THE
BLESSED TRINITY: A BIBLICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL
PERSPECTIVE
Ashleigh
Heinrich
Today’s
secular society indoctrinates its members into a
radical individualism—into believing that one
person’s belief constitutes Truth or that the
convenience of a pregnancy for a couple determines
the value of a human life. The common good gets lost
in what is good for an individual. In the Catholic
Faith, human existence is deeply rooted in the
Mystery of the Blessed Trinity. The value of a human
life consists not in its convenience but in the
divine value of being a soul loved into existence by
the Creator. Yet each soul is created for the same
ultimate purpose—to love the Triune God and be loved
by Him. He desires that all souls be united with Him
in the beatific vision—the common vocation of
mankind. Yet we are called, even as we are in the
world, to share in His life through grace.
Although the grace living in Adam and Eve at the
time of Creation was extinguished with Original Sin,
a new life in grace begins at baptism when the Holy
Spirit comes to reside in our hearts. What a gift it
is to have a share in the Trinitarian life here on
earth! Yet, we still “see indistinctly as in a
mirror”[i]
as St. Paul says. We cannot fully participate in the
Mystery of the Blessed Trinity while we are in the
world. The Apostle goes on to say that when we are
face to face with the Mystery, we will know the full
reality of what we live incompletely on earth. The
state of grace we begin to live at Baptism is a
foreshadowing of the immense life in which we are
called to participate in heaven. The full revelation
of His plan to redeem humanity was made clear
through the revelation of His Triune nature in the
life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The Lord
prepared His people for this revelation and the
restoration of indwelling grace through the
Sacraments in partial revelations through the Old
Testament prophets that are fully realized in light
of the Gospel revelation.[ii]
A close
look at Scripture makes clear the extent to which
God shows His love for humanity. After the Fall, the
Lord sent prophets to try to bring His people back
to His ways and prepare them for the coming of the
Savior as promised in the Protoevangelium. The
prophets met with little success in the lasting
conversion of peoples, but their messages and images
foreshadow the Trinitarian Mystery that was to be
revealed in the coming of Christ.
Without understanding the totality or the full
significance of what was being revealed to them, the
Old Testament writers already began to partially
describe the coeternal existence of three Divine
Persons. There is no single passage or author in the
Old Testament that lays out a cohesive picture of
the Trinity. Not until the revelation in Christ
would the pieces of the puzzle be assembled. For
example, in Proverbs, one can find a description of
the Second Person of the Trinity present with the
Creator at the time of Creation.
The Lord begot me, the firstborn of his ways,
the forerunner of his prodigies of long ago
From of
old I was poured forth,
at the first, before the earth[…]
When he
established the heavens I was there,
when he marked out the vault over the face of the
deep[…]
Then was
I beside him as his craftsman,
and I was his delight day by day,
Playing
before him all the while,
playing on the surface of his earth;
and I found delight in the sons of men.[iii]
In the Gospel of John, it becomes clear that this
Second Person is the Word who is present with God
the Father at the beginning of time and who becomes
flesh in the person of Jesus Christ.
In the
beginning was the Word,
and the
Word was with God,
and the
Word was God.
He was
in the beginning with God.
All
things came to be through him,
and
without him nothing came to be.
What
came to be through him was life,
and this
life was the light of the human race;
The
light shines in the darkness,
and the
darkness has not overcome it.[iv]
Each of
these passages describes the coeternal and begotten
relationship between the First and Second Persons of
the Trinity. The Old Testament imagery in Proverbs
is filled in with a more explicit description from
the Gospel of John. Both of these passages are
steeped with theological concepts that would be
affirmed later by the Church in light of the New
Testament. The Nicene Creed professes that Jesus
Christ, the Son of God was “begotten, not made[v].”
Since the Word was with the Creator from thee very
beginning, He cannot be made. If He were created,
there would have been a time before the Word’s
existence—before He was made. Additionally, Biblical
author refers to this Being as “his craftsman,[vi]”
thus describing the active role the Word had in the
Creation of the world. It is, after all, through
the work of a tradesman or craftsman that a work
takes its shape. This was also affirmed by the
Council of Nicea which states that it was the Word
“through whom all things were made.”[vii]
Another Old Testament description of the Word can be
found in the personification of divine Wisdom. Here,
Wisdom is said to preserve the just man[viii],
is described as a deliverer,[ix]
and “showed him the kingdom of God and gave him
knowledge of holy things.”[x]
The Second Person of the Trinity in Christ is
Redeemer, defender of the just, and reveals God’s
kingdom in His life and ministry. The Old Testament
writer here alludes to the healing that Wisdom
brings[xi]
which is so evident in the ministry of Jesus. Again
the complementarity of Old and New Testament
revelations of the Triune God is evident.The Old
Testament presents partial revelations of the Holy
Spirit as well as the Word. Returning to the Book of
Wisdom, one reads “Or who ever knew your counsel,
except you had given Wisdom and sent your holy
spirit from on high?”[xii]
The nature of this spirit is not clearly defined,
but the existence of the spirit of God that is
distinct from the Person of Wisdom was made known
through this type of passage. Even without an
explicit or detailed description, the reader can see
the traits of the Advocate and Teacher spoken about
in the New Testament.[xiii]
Isaiah’s writings reveal more about distinctiveness
between the Persons of the Trinity. In Wisdom we saw
that the “spirit” was distinct from Wisdom while
Proverbs distinguished the Word from the Creator.
Isaiah clarifies the distinction between the First
and Third Persons of the Trinity when he says: “The
spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord
has anointed me.”[xiv]
In the distinctions made in the Old Testament, the
unity of the Persons is still hidden, but in
conjunction with the New Testament one can see the
fullness of the revelation. When one realizes that
this same passage from Isaiah is read by Jesus and
applied to Himself[xv],
the Three distinct yet unified Persons of the
Trinity are seen together—the Spirit of the Father
is upon the Incarnated Word.
This simultaneous revelation of the Three Persons of
the Trinity can again be seen when looking at
another passage from Isaiah in the light of the
Gospel. Alone, the prophet’s words “Here is my
servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am
pleased”[xvi]
are not overtly Trinitarian. When Matthew writes,
“This was to fulfill what had been spoken through
Isaiah the prophet: ‘Behold, my servant whom I have
chosen, my beloved in whom I delight; I shall place
my spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to
the Gentiles,’”[xvii]
the Trinitarian undertones of Isaiah’s prophecy
become clear. The Christ has been anointed by the
Spirit. Even the Person of the Father is evident if
we recall the passage from Proverbs that describes
the Word being the daily delight of the Creator[xviii].
The baptism of Jesus is explicitly Trinitarian and
in itself being a Gospel revelation, expresses the
fullness of the Trinity. And while it is complete in
itself, it uses language reminiscent of the words of
Isaiah in being set apart and pleasing to the
Father.
“On
coming up out of the water he saw the heavens being
torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending
upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, “You
are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”[xix]
In the Baptism of Jesus, the Father speaks and the
Spirit comes upon the Son. Before Jesus ascends to
Heaven, he commands the Apostles to “make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit.”[xx]
Here, the Three Persons of the Trinity are named
individually, yet Jesus asks that people be baptized
in “the name,”[xxi]
singular, of the Trinity. Though the precise
relationship between the Persons of the Trinity is a
Mystery, we begin to see here that there is a unity
and a singular identity as indicated by a single
name.
The role
of the Trinity in Baptism must be significant if the
Evangelists make the association repeatedly. The
connection between this sacrament and the Trinity is
made by each Gospel writer at the Baptism of Jesus[xxii]
and again after the Resurrection in Matthew’s
Gospel. Through the restoration of indwelling grace
in Baptism, we are “introduced into the intimacy of
Trinitarian life”[xxiii]
so that we may “call God ‘Father,’ in union with the
only Son”[xxiv]
as well as “receive the life of the Spirit….”[xxv]
Thus in baptism believers are renewed in their
intimate relationship with God the Father through
the Holy Spirit to become like Christ. Baptism
enables a partial living on earth of the perfect
union with the Trinity we are called to live in
Heaven.
The New Testament clearly enhances understanding of
what the prophets had been saying for centuries
prior to the coming of Christ. Even in looking at
Gospel verses independent of Old Testament
prefigurements, one can easily see the revelation of
the Triune nature of God as well as a deeper
understanding of the relationship and role of each
Divine Person. Jesus was revealed to some as the Son
of God[xxvi]
who acts as mediator between his people and God the
Father[xxvii]
as well as the way to life, the redeemer[xxviii].
As the divine Mediator, Jesus reveals the Holy
Spirit as “the promise of my Father”[xxix]
which empowers disciples, the “Advocate” and “Spirit
of truth”[xxx]
who will come to the aid of the faithful during
times of persecution and speak through them. As
Jesus is revealed as the Second Person of the
Trinity, he necessarily sheds light on the Father
and the Holy Spirit since they are in communion with
each other. One cannot be revealed without revealing
the other Persons since they are “one in being”[xxxi].
It is through the life and revelation of Christ,
that we are invited into the Trinitarian life since
Christ’s life is this life. As he draws us
closer to himself, we are drawn deeper into the
deepest meaning of our Baptism and more fully into
Life.
After the revelation of the Trinitarian Mystery in
the life of Christ, philosophers and theologians
have since tried to delve into the Mystery to better
understand it. We must understand that logic and
reason can only get us so far in understanding
Mysteries of God, given the nature of creatures and
Creator. Yet St. Anselm of Canterbury began the
project of outlining logical arguments for many
theological concepts in an attempt to convert his
contemporaries who resisted the use of theological
language in philosophical argumentation.
Accordingly, St. Anselm, in his Monologion, refrained from any use of the word God and, among
other things, sought to logically support the
doctrine of the Trinity.
His discussion begins with the nature and
relationship of the Divine Persons to each other. He
maintains that the Word is the expression of the
“supreme Spirit” despite objections that the
existence Word must then be dependent on the
“supreme Spirit” and not self-sufficient. (The
objection states that each word is the expression of
an object, so without the object, the word would not
be.) Though the philosopher does not fall back on it
for support, the New Testament provides confirmation
that the Son’s existence does not depend on the
existence of the Father.[xxxii]
St. Anselm uses a reductio ad absurdum
argument to show how the Word, as the expression of
the supreme Spirit, cannot be dependent upon Him for
His own existence. To express a word is to conceive
of the object that corresponds to the word. If there
was a lack of a Word, Wisdom could not conceive of
Himself, but created beings—humans—can conceive of
themselves so surely the supreme Wisdom conceives of
Himself. And thus from the eternal conception of
Himself, the Word which is the expression of that
conception is coeternal with Him.[xxxiii]
Instead of refuting an objection, Anselm later
offers an argument that says that in being the
perfect image of the supreme Spirit and the supreme
Spirit being able to maintain His own existence, so
must the Word be able to subsist.[xxxiv]
Having concluded that the Word is coeternal with the
Father, he must now try to illumine the
consubstantiality of the Word with the Father—that
they are one in being. If there was another word
through which the Father created the world, that
word would have to be the image of something, for
every word is a likeness of the object it expresses.
The only Word through which the world was created
must have been the Word that expresses the Father as
He was the only being of which there could be a
likeness since nothing else existed. The supreme
Spirit and the Word are identical in that they are
both “Truth and Creator”[xxxv]
and there is only one Truth and one Creator, yet
they must be distinct Persons because the likeness
of a being necessarily cannot be the thing itself
and vice versa. Similarly, he says, “For so opposite
are their relations, that the one never assumes the
property of the other; so harmonious are they in
nature, that the one ever contains the essence of
the other.”[xxxvi]
An important distinction here is that just because
the Word is born of the supreme Spirit, the root of
His being is as perfect and supreme as that of the
supreme Spirit. The essence of the Word is identical
with that of the supreme Spirit, though they bear
different relations to each other.
In furthering the discussion of the relationship of
the Father to the Son, St. Anselm seeks to explain
this precise relation—that of Father to Son. What
qualities evoke the name of Father for the First
Person of the Trinity and Son for the Second Person?
St. Anselm explains that though the Word was not
created by the supreme Spirit, because it is an
image of Him, the Word’s existence is “derived”[xxxvii]
from the supreme Spirit as one like being from
another. If a thing is said to be born of something
it hardly resembles, how much more so, then, can
this analogy of birth be used in reference to the
perfect image of the supreme Spirit being born of
the Supreme Spirit. It is precisely because of the
complete likeness that the parent-child relationship
is more applicable here than in any other case. The
supreme Spirit is Father and not mother because the
“first and principle cause of offspring is always in
the father.”[xxxviii]
St. Anselm argues that the Holy Spirit is the
expression of love that is derived from the perfect
knowledge that the supreme Spirit and Word have of
the other. Because, in being identical in essence,
the supreme Spirit and Word know each other equally
perfectly, the love that proceeds from each is
equal. And since each loves the essence in the other
that each Person has, both the Word and the supreme
Spirit love themselves.[xxxix]
Since the supreme Spirit and the Word are identical
in essence, can anything that flows between the two
be anything but the same essence? St. Anselm argues
that the love that flows is equal and identical in
essence as the supreme Spirit and the Word.[xl]
Yet, although the love proceeds from both the Father
and the Son, it is not their offspring because it
proceeds in precisely the same way from both. The
Father and the Son cannot act differently from each
other, but offspring cannot come forth from two of
the same causes and thus the love cannot be
begotten.[xli]
The relationship of this love to both the Word and
the supreme Spirit is particularly difficult to
describe since, in being identical in essence with
the First and Second Persons can maintain its own
existence. This love is not unbegotten either since
it proceeds from the Word and the supreme Spirit. It
is in this way, that St. Anselm distinguishes the
Three Divine Persons in their relationship within
the Trinity: “Only the Father begets and is
unbegotten; only the son is begotten; only love
neither begotten nor unbegotten”[xlii]
St. Anselm is only one of many philosophers and
theologians who have immersed themselves in the
Mysteries of God for His greater glory. While the
Mystery was only revealed in the New Testament,
prophets of the Old Testament prefigured the
revelation of the Trinity in their writings. The
extent of the writings on the subject and the
expanse of time they cover should be some indication
of how important the Trinity is to our faith and our
lives. The life of Christ both revealed the Trinity,
but also invited humanity back into the Trinitarian
life for which we were destined. Through the life,
death, and resurrection of the Second Person of the
Trinity, the way back to an intimate relationship
with God was revealed through Baptism and a close
following of Jesus’ teachings which are necessarily
Trinitarian. The Mystery is daunting for a society
that likes to understand everything, but the
Trinitarian life is so relevant and such a source of
hope for mankind today.
[ii]
The Trinity: Rediscovering the Central
Christian Mystery
[iii]
Proverbs 8:22-23, 27, 30-31
[xxi]
Matthew 28:19 (emphasis added)
[xxii]
Mark 1:10-11; Matthew 3:16-17; Luke 3:22;
John 2:32-33
[xxxiii]
St. Anselm, Monologion, Chapter XXXII
[xxxiv]
St. Anselm, Monologion, Chapter XLIV
[xxxv]
St. Anselm, Monologion, Chapter
XXXVIII
[xxxvi]
St. Anselm, Monologion, Chapter XLIII
[xxxvii]
St. Anselm, Monologion, Chapter XXXIX
[xxxviii]
St. Anselm, Monologion, Chapter XLII
[xxxix]
St. Anselm, Monologion, Chapters
XLIX; L; LI
[xl]
St. Anselm, Monologion, Chapter LII
[xli]
St. Anselm, Monologion, Chapters LV;
LVI
[xlii]St.
Anselm, Monologion, Chapter LVI
