Pillars of Catholicism: Trinity Michael Barber, Ph.D. / John Paul the Great Catholic University 2012 www.jpcatholic.com / www.thesacredpage.com The Centrality of the Trinity The divine Trinity, in fact, is at the very origins of existence and history and is present in their final goal. It constitutes the beginning and the end of salvation history.... Far from being a dry intellectual truth, the mystery of the Trinity is the life that dwells in us and sustains us. John Paul II 1 The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the hierarchy of the truths of faith... Catechism of the Catholic Church no. 234 2 1. Trinity is mystery a. Not contradiction beyond our ability to understand b. Only knowable through supernatural revelation 2. Source of all the other mysteries of faith 3. Center of Christian life 4. Highest of truths in hierarchy of faith God is One 1. Impossibility of two all-powerful gods 2. God is One Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD... (Deut 6:4) 3. Implications (CCC 222 227) a. We owe God everything b. There is one God for all creation c. We live in thanksgiving d. Dignity of all men all created by the same God! e. Trusting in every circumstance the One God has a plan for his creation Two Key Passages Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Matt 28:19). Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Gen 1:26 27). God is love (1 John 4:8). revealed on the cross! 1 John Paul II, Catechesis on the Holy Trinity, The Trinity: Fountain of Love and Light, 2, 3. 2 Citing General Catechetical Directory 43. 1
The Divinity of the Son in Scripture 1. Jesus Power to Forgive Sins (Mark 2:5-11) 2. Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath And he said to them, The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath; 28 so the Son of man is lord even of the sabbath. (Mark 2:27 28). 3. Jesus is Worshipped 10 Then Jesus said to him, Begone, Satan! for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. (Matt 4:8 10). 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, Truly you are the Son of God. (Matt 14:33). 4. God created alone I am the Lord who made all things, who stretched out the heavens alone. Who was with me? (Isa 44:24). In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God; 3 all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. (John 1:1 3). 5. The First and the Last Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. (Isa 44:6). I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. (Rev 1:8). I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. 14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and every one who loves and practices falsehood. 16 I Jesus have sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. (Rev 22:13 16). 6. Jesus is called God This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God. (John 5:17 18). 28 Thomas answered him, My Lord and my God! (John 20:26 28). 8 But of the Son he says, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever, the righteous scepter is the scepter of thy kingdom. (Heb 1:1 5). And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, to know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20). The Divinity of the Holy Spirit in Scripture 1. Personal references in John 14 16: a. He will teach them (14:26) b. testify to them (15:26) c. reprove them (16:8 11) d. guide them (John 16:12) 2. Other passages likewise speak of the Spirit in personal terms: a. He can be grieved (Eph 4:30) b. He wills (1 Cor 12:11) c. He desires (Gal 5:17) d. He loves (Rom 15:30) e. He calls (Acts 13:2) 2
3. The Spirit as Creator The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. (Job 33:4). 4. The Spirit as God But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the proceeds of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? How is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God. (Acts 9:3 4). 5. The Spirit as the One Lord There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism... (Eph 4:4-5). For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth as indeed there are many gods and many lords 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. (1 Cor 8:5 6). Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (2 Cor 3:17). Three Persons, One Nature 1. Nature a. What? b. Defines potential, capabilities, faculties (i.e., equipment ) i. Ducks can, e.g., fly, (have wings), quack (have bill), and paddle (have webbed feet) ii. Humans are rational animals, e.g., can know and can love 2. Person a. Who? b. Describes the one who uses the faculties provided by nature c. e.g., Frank uses his intellect to know; uses his will to love 3. Three Persons, one God a. One God: one divine nature (all-powerful, all-knowing, etc.) b. Trinity: Three Persons share the one same divine nature i. Not like three men share human nature ii. Larry, Moe and Curly each have their own intellect do not think with same intellect iii. God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit share the one divine intellect & will 4. Three distinct persons not modalities (CCC 254) a. Not one Person wearing different masks b. Not one Person who acts as Father, Son and Holy Spirit at different times 5. Each Person is fully God (e.g., the Son is not part of God He is God the Son) [God] is love in his inner life, where the Trinitarian dynamism is the very expression of the eternal love with which the Father begets the Son and both give themselves to each other in the Holy Spirit. John Paul II 3 God the Son 1. If God is Father, God is also Son (God cannot truly be Father if he is not Son) 2. Procession of the Son from the Father a. Procession is not material 3. The Word (logos) a. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1). 3 John Paul II, Catechesis on the Holy Trinity, The Trinity: Fountain of Love and Light, 4. 3
4. God s Image a. He is the image of the invisible God. (Col 1:15). b. Son: Image of the Father c. Conception : concept Sonship & Idea 5. Sonship as sharing like nature a. Jesus answered them, My Father is working still, and I am working. 18 This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God. (John 5:17 18). 6. First Council of Nicea: a. the Son is homoousios (same nature), consubstantial (same substance) as Father b. God from God, light from light, true God from true God 7. Procession of the Son corresponds to the Intellect in the Soul God the Holy Spirit 1. Why the Spirit? a. The Son images the Father b. The Father produces a Person (the Son) c. A Person must proceed from/through the Son or else the Son is not the Image of the Father! d. To be the Image of the Father, there must be Imaging 2. Holy Spirit as the lovingness between the Father and the Son a. Holy Spirit as Bond of Love b. Holy Spirit as the communion or fellowship of Father and the Son i. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Cor 13:14). c. The greeting at Mass: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 3. Second Procession (of the Spirit): Corresponds to the Will in the Soul 4. Holy Spirit a. Spirit and Holy are divine attributes common to the three divine persons. By joining the two terms, Scripture, liturgy, and theological language designate the inexpressible person of the Holy Spirit, without any possible equivocation with other uses of the terms spirit and holy. (CCC 691). 5. Biblical Evidence a. Then he showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev 22:1). b. Jesus stood up and proclaimed, If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. 38 He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water. 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:37 39). The Trinity and the Divine Family God in his deepest mystery is not a solitude but a family, since he has in himself fatherhood, sonship and the essence of the family which is love. John Paul II 4 1. God is family not like a family 2. Highest mystery of faith: Trinity, the Divine Family 3. Earthly families are like the Trinity 4 John Paul II, Puebla: A Pilgrimage of Faith (Boston: Daughters of Saint Paul, 1979), 86. 4
4. Reveals essence of family = love Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply... (Genesis 1:26 28). Humanity images God in the family. John Paul II 5 [God] willed man and woman to be the prime community of persons, source of every other community, and, at the same time, to be a sign of that interpersonal communion of love which constitutes the mystical, intimate life of God, One in Three. John Paul II 6 5 John Paul II, Letter to Families, 6. 6 John Paul II, Christifideles Laici, 52. 5