The Trinity
Introduction
“The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of
Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in himself. It is
therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light
that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential
teaching in the "hierarchy of the truths of faith". The whole
history of salvation is identical with the history of the way and
the means by which the one true God, Father, Son and Holy
Spirit, reveals himself to men "and reconciles and unites with
himself those who turn away from sin“ CCC 234
De Deo Uno
• On the One God
• 2nd Year Philosophy
• Proofs of the
existence of God
• Anselm’s
onological
argument
• Aquinas’ “Five
Ways”
• The rationality of
monotheism- why
there can only be one
God and why it is
reasonable to believe
in Him
De Deo Trino
• On the Triune God
• Sometimes called De Deo
Revelato
• Either 1st or 3rd year Theology
• The Trinity as revealed in:
• Scripture
• Tradition
• Heavy focus on development
of the Church’s teaching by
the Fathers and Councils,
most especially in response
to overcoming various
heresies.
De Deo Uno ET Trino
All Trinitarian heresies result from an over-emphasis of one or the other
Knowing and Mystery
“ (The) Catholic Church has maintained and maintains this too: that there is a twofold
order of knowledge, distinct not only as regards its source, but also as regards its object.
With regard to the source, we know at the one level by natural reason, at the other level
by divine faith. With regard to the object, besides those things to which natural reason
can attain, there are proposed for our belief mysteries hidden in God which, unless they
are divinely revealed, are incapable of being known….Now reason, does indeed when it
seeks persistently, piously and soberly, achieve by God's gift some understanding, and
that most profitable, of the mysteries, whether by analogy from what it knows naturally,
or from the connection of these mysteries with one another and with the final end of
humanity; but reason is never rendered capable of penetrating these mysteries in the
way in which it penetrates those truths which form its proper object. For the divine
mysteries, by their very nature, so far surpass the created understanding that, even
when a revelation has been given and accepted by faith, they remain covered by the veil
of that same faith and wrapped, as it were, in a certain obscurity, as long as in this mortal
life we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, and not by sight” Vatican I Dei Filius
“If anyone says that the one, true God, our creator and lord, cannot be known
with certainty from the things that have been made, by the natural light of
human reason: anathema sit!” – Vatican I
“For all people who were ignorant of God were foolish by nature since they
from the good things that are seen were unable to know the One who exists,
they did not know the artisan while paying heed to His works.” Wis. 13.1
“The Trinity is a mystery of faith in the strict sense, one of the "mysteries that
are hidden in God, which can never be known unless they are revealed by
God". To be sure, God has left traces of his Trinitarian being in his work of
creation and in his Revelation throughout the Old Testament. But his inmost
Being as Holy Trinity is a mystery that is inaccessible to reason alone or even to
Israel's faith before the Incarnation of God's Son and the sending of the Holy
Spirit” CCC237
The Fathers and later theologians made an important distinction
between “theology” which referred to God’s innermost life as the
Trinity and “economy” His unfolding work of self-revelation through
creation and salvation. Through His actions, most especially through
the twin mission of the Son and Spirit, God reveals who He really is.
Conversely by understanding something of who God is we can
more easily understand His works.
Sometimes this distinction is labelled as being between the
Immanent/Economic Trinity. Care however must be made not to
stretch the distinction too far as to do so risks denial of the reality of
the Trinitarian revelation. On the other hand not to make a
distinction risks limiting God to what He has revealed to us: the
economy, never mind our feeble grasp of it, can never exhaust the
fullness of the mystery of God’s inner life.
The Fathers and later theologians made an important distinction
between “theology” which referred to God’s innermost life as the
Trinity and “economy” His unfolding work of self-revelation through
creation and salvation. Through His actions, most especially through
the twin mission of the Son and Spirit, God reveals who He really is.
Conversely by understanding something of who God is we can
more easily understand His works.
Sometimes this distinction is labelled as being between the
Immanent/Economic Trinity. Care however must be made not to
stretch the distinction too far as to do so risks denial of the reality of
the Trinitarian revelation. On the other hand not to make a
distinction risks limiting God to what He has revealed to us: the
economy, never mind our feeble grasp of it, can never exhaust the
fullness of the mystery of God’s inner life.
The Creed of Toledo XI , 675
We confess and believe that the holy and ineffable Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is
one God by nature, of one substance, of one nature as also of one majesty and power. …
(deals with Father, Son, Spirit individually) …This is the way of speaking about the Holy
Trinity as it has been handed down: one must not call it or believe it to be threefold, but
Trinity. Nor can it properly be said that in the one God there is the Trinity, but the one God
is the Trinity. In the relative names of the persons the Father is related to the Son, the Son
to the Father, and the Holy Spirit to both. While they are called three persons in view of
their relations, we believe in one nature or substance
Although we profess three persons, we do not profess three substances, but one
substance and three persons….For, if we are asked about the single persons, we must
confess that each is God. Therefore, we say that the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy
Spirit is God ' each one distinctly; yet there are not three gods, but one God. Similarly, we
say that the Father is almighty, the Son is almighty, the Holy Spirit is almighty, each one
distinctly; yet there are not three almighty ones, but one Almighty, as we profess one light
and one principle. Hence we confess and believe that each person distinctly is fully God,
and the three persons together are one God. Theirs is an undivided and equal Godhead,
majesty and power, which is neither diminished in the single persons nor increased in the
three. For it is not less when each person is called God separately, nor is it greater when all
three persons are called one God.
However, though we have said that these three persons are one God, we are not allowed
to say that the same one is the Father who is the Son, or that He is the Son who is the
Father, or that He who is the Holy Spirit is either the Father or the Son. For 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, even though 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….Hence, we recognise the Trinity in the distinction of persons and we profess the
unity on account of the nature or substance. Thus, the three are one by nature, not as
person.
Nevertheless these three persons are not to be considered separable since, according to
our belief, none of them ever existed or acted before another, after another, without
another. For they are inseparable both in what they are and in what they do…
The Holy Trinity itself has indeed deigned clearly to reveal it to us: in these names by which
He wanted the single persons to be known, it is impossible to understand one person
without the other; one cannot conceive of the Father without the Son, nor can the Son be
found without the Father. Indeed, the very relationship expressed in the personal names
forbids us to separate the persons, for, though it does not name them together, it implies
them. No one can hear any one of these names without necessarily understanding also the
other. While then these Three are One and this One Three, each of the persons retains His
own characteristics: The Father has eternity without birth; the Son has eternity with birth;
the Holy Spirit has procession without birth with eternity
"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
“The fullness of our happiness, beyond
which there is none else is this:
to enjoy God the Trinity in whose image
we were made” - St. Augustine, De
Trinitate