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Three in One, One in Three
Ok I know the Holy Trinity is Three in One and One in three, but I have trouble understanding how. I don't mean to sound heretical; I'm not opposing, I just need somebody to explain
Comments
well how our priest explained it to us as he has a body (father) he has a soul (son) and he has a name (Holy Spirit) so we all have a body, soul and name and we r 1 person same as the trinity
hope that helped
GB ALL
+FROG+
GOD IS GREAT!!
GB ALL
+FROG+
GOD IS GREAT!!
it is certainly a difficult concept to grasp however there are a few analogies ( they cannot perfectly represent the trinity) that can help us to better understand the concept.
+Consider the sun. There is the round bit, the light and the heat/rays. Each part is unique yet they are united. We cannot say the sun is only made of just one or two of these parts.
+Consider yourself. You have a physical state, an emotional state and a spiritual state. These are all unique and have different roles but they are all combined. for example when i say ur name "Christ4Life" this refers to all of u not just one part of u.
+If God is LOVING, then Jesus is LOVE and the HOly Spirit is the SPIRIT OF LOVE
+If God is WISE, then Jesus is WISDOM and the HOly Spirit is the SPIRIT OF WISDOM.
I hope i have not confused u. Remember we can never perfectly understand God's nature since God is unlimited and our minds r very limited...
God bless
Pete
GB ALL
+FROG+
GOD IS GREAT!
I found for you two articles about this.
One of them is a short story about the Trinity.
Adam and Eve are hard-working employees of a company called ``WorldWide Inc''. When they joined this company, they heard a lot about its founder and owner, Mr. Great. Everybody in the company spoke of Mr. Great and his incredible capacities and how he managed to start this incredibly successful venture from nothing. Everybody feared Mr. Great because he represented the ultimate authority: a word of his would be enough to hire or fire! Nevertheless he was fair. Nobody has really seen or even had the courage to find Mr. Great. Only a select group of representatives from WorldWide Inc were given the chance to communicate with Mr. Great. Every now and then, some of these representatives would simply forward Mr. Great's orders regarding the management of WorldWide Inc to all employees. Everybody simply listened and acted accordingly. Well, one day, while on a lunch break, Adam and Eve ran into a very meak and humble young man, who introduced himself as Mr. Love. This individual was so sweet that Adam and Eve loved his company and asked him to spend some time with them. During that time they ate and drank; they talked about almost everything, even about the incredibly powerful Mr. Great. As a matter of fact, Mr. Love explained many of the orders that were given by Mr. Great and which didn't make any sense to Adam and Eve. For example, Mr. Love explained that while Mr. Great ordered his employees to observe the law to the letter, it was much better to follow the spirit of the law. So, while an eye-for-eye is OK, loving even one's enemy is far better! At the end of Mr. Love's stay with Adam and Eve, he revealed to them a secret. That he is nobody other than Mr. Great! Love was simply his middle name! So, Mr. Great Love departed but he promised that he will empower both Adam and Eve with his Spirit, which they should call on to help them and act on their behalf.
In the above story, Adam and Eve got introduced to three quite different aspects of the same being: the authority and might of the founder and owner of their WorldWide Inc., his love and understanding, and his will and power. When Adam and Eve want to think about this being, they will envision and address one of his three distinct characters. But these three characters are only projections or revelations of the same individual being.
Source : http://www.coptic.net/articles/OneGodInTrinity.txt
And the second is a lesson from the Sunday School Curriculum - Grade 9 by the Los Angeles Diocese.
Week 4 - Trinitarianism and Monotheism
Objective:
To understand the type of the Lord’s Oneness (of three Hypostases)
Memory Verse:
“I and My Father are one” (John 10:30)
References:
“Our Holy Faith” Bishop Youannis
“Truly we believe in One God” Fr. Moussa Wahba
“The Message of Monotheism and Trinitarianism” Yassa Mansour
“Monotheism and Trinitarianism” Fawzy Girgis
“We believe in One God” St. George church, Sporting
“God is One in Trinity” St. George church, Sporting
Introduction:
This dogma may be difficult to understand and because of this creed we are accused of atheism because they think that we worship three gods. Although it is difficult for our mind to recognize and understand the nature of God, yet the lord, out of His love to us allowed us to contemplate His divine nature and understand Him in a way that gives comfort to the soul that enjoys faith, which simply believes every word written in the Holy Bible.
Lesson Outlines:
Our belief in One God
The problem that faces those who attack Trinitarianism is that they separate Trinitarianism from Monotheism. They think that the Christian dogma of Trinitarianism is a sort of atheism or
polytheism. But we as Christians say that we believe in One God that has no partner. We do not believe in three gods. All the attacks directed to the belief of three gods have no relation with Christianity whatsoever. Christians believe in One God. The following proves this:
“The Lord our God is One Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4).
“You believe that God is one; you do well” (James 2:19).
The Orthodox Creed states: “Truly we believe in one God”
When the Lord Christ referred to the three Hypostases He said, “Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). He said “In the name” not “In the names”.
Three Hypostases - The Holy Trinity
We believe that this One God has three Hypostases. “Hypostasis” is a Greek word meaning “essential private quality or characteristic”. We say private characteristic to distinguish it from the several other qualities or attributes of the Lord such as love, mercy, justice, power…that is why we can call it the characteristic:
1. The first characteristic is the existence or the essence. Can we imagine that God is without his characteristic? On the contrary it is a must that He exist, as He is the source of existence.
2. The second characteristic is the talking intellect. He created the world with, and with Him He controls the world.
3. The third characteristic is life. God must be a living being, He Himself is life. God is a living wise being, self-existent, speaking by His word and living by His spirit.
The names of Hypostases
Instead of saying: the first Hypostasis, the second Hypostasis and the third Hypostasis. We give them the names that Christ himself had given them (Matthew 28:19). Even if they are of our human language, yet they show the work of each Hypostasis to a great extent.
1. The first Hypostasis: The essence the origin is called the Father.
2. The Second Hypostasis: Because He comes out of the First Hypostasis is called the Son.
3. The Third Hypostasis: Because He is the giver of life is called the Spirit.
Because these names are our human language about the divine nature of God and His characteristics which in fact surpasses any comprehension so we have to set some precaution:
1. This does not mean that any of them is better than the other. They are distinct in the type of work and effect but they are not distinct in honor, essence and nature.
2. The relationship between the Father and the Son is not that used and referred to in the human language when we speak about human fathers and sons. The obstruct meaning of these words are used in expressions such as: The son of Egypt, the son of the Nile, we also say that fire
generates heat and the mind generates ideas.
3. There is no separation between Hypostases: The son is in the Father and the Father is in the Son and the Holy Spirit is in them both. When we think our mind gives birth to a certain idea this idea may come out of your mind and goes to somebody else but this does not mean that the idea has deserted you; it is still in you i.e. in your mind.
4. The Father never precedes the Son or the Holy Spirit in time as it is impossible to imagine God without intellect or without life at anytime, the same as when you light a candle: the light and the flame come at one time; neither of them precedes the other.
Similarities
Man
He is an inner soul and an inner existence. This soul has a private will and a certain desire but the soul cannot work without intellect and liveliness.
The role of the intellect is clear when man thinks of the solution of a certain problem, and utters the solution by his mouth. At that time he says “I solved the problem by my mind”.
This does not mean that his mind is separated from him. We cannot neglect the role of liveliness, which moved the tongue to speak. They are three elements that work together in a unity.
“The energy and liveliness” of man has a role when man practices a sport. Here we do not forget how the desire began and how the mind thinks of the easiest way to win.
The Sun
It is a disc of fire (the Father) but it has two distinct tasks, which are to issue light (the Son) and heat (the Holy Spirit). Each of them has its own effect, when we sit in the sun to read we cannot say:
I read by the heat of the sun. This is a wrong expression. Although each of them has its own task that the other can do, can you imagine the possibility of their being separated or the existence of two of
them without the third?
The role of the Holy Trinity in the life of man
Although each Hypostasis has His own work and a certain role, this does not mean that He is separated from the other two: as He cannot perform His role without the others (as in the example of man and the sun).
The Father willed to create man. He is the spring of love who did not want man to die after his fall, but He sent His Son to redeem man. He is the fatherly bosom that controls our life, draws the plan of our salvation, accepts us and receives us after we repent our sins.
The Son is the divine intellect in whom our image was formed before we were created, with Him we were created. He incarnated the divine love to us when He incarnated and became man so that we may unite with Him and our image which sin deformed may be mended. It is He who redeemed us and became an eternal patron.
The Holy Spirit came down upon us (because of Christ unity with us) so He brought us to the divine fellowship with grace, the sanctifies our senses kindles our hearts with love to God and raises our human worship to the divine level. We can deduce the work of each Hypostasis from the following texts.
The work of the Father
He chose us in Christ (Ephesians 1:3-4).
He destined us in love to be His sons through Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29, Ephesians 1:5).
He called us (Romans 8:30).
He is God almighty the eternal creator.
The work of the son
Redemption (Galatians 1:4, Galatians 3:13, Ephesians 1:7)
Giving life (John 1:4)
Forgiveness of sins (Matthew 9:6, Acts 10:43, Ephesians 1:7)
He is the Son the word (the Logos) and the image of the Father.
The work of the Holy Spirit
The New Birth (John 3:5-6)
Sanctification (2 Thessalonica 2:13, 1 Peter 1:2)
He reproves the world of sin (John 16:8)
He is the Spirit that gives life, the Spirit of love the comforter, the paraclete. His shapes of forms include pigeon, the shining cloud, flames of fire, or a breathe from the mouth of the Son of Man.
Conclusion:
We believe in one God in three Hypostasis. We do not believe in three gods or multiple gods.
Hope it helps.
basketball
GB ALL
+FROG+
GOD IS GREAT!!