What we mean when we say that God is a Trinity is that there is one divine nature, one divine substance. . Regarding the difference between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the theologian John Wesley said, “Bring me a worm that can comprehend a man, and then I will show you a man that can comprehend the triune God!”The study of God is the highest subject any human can ever even attempt to comprehend. Your email address will not be published. The love of the Father for the Son is in the Father, and the love of the Son for the Father is in the Son, and the love of the Spirit for the Father and Son is in the Spirit. A person is “who” someone is. As a Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit love one another completely and entirely. In God, however, three Persons possess the same divine nature. This can be helpful in seeing that three things can also be one united thing. We do indeed find the teaching in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: 264 “The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father as the first principle and, by the eternal gift of this to the Son, from the communion of both the Father and the Son” (St. Augustine, De Trin. That story may not be true, but the analogy is that just as there are three leaves on the shamrock, so there are three persons in God. See the index of chapters from Fundamentals of Catholicism which have been reprinted to CERC here . When you have God’s Holy Spirit living in you, he is the Spirit of the Father and the Son (‘God’ and ‘Christ’ in the words that Romans 8:9 uses), so the Father and the Son live in you (John 14:23). Thus the Holy Spirit proceeds from an act of willing in God — the mutual love between the Father and the Son, and so the Nicene Creed professes that he “proceeds from the Father and the Son”. . Media/News Company. We might say that this analogy emphasizes the three-ness of God at the expense of God’s oneness. the First Person (the Father) does not beget the Son in the sense of the act of begetting coming on top of the finished Person; it is the act of begetting, of giving oneself, of streaming forth. The Son eternally returns that love back to the Father. Yesterday, I attended a “Theology of the Body” class with workbook: Into the Heart: A Journey Through the Theology of the Body, by Christopher West, 2009. 2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. What Do Catholics Believe about the Bible? See more of Father,Son And Holy Spirit The Catholic Faith on Facebook. Original Nicene Creed of 325 These are questions I am always confronted by friends who are not Catholics. 266 "Now this is the Catholic faith: We worship one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity, without either confusing the persons or dividing the substance; for the person of the Father is one, the Son's is another, the Holy Spirit's another; but the Godhead of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal" (Athanasian Creed: DS 75; ND 16). . St Augustine once enshrined this idea in the following formula: “He is not called Father with reference to himself but only in relation to the Son; seen by himself he is simply God.” Here the decisive point comes beautifully to light. Obviously, a human family of three persons contains three separate human natures, not one. The citation does not include any reference to support the statement that real, profound love between two people constitutes a wholly separate person? Colossians 1:8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. SAINT THOMAS SAYS THAT “THE NEW LAW IS THE HOLY SPIRIT … Our earthly experience does not give us a lot of preparation for understanding the Trinity. This helps us understand what is meant when the Church expresses its Trinitarian faith: “One God in three Persons.” Notice that Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not merely three names for God or merely three ways in which the one God might appear. During the first several centuries of Christian history, the Church encountered many different ways of thinking about God and about who Jesus was in relationship to the Father. But the Greeks, after Photius, deny that He proceeds from the Son. If so, why the trinity ie equal persons in one God? Holy Spirit, Giver of all good gifts, grant me Your seen gifts and let Your twelve fruits ripen in me. . . Jesus also promised to send the Holy Spirit to be with his disciples after he was no longer with them in his physical body (John 14:26). The Holy Spirit is a Person2 Tradition2.1 I. When we meditate on the Trinity, we learn the ways of Love. Since their distinction is in person and not, in essence, they are all equal in power, authority, and nature – because they are all united in one essence of Godhead. . Log In. Cf. Here are additional biblical passages that associate the Holy Spirit with love: Romans 15:30 (RSV) I appeal to you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf. Divine love personified is the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, Substantial Goodwill of Father and Son, teach me goodwill. Another analogy for the Trinity is that God is three in one, just as H2O can exist as a solid, a liquid, and a gas. Each Person loves the other Persons of the Trinity, as their very essence. Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! The bond of love uniting God the Father and God the Son is the Holy Spirit. Can God Change His Mind? In these talks, he repeatedly and forcefully conveyed the cocept of the Holy Trinity in this way (my paraphrase): "The Father eternally begets and fathers the Son. Comme nt: The foundation of all true love is the Holy Spirit. Get updates from Biblical Evidence for Catholicism delivered straight to your inbox. When he is named by that which is the divinity of God, by what the Father and Son have in common, then his essence is just that, the communio of Father and Son. It is in the same manner that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. that the Holy Ghost proceeds from both is seen by this that He is known as the love or sanctity of both. The result of this was that the Church developed a more sophisticated language to talk about God. When we Christians worship the Trinity, we are worshiping Love. The Bible tells us, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). . Part One: Unity has Plurality (Apr 16, 2018) Part Two: God’s Love as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Apr 23, 2018) In 1919 after the end of the Paris Peace Conference, then Emir Faisal (or Feisal), along with his staff from the Arabian Peninsula, traveled with Lawrence of Arabia to London. God created us out of love, and we are created for love. . Further, “the Father loves not only the Son, but also Himself and us, by the Holy Ghost.” Required fields are marked *. The 11th Council of Toledo (675) declared: . Create New Account. Also, send me the Catholic Newsletter and special offers. 32, a. Recent Post by Page. 9-10): [A] teaching pertaining to the Faith; theologically certain . Log In. This is from an exchange on the Coming Home Network forum, where I was staff moderator from 2007-2010. 131-132; cf. For this reason the Fathers call the Holy Ghost “Love” . Augustine, Enarationes in Psalmos68; De Trinitate VII, 1, 2.). The living, eternal bond of love between the Father and Son is the Person of the Holy Spirit (Compendium, 48). [public domain / Wikimedia Commons], Please also opt me in for Exclusive Offers from Patheos’s Partners. It is, therefore, to be inferred that the Holy Ghost “proceeds” by an act of love (per modum amoris). Because the Trinity goes beyond our earthly experiences, analogies may be helpful in understanding it. 2 Timothy 1:7 for God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control. Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world. 2 Corinthians 6:6 by purity, knowledge, forbearance, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love. But what does this mean? The story goes that St. Patrick used the shamrock to teach the Irish about the Trinity. Faith in the Trinity, therefore, is not merely a doctrine but a dogma that shows us who God is and who we are as creatures made in his image. . Does this source have roots in the Church Fathers, or traditions of the church? He pours our His life and love on the Son. The Holy Spirit is the third member of the divine Godhead (Trinity) and is the essence of divine love between the Father and the Son. But later theology was to distinguish clearly between these two loves. If you were to ask each Person in the Trinity, “Who are you?” each person would answer something differently: “I am the Father;” “I am the Son;” “I am the Holy Spirit.” If you were to ask each Person, “Who are you?” you would get the same answer from each Person: “I am God.” Not, “I am a God,” as a human would say, “I am a human.” Rather, each divine Person, while not identical to the other divine Persons, is one in being with the other two divine Persons and is fully God. 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