"IS THERE A GOD BESIDE ME?" ¹

Church teaching on the relationship between God, Christ, and Holy Spirit

Before we attempt to examine the claims of Trinitarians it would be helpful to define what we are going to discuss. The need for a clear basis and starting point is shown by the fact that the Trinity often means different things to different people. For example a Christian colleague of the writer was quite definite that she thought of Jesus as a subordinate being to God. On being asked "Do you not believe in the Trinity, then?" she replied, "Of course, in theory; but in practice I always think of Jesus as a separate being, distinct from God." This viewpoint is not uncommon. Speaking of the Trinity one writer says:

"And yet, is it really a living doctrine for the average church member? To be honest, I have a suspicion that many church people deviate from it, to one side or the other. Some are virtually 'tri-theists': the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are regarded practically as three separate Gods. Others are virtually unitarians: in the practice of their faith the Father alone is God, while Jesus Christ is seen as a special man who reveals the Father, and the Holy Spirit is for them a power rather than a divine Person." ²

A definition to which all can agree is obviously called for. Developing as it did from the monotheistic Jewish faith outlined in the Old Testament, Christianity has always insisted on the unity of God. The Christian creeds however state that within that one God there are three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Each of these persons shares equally with the others all the various attributes of the One God. Perhaps the best approach would be to let Trinitarians define the doctrine in their own words. Here is one example from an Anglo-Catholic Manual of Religion:

The Mystery of the Holy Trinity

There is one God in Three Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. These Three Persons are co-equal in all things. "The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God, and yet they are not three Gods, but one God". This is the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, taught by the Church, and proved by the Scriptures. Whilst the Holy Scriptures teach that there is but One God, they speak of each as Divine, and thus prove to us their co-equal Godhead. The doctrine of Trinity in Unity is a great mystery. A mystery is a truth revealed by God which we are therefore bound to believe, but which we are unable fully to understand. Though the doctrine of the Trinity is above the understanding, it is not contrary to it. It is reasonable that there should be mysteries in religion, and above all that there should be mystery about the Being of God. If we could grasp the doctrine of the Trinity, we should ourselves be God....
Though a philosopher cannot explain the doctrine of the Trinity in Unity, a child can believe it. This great truth is not one about which we are to puzzle our minds. We are simply to believe it, because God has revealed it to the Church, and the Church teaches it. Reason becomes lost in wonder, and gives place to adoring faith. ³

This 'theological formulation' took place in the fourth and fifth centuries and resulted in the emergence of the Nicene and Athanasian creeds. ⁵  These represent the formal statement of the doctrine in its final form.

The Nicene Creed

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, only begotten, that is to say, of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made, both things in heaven and things in earth who for us men and for our salvation came down and was made flesh, and was made man, suffered, and rose again on the third day; went up into the heavens, and is to come again to judge the quick and dead.

And in the Holy Ghost. 

The Athanasian Creed

The fullest and final statement of the doctrine of the Trinity occurs in the Athanasian Creed, probably dating from the fifth or sixth centuries, which is widely regarded as the definitive statement, at least by the Western Church. The full text of this lengthy creed is given in another chapter ⁶, but the following is an extract to indicate its content and style:

'Whosoever will be saved: before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholick Faith.

Which Faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled: without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. 

And the Catholick Faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity;

Neither confounding the Persons: nor dividing the Substance.

For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son: and another of the Holy Ghost.

But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one: the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son: and such is the Holy Ghost...

.... But the whole three Persons are co-eternal together: and co-equal.

So that in all things, as is aforesaid; the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.

He therefore that will be saved: must thus think of the Trinity.

The final part of this creed makes salvation possible only to those who accept the doctrine of the Trinity. So, to complete this brief statement of the doctrine it might be asked, Why does the Church believe this doctrine of the Trinity to be so important? Why is the threefold character of God considered so necessary for Christian belief? We would like to quote with only the briefest comment the following extract from a more modern work:

The Importance of the Trinity

"But why do we as Christians make so much fuss about all this? If we cannot understand it anyway, is it not wiser to drop it as a piece of sterile speculation? Does it really have any theological and religious significance? Is it important for our own personal experience? The answer is, Yes. The significance of this doctrine is so great that it is the very foundation of our Christian faith. Why?

• "Precisely in this doctrine it becomes clear that God is truly the living God, the God who has life in himself, who is literally full of life. Some of the early fathers used a remarkable expression. They said: 'God is fertile'. Within the three-in-one God are all the possibilities of person-to-person communication.

• "God in no way needed the creation. He was not a lonely God, who had to make a projection of himself, so as to have an 'opposite'. The doctrine of the trinity is the end of all pantheism. If in the depth of his being, God is three-in-one, he does not need this world to come to his full potential. As Emil Brunner put it: 'only if, in himself, from all eternity, God is the loving One, no world is needed for him to be the loving One'.

• "The doctrine of the trinity is also of great importance for a proper understanding of the doctrine of creation. Brunner again: 'The world as a creation is the work of his love'. The idea of God does not need the world to make it complete. Athanasius told us long ago that, because God is 'fertile' and can communicate himself inwardly, he is also able to communicate himself outwardly. But this inward self-communication does not require the outward, since there is already communication within the Godhead. Through his Son, God freely reached out to create a world. What he made was something other than himself, but he is its foundation and he is its aim.

• "This belief in the trinity is equally essential for the doctrine of revelation; in fact it is the basis of all revelation. In the revelation of the Father in the Son through the Spirit, we not only receive some external information about God, but we have the guarantee that God himself is speaking to us and opening his divine heart to us. Revelation is really and fully self-revelation.

• "But above all the doctrine of the trinity is of importance for our salvation. It is the answer to the question of whether or not our salvation is really God's work. In the final analysis this is the reason why the church is so vitally interested in the divinity of Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit. The vital question to ask about the nature of Jesus Christ is this: In Jesus, do we really meet with God himself?

"The same vital question is at stake in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Athanasius wrote: 'If the Holy Spirit were a creature, we would have no fellowship with God in him; in that case we would be alien to the divine nature, so that in no sense would we have fellowship with it.'

"None of this is bald theory. It is echoed in a Christian's personal experience. The believer knows by experience that he is a child of the Father, that he is redeemed by the Son and that the Holy Spirit is in his life. And he also knows that in all three relationships he has to do with one and the same God.

"It is, as it were, a constant moving to and fro; from the Father through the Son to the Holy Spirit in our life, and then again from the Holy Spirit in our life through the Son to the Father. True, we do not always experience this threefoldness as unity. Often the threefoldness in the relationship is more to the fore in our experience than the unity. And yet there is the experience of unity too, especially as the Spirit dwells in us, for in and through the Spirit Jesus Christ himself is present with us, and through Jesus we have fellowship with the Father.

"In spite of this experience, however, it remains a fact that we cannot understand the mystery of the Trinity, let alone take it in. It is far beyond our human thinking. We can only end where we started: by worshipping God the three-in-one. In fact, this was and is the whole reason why the church tries to penetrate this mystery: that we may worship God as he really is; bring him praise, not only for what he has done for us, but above all for what he is in himself. In his worship, the believer will adore God for his incomprehensible greatness and glory." ⁷

We will leave the reader to judge whether the above reasons of themselves necessitate belief in the Trinity, or whether a similar list could not equally be proposed to show the importance of belief in a single Supreme God who has revealed Himself by other agencies. The reader will also note a heavy reliance on the views of the 'fathers' and human reasoning, and the total lack of Scriptural references in support of such an understanding of the doctrine.

It is to such Scriptures that we now turn in our endeavour to find the true teaching about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

REFERENCES

1. Isaiah 44:8

2. Klaas Runia: Handbook of Christian Belief, p.163. Pub Lion, 1982.

3.  Staley, V., The Catholic Religion, A manual of Instruction for Members of the Anglican Church, p.152. Pub: Mowbray

4.  Op. cit. p.164

5. For a detailed examination of this development see chapter 8

6. See pp. 364-366 [Ch. 8 Section on the fourth Century]

7. Klass Runia, op. cit. p.174-175