Father,
You sent your Word to bring us truth
and your Spirit to make us holy.
Through them we come to know the mystery of your life.
Help us to worship you, one God in three persons,
You reveal yourself in the depths of our being,
by proclaiming and living our faith in you.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever. Amen
Another prayer for Trinity Sunday
Posted in Uncategorized
I know this type of forum does not lend itself to explore [i]too[/i] deeply the “mechanics” of Trinitarian theology, however, I would be grateful for some feedback – especially from you, Dr. Harmon and any other clergy…
My freshman year was spent at a Bible college; at the end of which I transferred to a Christian university to complete my undergrad. The Bible college was quite legalistic (hence my transfer), but I [i]did[/i] learn a great deal. Among my required classes was a New Testament Survey course – in which we were introduced to the concept of the “Economic Trinity.” I realize that, it being a survey class, we were given just the basics, but the “Economic Trinity” put the subject into bite-size pieces and enabled my feeble little mind to grasp (however tenuously) the way the Godhead “works and functions.” Nevertheless, I have continued to wrestle with this for the past 20 years (and experienced intermittant crises of faith as the result of my wrestling. Specifically, what I do not understand is that we DO make a distinction in our prayers between “God” and Jesus Christ/the Holy Spirit. As Father, Son and Holy Spirit are One in being, Each is co-equal and co-ternal; therefore, each is God. Why, then, the plurality in salutations (And why, in the above prayer, are Jesus and the Holy Spirit referred to as “them?” – separate and apart from the Father)?
Again,any insight/direction would be greatly appreciated.
Shalom –
Josh
PS: I have read the Athanasius Creed a million times (give or take), which, of course, addresses this topic. It’s heavy-duty and has never failed to blow my mind.
The simple answer is that even though there is only ONE God, He does exist as three separate and distinct PERSONS. In other words, they are addressed as separate because they are.
Therefore, while Jesus was on earth, the Father and the Spirit did not cease to exist in Heaven. In some theologies, they are the same being, so God operated as a different MODE in each of his perceptions: the Father in the OT, Jesus in the Gospels and the Spirit in the Church age. So when you address one, you address all. That’s not how we have received the teaching.
They each exist separate from each other, yet unified as one God. The Father sent Jesus, but remained the Father, and Jesus and the Father sends the Spirit. Jesus points to the Father, the Spirit points to Jesus.
One God, three persons as the Athanasian Creed points out so well. Not Three gods; not one God — one person — three different manifestations.
I don’t know if that helps. Think of the shamrock!
Jim Elliott <>< Florida
ORNurseDude,
There are two metaphors that I like to use for the Trinity.
The first comes from Augustine. We believe that God is Love and we believe that God is unchainging. So, God must have always been and always be Love. Love is a verb. We do not say “I have love for you.” We say “I love you.” As a verb, love needs an object. “I love my wife” or “I love my children.” So, if God is Love, then that Love must have an object – the beloved. This object of God’s love – this beloved is God the Son. So God the Father is the lover. God the son is the beloved and God the Holy Spirit is the love that flows from the Father and the Son or that flows between the Father and the Son.
The next metaphor concerns marriage. In human marriage, we have two persons who become one flesh. When my godson was learning to talk, he referred to my wife and I, not as “Aunt Beverly and Uncle Phil” but as “BevPhil.” We were one. Now, if you take that image to another level (and remove the sexual connotation), you have two separate persons who are one and the love between them is personafied as the Holy Spirit.
I hope these metaphors help.
YBIC,
Phil Snyder