THE TRIUNITY OF GOD

 

What do we know about God? Every day we close our eyes to pray, but we do not always realize that we are talking to the Creator. Every Sunday we go to the temple to worship him and there we sing, offer, listen to the homily, but we do everything in such an automatic way that we don't even realize that we are worshiping God. We have a very weak perception and consciousness of God in our life of worship. This is because we do not know him, we do not have intimacy with him, because He is not the center of our devotion. Many times we practice the acts of devotion for our particular satisfaction. We do so because we live for ourselves and think little about him. God is not at the base of our thinking. 

One aspect of God's "being" is that He is a Trinity, that is, He is a God in three persons, three distinct beings. It is not about three gods as in paganism, but about a single God in three co-equal and co-eternal persons who share the same essence. This is an Old Testament teaching, the emphasis that there is only one God. See the formula: "the LORD our God, the LORD is one" (Deuteronomy 6:4). But, at the same time, it reveals the mystery that God is a plurality. Thus, in Genesis 1:26, we have: "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness". Notice the verb in the plural. The same can be noted in 11:5,7: "The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this... Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other" (Gênesis 11:6,7). God is a community of three people. 

This aspect of God's "being" is also observed in the New Testament. For example, it, the Trinity, was present in the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:13-17). Jesus, in the water, to be baptized; the Father who appears in the voice that says "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased"; and the Spirit who descends, on Jesus. The New Testament is rich in this matter of the Trinity. Another example that reveals the Holy Trinity is the following statement of Jesus, near the end of his life, telling his disciples, "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever" (John 14:16). 

Not only the Father is God, but also the Son and the Spirit. The Apostle Paul, writing to the Ephesians, recommended that they should have the same attitude as Christ Jesus, who, although being God, did not consider that being equal to God was something to be attached to; but emptied himself by becoming a servant (Philippians 2:6,7). Thomas, touching the marks of the crucifixion of Christ, risen, exclaimed: "My Lord and my God! (John 20:28). What about the Spirit? To the Corinthians, Paul once said: "the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (2Corinthians 3:17). Peter, when warning Ananias, said: "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit...  You have not lied just to human beings but to God" (Acts 5:3,4).  

However, care must be taken not to fall into the error of thinking that the Son and the Spirit are subordinate to the Father (subordination) or that they are the Father's ways of operating (modalism). They are three distinct persons, three co-eternal beings who share the same essence, the same substance. According to Calvin, "to the Father is attributed the beginning of the activity, and the source and spring of all things; to the Son, wisdom, counsel and the orderly disposition of all things; but to the Spirit is assigned the power and efficacy of all this activity (CALVINO apud HORTON, 2016, P.309).  

This is only one aspect of the mystery of God's "being". We have difficulty in understanding it: "one God in three persons". They are three persons deeply united in communion full of love, a concept that we still do not understand. It is God's nature to be three. When two or more human beings come together, relationships and feelings of hatred, envy, disunity and jealousy are soon established. It is the fallen human nature marked by original sin. But the understanding of the Trinity elevates us to Trinitarian worship, where the Father draws us, the Son is the model and content of the worship we direct to Him, and the Spirit helps us in our difficulty to worship Him.

Antônio Maia - Ph.B., M. Div.

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