Questions tagged [trinity]
The doctrine of the three-personhood of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; who, though existing in three distinct persons and work towards different arenas, are the same God, of the same mind, and the same purpose.
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Doesn't the Trinitarian reading of Genesis 1:26 violate hermeneutical principles? [closed]
Why do Trinitarians rarely mention the hermeneutical principles which have led them to this belief? What are the hermeneutical principles that support the Trinitarian view? For example Genesis 1:26 &...
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Is the theory of Eternal Generation now redundant?
I note that many modern theologians no longer translate monogenēs as “only begotten” but as “unique” or as "one of a kind." Most modern English versions have adopted this new understanding ...
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Catholic Sources Which Point to the Three Visitors to Abraham in Gen. 18 as The Holy Trinity?
Most of the commentary that I have read regarding the identities of the Three Visitors to Abraham in Genesis 18 have all agreed that God (without specifying which Person) was one of them. Many seem to ...
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According to Trinitarians, what is the Biblical basis that some doctrine is a mystery?
Trinitarians, especially in the Catholic and Orthodox traditions, will describe the doctrine of the Trinity as being a "mystery", meaning that in some way it is beyond our ability to fully ...
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If God is immutable, how does the hypostatic union work?
According to Trinitarian theology as held by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, God is 3 persons/hypostasis in 1 essence/nature/substance and one attribute of God is his immutability (c.f. Summa ...
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The Holy Spirit and Revelation 14:1
Revelation 14:1 states (ESV translation):
Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.
Now, the ...
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What pronouns make most sense when referencing the Trinity?
The Trinity is 3 persons sharing 1 essence.
They share It.
(Where does the "He", "Him", "Me", "My" come from?)
Jesus uses plural personified pronouns when ...
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Will all glorified children of God take on the title/name of YHWH in the age to come?
God is 1. I think we can all agree with Jesus' most important commandment... the Shema.
I've been told here by the most prudent of Trinitarians, that YHWH is not a being or a person, but instead 3 ...
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In what way(s) is God the Father a father to God the Son? And in what way(s) is God the Son a son?
Every concept and Truth is from the creative mind of God. This includes what defines a father and a son. By observation, we can know how God defines a father within His design.
Some examples of ...
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In what sense was mankind created in the image of a triune essence?
God created mankind in His image.
Gen 1
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over ...
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Request for an update on views about the Trinity doctrine as now held by the groups below
In 1986 the man who was the public face of the Worldwide Church of God, Herbert W. Armstrong, died. He wrote for its journal, The Plain Truth, but thereafter the new leadership saw various errors and ...
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Trinitarian Ontology... What is it? Being vs person vs essence vs _______
I will try to ask this unique question again. How can we answer here without defining simple words used to define God?
Premise
From Wikipedia:
Ontology addresses questions of how entities are ...
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According to the Trinitarian interpretation of John 17:3, if Jesus's God and Father is the 1 True God, what type of god is Jesus?
If the Father is the only God who is True, than what type of godhood is the 2nd person of the trinity?
John 17:3 (Jesus speaking to his God and Father)
And this is eternal life, that they may know ...
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How do Trinitarians explain Titus 1:3 & 4 in light of Isaiah 43:11?
There is a question asking how non-trinitarians explain Isaiah 43:11, but this one seeks trinitarian explanation as connected to other verses in Titus.
“Before me there was no God formed, neither ...
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Who is the pardoning authority for Sin against the Holy Spirit? [closed]
In Mtt 12:32-33, Jesus speaks about the Sin against the Holy Spirit. He elaborates that blasphemy against the Son of God will be forgiven, but that against the Holy Spirit will not be. Now, ...
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Why does the Trinitarian Formula start with "In the NAME…" and not "In the NAMES…"?
Today the Universal Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity. In the Trinitarian Formula, we invoke the NAME (singular) of the Three Persons of the Trinity. In English we say: "In the ...
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For Trinitarians, why is it important to posit Jesus's human nature continued existence post ascension?
Christians belief that God exists in three persons, although being just one entity.
One of them is the Father who created the visible and the invisible world.
I understand, that the Father was just ...
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How can trinitarians profess co-equality when Jesus said the Father was greater?
Trinitarians typically believe that the persons of the Trinity are coequal. How do they explain Jesus' statement that his Father was greater?
Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come ...
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How do Trinitarian Christians understand the description of Deity in Isaiah 46:9?
How do Trinitarian Christians understand the description of Deity in Isaiah 46:9?
Who is speaking in this verse?
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and ...
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Can Muslims be considered Muslims and Christians at the same time in the sight of God? [closed]
There are a number of Christians (groups that believe in Christ and name themselves "Christian") who don't believe in the Trinity. Many of these are broadly considered Christians.
Muslims ...
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What do Reformed theologians mean that Catholics have the "more metaphysical conception" of God's grace?
In Derek Rishmawy's blog article defending how Reformed justification is not sub-Trinitarian, he compared fully Trinitarian Reformed approach as "the forgiving mercy of God" (via a quote ...
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According to Chalcedonian Trinitarians, did Thomas - a devout Jew - believe God had died at John 20?
At John 20, Thomas initially refuses to believe other disciples' accounts of Jesus having been raised from the dead. When Jesus appears to Thomas, Thomas famously exclaims
"My Lord and my God!&...
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According to Chalcedonian Trinitarians, why did Jesus not mention himself at John 4:23?
John 4:23 has Jesus saying
"But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will
worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking
such as these to worship Him.&...
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Why is the controversy of the fourth century called the 'Arian' Controversy?
Apparently, the terms “Arian,” “Arianism,” and “Arian Controversy” were derived from the name of Arius, who was in charge of one of the churches in Alexandria, and whose dispute with his bishop ...
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Did Arius say that the Son is mutable?
Arius himself wrote that “the Son of God … is, like the Father, 'unchangeable’” (Rowan Williams, page 96) but Athanasius wrote that Arius taught that the Son is “like all others … subject to change … ...
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God's presence among us
I have a simple question: why does God not live with us directly? It seems He is revealing Himself to us only indirectly, as opposed to being with us as Someone we could reach just like another person....
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According to Protestants who hold that belief in Trinitarianism is necessary for salvation, what happens to those who assent but don't understand?
It seems some Protestants hold that belief in Trinitarianism is required for salvation. According to those who hold this, is there a distinction between Christians who assent to this and understand ...
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God was born of Mary - really?
We must always say as well that God was born of Mary. From this accepted answer.
God is spirit and invisible and his face cannot be seen lest we die. Yet apparently it's OK for God to dwell within ...
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Do Trinitarian denominations believe that the Holy Spirit is omniscient, and do any believe denying it is worthy of expulsion of members?
What is a survey of beliefs in contemporary Trinitarian denominations regarding whether the Holy Spirit - a co-equal person of the Godhead - is omniscient? Do any hold members should be expelled if ...
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Why was homoousios used in the Nicene Creed?
The word homoousios is not in the Bible. It also was not a standard part of the Christian confession immediately before Nicaea. Rowan Williams described it as “the radical words of Nicaea” (RW, 236) ...
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How do Unitarian see the Problem of sharing YHWHs Honor with the Son? Isaiah 48:11 and John 5:23
In Isaiah 48:11 we see that the Father YHWH does not share his Glory/Honor with anybody.
For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not ...
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From whom or what did Arius learn his theology?
Where did Arius learn his theology? Did he rely on specific theologians that wrote before him? Origen? Clement of Alexandria? Lucian of Antioch? Were his ideas based on the Bible or on Greek ...
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Why is it significant that Arius taught two Wisdoms? Was this a deviation of some kind?
Both Athanasius noted that Arius taught two Wisdoms. Athanasius wrote that in Arius’ theology,
“There are … two Wisdoms, one God's own who has existed eternally with
God, the other the Son who was ...
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Should a Protestant accept the Nicene Creed? [closed]
In chapter 24.1 of his authoritative book on the fourth century Arian Controversy - The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God - Bishop RPC Hanson discusses how the various parties in that ...
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According to Trinitarian theologians, why is Christ distinguished from God at 1 Corinthians 11:3 as a man is distinguished from Christ?
1 Corinthians 11:3 is
But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, and
the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
It seems we have 3 distinct beings in the ...
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Did the early church believe that Jesus was uncreated?
Among the early church there was a dispute on the nature of Christ, with some Christians claiming that Jesus was not only God but was uncreated and some like Arius believing that Jesus Christ was ...
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How do Trinitarians respond to passages in the Bible that seem to clearly distinguish between God and Jesus after his ascension?
Dr. Steven Nemes writes in the article The revelation which God gave Jesus, after quoting the opening line of Revelation
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his
servants what ...
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Given that Jesus can read minds. Why did God need to observe external behavior to know what was in the heart?
Given that Jesus can read minds. Why did God need to observe external behavior to know what was in the heart?
In Mark 2:8 it reads
And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so
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How do those who hold Jesus = God in the Trinitarian sense account for Paul's reticence to state this clearly and consistently?
At the end of his letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul says (Ephesians 6:19-20)
Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me
so that I will boldly make known the mystery of the ...
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According to Trinitarians who believe Philippians 2:6 says Jesus is God, why did Paul add the word 'form' ('morphe')?
Philippians 2:6 is
"Ὃς ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχων οὐχ ἁρπαγμὸν ἡγήσατο τὸ εἶναι ἴσα Θεῷ"
"Hos en morphe theou hyparchon ouch harpagmon hegesato to einai isa theo"
In his talk ...
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According to Trinitarian theology, how is Jesus God when he sits at the right hand of the true God?
Jesus claimed a lot of times that he was God and am going to quote some verses inexplicitly in the Holy Bible where he claimed that title.
John 8:57:
He was with the Pharisees and the Sadducees and ...
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How can the hypostases be distinct? (Identity Trinitarianism)
NOTE: This question is aimed at those who hold a particular view of the Trinity. If you do not hold the view I am referring to, then this question is not directed torwards you
Thomists and other ...
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How do Trinitarians deal with this contradiction regarding the Creator?
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
If a trinitarian is asked which God is being referred to, which God created the heaven and the earth at the beginning, MOST, if not ...
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How do Biblical Unitarians deal with the fact that the early church accepted the divinity of Christ?
This question is slightly related to How do Unitarians respond to quotations from Ignatius of Antioch that seem to show Ignatius believes Jesus is God? but I think I am presenting a unique challenge.
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Jesus' Soul and Spirit? [closed]
What is the difference between soul and spirit?
When Jesus was made flesh he had human and divine natures. Being human, he had a human soul too. But In nature he is God. God is spirit.
Does anyone ...
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According to Trinitarians, which person/essence/being/substance/relation is "the Living God"?
Psalm 84:2
My soul longs, yes, even faints For the courts of YHWH; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
Matthew 16:16
Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the ...
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Can you help me solve this theological puzzle over John 1:14?
John 1:14 is generally used to say that "God" became "flesh" based on the understanding that "the Word" addressed in John 1:1 refers to God. However, several other texts ...
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In the Trinitarian view does Matthew 11:27 indicate the Holy Spirit does not know the Son?
Matthew 11:27
Young's Literal Translation
27 `All things were delivered to me by my Father, and none doth know the Son, except the Father, nor doth any know the Father, except the Son, and he to whom ...
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If a non-believer asks a Trinitarian Christian to explain John 14:10, how might the latter oblige?
We see Jesus telling in John 14:10 the following:
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words I say to you, I do not speak on My own. Instead, it is the Father ...
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How do non-trinitarians reconcile Jesus' claims to be God, and the Father to be God, with the requirement for monotheism?
John said the Word was with God and was God (John 1:1), and the Word became flesh (John 1:14)—Jesus.
Jesus said "Before Abraham was I AM" (John 8:58)—Jesus' claim to be YHVH.
Jesus ...