The Mystery of Faith THE TRINITY

 Before we can begin to discuss God, we must put on the right mindset.  God is essentially a mystery – a mystery is something which is not fully able to be known.  God is a mystery in the sense that we can never fully understand God in this world.  God is infinite, we are finite; we cannot fit infinite knowledge within our finite mind.  Therefore, when discussing the Nature and Person of God there will be things that we cannot understand.  You will get frustrated, you will not understand, and there will be questions.  But, that is the nature of our quest … if it was easy what gain would there be in that?  Finally, a mystery must be revealed gradually – the mystery of the Trinity has been gradually revealed throughout Salvation History. THE MYSTERY OF FAITH

 Because it is important for us to understand the gradual revelation of the Trinity through Salvation History, here is a brief yet essential outline of people and events: I.Creation – Adam and Eve are created “in the image and likeness of God”, God states, “Let Us make man”, a hint of the Trinity. (Gen. 1:26). II.Covenants – God makes Himself known through Covenants; He reveals His Name to Moses “I AM” – this marks the beginning of Hebrew monotheism. III.Prophets – Isaiah and Daniel make prophesies which point towards the Messiah as “born of a virgin” (Is. 7:14) and being “one like a son of man” (Dan. 7:13). IV.The Incarnation – Christ is born in Bethlehem and through His life and teaching, He reveals God in Three Persons, “go and baptize all nations in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” (Mt. 28:19). OUTLINE OF SALVATION HISTORY

 In the Old Testament, God works with man through a series of Covenants.  A Covenant is a sacred agreement between God and His people.  It is through God’s work with mankind that He reveals Himself as one God.  Moses taught the people of Israel the commandments and the most important article of faith was monotheism.  In Deuteronomy 6:4, Moses teaches the people the Shema, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is One; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your strength.”  Jewish monotheism was a revolution in world religious thought because the primary religious philosophy of the ancient world was polytheism. Polytheism is based upon the fear of the gods; Jewish monotheism is based on the love of God – it is a relational faith not a master/slave faith.  Jewish monotheism set the foundation for the coming of Jesus Christ and the sending of the Holy Spirit. SCRIPTURE: GOD’S INTRODUCTION

A PROBLEM & A SOLUTION  The problem in the Old Testament is the failure because none of the covenants were kept.  God was and is always faithful, but man never kept his end of the bargain.  God constantly sent the prophets to the people but most of the prophets were killed by the people.  Bottom line – God had a message and it was not being received. God came in Person to deliver the Message.

 According to God’s eternal plan Jesus took on human flesh and was born of the Virgin Mary – this is the doctrine of the Incarnation.  But why? Why did God become man?  Is there a better way to deliver a message than in Person? Jesus is the Word of God in the flesh, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn. 1:14).  He came among us as our brother not as a conquering God but as a servant, as St. Paul says, “Though He was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, He emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave…” (Phil. 2:6-7)  He entered into the world as we do, lived as we do, worked as we do – to show us how to live. He reveals the path of holiness by reminding us that life is about loving God and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves.  He came to save us. The Old Testament left us with a problem: how do we as human beings make up for our sins – what can we offer God? Jesus took on our human flesh and offered Himself on our behalf – God offers to God for our sins and salvation. “THE WORD MADE FLESH”

 Jesus’ mission can be summed up in His title “Christ” or “Anointed One”.  What were the Old Testament roles/jobs which required anointing?  Priest – what does a priest do?  Jesus offers Himself upon the Cross for our sins.  Prophet – what does a prophet do?  Jesus preaches the Word of God because He is the Word of God in the flesh.  King – what does a king do?  Jesus rules over all creation.  Another aspect of Jesus’ mission was to reveal the Divine Economy of Salvation.  Divine Economy refers to God’s Eternal plan of salvation and part of this plan was Jesus’ revelation of the Father and His sending of the Holy Spirit. JESUS THE CHRIST

 St. Paul says in Col. 1:15, “He is the image of the invisible God … for in Him all things were created”  In John 14:8 Philip asks Jesus “Lord show us the Father” and Jesus replies, “I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.”  In these verses Jesus is revealing His unity with the Father in doing His will.  Jesus reveals that He became man to do the Will of the Father and in doing the Father’s Will, Jesus is revealing the great depth of love that God the Father has for us.  Jesus also reveals the Father in His title of “Son of God”.  Jesus is the Son of the Father and thus reveals a filial relationship.  We must understand that we are not speaking here of physical fatherhood. God has no body, He is Spirit. So what does it mean that God is Father and Jesus is the Son of God?  We are speaking here of analogy. An analogy is a comparison between two things used to illustrate a deeper meaning. JESUS THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD

 In theology we as human being are trying to describe a Divine and infinite reality; so we have to use the best human language that we can.  Often this involves analogy.  Jesus is not the physical Son of God, because God is not physical; however, we use this term to describe the closeness of the relationship between the Father and Jesus.  Jesus invites us to enter into a close relationship with God by teaching us to call God Abba/Father.  Jesus teaches us the Our Father and describes God as a merciful Father. ANALOGY AND THEOLOGY Parable of the Prodigal Son and the Merciful Father

GOD THE FATHER, GOD THE SON In Summary  Jesus reveals God as a loving and merciful Father.  The unity of the Trinity is expressed in unity of Will (Economy of Salvation).  Jesus uses a Father/Son analogy to describe the closeness of the relationship between He and the Father.  In doing so He calls us to enter into a relationship wherein we call God “Our Father” and “Abba”.  We ought to strive for union with God, as Jesus strove for union with His Father in doing His Will.

SENDING THE SPIRIT The Holy Spirit  After His resurrection Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to His Apostles, “Receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins your forgive are forgiven and whose sins you retain are retained.” Jn.20:22  He again sent the Spirit upon them at Pentecost in Acts 2.  Pentecost is the event which sparked the beginning of the Church.  Jesus promised that the Spirit would always lead and guide the Church till He returned, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever.” Jn.14:16