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Outline The Christian Doctrine Of The Trinity

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The intent of this paper is to outline the Christian Doctrine of the Trinity from the New Testament Church to the Nicene Creed. The traditional Christian doctrine of the Trinity commonly expressed as one God exists as or in three equally divine "persons," the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are not three individual "persons," but three components in which the Divine Being exists. They are of such being that they can enter into personal relations at the same time. The belief that God is a Trinity is a division between the Christian and the Jewish and Muslim concept of God. All three believe that there is only one God, and this God is one, but only Christians believe that there exists a difference of individuals with the divine …show more content…

There is only one God, and God is unity. The unity or "oneness of God is expressed in many terms. It is said that God has one single heavenly "nature," substance," or "essence" (CCC no. 252). The existences of the Trinity, also known as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are "God whole and entire." The Fourth Lateran Council said, "Each of the persons is that supreme reality, the divine substance, essence or nature" (CCC no. 253). The heavenly persons are truly diverse from one another. The name Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not only identical and similar, but they represent actual differences in God's character. The divine persons are about one another. The healthy individuals do not exist independently of one another but are different in their relationship with one another. They are different in their origin. "It is the Father who created the Son. The Son is begotten and the Holy Spirit who proceeds." (CCC no. 254) The Trinitarian opinion of God offers a different way of understanding the bond between the ultimate unity and plurality. Ultimate reality God is not pure unity. God is a unity that already includes: a relationship of three individuals that form one God. Ultimate reality is one form of integration of …show more content…

Aquinas explains a divine person signifies a relation as surviving." Augustine describes how the first two persons of the Trinity, Father and Son, relate to the thought of an individual. He is not called Father with submission to himself but only with the Son; seen by himself he is God. The belief in God as a Trinity then is the assertion that ultimate reality not based on the independent being of absolute unity: therefore ultimate reality includes within itself interpersonal relationships. The Gospel explains the unity between the Father and Word, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John1:1). Later the Gospel explicitly identifies the Word with Jesus, God's Son, "And the Word became flesh, and made his dwelling among us" (John 1:14). Even in his physical status, however, the Son speaks of his unity with the Father, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father," (14:9), and "the Father and I are one" (10:30). There are assertions in the Gospel give Jesus the Son, an inferior status to God the Father. Jesus says, "I cannot do anything on my own: I judge as I hear, and my judgement is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me" (5:30), and, "My teaching is not my own but is from the one who sent me"

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