24. The Mystery of the Blessed Trinity
The mystery of the Most Blessed Trinity is the apex of God’s revelation to mankind: He revealed the existence of three distinct Persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—in the one true God. These three Persons are not three gods, nor are they three different historical manifestations of God; rather, they are three personal realities subsisting in the one divine essence.
The Trinity is One. We do not profess the existence of three gods, but of one God in three Persons: the consubstantial Trinity.1 The divine Persons do not divide the one Godhead among themselves; each of them is entirely God: “The Father is that which the Son is, the Son that which the Father is, the Father and the Son that which the Holy Spirit is, that is one God by nature.”2 “Each of the Persons is that reality, i.e., that divine substance, essence or nature.”3
The divine Persons are truly distinct among themselves. “Father,” “Son,” and “Holy Spirit” are not merely names to designate modes of the same divine Being; these Persons are really distinct: “He is not the Father who is the Son, nor is the Son he who is the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit he who is the Father or the Son.”4 They are distinct among themselves because of their processions, or relations of origin. “The Father is who generates, the Son who is generated, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds.”5 The divine unity is Triune.
The Trinitarian mystery is a manifestation of the most intimate aspect of God’s being. It is the greatest of all revealed mysteries and, consequently, the most important truth of the Christian faith.
It is also, therefore, the center of Christian life, the end of which is the incorporation of baptized persons into the life of Christ (God the Son made man) and their identification with him through the action of the Holy Spirit (by participating in his death and Resurrection) in order to merit a share in the glory of God the Father.
The path to the joy of eternal life in the company of God—the end to which we are all called—begins for Christians in this earthly life with the gratuitously received knowledge of the sublime mystery of the Trinity. Our piety and meditation should, therefore, be centered on this mystery.
10. Human Reason and the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity
10a) The Mystery of the Blessed Trinity is a Truth of Faith
The existence of three distinct Persons in the one true God is a truth of faith, known only through supernatural revelation.6 Human reason could never have discovered it by itself. Even after discovering it through revelation, reason remains incapable of understanding, much less proving it. The natural light of reason can reach only what pertains to the unity of God, e.g., his existence, and some knowledge of his perfections—what can be known through the perfections found in creatures. Through analogy between God and creatures, as was previously seen, reason can ascend from creatures to God. Still, our analogical knowledge of divine attributes is just limited knowledge about the properties of God’s essence, and cannot go very far. Therefore, the Trinity’s existence in the unity of the essence of God is completely inaccessible to mere human reason.
Revelation gives us knowledge of this mystery and even allows us to acquire some understanding of it with faith’s assistance. However, reason will never be able to fully comprehend or prove it because supernatural truths, by their very nature, surpass the capacities of any created intellect.
The supernatural mysteries known through faith cannot be demonstrated. However, arguments that contradict these truths of faith can be rationally disproved. None of the contents of the faith are impossible; nothing contradicts the principles of reason, even though these truths are above human reason.
10b) Human Reason Can Understand the Trinitarian Mystery by Way of Analogy
Once the mystery is known and its content is established by the teachings of the Church, theology tries to explain it as accurately and profoundly as possible.7 All the theological treatises on the Blessed Trinity are more or less successful attempts to shed the light of reason on what we know about the divine Persons: their essential equality, the mutual distinction of the Persons, the origin of the Persons, and the relationships between them. Among the many authorities in this field, the unsurpassed masters are (and always have been) St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. Their analysis is based on the analogy between the operations of the human spirit and the operations of God.
11. The Revelation of the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity
11a) The Blessed Trinity in the New Testament
Certain passages of the New Testament reveal the Trinity of Persons in God, and many others refer to each Person in particular. Among the former, the more significant ones are the following:
· Luke 1:35—the Annunciation, in which the three Persons are mentioned in the following way: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.”
· Matthew 28:19—Jesus’ mandate to his disciples to go and preach, in which the proper names of the Persons are mentioned, and their mutual distinction is accentuated by the use of the conjunction and followed by the definite article the: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
· 2 Corinthians 13:14—“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God [the Father] and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
There are innumerable texts that mention each one of the Persons separately. To cite a few:
(1) Revelation of God the Father
At times, the term Father is applied to the Triune God in order to emphasize that he is the primary origin of everything. In the language of faith, the term indicates two aspects: God’s transcendent authority and his paternal attitude toward all his children. The term Father is revealed explicitly as the name of the first Person of the Blessed Trinity, particularly in passages dealing with the relationship between the Father and his Son, Jesus. Jesus calls him “Father” when he prays (cf. Mt 11:25; Lk 23:34), at times even calling him “Abba” (“Daddy”). Significantly, Christ has always stressed his unique dignity as the Son—his natural filiation to the Father, so different from the adoptive filiation of the rest of humanity—by means of expressions like “my Father” and “your Father” (Jn 20:17).8
(2) Revelation of God the Son
The Son, one of whose revealed names is the Word, is the second Person of the Blessed Trinity. The New Testament is the revelation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, his earthly life, redemptive work, and doctrine. St. John calls him “the only Son from the Father” (Jn 1:14); his divine filiation is absolutely singular and unique. His intimate relationship with the Father is clearly shown in passages revealing their common nature and identical power. All of this can best be summarized in Jesus’ own words recorded by St. John: “I and the Father are one” (Jn 10:30).9
(3) Revelation of God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Blessed Trinity, distinct from the Father and the Son, and one God like them. He is revealed in some texts (especially the synoptic Gospels) as the highest gift without which mankind cannot reach salvation (cf. Mt 3:16; Lk 3:22; 4:1; 10:21; Mt 12:28; Mk 13:11).10 Both in these passages and the rest of the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is revealed as a personal and divine being who carries out the task of sanctifying the Church and all humanity, thus bringing the redemptive work of Jesus Christ to its fullness (cf. Jn 14:16; 15:26; 16:7; Rom 8:14–16; 1 Cor 3:16; Gal 4:6; Eph 4:30).
11b) Traces of the Trinitarian Mystery in the Old Testament
St. Augustine wrote: “Novum in Vetere latet et in Novo Vetus patet,” which roughly means that the fullness of revelation, which was to come with Jesus Christ, was latent in the Old Testament, and what was written in the sacred books of the Old Testament acquires its full meaning in the New Testament.11 Traces and glimpses of the Trinitarian mystery can be found in the Old Testament in the light of the full revelation of the Trinity contained in the New Testament.
These glimpses appear in passages dealing with the Son of God. In Psalm 2:7, we read, “You are my son, today I have begotten you.” Further lights appear in the passages about the divine wisdom, the Word of God, and his Spirit (cf. Prv 8:22–31; Wis 7:25–27; 9:17). Other indirect hints could be the use of majestic plural (“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” [Gn 1:26; cf. Gn 3:22; 11:7].) and the use in Hebrew of the plural form for God’s name (Elohim, “the Most High”) with singular meaning.
12. The Testimony of Tradition
The Fathers of the Church (as early as the second century), the liturgical texts, the creeds or symbols of faith, and the first documents of the Magisterium provide rich testimony of the faith of the Church concerning the mystery of the Triune God. The source of this written Tradition is the revelation of the Trinity contained both in the sacred books and in the preaching of the apostles. The Church studied the revelation under the light of faith, then taught it with exquisite care and profound terminological and conceptual rigor in order to instruct the faithful and defend the dogma against erroneous interpretations.
The highlights in the long and arduous development of this doctrine, made possible with the help of the Holy Spirit, are the following:
· The Council of Nicaea (a.d. 325). The Council was preceded by teachings of the Church Fathers, including St. Justin, St. Irenaeus, and—above all—the first writings of St. Athanasius. In this council, the divinity of Jesus Christ was defined as consubstantial (homoousia) with the Father.
· First Council of Constantinople (a.d. 381). The Council was prepared by, among others, the teachings of the Cappadocian Fathers, who asserted the divine nature and personality of the Holy Spirit.
13. Errors on the Blessed Trinity
Sometimes the testimony of the Fathers and the definitions of the Magisterium were prompted by the need to combat errors and heresies, which were relatively frequent at the time. The main errors are the following:
· Monarchianism, modalism, or Sabellianism. This error tried to save the divine unity by sacrificing the Trinity of Persons. It admits only the divinity of the Father, who manifested himself in different ways, according to different attributes. The Church promptly condemned this heresy.12 Tertullian and St. Hippolytus demonstrated its incompatibility with Christian doctrine.
· Subordinationism. Just like the previous one, this error’s main fault is a mistaken notion of monotheism. It claims that the Son and the Holy Spirit are two creatures of the Father, superior to the rest of creation but subordinate to the Father. Origen and Novatian fell into this error. The serious dogmatic consequences of this doctrine were corrected only a century after its apparition, thanks to the teachings of St. Athanasius.
· Adoptionism. In general, this doctrine falsely claims that Christ was only a man, inspired by the Holy Spirit, adopted by God as his son, and exalted as “god” because of his obedience in the passion and his moral sanctity. Its main advocate, Paul of Samosata, was condemned on several occasions.
· Arianism. Arius conjectured that the Word (Logos) was merely a creature of God, the first of all creatures, and that the Holy Spirit was a creature of the Word. The Word united itself to the man (Jesus), taking the place of his soul, in order to redeem us. Arius was condemned by the First Council of Nicaea, which, as we have seen above, defined the consubstantiality (or identity of nature) between the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ.
· Macedonianism. This false doctrine denies the divinity of the Holy Spirit just as Arius denies the divinity of the Son. This heresy was solemnly condemned by the First Council of Constantinople.
14. Key Magisterial Documents on the Blessed Trinity
14a) Three Divine Persons in God
· Symbol of the First Council of Nicaea, a.d. 325 (Nicene Creed)13
· Symbol of the First Council of Constantinople, a.d. 381 (Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed)14
· Quicumque Symbol, fifth century (Athanasian Creed)15
· Fourth Lateran Council, 1215 (Profession of Faith against the Albigensians and the Cathari)16
· Second Council of Lyons, 1274 (Profession of Faith Prescribed for Michael Paleologus)17
· Council of Florence, 1442 (Bull Cantate Domino)18
The above is not an exhaustive list. Many other documents of the ordinary Magisterium of the Roman pontiffs and provincial councils could be added to this list.
14b) Equality of Persons Insofar as They Are the One God
Aside from the above-listed documents, the following must be mentioned:
· Lateran Council of a.d. 64919
· Fourth Lateran Council (1215), which condemned the errors of Joachim de Fiore20
· Pius IX, Brief Eximiam Tuam (1857), which condemned the errors of Anton Günther21
· Leo XIII, Encyclical Divinum Illud (1897)22
· Profession of Faith of Paul VI (1968)23
Footnotes:
1. DS 421; cf. CCC, 232–267.
2. DS 530.
3. DS 804; cf. CCC, 253.
4. DS 530; cf. CCC, 254.
5. DS 804.
6. Cf. CCC, 238–248.
7. Cf. Ibid., 251.
8. Cf. Ibid., 240–242.
9. Cf. DS 3015, 3016, 3041.
10. Cf. CCC, 243–248.
11. Cf. DV, 16.
12. Cf. DS 112.
13. Cf. DS 125.
14. Cf. DS 150.
15. Cf. DS 75.
16. Cf. DS 800.
17. Cf. DS 851.
18. Cf. DS 1330.
19. Cf. DS 501.
20. Cf. DS 803–805.
21. Cf. DS 2828.
22. Cf. DS 3326.
23. Cf. Creed of the People of God, AAS 60 (1968), 433–455.
The Trinity is One. We do not profess the existence of three gods, but of one God in three Persons: the consubstantial Trinity.1 The divine Persons do not divide the one Godhead among themselves; each of them is entirely God: “The Father is that which the Son is, the Son that which the Father is, the Father and the Son that which the Holy Spirit is, that is one God by nature.”2 “Each of the Persons is that reality, i.e., that divine substance, essence or nature.”3
The divine Persons are truly distinct among themselves. “Father,” “Son,” and “Holy Spirit” are not merely names to designate modes of the same divine Being; these Persons are really distinct: “He is not the Father who is the Son, nor is the Son he who is the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit he who is the Father or the Son.”4 They are distinct among themselves because of their processions, or relations of origin. “The Father is who generates, the Son who is generated, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds.”5 The divine unity is Triune.
The Trinitarian mystery is a manifestation of the most intimate aspect of God’s being. It is the greatest of all revealed mysteries and, consequently, the most important truth of the Christian faith.
It is also, therefore, the center of Christian life, the end of which is the incorporation of baptized persons into the life of Christ (God the Son made man) and their identification with him through the action of the Holy Spirit (by participating in his death and Resurrection) in order to merit a share in the glory of God the Father.
The path to the joy of eternal life in the company of God—the end to which we are all called—begins for Christians in this earthly life with the gratuitously received knowledge of the sublime mystery of the Trinity. Our piety and meditation should, therefore, be centered on this mystery.
10. Human Reason and the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity
10a) The Mystery of the Blessed Trinity is a Truth of Faith
The existence of three distinct Persons in the one true God is a truth of faith, known only through supernatural revelation.6 Human reason could never have discovered it by itself. Even after discovering it through revelation, reason remains incapable of understanding, much less proving it. The natural light of reason can reach only what pertains to the unity of God, e.g., his existence, and some knowledge of his perfections—what can be known through the perfections found in creatures. Through analogy between God and creatures, as was previously seen, reason can ascend from creatures to God. Still, our analogical knowledge of divine attributes is just limited knowledge about the properties of God’s essence, and cannot go very far. Therefore, the Trinity’s existence in the unity of the essence of God is completely inaccessible to mere human reason.
Revelation gives us knowledge of this mystery and even allows us to acquire some understanding of it with faith’s assistance. However, reason will never be able to fully comprehend or prove it because supernatural truths, by their very nature, surpass the capacities of any created intellect.
The supernatural mysteries known through faith cannot be demonstrated. However, arguments that contradict these truths of faith can be rationally disproved. None of the contents of the faith are impossible; nothing contradicts the principles of reason, even though these truths are above human reason.
10b) Human Reason Can Understand the Trinitarian Mystery by Way of Analogy
Once the mystery is known and its content is established by the teachings of the Church, theology tries to explain it as accurately and profoundly as possible.7 All the theological treatises on the Blessed Trinity are more or less successful attempts to shed the light of reason on what we know about the divine Persons: their essential equality, the mutual distinction of the Persons, the origin of the Persons, and the relationships between them. Among the many authorities in this field, the unsurpassed masters are (and always have been) St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. Their analysis is based on the analogy between the operations of the human spirit and the operations of God.
11. The Revelation of the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity
11a) The Blessed Trinity in the New Testament
Certain passages of the New Testament reveal the Trinity of Persons in God, and many others refer to each Person in particular. Among the former, the more significant ones are the following:
· Luke 1:35—the Annunciation, in which the three Persons are mentioned in the following way: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.”
· Matthew 28:19—Jesus’ mandate to his disciples to go and preach, in which the proper names of the Persons are mentioned, and their mutual distinction is accentuated by the use of the conjunction and followed by the definite article the: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
· 2 Corinthians 13:14—“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God [the Father] and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
There are innumerable texts that mention each one of the Persons separately. To cite a few:
(1) Revelation of God the Father
At times, the term Father is applied to the Triune God in order to emphasize that he is the primary origin of everything. In the language of faith, the term indicates two aspects: God’s transcendent authority and his paternal attitude toward all his children. The term Father is revealed explicitly as the name of the first Person of the Blessed Trinity, particularly in passages dealing with the relationship between the Father and his Son, Jesus. Jesus calls him “Father” when he prays (cf. Mt 11:25; Lk 23:34), at times even calling him “Abba” (“Daddy”). Significantly, Christ has always stressed his unique dignity as the Son—his natural filiation to the Father, so different from the adoptive filiation of the rest of humanity—by means of expressions like “my Father” and “your Father” (Jn 20:17).8
(2) Revelation of God the Son
The Son, one of whose revealed names is the Word, is the second Person of the Blessed Trinity. The New Testament is the revelation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, his earthly life, redemptive work, and doctrine. St. John calls him “the only Son from the Father” (Jn 1:14); his divine filiation is absolutely singular and unique. His intimate relationship with the Father is clearly shown in passages revealing their common nature and identical power. All of this can best be summarized in Jesus’ own words recorded by St. John: “I and the Father are one” (Jn 10:30).9
(3) Revelation of God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Blessed Trinity, distinct from the Father and the Son, and one God like them. He is revealed in some texts (especially the synoptic Gospels) as the highest gift without which mankind cannot reach salvation (cf. Mt 3:16; Lk 3:22; 4:1; 10:21; Mt 12:28; Mk 13:11).10 Both in these passages and the rest of the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is revealed as a personal and divine being who carries out the task of sanctifying the Church and all humanity, thus bringing the redemptive work of Jesus Christ to its fullness (cf. Jn 14:16; 15:26; 16:7; Rom 8:14–16; 1 Cor 3:16; Gal 4:6; Eph 4:30).
11b) Traces of the Trinitarian Mystery in the Old Testament
St. Augustine wrote: “Novum in Vetere latet et in Novo Vetus patet,” which roughly means that the fullness of revelation, which was to come with Jesus Christ, was latent in the Old Testament, and what was written in the sacred books of the Old Testament acquires its full meaning in the New Testament.11 Traces and glimpses of the Trinitarian mystery can be found in the Old Testament in the light of the full revelation of the Trinity contained in the New Testament.
These glimpses appear in passages dealing with the Son of God. In Psalm 2:7, we read, “You are my son, today I have begotten you.” Further lights appear in the passages about the divine wisdom, the Word of God, and his Spirit (cf. Prv 8:22–31; Wis 7:25–27; 9:17). Other indirect hints could be the use of majestic plural (“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” [Gn 1:26; cf. Gn 3:22; 11:7].) and the use in Hebrew of the plural form for God’s name (Elohim, “the Most High”) with singular meaning.
12. The Testimony of Tradition
The Fathers of the Church (as early as the second century), the liturgical texts, the creeds or symbols of faith, and the first documents of the Magisterium provide rich testimony of the faith of the Church concerning the mystery of the Triune God. The source of this written Tradition is the revelation of the Trinity contained both in the sacred books and in the preaching of the apostles. The Church studied the revelation under the light of faith, then taught it with exquisite care and profound terminological and conceptual rigor in order to instruct the faithful and defend the dogma against erroneous interpretations.
The highlights in the long and arduous development of this doctrine, made possible with the help of the Holy Spirit, are the following:
· The Council of Nicaea (a.d. 325). The Council was preceded by teachings of the Church Fathers, including St. Justin, St. Irenaeus, and—above all—the first writings of St. Athanasius. In this council, the divinity of Jesus Christ was defined as consubstantial (homoousia) with the Father.
· First Council of Constantinople (a.d. 381). The Council was prepared by, among others, the teachings of the Cappadocian Fathers, who asserted the divine nature and personality of the Holy Spirit.
13. Errors on the Blessed Trinity
Sometimes the testimony of the Fathers and the definitions of the Magisterium were prompted by the need to combat errors and heresies, which were relatively frequent at the time. The main errors are the following:
· Monarchianism, modalism, or Sabellianism. This error tried to save the divine unity by sacrificing the Trinity of Persons. It admits only the divinity of the Father, who manifested himself in different ways, according to different attributes. The Church promptly condemned this heresy.12 Tertullian and St. Hippolytus demonstrated its incompatibility with Christian doctrine.
· Subordinationism. Just like the previous one, this error’s main fault is a mistaken notion of monotheism. It claims that the Son and the Holy Spirit are two creatures of the Father, superior to the rest of creation but subordinate to the Father. Origen and Novatian fell into this error. The serious dogmatic consequences of this doctrine were corrected only a century after its apparition, thanks to the teachings of St. Athanasius.
· Adoptionism. In general, this doctrine falsely claims that Christ was only a man, inspired by the Holy Spirit, adopted by God as his son, and exalted as “god” because of his obedience in the passion and his moral sanctity. Its main advocate, Paul of Samosata, was condemned on several occasions.
· Arianism. Arius conjectured that the Word (Logos) was merely a creature of God, the first of all creatures, and that the Holy Spirit was a creature of the Word. The Word united itself to the man (Jesus), taking the place of his soul, in order to redeem us. Arius was condemned by the First Council of Nicaea, which, as we have seen above, defined the consubstantiality (or identity of nature) between the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ.
· Macedonianism. This false doctrine denies the divinity of the Holy Spirit just as Arius denies the divinity of the Son. This heresy was solemnly condemned by the First Council of Constantinople.
14. Key Magisterial Documents on the Blessed Trinity
14a) Three Divine Persons in God
· Symbol of the First Council of Nicaea, a.d. 325 (Nicene Creed)13
· Symbol of the First Council of Constantinople, a.d. 381 (Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed)14
· Quicumque Symbol, fifth century (Athanasian Creed)15
· Fourth Lateran Council, 1215 (Profession of Faith against the Albigensians and the Cathari)16
· Second Council of Lyons, 1274 (Profession of Faith Prescribed for Michael Paleologus)17
· Council of Florence, 1442 (Bull Cantate Domino)18
The above is not an exhaustive list. Many other documents of the ordinary Magisterium of the Roman pontiffs and provincial councils could be added to this list.
14b) Equality of Persons Insofar as They Are the One God
Aside from the above-listed documents, the following must be mentioned:
· Lateran Council of a.d. 64919
· Fourth Lateran Council (1215), which condemned the errors of Joachim de Fiore20
· Pius IX, Brief Eximiam Tuam (1857), which condemned the errors of Anton Günther21
· Leo XIII, Encyclical Divinum Illud (1897)22
· Profession of Faith of Paul VI (1968)23
Footnotes:
1. DS 421; cf. CCC, 232–267.
2. DS 530.
3. DS 804; cf. CCC, 253.
4. DS 530; cf. CCC, 254.
5. DS 804.
6. Cf. CCC, 238–248.
7. Cf. Ibid., 251.
8. Cf. Ibid., 240–242.
9. Cf. DS 3015, 3016, 3041.
10. Cf. CCC, 243–248.
11. Cf. DV, 16.
12. Cf. DS 112.
13. Cf. DS 125.
14. Cf. DS 150.
15. Cf. DS 75.
16. Cf. DS 800.
17. Cf. DS 851.
18. Cf. DS 1330.
19. Cf. DS 501.
20. Cf. DS 803–805.
21. Cf. DS 2828.
22. Cf. DS 3326.
23. Cf. Creed of the People of God, AAS 60 (1968), 433–455.