THE TRINITY

INTRODUCTION

 Indispensibility of the Doctrine of the Trinity in the

Christian Life
(1) As the Foundaton of the Liturgical Worship
- The Greeting:
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and
the the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
- The doxology
“Through him, with him, in him, in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, all glory and honor is yours almighty Father, forever
and ever Amen.”
- The Benediction:
“Almighty God, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, bless you
now and forever.”

(2) As the basis of the Christian Faith

- Both the Nicean and Apostles’ Creed begin with a
Trinitarian structure
- God the Father as the creator, Jesus, the son as the
incarnated redeemor and the Holy Spirit proceeds from both
of them
 Etymology of the term “Trinity”
- ‘Trinitas’ : a Latin abstract noun
means> ‘threeness’, ‘the property of coccuring three at
once’, ‘three are one’
- ‘Trias’ or ‘Triados’ (Greek)
means> ‘a set of three’ or ‘the number three’
- English expression “Trinity”
literally means ‘a unity of three’
 The direct Theological meaning of the term “TRINITY”
- No mention of the term ‘Trinity’ in the Old Testament and
the New Testament
- As the central doctrine of the Christianity it means
“In the unity of the Godhead there are three Divine
persons namely The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”
- They are > distinct one from another
> co-eternal
> of one indivisable Divine essence
 Difficulty with the Doctrine
- This concept is really an enigma
- Priests find difficult to preach on the Trinity
- Catechetists find difficult to explain the mystery of Trinity
- For some it is meaningless to speak of this mystery as it
is beyond human comprehension

- Central doctrine of salvation has become a distant

mystery
 The Importance of Studying the doctrine of Trinity
- The Catechism of the Catholic Church number 234
recognizes the concept of the Holy Trinity as the basis for
all the other revealed mysteries

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". The whole history of salvation is identical with the history
of the way and the means by which the one true God, Father, Son and
Holy Spirit, reveals himself to men "and reconciles and unites with
himself those who turn away from sin".
• In the light of the Holy Trinity we understand the essence
of the Christian life
• It explain what does it mean to participate in the life of God
through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit (incarnation of Jesus
gave a value to personal, human and divine life)
• It is an expression about God’s life with us and our life with
each other (concept of Unity in the Trinity)
• Trinitarian Theology is a help for the life in the faith (more
we try to understand the doctrine more it will promote faith)
 The Source of the Trinitarian Doctrine
- Trinitarian doctrine wells up from ‘revelation’
- Understanding of God as a ‘community of persons’ arise
from Jesus’ birth, actions, teaching and preaching, death
and resurrection and sending of the Holy Spirit
- Jesus’ experience of God as ‘Abba Father’ becomes the
launching pad for the doctrine
- Jesus addresses Yahweh as ‘Father’> not in generation
sense but in relation sense
The Scope of the Course
- The focus of the course is on the “Doctrine of the Trinity”
and not on the “Trinity itself”
- The doctrine is not a result of speculation of the inner
dynamism of the Trinity
- The scope of our study is very much clear in the words of
St. Thomas Aquinas
“The Trinity does not share the divinity of the Godhead but communicate with each other. The

relationship between three persons cannot be understood completely. The essence or nature of

the Trinity cannot be truely grasped. The Holy Trinity cannot be rationally demonstrated but it can

be ratonally discussed.”

- The doctrine is a result of the attempts to digest and assimilate

the first Christians’ experience of the Holy Trinity
- Developments are connected with the doctrine and not
with the concept .....
+ Western Christianity has focused theology and faith on
the person of Jesus and the doctrine of Trinity has no value
at all
+ They use the doctrine in worship and rattle through the
confession of faith but don’t see God’s connection with
salvation (Two doctrines are poles apart)
+ The doctrine of Trinity is seperated from soteriology,
ecclesiology and Christology.
 + Further it is separated from the Christian
understanding of God
+ Does not integrate other doctrines into a whole
+ Does not affect other Christian doctrines
+ St. Augustine developed a doctrine but for him it was a
received doctrine. he provided explanations for that .
+ It was not the central focus of his theology
+ He didn’t intergrate it to Christ and salvation.
+ This understanding continued with the tradition
- The Eastern tradition maintained the connectedness
between the Trinity and ecclessiology
- The Eastern Church insists on the doctrine of the Trinity in
order to witness to the Church
- The Western Church needs a doctrine to reauthenticate the
Trinity and to see its integration with soteriology and
Christology
- Again after Vatican II with the help of the theologians like J,
Danielou, Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity, Karl Rahner ,
Lonergan and L, Hodgson Catholic Theology returned to the
Trinitarian homeland
- After Vatican II the theological route has shown that the
understanding of the Christian faith as a historical
redeeming event inevitably leads to placing the mystery of
the Trinity at the center of the mediation starting with
economic manifestations
- Thus the creation of the world and man, the incarnation
and the redemption of Christ and the Church as the
fundamental sacrament are introduced with a Trinitarian
accent
 Objectives of the Course
- We would try to show that belief in God is not simply a
speculation about inner Divine essence of God
- But it is intimately connected with salavation
- The fundamental arguement> We know God only from
God’s salvific activity in the history of salvation
- This helps us to show the link between Theology and life
the link between the inner Trinity and Economic Trinity
- The Divinity of the Godhead cannot be exchanged
- The inner dynamism of the immanent Trinity is not equal
to the manifestation of the economic Trinity but they are
intimately connected
- All what God did is intimately connected to who God is
- What God is not equal to who God is
Ad intra >>> incarnation >>> Ad extra
immanent Economic