The holy trinity

By Fr. Leo C. Pabayo SJ

IT was very important for the thinkers and teachers of the Church in the Graeco-Roman world to make the teaching of the Bible understandable in the mindset of Greek philosophy for this philosophy was the well-spring of the dominant culture of ancient Western civilization. There was a lot of truth, goodness, and beauty in that philosophy and culture that the early theologians of the Church could use as stepping stones to bring people toward fullness of knowledge by understanding the teachings of Christ.

The “early fathers of the Church” who were the spiritual progenies of the apostles came from this culture. They realized that inculturating the Christian faith in that culture enabled the Church to be understood and accepted by the civilized people of that world. The way they introduced the teachings of the Church to them filled up the lacunae of their philosophy and culture and shed light on their dark aspects. This drew many noble and educated people then to Christ. This must have greatly helped to put an end to the persecution of the Church by the state. Not long afterward the emperor of Rome himself in the person of Constantine would appreciate what the Church was doing and favor the Christian religion.

I said earlier that the word “Trinity” is not in the Bible but what the concept it conveys is found in the bible, not clear at first in the Old Testament but very clearly in the New Testament. The Gospel tells us of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus is the Son of God and God in the full sense of the word. He is the expression of God, the word of God. God communicates himself through Him.

Man usually communicates or expresses himself in words. Thus, when God revealed himself by communicating himself to man, man understood his communication as the word of God. The word of God assumes various forms in the creation and this word of God is powerful. When God spoke his word the world and everything in it came to be or were created.

The word of God would then also affect the course of events of human life. Thus, the word of God is referred to countless times in the books of the prophets. It is referred to as coming from God to the prophets revealing to them God’s will for them to go and teach about the One True God, the Creator, and source of everything in the world and God’s plan for the good of man.” I have plans for your welfare and not for woe”. (Jeremiah 29:11)

The word of God word was not known to them merely by human reasoning although this reasoning was part of their thinking about the word of God. But the word of God was God’s personal communication to them that they would not have known otherwise had God not revealed this to them. They came to know because God decided to reveal this to them for some good purpose that God had in mind. God revealed this to them like the way that a friend would privilege another friend to know of some truths that the latter would not have known otherwise.

The purpose of God was to save man from the evil that was happening or about to happen to them. An example of that was the word that God spoke to Moses to save them from the miserable life of slavery in Egypt and from a meaningless kind of life that was life given to the worship of false gods.

This word is imbued with the Spirit of Love of God for the world for mankind. In the Old Testament, there is a hint that the word of God is also God. But this would become clearer in the New Testament writings and the Gospel.

The Gospel St. John the Apostle begins with “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) The word of God comes into the world in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus would refer to God as Father and that he and the father are one. “Philip, he who sees me has seen the Father. The Father and I are one.” (John 14:10)

He will later say to his apostles and disciples, “I have to go. I will send you the Advocate (Holy Spirit). When He comes He will guide you into all truth….All that the Father has is mine…the Spirit will take what is mine and make it known to you….He will never leave you.” (John 14: 16…) He promised the apostles and his disciples, “I will be with you always to the end of the ages.” (Matthew 20:20). His continual presence is in His Holy Spirit as made visible and incarnated in the members of the Church who have new life in Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. In this way, the life of the members of the Church is like that of the Blessed Trinity.