We
often take the concept of the Trinity for granted as modern followers of
Christ. We might think that the Apostles
and the members of the Early Church understood without any difficulty at all
the concept that God is composed of three persons in the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. However, even as late as the 4th
century, a full 300 years after Christ’s teachings and ministry here on earth,
a great discussion and controversy was taking place over the doctrine of the
Trinity.
This is illustrated so well in the life
of St Athanasius, a Doctor of the Church and one of the great theologians of
the 4th century. Athanasius
became the Bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, one of the great centers of learning in
the ancient world. As bishop, Athanasius
battled Arianism, a belief named after Arius, a priest who lived in Alexander
at this same time. Arius saw Jesus the
Son as a being subordinate and inferior to God the Father. In fact, Arius saw Jesus as a being who did
not exist at the beginning of time, who was created and a separate and distinct
entity from the Father. Many emperors
and Church leaders of this era held this same heretical belief. The writings and teaching of Athanasius
defended the doctrine of the Trinity.
Even though Athanasius served as Bishop of Alexandria for 45 years, he
was exiled by various emperors 5 different times, and fled the city 6 other
times for fear of his life.
In seminary, we had to take an entire
course on the Trinity. Interestingly,
that course was entitled “The Mystery of God.”
By calling the Trinity a mystery of faith, we mean that it is a concept
that we can always learn more about, that no matter how well we understand it,
we can always grow in our understanding of it.
The Trinity is just one way we understand God. We must remember that we can never grasp God
in a single word or concept or image or definition. The mystery of God is complex and never
completely accessible to us as human beings.
Theologically, we talk of God as being
three persons in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but they are not persons in
the same psychological sense that we think of persons as human beings. In terms that might make sense to us, we can
think of God as the Trinity in 3 distinct ways of being, in three distinct ways
of subsisting or existing. We can think
of God as subsisting as the Father - the Creator and the source of all in the
world. In another state of being or existing, God is the Son – he is the Divine
Word who is a state of self-expression, who reaches out to the human race as
our means of redemption and salvation.
In a third state of being for us, God is the Holy Spirit – he is love
and mercy in a way that unifies us with the essence of God that is Redemption
and Creator.
Theological concepts like the Trinity
can seem difficult to pin down and grasp.
We cannot deny that the Doctrine of the Trinity as an essential element
of our faith, but it is challenging and thought-provoking concept. But the Trinity should not just be seen as a
theological doctrine that we need to grasp in its entirety in order for us to
enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Rather, in
our life of faith, the Trinity is a practical doctrine for us that helps us
understand God and helps us live out a Christian life. The Trinity provides a way for us to think
about God and to conceptualize the reality of God in our minds, to participate
in the life of God through the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Jesus spoke about relationships in our
Gospel today: About His relationship to
the Father, about him as the Son who has everything that the Father has. He spoke about his relationship to the
Spirit, who he sent to us to help guide us in the truth. Indeed, the Trinity is all about
relationship, about how God dwells in a state of being and how God dwells in
his relationship with us. As we ponder
God as the Trinity in our hearts today, may it help us grow in our relationship
to him.
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