2B: Trinity Flashcards
Trinity
Christian belief in one god in three persons
Doctrine
an officially approved belief in a religious tradition
Co-equal
equal to each other - each is equally divine
Co-eternal
equally eternal - each is of infinite duration
Co-existent
existing alongside each other, not one after another
Monotheism
belief in one God only
Patriotic Period
the first eight centuries of the church
Tritheism
belief in three gods - a heresy in Christian thought
Heresy
wrong belief - declared to be so by the authority of the church
Adoptionism
the heresy of believing that Jesus was an ordinary man who became the son of god only at his baptism
Arianism
the heresy that Jesus was the highest of all created beings but not of the same substance as god
Sabellianisn
the heresy that Jesus was divine but not human
Modalism
heresy of claiming that the three persons of the trinity are distinct modes of god rather than persons (like an actor playing 3 different roles)
Creed
an official statement of belief put together by a Church council
Council of Nicea
meeting of the Church in 325CE which produced the first creed, saying Jesus was ‘begotten not made’
Council of Constantinople
meeting of the Church in 381CE which amended the creed adding belief in holy spirit ‘who proceeds from the father’
Council of Toledo
meeting of the Church in 589CE which inserted the filioque clause to the creed
Eastern Orthodox Church
name used by the Church in the Greek speaking East after the break with the Roman church over theological differences and other tensions. the word orthodox means ‘correct belief’
Great Schism
the break between the Eastern and Western church in 1054
Filioque Clause
the words ‘and from the son’ added to a sentence in the creed
Tertullian
3rd century Church father who coined the term trinity
Arius
Arius said Jesus was not god, he was subordinate to the father and had been created by him. he was declared a heretic for this view
Athanasius
Athanasius argued against Arius’ view. he said Jesus was ‘begotten, not created’
Augustine
he understood the trinity in terms of relationships in the godhead and saw the spirit as the bond of love between father and son
Doctrine of the trinity summed up in 3 bullet points
- there is only one god
- the father, son and holy spirit are three distinct persons
- each person is fully god: the three are co-existent, co-eternal and co-equal (no hierarchy)
What are the three ways in which Christians experience god?
- god, the father of jesus, who sent him to the world that he created
- Jesus, the son of god, who came to the world to bring god’s kingdom
- the Holy Spirit who is with Christians now that Jesus has returned to the father
How did belief in the trinity arise?
Christian experience
What religion were the disciples of Jesus and the earliest Christian Church? and what did this mean in regards to the trinity?
Jewish
- meant they participated in synagogues that proclaimed the unity of god: “Hear o Israel: the Lord is our god, the Lord is one”
What did Jesus do in the gospels that proved he was more than a rabbi or prophet?
- taught with authority
- forgave sins
- spoke to god on very familiar terms
- entered Jerusalem in a special way (Matthew 21:1-9)
- declared he was fulfilling the law and the prophets (Matthew 5:17)
- declared ‘all foods clean’
- said he would send the spirit of god
Why did it become natural for early Christians to pray to god in the name of Jesus?
because belief in the resurrection and the virgin birth confirmed for them that Jesus’ relationship with god was different than any other figure they had encountered in their tradition
How did early Christians reinterpret the Hebrew scriptures?
- they could see indications that god was a complex reality: Genesis 1:26: ‘let US make man in our image’ and Genesis 18.1-3: god appears to Abraham in the form of three men
- in other passages gods wisdom/spirit is referred to as a person
- although this isn’t definitive proof of a ‘trinity’ it still led christian’s to see and think that one could speak of Jesus, god and the spirit in the same breath
Why do Christians believe in both unity and trinity?
- NT statements about the oneness of god.
examples; ‘god is one’ (Romans 3:30) and statements linking together ‘the father, the son, the holy spirit’ (Matthew 28:19), ‘i and the father are one’ (John 10:30) and ‘our god and saviour Jesus Christ’ (2 Peter 1:1)
Why is the doctrine of trinity necessary?
it defines the relationship between the three persons of the trinity: father/creator, son/redeemer, and spirit/sustainer
Who coined the term ‘trinity’ and when?
Tertualluan, 3rd century (also the first person to talk about the trinity as composed of three ‘persons’)
Where was the doctrine of the trinity formalised?
Nicene Creed (325CE), which state that the son was ‘of one substance’ with the father
According to Tertullian, what three contemporary heresies was the doctrine designed to combat?
- Adoptionism: belief that Jesus was an ordinary man who become the son of god only at his baptism
- Sabellianism: the belief that Jesus was divine but not human
- Arianism: the belief that Jesus was the highest of all created beings but not of the same substance as god
Why was the doctrine of the trinity formulated?
- early Christians (who were Jewish and accepted Jewish scriptures) needed to try and make sense of their experience of Jesus in the light of their existing beliefs. monotheism was the central feature of those beliefs
- to establish a clear christology
- to challenge heresies
- to establish a shared Christian orthodoxy
What were the biblical foundations of the doctrine of the trinity in the Old Testament?
- the word ‘trinity’ does not appear in the Bible, but some Christians argue the concept it represents (god as three co-existent, co-eternal persons), does
- in the OT, god the father is often referred to plurally: first Hebrew word used for god in the bible (Genesis 1:1) is elohim, a plural noun. in Genesis 1:26-27, god refers to himself in the plural; ‘let us make humankind in our image
What were the biblical foundations of the doctrine of the trinity in the New Testament?
- in the NT, Jesus is often referred to as god
- John 1: Jesus was the word and that word was god, ‘through him all things were made’
- John 20:28: ‘my lord and my god’
- the Holy Spirit is often referred to as god: John 14:23: the indwelling of the HS is linked to the indwelling of Jesus and his father, the great commission in Matthew 28 he sends the disciples to baptise all nations ‘in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit’, and Paul in Roman 8:11, tells his readers that if the spirit of god dwells in them, god will give them life
Two quotes in the Bible that show the unity of god
- Deuteronomy 6:4-4: “the lord our god, the lord is one”
- Mark 12:29: “the lord our god, the lord is one”
John 10v30
“I and the father are one”
Colossians 1v15
“the son is the image of the invisible god, the firstborn over all creation”
John 8v58
“very truly I tell you” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”