doctrine of the trinity Flashcards
knowledge about trinity
-almost all christians are trinitarians
-trinity not found in any part of the bible but clearly expressed within scripture
-doctrine first introduced in 2nd century
-non-trinitarian christians may not accept Jesus as God incarnate or see the three persons of the trinity as separate entities
-latin noun ‘trinity’s’ meaning ‘3 are 1’
trinity in the bible
in the NT revelation god is encountered as human being, Jesus and the revelation of HS also made explicit
-baptism
very important quote
‘I and the father are one’ John 10:30
explain ‘I and the father are one’
Jesus = God incarnate
the understandings of the early church that through theses they were experiencing god incarnate.
“and he who sees me sees him who send me” John 12:45
gods presence and action as the Holy Spirit quotes
-Jospeh, son of David, do not fear to tale Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the HS (Matthew)
-“and there appeared to them tongues of fire, distributes and resting on each one of them. and they were all filled with HS and began to speak in other tongues” (Acts 2:1-4)
formal/ classical doctrine of the trinity
-achieved after centuries of confusion and controversy as the Church wrestled with competing ways of understanding relationship between 3 persons of the trinity
-Father, Son and Spirit are one God in 3 persons. Each person is God, each possessing in equal measure the divine characteristics such as omnipotence and omniscience.
differing people in trinity
-each person differs from the others only in terms of their inner relations
-son differs from after only in the fact that he is the son and not the father.
-god exists as one substance in 3 persons. all three persons are eternal and uncreated.
perichoresis
-technical term for describing relationships between persons of the godhead at centre of shield is perichoresis.
-translated as ‘mutual indwelling’
johns gospel + perichoretic
-johns gospel thought to show perichiretic understanding of gods glory.
Jesus says “father, the hour has come; glorify thy son that the son may glorify thee..”
why is belief in Trinity important for Christians?
-way of experiencing God without him fully revealing himself to humanity (from understanding Jesus’ role from scripted and potentially experiencing HS)
-way to personally understand god and his nature
-trinity shows Jesus’ divinity and that he was not simple a prophet or messenger but god incarnate
-passion and resurrection of Christ has greater importance and significance and this links to eschatological beliefs about LAD (salvation, heaven, eternal life)
-reaffirms the importance of the Holy Spirit because after Jesus’ death they guided the apostles to continue his mission. his authority is therefore clearly equal to that of Jesus.
implications for non-trinitarian christians
-may be more difficult to have personal understanding or relation with G if Jesus merely considered human prophet.
-removes difficulty of understanifn god as three persons in one
-believing that Jesus is God incarnate may affect some of his key attributes (J praying in garden where he shows weakness and fear)
-trinity undermines oneness (monotheism) nature of the faith.
-by accepting trinity potentially makes relating Jesus on a human eval more difficult as he is not simply human but also divine “therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect” (Matthew)
the trinity brings together main historical and doctrinal truths of christianity concerning sin, atonement and redemption
-many believe relationship between god and humanity was affected by ‘original sin’ of Adam and Eve
-god sent son as atonement
-son fully human, makes atonement through his death on cross + resurrection
-Holy Spirit gives new birth in J so that humans have the hope of eternal life.t
trinity makes is possible for humans to have personal relationship w god
- god is immanent within creation, immanent god answers prayer, performs miracles intervenes in history and relates to persons.
trinity is seen as model of personhood
-relationship between father, son and HS is one love, since god is love. since humans are made in image of god, personal relationships between ppl are in that sense modelled.m
mormonism
- god has physical, flesh + bones, eternal perfect body.
-men have potential to become gods as well.
-Jesus is gods literal son a separate being from god.
-Holy Spirit separate being
