sharpening, does not affect the essence of faith in the reality of the same confessed mystery. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 248)
How will the Catholic Church justify its belief in the procession of the Spirit from the Father and the Son (Filioque)?
- The Only Begotten Son received everything from the Father
The Catholic Church believes that the Son, born from eternity of the Father, received absolutely everything from Him, also that the Holy Spirit can proceed from Him, as He proceeds from the Father.
"The Latin tradition of the Creed confesses that the Spirit proceeds" from the Father and the Son (Filioque). " of one beginning and one breath ... And since everything that the Father has, the Father Himself gave to the Only Begotten Son, giving birth to Him - everything except for His Fatherhood - insofar as the Son itself this procession of the Holy Spirit from the Son eternally receives from the Father, from Whom forever born "." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 246)
Indivisibility of Divine Faces
Why are the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity inseparable?
- Divine Faces - one God
Differing really between Themselves, the Persons of the Holy Trinity are inseparable, since They have one and only Divine nature. They are one God. "Because of this oneness, the Father is wholly in the Son, wholly in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is wholly in the Father, wholly in the Son." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 255)
- "I am in the Father and the Father is in me" (Jn 14:11)
Where Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Father and the Holy Spirit are also present. Jesus meant this mystery about the inseparability of Divine Persons when he said: "Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me" (Jn 14:11); "I and the Father are one" (Jn 10:30); "He who sees Me sees Him who sent Me" (Jn 12:45).
Priest Oleg Davydenkov
From lectures on dogmatic theology at the Orthodox St. Tikhon Theological Institute
The doctrine of the Holy Trinity - the foundation of the Christian religion
God is one in essence, but threefold in persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, consubstantial and indivisible.
The very word "Trinity" of non-biblical origin, was introduced into the Christian lexicon in the second half of the 2nd century by St. Theophilus of Antioch. The doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity is given in Christian Revelation.
The dogma of the Holy Trinity is incomprehensible, it is a mysterious dogma, incomprehensible at the level of reason. For the human mind, the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is contradictory, because it is a mystery that cannot be rationally expressed.
It is no coincidence that Fr. Pavel Florensky called the dogma of the Holy Trinity "a cross for human thought." In order to accept the dogma of the Most Holy Trinity, the sinful human reason must reject its claims to the ability to cognize and explain everything rationally, that is, to comprehend the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, it is necessary to reject one's understanding.
The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is comprehended, and only in part, in the experience of spiritual life. This comprehension is always associated with an ascetic deed. VN Lossky says: "The apophatic ascent is the ascent to Golgotha, therefore no speculative philosophy could ever rise to the mystery of the Holy Trinity."
Belief in the Trinity distinguishes Christianity from all other monotheistic religions: Judaism, Islam. The doctrine of the Trinity is the basis of all Christian doctrine and morality, for example, the doctrine of God the Savior, the God the Sanctifier, etc. VN Lossky said that the Doctrine of the Trinity "is not only the basis, but also ultimate goal theology, for ... to cognize the mystery of the Holy Trinity in its fullness means to enter the Divine life, into the very life of the Most Holy Trinity. "
The doctrine of the Triune God is reduced to three provisions:
1) God is trinity and trinity consists in the fact that in God there are Three Persons (hypostases): Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
2) Each Person of the Most Holy Trinity is God, but They are not three Gods, but a single Divine being.
3) All three Persons are distinguished by personal, or hypostatic properties.
Analogies of the Holy Trinity in the world
The Holy Fathers, in order to somehow bring the doctrine of the Holy Trinity closer to the perception of man, used various kinds of analogies borrowed from the created world.
For example, the sun and the light and heat emanating from it. A source of water, a spring coming from it, and, in fact, a stream or river. Some see an analogy in the constitution of the human mind (St. Ignatius Brianchaninov. Ascetic Experiments): "Our mind, word and spirit, by the simultaneity of their beginning and by their mutual relations, serve as the image of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit."
However, all these analogies are very imperfect. If we take the first analogy - the sun, outgoing rays and heat - then this analogy presupposes a certain temporal process. If we take the second analogy - a source of water, a key and a stream, then they differ only in our understanding, but in reality it is a single water element. As for the analogy associated with the abilities of the human mind, it can only be an analogy of the image of the Revelation of the Most Holy Trinity in the world, but in no way of intra-Trinity being. Moreover, all these analogies place unity above trinity.
Saint Basil the Great considered the rainbow to be the most perfect analogy borrowed from the created world, because "one and the same light is continuous in itself and is multicolored." "And in multicolor a single face opens - there is no middle and transition between colors. It is not visible where the rays are delimited. We clearly see the difference, but we cannot measure the distances. And in aggregate, the multicolored rays form a single white. A single essence opens in a multicolored radiance."
The disadvantage of this analogy is that the colors of the spectrum are not independent individuals. On the whole, patristic theology is characterized by a very wary attitude towards analogies.
An example of such an attitude is the 31st Word of St. Gregory the Theologian: "Finally, I concluded that it is best to abandon all images and shadows, as deceitful and far from reaching the truth, and to stick to the mindset of a more pious one, dwelling on a few sayings." ...
In other words, there are no images to represent this dogma in our mind; all images borrowed from the created world are very imperfect.
A Brief History of the Dogma of the Most Holy Trinity
Christians have always believed that God is one in essence, but threefold in persons, but the very dogmatic doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity was created gradually, usually in connection with the emergence of various kinds of heretical delusions. The doctrine of the Trinity in Christianity has always been associated with the doctrine of Christ, with the doctrine of the Incarnation. Trinitarian heresies, Trinitarian disputes had a Christological basis.
Indeed, the doctrine of the Trinity was made possible by the Incarnation. As they say in the troparion of the Epiphany, in Christ "Trinity is worship". The teaching about Christ "is a temptation for the Jews, but folly for the Greeks" (1 Cor. 1:23). Likewise, the doctrine of the Trinity is a stumbling block for both "strict" Jewish monotheism and Hellenic polytheism. Therefore, all attempts to rationally comprehend the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity led to delusions of either Jewish or Hellenic character. The first dissolved the Persons of the Trinity in a single nature, for example, the Sabellians, while others reduced the Trinity to three unequal beings (Arians).
The condemnation of Arianism took place in 325 at the First Ecumenical Council with Nicaea. The main act of this Council was the compilation of the Nicene Creed, in which non-biblical terms were introduced, among which the term "homousios" - "consubstantial" played a special role in the Trinitarian disputes of the 4th century.
It took great efforts of the great Cappadocians: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and Gregory of Nyssa to reveal the true meaning of the term "homousios".
The great Cappadocians, first of all, Basil the Great, strictly distinguished the concepts of "essence" and "hypostasis". Basil the Great defined the difference between "essence" and "hypostasis" as between the general and the particular.
According to the teachings of the Cappadocians, the essence of the Divine and its distinctive properties, that is, the originality of being and Divine dignity, belong equally to all three hypostases. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are the essence of its manifestation in Persons, of which each possesses the fullness of the divine essence and is in indissoluble unity with it. The Hypostases differ from each other only in personal (hypostatic) properties.
In addition, the Cappadocians actually identified (primarily two Gregories: Nazianzen and Nyssa) the concept of "hypostasis" and "person". "Face" in theology and philosophy of that time was a term that belonged not to the ontological, but to the descriptive plane, that is, a person could be called an actor's mask or a legal role played by a person.
Having identified "person" and "hypostasis" in Trinitarian theology, the Cappadocians thereby transferred this term from the descriptive plane to the ontological plane. The consequence of this identification was, in essence, the emergence of a new concept, which the ancient world did not know: this term is "personality". The Cappadocians succeeded in reconciling the abstractness of Greek philosophical thought with the biblical idea of a personal Deity.
The main thing in this teaching is that personality is not part of nature and cannot be thought of in terms of nature. The Cappadocians and their immediate disciple St. Amphilochius of Iconian called the Divine hypostases “ways of being” of the Divine nature. According to their teaching, personality is the hypostasis of being, which freely hypostases its nature. Thus, a personal being in its specific manifestations is not predetermined by an essence that is attached to it from the outside, therefore God is not an essence that would precede Persons. When we call God an absolute Person, we thereby want to express the thought that God is not determined by any external or internal necessity, that He is absolutely free in relation to His own being, is always what he wants to be and always acts in this way, as he wants, that is, he freely hypostatizes His triune nature.
Indications of the Trinity (Plurality) of Persons in God in the Old and New Testaments
In the Old Testament there is a sufficient number of indications of the trinity of Persons, as well as veiled indications of the plurality of persons in God without specifying a specific number.
This plurality is already mentioned in the first verse of the Bible (Gen. 1, 1): "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." The verb "bara" (created) is in the singular, and the noun "elohim" is in the plural, which literally means "gods."
Life. 1:26: "And God said: Let us make man in our image and in our likeness." The word "make" is plural. The same Gen. 3:22: "And God said: Behold, Adam became like one of Us, knowing good and evil." “Of Us” is also plural.
Life. 11, 6 - 7, where it is about the Babylonian pandemonium: "And the Lord said: ... let us go down and confuse their language there," the word "come down" is in the plural. Saint Basil the Great in Six Days (Conversation 9) comments on these words as follows: “It is truly strange idle talk to assert that someone is sitting on his own, orders, supervises himself, compels himself imperiously and persistently. The second is an instruction. actually into three Persons, but without the names of persons and without distinguishing them. "
Chapter XVIII of the book "Genesis", the appearance of three Angels to Abraham. At the beginning of the chapter it is said that God appeared to Abraham, in the Hebrew text it is said "Jehovah". Abraham, having gone out to meet the three pilgrims, bows to them and addresses them with the word "Adonai", literally "Lord", in the singular.
In patristic egzeges, there are two interpretations of this place. First: the Son of God appeared, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, accompanied by two angels. We meet this interpretation from the martyr. Justin the Philosopher, with Saint Hilarius of Pictavia, with Saint John Chrysostom, with Blessed Theodoret of Kirr.
However, most of the fathers - Saints Athanasius of Alexandria, Basil the Great, Ambrose of Mediolana, Blessed Augustine - believe that this is the appearance of the Most Holy Trinity, the first revelation to man about the Trinity of the Divine.
It was the second opinion that was accepted by Orthodox Tradition and found its embodiment, firstly, in hymnography, which speaks of this event precisely as a manifestation of the Triune God, and in iconography ( famous icon"The Old Testament Trinity").
Blessed Augustine ("On the City of God", Book 26) writes: "Abraham meets three, worships one. Seeing three, he understood the mystery of the Trinity, and having bowed down to one, he confessed the One God in Three Persons."
The indication of the Trinity of God in the New Testament is, first of all, the Baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Jordan from John, which in the Church Tradition received the name Theophany. This event was the first explicit Revelation to mankind about the Trinity of the Godhead.
Further, the commandment about baptism, which the Lord gives to His disciples after the Resurrection (Matthew 28, 19): "Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." Here the word "name" is in the singular, although it refers not only to the Father, but also to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit together. Saint Ambrose of Mediolana comments on this verse as follows: "The Lord said" in the name "and not" in the names, "because there is one God, not many names, because there are not two Gods and not three Gods."
2 Cor. 13, 13: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit with you all." With this expression, the Apostle Paul emphasizes the personality of the Son and the Spirit, who bestow gifts on an equal basis with the Father.
1, John. 5, 7: "Three testify in heaven: the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one." This passage from the Epistle of the Apostle and Evangelist John is controversial, since this verse is absent in the ancient Greek manuscripts.
Prologue of the Gospel of John (John 1: 1): "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Here God is understood as the Father, and the Son is called the Word, that is, the Son was eternally with the Father and was eternally God.
The Transfiguration of the Lord is also the Revelation of the Holy Trinity. Here is how VN Lossky comments on this event in the Gospel history: “That is why the Epiphany and Transfiguration are celebrated so solemnly. We celebrate the Revelation of the Most Holy Trinity, for the voice of the Father was heard and the Holy Spirit was present. a shining cloud that overshadowed the apostles. "
Difference of Divine Persons by hypostatic properties
According to church teaching, the Hypostases are the essence of the Person, and not the impersonal forces. At the same time, the Hypostases have a single nature. The question naturally arises, how to distinguish between them?
All divine properties relate to the general nature, they are inherent in all three Hypostases and therefore cannot express the differences of Divine Persons by themselves. It is impossible to give an absolute definition of each Hypostasis using one of the Divine names.
One of the features of personal being is that personality is unique and inimitable, and therefore, it defies definition, it cannot be subsumed under a certain concept, since the concept always generalizes; impossible to lead to common denominator... Therefore, a person can be perceived only through his relationship to other persons.
This is what we see in Holy Scripture, where the concept of Divine Persons is based on the relationship that exists between them.
Approximately starting from the end of the 4th century, we can talk about the generally accepted terminology, according to which the hypostatic properties are expressed in the following terms: with the Father - unborn, with the Son - being born (from the Father), and procession (from the Father) with the Holy Spirit. Personal properties are the essence of incommunicable properties, eternally unchanged, exclusively belonging to one or another of the Divine Persons. Thanks to these properties, Persons differ from each other, and we cognize them as special Hypostases.
At the same time, distinguishing three Hypostases in God, we confess the Trinity as consubstantial and indivisible. Consubstantial means that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three independent Divine Persons possessing all divine perfections, but they are not three special separate beings, not three Gods, but the One God. They have a single and indivisible divine nature. Each of the Persons of the Trinity possesses the divine nature perfectly and completely.
The main idea of the doctrine of the Trinity lies in the concept of the Trinity of God, that is, the existence of three Persons with the same nature. God is one, but in three Persons.
Each Person has always been and is God in its entirety. Each individual Person in its entirety is equal to two other Persons and they all participate in the consubstantial Deity. No Person is greater or less than the other two Faces.
The human mind cannot comprehend God, but out of love for his creation, God reveals Himself and reveals Himself to man in three Persons. The three divine Persons are God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. These three Persons have a single Divine nature, but at the same time they have a special personality of their own. The doctrine of the Trinity, that God is one, but in three persons, is not specifically stated in the Holy Scriptures. In the Bible, we do not find the word "Trinity" at all. Nevertheless, for Christianity this is one of the most important teachings and it is based on the testimonies from the Holy Scriptures.
The doctrine of the Trinity allows you to more clearly reveal and understand the essence of God, relationships, what they can be and what should be between God and man. The doctrine of the Trinity is generally distinctive feature Christianity. Not a single world religion, except Christianity, teaches that God is one, but in three persons and each person is Divine. This is a very important part of our Christian faith. The doctrine of the Trinity helps to better reveal the essence of God; who is God, what is He like, what is His relation to man, how can a man approach God?
The next factor in the relevance and importance of the doctrine of the Trinity is the issue of Jesus Christ; who is he? Is He Really God? Is He really the bearer of the Divine nature? At all times, there have been and are disputes around the personality of Jesus Christ and His nature. History knows many statements that Christ is not God, He is just a man. Others believed that He became God at the time of baptism or even after the resurrection. And before that, He was an ordinary person, although very intelligent and virtuous.
Holy Scripture tells us about several Divine mysteries. This is the secret of the Incarnation. “And unquestioningly is the great mystery of piety: God appeared in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16). The Apostle Paul speaks of yet another mystery: “Therefore, a man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two will be one flesh. This mystery is great; I speak in relation to Christ and to the Church ”(Eph. 5: 31-32). The question of the trinity of God or God in three persons is one of the greatest mysteries of God. This issue causes a lot of controversy among theologians, and different understandings and views on the issue of the Trinity of God continue to live in our time.
Dr. Aiden Tozer has remarked on this point: “Some people who reject everything they cannot explain, deny that God is triune. Looking intently at the Almighty with their cold and calm gaze, they think that it cannot be that He was both One and Three at the same time. These people forget that their whole life is shrouded in mystery. They do not think that any real explanation, even the simplest phenomenon of nature, is hidden in darkness, and explaining this phenomenon is no easier than the mystery of the Divine. " But, despite the fact that there is no clear and specific teaching about the Trinity in the Bible, we affirm that there is a Biblical basis for understanding God as one God, but in three persons.
The Bible teaches quite clearly and definitely that God is indivisible. The biblical God is one: “The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deut. 6: 4). With these words Monotheism is affirmed. There is only one God, who created everything and gave life to every living being. No one will ever be able to stand next to and compare with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God told Moses, “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:14). In other words, I was, is and will be. The Apostle Paul affirms the truth that there is only one God. He writes in a letter to Timothy: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2: 5-6). The Ten Commandments, which were transmitted by God to Moses, began with the words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. May you have no other Gods before Me ”(Ex. 20: 2-3). Jealous God is true God. He alone is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The history of Israel is full of examples when God - Jehovah, showed His absolute superiority over everything that other nations considered their gods. The unique difference between the God of Israel and our God from all other so-called gods is shown by the Apostle Paul. He simply says that all other gods are idols and they are nothing for us, but we have one God! He writes: “So, regarding the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is no other God but One. For although there are so-called gods, either in heaven or on earth, since there are many gods and many lords, but we have one God the Father, of whom we are all, and we are for Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, with whom everything is and we are by Him ”(1 Cor. 8: 4-6).
Along with this, there are many Biblical texts that show us the three faces of God. This is the face of God the Father, the face of God the Son and the face of God the Holy Spirit. For example, when Jesus was baptized, we clearly see the participation of all three persons of the Godhead in this act. Jesus Christ is baptized, the Holy Spirit descends on Him in the form of a dove and the Father testifies from heaven: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3: 16-17). This is clearly seen in the same way in the command, Jesus Christ, given to his disciples: “So, go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). This text, it seems to me, is especially important and significant due to the fact that it sounded from the mouth of the Lord himself. This is not the command of the Apostle Paul, not the decree of the Church Council, this is the instruction of the Lord, where all three persons of the Divine are mentioned. So, we have considered this issue in the light of the New Testament. Meanwhile, in the Old Testament there are texts on the basis of which we can draw a conclusion about God as about God in three persons or about God in the plural. For example, in the book of Genesis it is said: “And God said: let us make man in our image, and in our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). And Isaiah says that one day he heard the voice of the Lord saying: "Whom should I send, and who will go for Us?" (Is 6: 8). The words "Let us create, ours and us" - words plural... This is a clear indication of several Persons.
What evidence do we have in Scripture that all three persons are one? What evidence is there in Scripture that we are dealing with a triune God?
At first, it should be noted that all three hypostases carry the Divine nature. No one doubts the divinity of the Father. All Scripture speaks of Him as the Heavenly Father, thereby emphasizing His Divinity. “Your Father in Heaven” (Matthew 6:26). We have “one God the Father” (1 Cor. 8: 6). The Father's divinity is also emphasized by His properties: Omnipotence. “I am God Almighty” (Gen. 17: 1). The Lord, addressing Jeremiah, says: “I am the Lord of all flesh. If something is impossible for Me? " (Jer. 32:27).
He is omniscient and omnipresent. Omniscient means knowing everything and aware of everything. Omnipresent - who has time to visit everywhere, takes part in everything. “Oh, the abyss of the wealth and wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments and past tracing His ways ”(Rom. 11:33). David exclaims, "Where will I go from Thy Spirit, and where will I flee from Thy presence?" (Psalm 138: 7). “Your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly” (Matthew 6: 4). These Scriptures speak of God, who knows and knows everything at all times and in every place.
It is unlimited. This means that there are no limits that limit God. He is a God who cannot be measured, He is immeasurable. “Truly, does God live on earth? The heavens and the heavens of the heavens cannot contain You ”(1 Kings 8:27).
Our God is an incorruptible God. Imperishable, in the sense of eternal, never disappearing. “And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image like a corruptible man, and birds, and four-legged, and creeping things” (Rom. 1:23). These are just a few of the qualities of God the Father that speak of His Divinity.
B O W E S T V E N N O S T I S U S A
X R I S T A.
There have always been different opinions on the divinity of Jesus Christ. Some affirmed His divinity, others categorically denied. So the well-known teaching of Gnosticism asserted that the Lord Jesus Christ had only an appearance of the flesh. He did not have a real human body, but a ghostly, illusory one. But this statement is absolutely inconsistent with the Biblical teaching about the incarnation. The body of the Lord Jesus Christ was material and real. Jesus Christ, like all people, experienced fatigue, weariness, thirst and hunger. This is clearly stated in the Holy Scriptures: The Temptation of Jesus in the Wilderness (Matt. Ch. 4). Conversation of Christ with the Samaritan woman at the well (John Ch. 4).
So, the body of Jesus Christ was not ghostly or illusory. That is, the incarnation of God in man was genuine. John writes, “The Word was made flesh” (John 1:14). He does not write that the word became to some extent similar to flesh, It became flesh.
In contrast to Gnosticism, it was believed that Jesus Christ did not have a divine nature. Arianism became the highest form of denial of the divinity of Christ; this heresy was condemned at the Councils of Nicea and Constantinople in 325 and 381.
Arianism is a heretical teaching that denies the divinity of Jesus. Supporters of this heresy taught that the Son is not eternal, did not exist before birth, and was not without beginning. The founder was Arius, a presbyter from Alexandria.
In the 17th century, the so-called doctrine of Socinianism / Socialism /, named Faust Sotsina, arose. Supporters of this doctrine rejected the dogma of the Holy Trinity. They taught that if Christ were not “just a man,” He could not be an example for people. At present, such religious movements as Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses believe that only God the Father is the true God, and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit do not possess divinity. However, the divinity of Christ is emphasized many times in the New Testament. The Gospel of John begins with a wonderful story: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; and we have seen His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father ”(John 1: 1). In this text, the truth is clearly traced, which is that Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, is the same Word that was in the beginning and was the Word of God. It was It that became Flesh. “God appeared in the flesh” (1 Tim.3: 16). At the same time, the birth of Christ is not the appearance of a new person, or a new God. This is a manifestation of an already existing God.
Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones writes in his book, “God the Father, God the Son” p. 232. “Pay attention, I did not say that with the birth of Jesus of Nazareth in Bethlehem, a new person appeared. This is not true. This statement is clearly heresy. According to the doctrine of incarnation, the eternal, second, personality of the Trinity entered the time and space of this world, clothed itself in human nature, being born an infant, having lived a human life, appearing in the likeness of sinful flesh ”(Rom. 8: 3).
The baby in the womb and in the manger of Bethlehem was a helpless baby, like any newborn, but He, at the same time, was the second person of the Holy Trinity. This is in no way incomprehensible to the human mind. Jesus Himself testifies of His existence before being born in the manger of Bethlehem. He says: “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). This Word, which became Flesh, in the person of Jesus Christ, John sees as the beginning of everything in general, he sees Him as the source of life. “Through Him all things began to be” (John 1: 3). “He is the one who was born first of all creation” (Col. 1:15). Moreover, Christ testifies of his one essence to the Father. “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). Many times He says: “I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me, and the Father who abides in Me does the works” (John 14:10). The divinity of Christ, and His one essence to the Father, is remarkably confirmed in the words of the Apostle Paul to Timothy. “God appeared in the flesh” (1 Tim.3: 16). God cannot lose his Divine nature, but at the same time, He appeared in human flesh and took on the image of a man. If God cannot lose His Divine nature, then, having appeared to us in Christ, He retains His Divinity.
Possessing the fullness of the Godhead, Jesus Christ performs divine activity in his earthly ministry: “He forgives sins” (Luke 5:21). “He saves sinners” (John 10: 9). Jesus Christ “gives eternal life” (John 10: 27-28). “He judges” (Matthew 25: 31-36). Jesus Christ also possesses all the properties and qualities that God the Father possesses. He is omnipresent. “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). He is omnipotent. “This, being the radiance of glory and the image of His hypostasis, and holding all by the word of His power, having performed the cleansing of our sins with Himself, sat down at the right hand of (the throne) of majesty on high” (Heb. 1: 3). Jesus Christ Himself said to John on the island of Patmos: “I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end ... The First and the Last ... Who is, and was, and is coming, the Almighty” (Rev. 1: 817), etc. So, Christ is the Son of God and the eternal image of the invisible God. Heb. 1.3. “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2: 9). Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones writes: “The Son did not begin His existence in Bethlehem. He came from eternity, from the bosom of God Himself and, having assumed a special form, entered earthly life, in time, into history ”(God the Father, God the Son p. 232).
B O W E S T V E N N O S T D U X A
S V Y T O G O.
Now consider the question of the divinity of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a divine person. This is the person with whom we have the most direct relationship. For this reason, we should study more closely His nature, actions and work in us and with us. In principle, the Divinity of the third hypostasis of the Divine - the Holy Spirit, follows from the recognition of the consubstantiation of the Son and the Father. But, nevertheless, this requires a logical and, moreover, a Biblical justification.
Some people see the difference between the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. However, the Bible teaches that there is only one Spirit. “One body and one Spirit” (Eph. 4: 4). The Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ is the Holy Spirit. He is one and the same. We find confirmation of this in the words of the Apostle Paul. “But you do not live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, if only the Spirit of God lives in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His ”(Romans 8: 9). “He who is united with the Lord is one spirit with the Lord, and your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you” (1 Cor. 6: 17-19). While pursuing the same thought, the apostle Paul nevertheless uses different expressions. Spirit of God, Spirit of Christ, Spirit of the Lord, Holy Spirit. This clearly indicates that they are one and the same Spirit. There can be no mistake here, for the author of the Bible is the Holy Spirit, who inspired various writers. The Holy Spirit guided them so that they did not make a single mistake, there are no contradictions in the entire Bible, although all 66 books of the Bible were written by different people and at different times. It is amazing. So: the Father is God, the Son is God, then the Spirit of the Father and the Son is also God.
Scripture speaks clearly and definitely about the divinity of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has divine properties. He is omnipresent: "Where will I go from Thy Spirit." (Psalm 139: 7). He is omnipotent: “Send Thy Spirit, they are created” (Psalm 103: 30). Omniscience is also a property of the Holy Spirit. “The Spirit permeates everything, and the depths of God” (1 Cor. 2:10). This is evidence of the Divinity of the Holy Spirit. For He possesses the same qualities or attributes as God the Father. Further, the Holy Spirit, as the Power of the Most High, participated in the birth of Jesus Christ through the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:35). In the same way, the Holy Spirit manifests great divine power, for He changes human hearts, reviving them to a new and holy life. And one more confirmation of this truth. The Apostle Peter, denouncing Ananias, said: “Why did you allow Satan to put your thought into your heart, lie to the Holy Spirit, and hide it from the price of the earth? You didn’t lie to people, but to God! ” (D. Ap. 5: 3-4). In these words, the Apostle Peter identifies God the Father with the Holy Spirit, thereby showing and confirming the divinity of the Holy Spirit. The Scriptures cited clearly refute the views of Arians, who denied the Divinity of the Holy Spirit (Arius is an Alexandrian presbyter who lived in the 4th century).
Speaking about the divinity of the Holy Spirit, it should be emphasized that the Holy Spirit is a person. Not only at the dawn of Christianity, but also in our time, there is a conviction that the Holy Spirit is simply a force, or a certain influence that can manifest itself in the form of a blow of wind, etc. For example, the previously mentioned Socinians, followers of Socinus, taught that the Holy Spirit is simply a divine power, but not a person. This misunderstanding leads to the fact that today there are many of those, mainly in the charismatic movement, who teach that we need more of this “power” in order to perform miracles and all kinds of signs. Scripture teaches that more humility is needed so that the Holy Spirit can guide us, use and accomplish his work through us. That is, we do not use Him, but He uses us as He pleases. The proof that the Holy Spirit is a person is also the fact that He has a will, for “He gives gifts as He pleases” (1 Cor. 12:11). He can talk. “The Spirit spoke to Philip” (D. Ap. 8:29). He intercedes for us. “He intercedes for the Saints according to the will of God” (Rom. 8: 26-27). You can lie to the Holy Spirit (D.Ap.5: 3). He can be resisted (D.Ap. 7:51). He can be insulted and blasphemed (Matt. 12: 31,32). Moreover, the Holy Spirit is directly involved in the salvation of sinners. He convicts of sin, points to Christ as the Savior, to His sacrifice and blood. He leads to repentance and gives strength to repent. He performs in the future the greatest work of building a spiritual home in every person who has received Jesus Christ by faith. Charles Spurgeon said: “It is a blessed work to preach the salvation of Jesus Christ. But not to mention the role of the Holy Spirit in salvation is evil. A ransom has been paid for us, but it is only through the Spirit that we learn of the atonement. We have been given precious blood, but without the Holy Spirit we could never have been cleansed by it through faith and repentance ”(12 Sermons on the Holy Spirit, p. 124). Based on the above, it is quite obvious that in the Holy Scriptures the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of God are one and the same Spirit, which is a Divine Person.
So, this is an amazing and incomprehensible human mind, the truth. Three Divine Persons: God - Father, God - Son and God - Holy Spirit, in essence, this is one indivisible God! Moreover, it should always be borne in mind that this trinity is based on the equal unity of all three persons. One might get the impression that all three persons, although they are one, are not equal. For example, Jesus himself once said: “My Father is greater than Me” (John 14:28). Also, Jesus repeatedly emphasized that He does only what the Father tells Him, that He does only His will (John 8: 28-29). However, the word of God teaches us that “Christ did not consider it a robbery to be equal to God” (Phil. 2: 6). The Apostle Paul also writes: that “in Christ, all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily” (Col. 29).
However, there is an explanation for this seeming contradiction. During the Ecumenical Councils, when there was debate about the divinity of Jesus Christ, the Church Fathers wrote: “Equal to the Father in His Divine Essence; less than the Father in his human essence“God became incarnate in the image of a man, He became the son of man, but this does not mean at all that He has lost the Divine nature. He did not manifest it, but He could not lose or renounce the Divine essence. Of course, this is the greatest secret to the end, incomprehensible.
EQUAL UNITY OF THREE.
So, in what way is the trinity or equal unity of the three expressed? The issue of equal unity of the three has always been the subject of discussion and even division. Thomas Watson, in his Foundations of Practical Theology, writes: “The Trinity is one in essence. Three Hypostases have the same Divine nature and it cannot be said that one Hypostasis is God more than the other. The unity of the Persons of the Trinity consists in Their mutual existence in each other, or in the existence of all together in one. All three persons are so inseparable that each is in the other and together with the other ”“ You are the Father in Me, and I in You ”(John 17:21).
There are two directions today. One recognizes that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and from the Son. Another trend believes that the Holy Spirit comes only from the Father. We adhere to the doctrine that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son. We do this on the basis that the Holy Spirit is as much a Divine Person as God the Father and God the Son.
Starting from the moment of the creation of the Universe, we find this equal trinity. The first chapter of Genesis tells us about the creation of heaven and earth. God the Father, God the Son and the Spirit of God participated in this creation, i.e. God the Holy Spirit. (We previously said that the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ and the Holy Spirit are one and the same Spirit) (Genesis 1: 1-2). In the Epistle to the Colossians, we read: “Who (we are talking about Christ) is the image of the invisible God, born before all creation, for he created everything that is in heaven and that on earth, visible and invisible: whether the thrones of dominions, or rulers, whether power - everything was created by Him and for Him ”(Col. 1: 15-16). This is a blessed unity - all three persons participate in creation: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit!
Let's pay attention to the Incarnation and carefully read about it in the Gospel of Luke. The Angel of God says to Mary: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, even that which is born holy will be called the Son of God ”(Luke 1:35). In this word, it is quite obvious that the entire Holy Trinity participates in the Incarnation: the Most High Himself or God the Father, the Holy Spirit and the Son of God - Jesus Christ. We find remarkable testimony of trinity in the baptism of Jesus. The Evangelist Luke writes that when Christ was baptized, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form, like a dove, and there was a voice from heaven: “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Luke 3: 21-22 ). Again we meet with a trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The resurrection of Christ and our resurrection takes place with the direct participation of the Holy Trinity. “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will also revive your mortal bodies by His Spirit who lives in you” (Rom. 8: 9-11). This is, although not direct, but well-grounded Biblical teaching about the Trinity. Otherwise it can not be. After all, the essence lies in the fact that, performing certain functions, this or that person of the Divine, in the end, do the same thing, have the same goal - the salvation of sinful humanity. “God the Father gave His Son” (John 3:16). The Son of God died for the sins of people, like the Lamb of God (John 1: 36). The Holy Spirit today “denounces the world about sin, about righteousness and about judgment”, prompting people to repentance (John 16: 8-9). The Trinity's involvement in the salvation of man is also clearly reflected in other verses of the Gospel of John. John writes that when Christ leaves, he will beg the Father, Who will send another Comforter, the Spirit of Truth. He will come to you and will always be with you and teach you everything (John 14: 15-18). He will not glorify Himself and will not speak of Himself, but will remind everything that Christ said (John 16:14).
Equal Trinity is beautifully expressed in the Lord's command to be baptized. “So, go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). There is no hint here that any person of the Divine has an advantage over another person or that there is some kind of subordination. All three are equally one. The apostolic blessing contains the confirmation of the doctrine of the Trinity of God. “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit with you all” (2 Cor. 13:13). Here we see an equal and equal blessing, one, indivisible God in three Persons. Thomas Watson said in this truth: “If one God exists in three Persons, let us, with equal respect, treat all persons of the Trinity. The Trinity has no more or less. The divinity of the Father does not exceed the divinity of the Son or the Holy Spirit. The Trinity has order, but not ranks. None of the Persons bears the title of His Eminence, which exalts her above others, therefore, we must worship all Hypostases with equal zeal ”.
“That all may honor the Son, as they honor the Father” (John 5:23).
From all the reasoning, the following conclusions can be drawn:
- God is one, but in three persons.
- He is one, but does not consist of three different creatures.
- Each individual person of the Triune God bears the Divine nature.
- Each person of the Divine at a certain time performed a certain function, outwardly one could notice some kind of subordination, in fact, all three Persons were always in complete harmony and absolute unity, performing one common task - the salvation of the human race.
- All three Persons of the Divine have always been, are and will be, for They are eternal.
The Apostle Paul tells us another amazing truth: God the Father will submit everything to His Son, and then the Son himself will submit himself to the Father, and “There will be GOD ALL IN ALL”.(1 Cor. 15:28).
Scripture teaches us that there is a division of labor and subordination between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for our salvation. The Father is the fullness of the Godhead and “No man has seen Him, and cannot see” (1 Tim. 6:16). It has no boundaries. The Son is the fullness of the Godhead, manifested in a visible way, “for in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2: 9). And then comes the startling statement! The Holy Spirit is the fullness of the Godhead; He acts directly on creation. Can you see the difference? There is the invisible fullness of the Divine, the visible fullness of the Divine and the fullness of the Divine acting directly and directly in us. Thus, we can say that the Spirit by His power reveals the Father in the form of the Son! (Martin Lloyd-Jones, God the Holy Spirit. Page 25).
How to illustrate the Trinity of God by example?
Second part our question - how to depict the Trinity of God by example?
This is a very difficult task. If it were easy and simple, it probably would not have been such a long and fierce discussion. When explaining this issue I am using the example of water. It comes in three states: water, ice and steam. But using this analogy, I always make a reservation that this is also very weak example, which does not fully explain this Divine mystery of the Trinity.
Tertullian once said: “The doctrine of the Trinity is revealed by God, and not built by man. From a human point of view, it is so absurd that no one could invent it. We do not adhere to the doctrine of the Trinity because it is obvious or logically irreproachable. We stick to it because in it God revealed who He is. ”
The doctrine of the Trinity or the oneness of God, in which there are three Persons, is a supernatural doctrine. This is one of the greatest mysteries of God. This is a wonderful revelation from God that must be believed with deep humility and reverence. Therefore, all human attempts to explain this the greatest secret- are doomed. This truth can only be judged by spiritual man whose mind is enlightened by the Holy Spirit. Let us be very careful in our desires to penetrate into the greatest mystery of the Divine. Let us always maintain a special reverence for the Face of the invisible, but manifested in the flesh, God!
Primary pastor of the church SLAVIC CHURCH ECB "ON THE MOUNTAIN"
Born in the small Siberian town of Tara, Omsk region.
The family had twelve children.
Today they are all adults, have their own families, they all came to know the Lord in their time.
Three of them are pastors.
Alexander Kirillovich has unfinished higher education: "Omsk Medical Institute".
At the age of 21, Alexander Kirillovich received Holy water baptism in the church of Alma-Ata.
There he began his ministry among the youth and his activity as a preacher.
In 1972 he married a sister in faith, Olga Khivrenko. They have five children and several grandchildren.
All children are believers, church members, serve in churches.
Since 1973, Alexander served as secretary of the Council under the senior presbyter in Kyrgyzstan.
Then, for 15 years, until 1993, he served as a pastor in the ECB church in Frunze.
Alexander took an active part in many Evangelistic events in the former Soviet Union.
Currently he lives in the USA, Spokane.
Carries out pastoral ministry in the ECB church and is the Chairman of the North-West Union
Slavic churches of North America.
In 2009 he received his Master of Theology degree from the International Theological Seminary (Florida).
Over the past 18 years, has been doing missionary trips to different countries of the world,
together with a male choir from Germany.
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.1. Biblical Sources of Trinity DoctrineMuslim: Nowhere in the Bible does it say that God is triune, and the word "trinity" itself never occurs in it. The Jews believed in one God, while the Greeks and Romans believed in many gods. The Church came up with the theory of the unity of the three gods, in order to please both.
The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the issues that most divides Christians and Muslims. The latter believe that it strikes at the very heart of the idea of absolute unity of God, which is the main idea of the Quran. Muslims believe that any attempt to endow God with helpers is shirk (polytheism or "associating with God"), the greatest of all sins and the only one that cannot be forgiven.
"Verily, Allah does not forgive that partners are given to Him, but forgives what is less than that to whom He wills. And whoever gives partners to Allah, he has concocted a great sin" (Surah 4.48).
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity is understood by them as the union of Jesus with God and the Holy Spirit. For Muslims to admit that Allah has given birth to a Son is tantamount to expressing complete disbelief. From childhood, Muslims learn by heart the Surah, which has already been quoted in this book - they consider it one of the main in the Quran and, in its meaning, is equivalent to one third of the entire Quran:
Say: "He - Allah - is one, Allah, eternal; He did not give birth and was not born, and no one was equal to Him!" (sura 112.1-4).
As you testify to Muslims, you will soon find that they vigorously deny any possibility of the existence of God in three persons and violently attack the doctrine, which, in their opinion, is the weakest link of the Christian faith. After all, how can three persons exist in one God? When Christ died, did God also die? Did all three people die on the cross? If they are all one, then it should have happened.
Muslims will argue. They will argue that the Bible does not mention the Trinity. We begin by examining the evidence that this doctrine has a solid biblical foundation.
God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit
When talking with Muslims, it is necessary to place special emphasis on the trinity of the person of God revealed to us in the Bible - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Let's take a look at each of these personalities in order.
1. God the Father. The most common name for God in the New Testament is Father. Jesus constantly called God in heaven "My Father" (see: Matthew 18:10), "Your Father" (see: Luke 12:32), "Father" (see: John 14:13) and praying, he addressed Him as "Father" (see: John 11:41). What matters here is that God is spoken of in terms of relationship - He is not only Almighty, but, being a unique person, He has a certain relationship within His divine essence. This name of God is rarely found in other religions and is never used in Islam.
2. God the Son. It is with the second person - the Son - that God the Father is bound by a relationship of paramount importance. This second person became a man named Jesus, who always spoke of Himself as the Son of the heavenly Father in absolute and exclusive terms: "... no one knows the Son but the Father; and no one knows the Father except the Son ..." (Matt 11:27) , "He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him" (John 5:23), "I came out of the Father and came into the world; and again I leave the world and go to the Father" (John 16:28) ... When talking with Muslims about the Trinity of God, it is important to convert Special attention to these texts in order to show the divine relationship between the Father and the Son, which no human being possesses in such a unique understanding.
3. God the Holy Spirit. In the New Testament, a third person constantly appears - the Holy Spirit. He definitely has a close relationship with the Father and the Son on a divine level. The Son sends Him from the Father, He proceeds from the Father and testifies of the Son (see: John 15:26). After the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, the Father will send Him to earth in the name of the Son, and the Spirit will remind Jesus' disciples of everything that He said to them (see: John 14:26).
All these quotes come from the mouth of Jesus Christ Himself, the great Word of the Father, who was in the beginning, was with the Father and was God (see: John 1: 1-10). In the Bible, Jesus is always called the Son of God, and even the Father Himself, who spoke twice from heaven, proclaimed: "... This is My beloved Son ..." (Matt. 3:17, 17: 5).
Bible Sayings About the Trinity
In the Bible, we find a number of sayings about all three persons of the Trinity at the same time. Consider three such statements that are useful to quote when talking to Muslims.
1.Gospel of Matthew (28:19): Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In this passage, Jesus Christ commands His disciples to go all over the world and teach, "baptizing ... in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." It is very significant that Christ spoke "in the name of ...", while listing all three and using singular to indicate absolute unity between them. Likewise, the word "name" is often used in the Bible when it is necessary to define a given person with the help of a name, for example Moshe (Moses), so named because he was taken (mash) out of the water. In Matt. 28:19 Jesus uses this word to express the general nature of the three persons.
2. Second Epistle to the Corinthians (13:13): blessing of the Trinity. At the end of his letter, Paul entrusts the Corinthian Christians with the grace of the Son, the love of the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Again, each person of the Trinity is mentioned in union with two others: the apostle wishes the Corinthians the blessing of all three divine personalities.
3. Epistle to Ephesians (2:18): access to the eternal Father. Paul lists all three persons of the Trinity when he speaks of the general purpose of divine union. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, all believers - both Jews and pagans - have access to the eternal Father in one Spirit. And again, one cannot fail to notice the unity of the three personalities, while emphasizing the divine sphere in which their relationship is built. In Matt. 28:19 the general divine nature is presented to the reader, in 2 Cor. 13:13 is a general divine blessing, and here is the general divine availability of all three persons of the Trinity.
There are many other proofs of the Trinity of God in the Bible. Even in the Old Testament, the second person of the Trinity is referred to as the Son of the Father. The Holy Spirit is often referred to as the direct representative of God and His own Spirit (see: Gen. 1: 2; Ps. 50:13). When witnessing to Muslims, it is important to show them that the Church did not invent the Trinity and did not adapt her teaching about God to the widespread teachings of monotheism and polytheism, but learned about it from her true Scripture - the Bible.
It is also useful to point out that it was the coming into the world of Jesus Christ that made it possible to comprehend God as a triune essence. Old Testament usually speaks of God as Yahweh, the Lord God of Israel, but when Jesus began to teach, he often spoke of God as the Father, of Himself as His Son, and the descent of the Holy Spirit in expressions that leave no doubt that everything the three personalities share divine glory, a common nature, essence and purpose, that there is absolute unity between them. As a result New Testament constantly focuses on each of the three personalities of the divine Trinity as a sphere in which believing Christians can know God (the Father), be forgiven by Him (with the help of His Son Jesus Christ) and receive His divine presence (in the Holy Spirit). All references to Yahweh disappear in the light of the close union that believers find with God, whose true nature and triune personality are now more fully revealed.
2.2. The incomprehensibility of God's nature
Muslim: The Islamic idea of God is very easy to understand, and the Christian doctrine of the Trinity defies reason. Even if you write thousands of books about it, you will never fully explain it. The essence of our doctrine can be stated in postage stamp: Huwa Allahu ahad - "He - Allah - is one".
Muslims sincerely believe that it is very difficult to understand how God can be a triune, and Christians, explaining this doctrine to them, seem to be often confused themselves. This is not an easy concept and we must admit it openly. However, the fact that this doctrine is complex does not mean that it lacks common sense. Its complexity is perhaps the strongest argument in its favor. After all, we are dealing with the nature of the eternal God of the worlds. He is greater than heaven and earth, and is it any wonder. if His nature turns out to be incomprehensible to us? As the Bible itself says,
"Can you find God by research? Can you perfectly comprehend the Almighty? He is above heaven - what can you do? Deeper than hell - what can you learn?" (Job 11: 7-8).
Muslims argue that the Islamic idea of God is very easy to understand and therefore more acceptable than the incomprehensible doctrine that Christians accept. The question is inevitable: is there not a New Testament concept of God that is more comprehensible to the human mind? As Kenneth Cragg said, the doctrine of the Trinity cannot boast of its ability to abbreviate to a postage stamp. The Muslim writer Afif Tabbara is closer to the point when he says that Almighty God is very different from His creatures and more magnificent than the human mind can imagine.
In Search of Ways to Know God
The doctrine of the trinity does not contradict reason, it is simply above the limited human understanding. It requires a different level of understanding. A mental, analytical study of doctrine explains little of its essence. The apostle Paul said:
"What then? Do you think it incredible that God raises the dead?" (Acts 26: 8)
Paul, addressing King Agrippa and the other members of the court, did not attempt to rationalize the resurrection of the dead. Everything Scientific research the natural world will never be able to provide a rational explanation of how this happens. This is purely a matter of faith. All Muslims only by faith recognize the resurrection of the dead. Why, then, we may ask, does any of them consider it incredible that God, who rules the universe, is incomprehensible in His infinite and eternal nature?
The New Testament is far more concerned with our relationship with God than with our understanding of His nature. What we know about God is not nearly as important as the need to truly know Him. Our trust in His holiness and forgiveness by Him of our sins and confidence in eternal life - this is what the Holy Scriptures of Christians are concerned with. As Paul says, we come to know God, or rather, we receive knowledge from God (see Gal. 4: 9). Thanks to the revelation of God in His eternal triune nature, especially in His incarnation in Jesus Christ, "who is the image of the invisible God" (see: Col. 1:15) and in whom all the fullness of God dwelt bodily (see: Col. 2: 9), we came to know God and received knowledge from Him. Muslims should be told that the most important thing for us is to walk righteously before God, gain His approval and be forgiven, and not understand or know His nature. God wants us to love Him, be obedient to Him, and not engage in knowledge of Him.
Trinity: Divine Revelation
It is also important to tell Muslims that although the main churches - Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox - differ on many issues, they have never argued over the doctrine of the Trinity, including its most insignificant details. The reason for this unanimity lies in the fact that the Church never developed this doctrine, she formulated it while studying divine revelation in the Holy Scriptures. This is the only doctrine of God that can be obtained from an objective study of the Books of the New Testament.
The Council of Nicaea, held in 325, finally formulated the doctrine of the Trinity. The term "trinity" was first coined by Tertullian, the great Christian scholar. Muslims often use this fact as proof that the doctrine was invented by the Church three centuries after the crucifixion of Christ. Some of them are ironic, saying that God was one until the 4th century, when the Church turned Him into a Trinity.
I can offer a very useful line of reasoning, which has proved to be very effective on many occasions when discussing this issue.
For many centuries, all mankind believed that the Earth is flat and the sun, planets, stars revolve around it. Several centuries ago, Galileo, Copernicus, and other astronomers proclaimed that the earth is actually round, floating in space, and revolving around the sun. The theory was rejected (and especially vehemently by the Church!) For the reason that throughout history it was considered a common place that the Earth is flat, and in any case, common sense said that our planet is flat and the sky revolves around it. The idea that every day we revolve around our own axis at a speed of more than 1000 miles per hour, revolving around the Sun at a speed of 10,000 miles per hour, was completely irrational for the minds of people of that time. And only with scientific evidence, today we accept this theory, although it is still very difficult to comprehend it. But the nature of God cannot be scientifically proven, and it may turn out that He is something completely opposite to what is so easily assumed by people. The Church identified the triune nature of God about forty centuries before the truth about our universe was discovered. Why? Simply because God has revealed His true nature to us in Scripture. The Church did not turn God into a Trinity; He was such from the very beginning.
Some Muslims argue that the Trinity cannot be mathematically proven. After all, 1 + 1 + 1 = 3, they claim, but even mathematicians use the symbol for infinity, which cannot be multiplied, divided, added or subtracted like a normal number. Likewise, the infinite God cannot be comprehended in limited words and our mathematics is completely inadequate for defining the eternal.
Christianity does not try to present an understandable God to the world. His goal is to reveal a knowable God - the Father who loves his children, the Son who died in order to atone for their sins, and the Holy Spirit who sanctifies God's creation. Man's goal is to reach heaven and be with God, not to map heaven or develop a concept of God that can be easily understood or reduced to the size of a motto on a postage stamp.
2.3. The Oneness of God is the Core of the Trinity Doctrine
Muslim: Christians worship three deities, thereby falling into the sin of polytheism (shirk). The Bible places particular emphasis on teaching about God's unity. Your doctrine is inconsistent with your Scripture.
Muslims claim that the Bible speaks of God's oneness, yet they believe that this undermines the doctrine of trinity. The Old Testament proclaims: "... The Lord [your God] is God in heaven above and on earth below, and there is none other than Him ..." (Deut. 4:39), and the New Testament also states: "The Lord our God is one Lord ... "(Mark 12:29) and" one God "(see: Rom. 3:30; Gal. 3:20). When talking with Muslims about the Trinity, it is helpful to quote these texts in order to establish from the outset that God's unity is as fundamental a teaching in the Bible as it is in the Qur'an. The contentious issue lies in the complex nature of this unity, which the biblical doctrine of the trinity of God speaks of.
God: Trinity, Not Tritheism
“How can three be one?” The Muslim rightly asks. “Every human being is a separate creation and individuality, and three people can never become one being with the same nature.” In answering this question, we must turn to the Bible and see how it represents the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
1. First Epistle of John (1: 5):"God is light." The Bible often focuses our attention on these words. She calls God "the Father of lights, with whom there is no change and no shadow of change" (James 1:17). The Son of God, Jesus Christ, proclaimed: "... I am the light of the world; whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (John 8:12), and the New Testament testifies of Him that He is never changes, but "the same yesterday and today and forever" (see: Heb. 13: 8). Moreover, God, with the Holy Spirit, illuminates our hearts in order to "enlighten us with the knowledge of the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4: 6). It is quite clear that between Them there is an absolute unity of essence and purpose.
2. The Gospel of John (3:33):"... God is true ...". This verse says that truth is the essential nature of God the Father. The Son of God says the same about Himself: "... I am ... the truth ..." (John 14: 6). Likewise, the Holy Spirit is called the "Spirit of truth" (see John 15:26). There is no lie in any of them. Again, we see that although human beings may differ in personality and character, there is no such difference between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are the truth.
3. First Epistle of John (4: 8):"God is love". The New Testament often testifies to the love of the Father (see: John 16:27), but goes further and says that the love of God was revealed in the fact that He sent His Son to atone for our sins (see: Rom. 5: 8; 1 John 4:10). He also states that God's love "has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us" (Rom. 5: 5). Again we see the absolute oneness of the essence and purpose of the three persons of the Trinity.
The same can be said for the grace of God. As the Father is the source of all life, so the Son called Himself “life” (see: John 11:25), and Peter called Him “the Author of life” (see: Acts 3:15). Likewise, the Holy Spirit is the One through whom God will give eternal life our mortal bodies (see: Rom. 8:11). In all of these texts, we see a divine tri-unity, not three independent individuals. Our doctrine only holds to the definition of God's oneness. Without it, the main property of the trinity disappears. You simply cannot validate this concept outside of the oneness of God's essence. As Jesus said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). The Holy Spirit also enters into this absolute oneness.
I must once again draw your attention to the advice given in the introduction to this book — use the Bible, not theories, reason, or illustrations. Our answer to Muslims is this: our doctrine is a product of divine revelation, it cannot be judged by the limited human mind. We respond to what God Himself revealed about Himself, because, as Karl Pfander said, the human mind is not able to grasp the eternal. His dim torch must make way for the radiance of truth.
2.4. Does the doctrine of the Trinity have pagan roots?
Muslim: Trinity doctrine is based on pagan religions, which had their own triune gods long before the rise of Christianity. The Egyptians, Hindus, Romans and Greeks had triads of deities in which they believed.
The tendency of Muslims to ignore the essential unity of the triune God and regard the Christian faith as tritheism leads them to accuse Christianity that its doctrine of the trinity has parallels in the ancient pagan religions. Consider the examples offered in the Muslim literature on this issue.
1. Egyptian gods Osiris, Isis and Horus. In Muslim literature, it is often claimed that the Egyptians also believed in a trinity - Osiris, Isis and Horus, which, according to some authors, represent "a kind of trinity of gods" and are the Egyptian equivalent of the Christian Trinity. And again, in discussions with Muslims, it is important to emphasize the unity of the divine essence and the fundamental monotheism of the Christian faith. The very word "trinity" means divine unity, and only Muslims can know what they mean when they say "trinity of gods." This expression contains a contradiction.
The mythological gods Osiris, Isis and Horus constituted a family - father, mother and son, as far from the Christian doctrine of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as it is possible to imagine. Moreover, they were just three of the many other Egyptian deities.
The Egyptians did not believe in the Almighty with a triune essence and nature. They worshiped many gods and did not believe that Osiris, Isis and Horus were absolutely one. As we will soon see, the pagan triads are closer to the false presentation of Christian doctrine in the Qur'an than to biblical doctrine.
2. Hindu trimurti: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Hindus believe in trimurti, the triad of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Muslims often claim that this theory is at the root of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. Historical analysis of the Hindu theory shows that there is not even a remote analogy between them.
Hinduism assumes the existence of many gods, such as Krishna, Rama, Sita, Ganesha, Hanuman, Kali and others. The Upanishad, Veda and other ancient Hindu texts do not say that Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva were united by any relationship. The Veda recognized at least 33 different deities, and these were 33 separate deities, often opposing each other. Most of them were married to Hindu goddesses.
The concept of trimurti is recorded only in late Sanskrit and cannot be dated earlier than the 5th century AD. NS. The Christian doctrine of the Trinity was fully defined long before this time.
The uniqueness of the biblical doctrine of the trinity
Muslims claiming a pagan origin for the doctrine of the Trinity must provide more compelling evidence for its origins in pagan beliefs. The doctrine of the Trinity is absolutely unique, it has no analogues in any other religion in the world. No one could have invented it and no one would have ever known about it if it had not been revealed in the pages of the New Testament. It originated in the Jewish world, where monotheism dominated, and represents a God, whose concept is fully consistent with the concepts of God of Old Testament Israel.
When Muslims prove the pagan origins of this doctrine, Christians are presented with a great opportunity to successfully testify of the glory of God and the work of our salvation that He has accomplished. The New Testament makes no attempt to formulate, systemize, or explain the Christian doctrine of God. He just proclaims it! Christians of all subsequent generations should explain their teaching.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, and other New Testament writers were primarily concerned with clearly presenting the relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They strove to evoke in the hearts of Christians the faith in the Trinity and to strengthen this faith. As already mentioned, God does not so much want to be defined, analyzed His essence, developed explanatory concepts, as He wants to be loved and relied on unconditionally. He cannot be seen, materialized, calculated or reduced to what can be given a final definition, but He can be cognized, and the question is what we ourselves urgently need, namely, to receive God's forgiveness, to know God, to become His child and, of course inherit His kingdom.
In the next section, we will look at some of the ways in which Muslims can talk about the Trinity and see why it is better to use the subject as a witnessing opportunity than as an argument.
2.5. Father, Son and Holy Spirit
Muslim: The Quran teaches that the highest honor for a person is to be a slave to Allah, who is our Lord and Teacher. We are required to obey His law and believe in the Day of Judgment if we hope to be forgiven.
Muslims cannot be sure of God's grace and the forgiveness of their sins; they consider it impossible to know God or have a personal relationship with Him. Quran says:
"Everyone who is in heaven and on earth comes to the Merciful only as a slave ..." (Sura 19.93).
The Arabic word for slave is abd. In the same chapter, where it is said that Jesus spoke of Himself: "I am the servant of Allah ..." (Surah 19.30), this word is used. According to Islam, the highest position of any person before Allah is to be nothing more than a slave to his divine Teacher and Judge. Therefore, Muslims believe that they should live exclusively as servants of God, labor to earn His mercy, and hope that when the great Day of Judgment comes, He will approve of their life. Here, a fertile field of activity opens up for Christians for such a testimony of the Trinity, which will open up a greater hope and a more glorious God.
God the Father: God is for us
According to the hadiths, Allah has 99 "beautiful names", which are his attributes. Everyone who learns them by heart can count on paradise (see: al-Sahih Muslim, vol. 4, p. 1410). The first thirteen names are listed in Sura 59.22-24 as follows: ar-Rahman (the Merciful), ar-Rahim (the Merciful), al-Malik (King), al-Quddus (Holy), etc. According to the Sufi, Allah has a hundredth a name that was revealed only to the great Sufi teachers of antiquity.
I often hinted to Muslims that if you omit one from the list of one hundred names, then it will not be the hundredth, but rather the first, most common name of God in the New Testament - Father. It is very significant that nowhere in the Qur'an and early Islamic literature is God called Father. It is logical to conclude that if the highest place that, as the Qur'an teaches, a person can take before God is the place of His servant, then He can only be our Lord (al-Malik). The Quran simply does not allow the idea that we can become God's children, moreover, it claims the opposite (see: sura 6.100).
However, when he began teaching, Jesus always said that God is the Father of all true believers. This name given to the first person of the Trinity indicates that God is for us. If He became our Father, then we are no longer His servants, but His children. It is very helpful when talking with Muslims to make a comparison between the situation of slaves and children. The slave must earn his own living every day, and it is not at all necessary that the master will love him - the master expects from the slave only the fulfillment of his duties. If a slave does not do his job properly, he will be punished. In addition, he does not live in the house of his master, but goes to his own home. The son, however, knows that his father loves him and will never drive him out of his house. The son should not deserve his place in him, but has it by right. He enjoys a freedom that a slave never has, and knows that his father loves him. This is the position of a true Christian who knows God's love.
“See what love the Father has given us so that we may be called and be children of God” (1 John 3: 1).
"Do not be afraid, little flock! For your Father was pleased to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32).
Only by knowing God as Father can one truly know the fullness of His love, and believers, being His children, can be sure of His favor towards them and in their place in the coming Kingdom.
God the Son: God is with us
Jesus Christ not only called Himself the Son of God, but also assured His disciples that, by believing in Him, they too can become children of God. It is in Christ's willingness to lay down His life for us that we see God's love revealed to us in its entirety. In Christ, God is with us. Taking the form of a human, the Son, the second person of the Trinity, uniquely reconciled God and man. I often asked Muslims what was the greatest manifestation of Allah's love for them, and invariably received many answers. However, did He sacrifice himself in order to show his love for them in the same way as Abraham did when he was ready to sacrifice his own son as a test of his love for God? Islam does not provide a positive answer to this question. Only in the revelation of the triune God can you find such a perfect manifestation of love. The following passages summarize what has been said:
"In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10).
"But God proves His love for us by the fact that Christ died for us when we were still sinners" (Rom. 5: 8).
In Jesus Christ we can be sure of the forgiveness of sins and see how great God's love for us is. Muslims do not know this kind of love. When the Qur'an speaks of God's love and calls Allah al-Wadud - Loving One (see: sura 85.14), then this, according to Muslim scholars, only means that He approves of His followers. It does not at all follow from this that He has any feelings for them, or that He is ready to make a sacrifice in order to show his love to humanity.
I have met many Muslims who are openly interested in the Christian revelation of God's love in Christ. Man is capable of expressing the greatest sacrificial love, and many Muslims strive to know just such a God and to be confident in His eternal favor and His love for them. They can only find them in Jesus Christ, who embodied own words that there is no more love than laying down his life for his friends (see: John 15:13). This is the most powerful thought in our testimony.
God the Holy Spirit: God in us
It is in the third person of the Trinity that we not only recognize God's love, but also experience it personally. Jesus often spoke of the need to receive the Holy Spirit. This is not just some kind of divine power, it is the Spirit of God, and when He dwells in someone, God Himself lives in a unique way in this person. Here we see the third revelation of the divine trinity - God in us. Unsurprisingly, the New Testament writers did not attempt to define or explain the trinity. To know God, to be sure that He is for us, with us and in us - that's all we need to know in order for our relationship with Him to be full. The Spirit gives believers the strength to live according to God's holy law, and moreover, He allows them to feel God's presence in their hearts. God sent us His Son so that we could become His children, and how He sends His Spirit into our hearts to His children, so that we can exclaim "Abba, Father!" (see: Gal. 4: 4-6).
"... You ... received the Spirit of adoption, by which we cry out" Abba, Father! "This Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (Rom. 8: 15-16).
"... But hope does not shame, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which was given to us" (Rom. 5: 5).
I can give an example to illustrate this idea. The couple decided to adopt the orphan and followed the legal process to formalize the adoption. The child does not yet know that he has parents, but when his new father and mother take him to their house, show him his room and say that now this is his house, and then tenderly hug him, he learns that he is more not an orphan, and feels their love. This is what happens when the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts.
There is no better way to explain to a Muslim the Trinity of God than to show him this triple revelation of God's love for us. Only in the trinity of God could eternal love appear and has appeared in all its fullness. In the introduction to this book, I said that Christians should stick to the Bible during their testimony and nowhere is the application of this advice more important than in a discussion of the Trinity of God. Do not allow Muslims to overwhelm you with arguments against the consistency of this doctrine, or try to defend it with dubious three-in-one examples. Use the opportunity to show them that the triune personality of God was finally revealed only when Jesus Christ came to earth and spoke openly about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It was only when the time came for the perfect expression of God's love in Christ that we were informed of the true nature of God's nature. The writers of the New Testament paid particular attention to this circumstance when they dealt with the question of the trinity. And we, testifying to Muslims, should do the same.
2.6. The Qur'an and the Christian Trinity Doctrine
Muslim: The Qur'an completely rejects the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. God is one, He cannot be triune, as you think. It is a great blasphemy to say that He has helpers. Everything in heaven and on earth brings glory to Him alone.
The main reason for the false understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity, which exists among Muslims, is a completely misrepresentation of it in the Qur'an. The word "trinity" is not found anywhere in this Book, but it is clear that the Qur'an stands in opposition to the belief in a threefold divine essence, whatever form it may take. Nevertheless, he does not even try to understand the fundamental Christian doctrine of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, does not oppose its perversion, the source of which was probably the sectarian teachings that were once widespread in the Arabian Peninsula.
The Quranic Trinity: Jesus, Mary and Allah
The Qur'an categorically rejects the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, which he understands as the concept of a triad of deities - Jesus, His mother Mary and Allah (in that order). In three Quranic passages, this doctrine is strongly criticized as polytheistic and therefore blasphemous. In the first, we read:
"... and do not say - three! Hold on, this is better for you. Indeed, Allah is only one God. He is more praiseworthy that He had a child" (Surah 4.171).
The word for the number "three" here is a common word for the Qur'an, it appears in the Book nineteen times, always means "three" and cannot be translated as "trinity". The command not to speak of Allah as three persons is included in a passage urging Christians to "not be exaggerated" in their religion. From the opposition of the oneness of Allah and the "three deities" of Christians, it is clear that the Qur'an has no idea what the Christian doctrine of God says about His essential unity.
In another passage, the Qur'an also names three deities allegedly worshiped by Christians. It is interesting that all three passages touching upon this issue are found in those parts of the Koran that came to Muhammad last, and, apparently, he first heard about the Triune Christian God only at the end of his life, when he no longer had the opportunity to find out more precisely what it is. trinity. The second verse on this matter reads:
"Those who said:" After all, Allah is the third of the three, "did not believe, while there is no deity but one God" (Surah 5.73).
And in this passage there is no specific reference to the trinity or any hint of any awareness of the Qur'an that the Christian God is a triune person. The distinction is made here exclusively between one God and three deities, and nothing is said about the trinity. A few verses later, the Qur'an identifies two other Trinity Gods worshiped by Christians:
"The Messiah, the son of Maryam, is only a messenger, the messengers have passed before him, and his mother is a righteous woman. They both ate food" (Surah 5.75).
The argument is perfectly clear. Jesus and His mother Mary were only human beings. Although He was the messenger of Allah, there were other exactly the same messengers before Him. Jesus' mother was nothing more than a righteous servant of Allah. Both of them had to eat food in order to maintain their existence. So how can they be considered gods on a par with Allah? The Qur'an clearly misunderstands the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and presents it as teaching about the triad, which is composed of Jesus, Mary and Allah. It is noteworthy that Allah is presented in it only the third - in the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, God, at least, takes the first place!
In ancient times, in Arabia, there were various sects, such as the Nestorian, Monophysite, and others, which had confused teachings regarding God, Jesus and Mary, but none of them represented these three persons as Trinity. It is now clear why Muslims believe that our faith is based on the faith of the Egyptians in the divine family of Father-Mother-Son, represented by Osiris, Isis and Horus. Probably, Muhammad did not know anything about the true trinity of God, professed by Christians, and confused it with the pagan belief in a divine family. If God really was the author of the Koran, then it is difficult to understand how He could have made such a mistake and not even approximately designate the Christian doctrine of the one eternal Almighty - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, which is held by all the main Christian churches - Roman Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox ...
The third passage reads:
And Allah said: "O‘ Isa, son of Maryam! Did you say to people: "Accept me and my mother as two gods besides Allah?" He said: "Praise be to You! How can I say that I am not right? If I spoke, You know it. You know what is in my soul, but I do not know what is in Your soul: after all, You are the one who knows what is hidden "(sura 5.116)
This passage also says that two deities besides Allah are Jesus and Mary. Veneration of Mary is the main dogma of Catholic doctrine, and, in particular, the Ethiopian Church worships her as the Mother of God, but none Christian church, no matter how much she reveres and exalts Mary, for example, as the Heavenly Queen, she has never distorted the concept of the Trinity and has not perverted it in the same way as the Koran.
When Muslims dispute the doctrine of the Trinity and are unwilling to admit that it is an expression of divine oneness other than the way of presenting a unitary concept of the Qur'an, it is worth citing these passages as evidence, first, that the Qur'an is completely misrepresenting Christian doctrine, and second, that this is the source of the erroneous opinion of Muslims who believe that we believe in three different gods.
It is also important to know that the true Christian doctrine was known in Arabia even before Muhammad. Yemeni explorer Edward Glasser, in 1888, in a narrative of a rebellion against Ethiopian rule in the pre-Islamic period, discovered a record dating back to 542 AD. NS. It is made on Arabic 208 years before the birth of Muhammad and reads: "(In the power of) the Merciful, the Messiah and the Holy Spirit." Thus, the nature of the Christian trinity was known in Arabia long before the Qur'an was written, and the complete misconception that this Book gives about it can only be attributed to the prophet's ignorance of Christian theology.
MOSCOW THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE
ESSAY
"The Trinity of God"
Student:
Golev Yu.V.
Teacher:
Onufriychuk P.I.
Moscow 2013
Introduction
The theology of the Church of Christians of the Evangelical faith - Pentecostals, like the doctrines of other Evangelical churches, is based on the main principle of Protestantism, clearly formulated by Martin Luther: "only Scripture."
Pentecostals profess the trinity of God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each Person has all the attributes of God. Pentecostals believe that Christ is the only mediator between God and people, they believe in atoning sacrifice Christ. The doctrine of salvation is based on Arminianism - that is, the belief that Christ died for all people and now it depends on the person himself to voluntarily accept this gift of the Lord and inherit eternal life, or reject it and inherit eternal destruction. Pentecostal theology notes the special role of the Holy Spirit, who descended to earth to create Christ Church on the day of Pentecost and now constantly lives in believers, inspiring, teaching, exposing sins, sanctifying, strengthening believers, making them capable of any good deed, revealing spiritual secrets, foreshadowing the future.
The biblical teaching about the Trinity of God is necessary to know for several reasons.
First, God Himself revealed this secret to us in the pages of the Bible, which means that without a correct understanding of the Trinity, our knowledge of God will be incomplete and distorted.
Secondly, through the knowledge of the Trinity of God, we better comprehend the depth of divine love, which not only manifests itself in relation to people, but also forms the basis of relationships within the Trinity.
Third, without taking into account this teaching, we cannot correctly understand the redemptive work of our Triune God, since it is impossible to correctly understand the saving work of Jesus Christ without understanding His relationship with the Father, and the greatness of the Father's self-sacrifice without understanding His indissoluble unity with the Son.
Fourth, the willful rejection of the doctrine of the Trinity, in whole or in part, is a sure sign that we are dealing with heretics or non-Christians altogether.
1. One God in Three Persons
The doctrine of the Trinity (or Trinity) is one of the most difficult in Christian theology. Moreover, our minds are put in a difficult position when discussing this teaching. We must accept a teaching that not only cannot be fully understood by us, but also contradicts our usual logic, when one cannot be equal to three.
From ancient times to the present day, Christians have been trying to find suitable illustrations to visually demonstrate the Trinity. Perhaps one of the most successful analogies is the three states of matter. For example, water that remains water and in the form of liquid, and in the form of ice, and in the form of steam. But this example is still not perfect. It should be recognized that in the material world it is impossible to find a perfect analogy of the divine Trinity (2 Cor. 13:13 "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit with you all. Amen").
Recognition of the biblical teaching in its entirety inevitably leads to the doctrine of the Trinity: there is one Living God who dwells in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit (I Peter 1: 1-2 “Peter, Apostle of Jesus Christ , to the aliens scattered in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, sanctified by the Spirit, to obedience and sprinkling with the Blood of Jesus Christ: grace and peace be multiplied to you ”). Moreover, each of the Persons of the Trinity has personality traits and the fullness of Divinity. This may seem paradoxical, but we have no choice but to bow before the Lord's majesty and accept the Triune God by faith.
Distortion, the more complete denial of the doctrine of the Trinity of God is a grave error (Matt. 28:19 "So go, teach all nations by baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit").
2. God is the Father
Scripture shows us the character of God the Father through the actions of two other persons of the Trinity - God the Son and God - the Holy Spirit. It is no coincidence that at the beginning of the Gospel of John it is said that “No one has seen God, and never, the Only Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father — He has revealed” (John 1:18).
The Bible tells us that "the Father has life in himself." At the same time, Jesus says about Himself that the Father “gave Him to have life in Himself” (John 5:26). In other words, the Father has no other reason for His existence other than Himself, and the Father is the primary cause of the life of the Son, and accordingly the life of the Holy Spirit. The life of the Father does not precede the life of the Son and the Holy Spirit in time (since they are beginningless), but the life of God the Father is a mysterious fundamental principle divine life two other Persons of the Trinity.
The Bible also reveals to us that despite the essential equality of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, there is a certain functional subordination between them. In particular, the Word of God definitely speaks of the subordination of the Son and the Holy Spirit to the Father in the work of salvation. The leading role of the Father is not dictatorial, but is carried out in love, with voluntary submission to the Father by the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The creation of the world was predominantly the work of God the Father, although the participation of God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in this is obvious. God the Father is the root cause of the creation of the universe, the heavenly bodies, the Earth, the animal and flora as well as angels and us humans.
Perhaps, in nothing is the loving essence of God the Father so clearly revealed than in the fact that He sacrificed His own Son, sending Him into the world to suffer: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him did not perish, but had eternal life ”(John 3:16).
God the Father is not only the Father of His Only Begotten Son, but also the Father of every believer (Matthew 7:11 "So, if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him") ...
It is no accident that after His resurrection, Jesus said that He ascends “to my Father and your Father ...” (John 20:17). This means that God shows in relation to us truly parental, fatherly love and care.
trinity god holy spirit
3. God is the Son
This Hypostasis of God had its own special role in world history. God the Son became incarnate, became the Man whom we now know as the Lord and Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. As the Word of God testifies, “in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2: 9). God the Son or, as He is called at the beginning of the Gospel of John, “the Word”, has always been God (John 1: 1-2) and remains so even after the incarnation.
In order to solve the problem of sin and restore the full-fledged relationship between God and humanity, lost as a result of the Fall, the Son of God became incarnate (that is, became a Man). Having become a Man, the Son of God “humbled” (diminished) Himself (Phil. 2: 6-8 “He, being the image of God, did not consider it a robbery to be equal to God; as a man: he humbled himself, becoming obedient even to death, and the death of the cross ").
The incarnation of the Son of God was miraculous. He was born of a virgin. Despite the fact that the Son of God decided to become a Man, He was from the very beginning a unique Human Being (Gal. 4: 4 “But when the fullness of time came, God sent His Son (the Only Begotten), Who was born of a wife”).
The biblical doctrine of the incarnation is another confirmation of the doctrine of the Trinity of God, since God the Son (God the Word) was an eternal divine person before His incarnation.
From the point of view of the Bible, ancient and modern attempts to speak of Jesus as simply about genius, famous for His special wisdom, holiness and tragic life. People who deliberately deny the divinity of Jesus Christ (for example, Jehovah's Witnesses) do not know Him and are not Christians.
4. Personality of the Holy Spirit
Both in the past and in the present, there are people who regard the Holy Spirit as a kind of impersonal force. This misconception must be dismissed as completely unacceptable. The Holy Spirit guides believers (Rom. 8:14), gives gifts (1 Cor. 12:11), prays for believers, He can be lied to (Acts 5: 3), He can be insulted (Ephesians 4:30).
Even from this incomplete list it is clear that the Holy Spirit can in no way be an impersonal force, but it certainly is a person.
It should be noted that the Holy Spirit is God in the full sense, just like God the Father and God the Son. The Holy Spirit is called by God the Apostle Peter when he denounces the lie to her husband Ananias (Acts 5: 3-4). About the Holy Spirit it is said that “the Spirit permeates everything and the depths of God” (1 Cor. 2:10 “But God revealed this to us by the Holy Spirit; for the Spirit permeates everything, and the depths of God”). Naturally, only a person who is Divine itself can penetrate the depths of God.
The divinity of the Holy Spirit is clearly visible in other texts of the Holy Scriptures. Here are two texts that definitely speak of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers along with the presence of the Father and the Son (Matthew 28:19 and 2 Cor. 13:13).
The Holy Spirit, being the third Person of the Trinity, comes from the Father. The Holy Spirit is inseparably linked with God the Father, having in Him the basis of His Divine being, although it is co-with the Father. The Holy Spirit, like God the Son, does the will of the Father, since it proceeds from Him (John 15:26) “When the Comforter comes, whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father. He will testify of Me. "
This is the expression of the Unity of God, Who remains absolutely One, despite the Trinity. The Holy Spirit cannot be viewed in isolation from God the Father and God's single plan of salvation (1 Cor. 12:13 “For we were all baptized into one body with one Spirit, Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and we were all watered with one Spirit”).
Conclusion
God is one and to Him alone, our Creator and Savior, belongs worship. To Him alone belongs worship and prayer. “Worship the Lord thy God, and serve Him alone” (Matt. 4:10; Luke 4: 8). Therefore, we should not worship angels, saints, the Virgin Mary, and also prayerfully honor any objects (crosses, relics, etc.). Although literate believers in the Orthodox and Catholic Churches do not give the saints and objects of divine honors, that is, they do not turn the veneration of saints into polytheism, and the veneration of icons into idolatry, nevertheless, any prayerful veneration of anyone or anything other than God, or prayer to someone other than the Lord is not in keeping with the Word of God.
The union of the divine and human nature in the person of Christ The unity of the nature of Christ points us to the closest connection between God and humanity. As believers, we are called to live our lives in complete oneness with God who redeemed us. Unity with God in prayer, in life, in the process of sanctification is the moral duty of every believer.
The Heavenly Father surrounds us with truly parental love and care. We must always remember this and thank Him for such a wonderful attitude towards us. Even punishing believers. God remains a loving Lord (Heb. 12: 6). “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
The Holy Spirit is a Divine person and we must not only believe in this ourselves, but also explain the true biblical teaching to those who perceive the Spirit of God as some kind of impersonal force.
It should be noted that the term and expression used in the Word of God to designate certain properties or actions of the Divine are often figurative or, due to the poverty of human languages, approximate. There are no words in any language that could adequately express the fullness of relationships within the Trinity.
We should be grateful to God that He revealed Himself to us in His incomprehensible Trinity. Even if we never fully understand this mystery, we must value the Creator, who has revealed himself to us as much as possible.
Bibliographic list of used literature
1.Bible: synodal translation. - United Bible Societies, 1997.
.W. Grudem Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Teaching: Per. from English - SPb .: Myrt, 2004. - 1453 p.
.L. F Forlins. Biblical taxonomy. The Bible is for everyone. St. Petersburg: 1996 .-- 271 p.
.S. Horton. Systematic theology. Life Publishers International. 1999 .-- 935 s
.W. Menzies and Stanley Horton. Bible doctrines. Life Publishers International. 1999.
.Berkhov L. History of Christian doctrines. SPb .: Bible for all, 2000 .-- 317 p.
.Encyclopedic Dictionary in 3 volumes. T. 3. Great Russian Encyclopedia. M .: 1995.-783s.
.Gospel Dictionary of Biblical Theology, edited by W. Eluell. - SPb: Bible for all, 2000. - 12p.
.M. V. Ivanov Fundamentals of Systematic Theology
Internet resources:
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