2

This is a practical question. According to Trinitarianism, three distinct Persons form the Godhead: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In principle, they are all just one God, but in practice people might tend to focus / fixate more on one specific Person over the other two.

For example, someone might focus excessively on Jesus, talk all the time about Jesus, but then forget about the Father and the Holy Spirit. Alternatively, another person might develop a very strong and intimate bond toward the Person of the Father by following very strictly the pattern of prayer that Jesus taught: "Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come [...]", whereas Jesus is relegated to a secondary plane, only being remembered on Sunday services or transactionally at the end of prayers ("in Jesus' name, Amen"). And likewise, there might be Christians who over fixate on the Person of the Holy Spirit, perhaps those who lean more towards the Charismatic/Pentecostal side of the spectrum, thus relegating the Father and the Son to the background in terms of importance.

Question: How do Trinitarians deal with the issue of over-fixating on one particular Person of the Trinity while relegating the other two to the background? Are there recommended practices within Trinitarian denominations for developing a balanced and equally intimate relationship with each Person of the Trinity, so that no Person is treated "unfairly"?

Improve this question
2
  • I hadn't previously thought about "fixating" on one of the three divine Persons, but perhaps we needn't worry about it. The Nicene Creed says, of the Holy Ghost, that "cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur and conglorificatur", so our adoration of one divine Person apparently "counts" as adoration of all three. In the same vein, we have Jesus's saying "if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father."
    – Andreas Blass
    Mar 31, 2021 at 17:27
  • As the three persons of Holy Trinity are all God, Worship of one member is worship of all of them.
    – Xartoon
    Mar 31, 2021 at 18:01

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
0

I think what is at play here is a matter or your perception. Or to put another way, "things don't always appear as they seem."

Yes, God is three persons and yet there are so many scriptures that only use Lord, God and many other titles referring to God.

Where no distinction is made, it is obviously unnecessary to make a distinction. The persons of the Trinity are persons in RELATION to each other, any one of the persons in relation to us is simply God, in that there is only one God.

So, the Holy Spirit is a person in relation to the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is God in relation to us. If you are in a relationship with the Father/Son/Holy Spirit, then you must be in a relationship with them all; for there is only one God. If you deny one, you deny them all.

Jesus said at John 5:23, "in order that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. (Notice Jesus was sent, not created).

What about the Holy Spirit? Is He treated unfairly? I think not. Matthew 12:31, "Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven."

There is a contrast in this passage between all other sins (even sins against the Son of Man, verse 32) and the sin against the Holy Spirit. The sin against the Holy Spirit is not merely a particular act; rather, to blaspheme the Spirit reflects an attitude that is decidedly against God and His nature. Just read verses 34-35. The Pharisees had this attitude by virtue of them accusing Jesus of joining forces with the devil.

In short, the reason the sin against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven is because the Pharisees persisted in saying, "He has an unclean spirit." The Pharisees who called the Holy Spirit in Jesus an unclean spirit were rejecting the Spirit's witness to Jesus as Messiah and Savior.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.