More Thoughts Concerning the Trinity
The doctrine of the Trinity is crucial to the universal Christian faith. The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the pillars of the Christian faith, and several essential elements are considered stand-alone doctrinal principles of our faith. Monotheism is one of the principal characteristics that separates Christianity from numerous pagan religions that believe in multiple gods while simultaneously proclaiming a single God with three persons, tripersonal.[1] The tripersonal substance, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are all divine, coequal, and perfect in their essence or nature.[2] This tripersonal substance element of the doctrine of the Trinity is critical in distinguishing Christianity from Judaism and Islam. Judaism and Islam proclaim that Jesus Christ was a good man, teacher, and/or prophet but denounce His deity. This proclamation of Jesus’s deity is seen when He states, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58, Legacy Standard Bible) This statement is a hyperlink to Exodus 3:14, “And God furthermore said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM; and He said, Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.” (LSB) Thus, Jesus Christ is proclaiming His divinity by declaring Himself to be the I AM, as C. S. Lewis stated, “Either this man was, and is, the Son of God or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.”[3] In addition, the eternal element must apply to all three persons of the Trinity. As Erickson explains, “None of them came into being at some point in time, or at some point became divine.”[4] The divinity and eternal doctrine of the Trinity, specifically of Jesus Christ the Son, delineates our faith from Arianism and other religious groups similar in belief, such as Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses, who claim that Jesus Christ is a created being.
Bibliography
Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013.
Lewis, C. S. Mere Christianity: A revised and amplified edition, with a new introduction, of the three books Broadcast Talks, Christian Behavior and Beyond Personality. Broadway, NY: An Imprint of Harper Collins Publisher, 1980.
MacArthur, John, and Richard Mayhue, eds. Biblical Doctrine : A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth. Wheaton: Crossway, 2017.
Moreland, James Porter, and William Lane Craig. Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview. 2nd edition. Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, an imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2017.
[1] James Porter Moreland, and William Lane Craig, Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview. 2nd edition (Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, an imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2017),576.
[2] John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue, Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017), 190.
[3] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity: A revised and amplified edition, with a new introduction, of the three books Broadcast Talks, Christian Behavior and Beyond Personality (Broadway, NY: An Imprint of Harper Collins Publisher, 1980), 52.
[4] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 309.