The Trilemma

[its_brad]

Christianity’s “Trilemma” refers to the dilemma of the Trinity: how we explain the triune God. What do you believe is the main issue? Summarize a response.

[trietjens]

The fathers of the church were first faced with the dilemma of the Trinity when the aberrant views of Modalism and Arianism cropped up. They knew that Modalism and Arianism were wrong views of God, but what was the right way to view Him? God revealed himself as a Trinity in an economic manner, by presenting Himself as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit through Scriptures. The church understands that all three are different but all three are God and they hold to the fact that we worship one God and only one God. So the main issue is how to express how God is in Himself without compromising what we know to be true about God toward us as revealed through Scriptures. This leads to the need for intellectually clear and precise language that most closely describes the seeming contradiction of the three persons who are all God and yet the fact that we only worship one God without leaving out any of the three persons from rightful worship and their due glory. Along with Dr. Toon my favorite creedal statement that best represents the efforts of the church fathers is The Athanasian Creed - http://www.creeds.net/ancient/Quicumque.html

[cmoore]

The main issue, that hinders how we as a universal Church explains the Trinity, rests in the fact that individuals focus on one person of the Trinity rather acknowledging that the Godhead is one God in three persons of one substance. There are some factions of the Christian faith that only focus on God the Father. This results in views such as Modalism and Arianism. When we simply focus on the actions the and the revelation of God the Father then we are subject to neglect God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We see the Father as the Supreme person of the Trinity and the other two as subordinate to the Father. We then could come up with weird doctrines that claim that Jesus is not God and the Holy Spirit is not God or that Jesus and the Holy Spirit represents God but are not actually God.
There are other factions of the Christian faith, using the word Christian loosely, that believes that we should believe in Jesus only. God the Father was the Old Testament deity, but now He has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. Therefore, the Father does not rule and the Holy Spirit does not rule and reign. It is only Jesus. This is depicted in a few of our modern day denominations. This is represented in the baptism of individuals as well. They advocate baptism in the name of Jesus only to be saved.
Lastly, there are certain prominent denominations that focuses on the Holy Spirit only. They claim that even though a person might be saved by accepting Jesus Christ, they are not complete until they are baptized by the Holy Spirit with certain accompanying evidences. This group of denominations focuses on the outward expressions of being possessed and possessing the Holy Spirit.
Through the above generalizations, many have become confused as to what are the real roles of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit. Many have become ignorant to the fact that there is a Godhead and is represented in Three Persons but each Person is of the same substance. What we distort the Doctrine of the Trinity by simply focusing on one Person and making the other two subordinate, we contribute to the Trilemma. The above generalizations mentioned contain the errors of both Modalists and that of Western Arianism.

[cmoore]

The fathers of the church were first faced with the dilemma of the Trinity when the aberrant views of Modalism and Arianism cropped up. They knew that Modalism and Arianism were wrong views of God, but what was the right way to view Him? God revealed himself as a Trinity in an economic manner, by presenting Himself as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit through Scriptures. The church understands that all three are different but all three are God and they hold to the fact that we worship one God and only one God. So the main issue is how to express how God is in Himself without compromising what we know to be true about God toward us as revealed through Scriptures. This leads to the need for intellectually clear and precise language that most closely describes the seeming contradiction of the three persons who are all God and yet the fact that we only worship one God without leaving out any of the three persons from rightful worship and their due glory. Along with Dr. Toon my favorite creedal statement that best represents the efforts of the church fathers is The Athanasian Creed - http://www.creeds.net/ancient/Quicumque.html

Response:
I am in agreement with the statement above. We need “intellectually clear and precise language” that will describe the Holy Trinity without contradicting what we know to be true from the Scriptures concerning the Trinity. We see the Father very active in the Old Testament. We see God the Son very active in the New Testament – the Gospels in particular. We see the Holy Spirit very active in the letters of Paul and the General letters. There needs to be a type of language that is clear and concise that is not so intellectually intense with jargon that we loose the real essence of who the Trinity is that the average person can understand. When the language becomes so intellectually intense with religious and technical jargon the definition or explanation can become confusing and highly distorted depending upon how we define certain words.

[JesseCottrell]

Christianity’s “Trilemma” refers to the dilemma of the Trinity: how we explain the triune God. What do you believe is the main issue? Summarize a response.

I believe the main issue is the fact that there is one eternal and everlasting God existing in three persons; it is very difficult for a person to wrap their mind around this idea. Time and time again when talking to friends that are unbelievers the problem for them is not understanding or believing that there is an all-powerful being (or God) ruling the universe – the problem is that this God exists in three separate persons. As a Christian it makes sense that each person has a distinct role and function; God as author and creator, Jesus as mediator and executor, and the Holy Spirit as applicator or consummator. For an unbeliever who does not understand the necessity of each of these roles in salvation, Christianity ends up sounded like many other religions that have outlandish and weird beliefs. Unless an individual understands the purpose and various functions of the members of the Trinity, it won’t (and can’t) ever make sense.

[JesseCottrell]

The fathers of the church were first faced with the dilemma of the Trinity when the aberrant views of Modalism and Arianism cropped up. They knew that Modalism and Arianism were wrong views of God, but what was the right way to view Him? God revealed himself as a Trinity in an economic manner, by presenting Himself as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit through Scriptures. The church understands that all three are different but all three are God and they hold to the fact that we worship one God and only one God. So the main issue is how to express how God is in Himself without compromising what we know to be true about God toward us as revealed through Scriptures. This leads to the need for intellectually clear and precise language that most closely describes the seeming contradiction of the three persons who are all God and yet the fact that we only worship one God without leaving out any of the three persons from rightful worship and their due glory. Along with Dr. Toon my favorite creedal statement that best represents the efforts of the church fathers is The Athanasian Creed - http://www.creeds.net/ancient/Quicumque.html

Intellectually clear and precise language is most certainly needed, but can a true understanding be reached without the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit? I am not willing to go so far as to say that all Modalists and Arianists are not saved and therefore were not able to tap into the divine resource (the Holy Spirit), but with this terribly difficult doctrine it seems divine revelation is absolutely necessary. Hours upon hours can be spent gleaning various truths about the immense doctrine of the Trinity, but apart from the work of the Holy Spirit can any of us really claim to understand it by ourselves? How much can we really blame a pagan for not understanding the Trinity? Just a thought…

[JesseCottrell]

Response:
I am in agreement with the statement above. We need “intellectually clear and precise language” that will describe the Holy Trinity without contradicting what we know to be true from the Scriptures concerning the Trinity. We see the Father very active in the Old Testament. We see God the Son very active in the New Testament – the Gospels in particular. We see the Holy Spirit very active in the letters of Paul and the General letters. There needs to be a type of language that is clear and concise that is not so intellectually intense with jargon that we loose the real essence of who the Trinity is that the average person can understand. When the language becomes so intellectually intense with religious and technical jargon the definition or explanation can become confusing and highly distorted depending upon how we define certain words.

Great observation! It seems that in all of life everyone has favorites – favorite ice cream, favorite shirts, favorite hymns, favorite doctrines of the faith… Would it really be a stretch to say that certain individuals have a favorite member of the Trinity? I am by no means saying this is right or good (as far as the Trinity is concerned – if you like vanilla more than chocolate ice cream go right on ahead and keep on playing favorites), but it is very possible that an individual could be enamored by one member of the Trinity to the detriment of the others (this could be based on life experiences or any number of factors). Could this possibly be a reason that the doctrine of the Trinity is distorted – one member of the Trinity is focused on and the other two are made subordinate? Just a thought…

[Ryan N]

Time and time again when talking to friends that are unbelievers the problem for them is not understanding or believing that there is an all-powerful being (or God) ruling the universe – the problem is that this God exists in three separate persons.

I agree that most people are accepting of an all-powerful being or God, but get caught up over the concept of the three persons. One difficulty in explaining the Trinity is the modern definition of the word “person.” Most people probably think of a human being with a unique appearance and personality. In light of this definition, it is understandable, although unfortunate that unbelievers have a hard time accepting that God is triune. In any other case, we would not agree that 1 can be 3 and 3 can be one. This points to the amazing change that God makes in our hearts when he calls us to salvation. We are able to believe with absolute certainty a concept that was incomprehensible when we were in darkness.

[Ryan N]

I believe that the main issue in explaining God as Trinity is that we are created and fallen beings who are trying to explain the infinite and perfect God. Even prior to the fall, I do not believe that Adam and Eve would not have been able to perfectly explain the Trinity, for the finite cannot understand or explain the infinite. When you add the consequences of sin to our understanding of God, our ability to explain the Trinity is further hindered. However, we should not be discouraged from trying to know God more intimately, for he has revealed himself through the economic Trinity to the degree that he wants us to know him.

[Ryan N]

So the main issue is how to express how God is in Himself without compromising what we know to be true about God toward us as revealed through Scriptures. This leads to the need for intellectually clear and precise language...

I agree that clear and precise language is needed to explain the Trinity for even the terms we use such as “person” or “member” hinder our ability to accurately portray the truth. One way to minimize this problem is for scholars to regularly revise their writings on the Trinity so that they will be current with the times. Change is occurring so quickly today and the meaning of words can differ even from one generation to the next. As the meanings of terms change, so will our explanation of the doctrines of the Trinity (although only to a slight degree over a short period of time) unless we accomodate for these changes.

[Ryan N]

The main issue, that hinders how we as a universal Church explains the Trinity, rests in the fact that individuals focus on one person of the Trinity rather acknowledging that the Godhead is one God in three persons of one substance.


One of the biggest blessings of taking this course was see how I had not loved and worshiped the person of the Holy Spirit in the same manner that I had loved the Father and the Son. It’s not that I had denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit, but my focus had always been more on the other persons. Based on what I learned in this course, I am eager to spend more time on the doctrine of the Trinity in my teaching with an emphasis on focusing on all three persons.