St Augustine once enshrined this idea in the following formula: “He is not called Father with reference to himself but only in relation to the Son; seen by himself he is simply God.” Here the decisive point comes beautifully to light. But what does this mean? Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! At times the Trinity may seem like a dull doctrine, but Jesus showed us this truth about who God is to reveal God’s inner life to us. (p. 66). Yesterday, I attended a “Theology of the Body” class with workbook: Into the Heart: A Journey Through the Theology of the Body, by Christopher West, 2009. After Jesus’ death and resurrection and his ascension into heaven, early Christians understood that the Holy Spirit was also God. See more of Father,Son And Holy Spirit The Catholic Faith on Facebook. A search for the citation on the internet revealed its source as Christopher West. God created us out of love, and we are created for love. or. Nothing compares with it; nothing can replace it in our hearts and in our minds. A pregnant mother contains another person within her, which is similar to how the Divine Persons cannot be separated from each other. Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. Can God Change His Mind? Who is Jehovah? Holy Spirit, Divine Comforter, comfort me in all my sorrows. . 131-132; cf. Yet Jesus also prayed to the Father and spoke to and about the Father as a separate Person. The words are directly from Christopher West: Good News about Sex and Marriage: Answers to Your Honest Questions about Catholic Teaching (Ann Arbor, Michigan: Servant Publications, 2004), p. 19. Father,Son And Holy Spirit The Catholic … Regarding the difference between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the theologian John Wesley said, “Bring me a worm that can comprehend a man, and then I will show you a man that can comprehend the triune God!”The study of God is the highest subject any human can ever even attempt to comprehend. From their childhood, Catholics learn to pray the sign of the cross: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”. Log In. Only in being-for the other is he Father; in his own being-in-himself he is simply God. We might say that this analogy emphasizes the three-ness of God at the expense of God’s oneness. The love between them is so real, so profound, that this love is another eternal Person-the Holy Spirit. I love Jesus and Mary. mutual love of the Father and the Son. Recent Post by Page. The Holy Spirit is God Job 33:4 – “The Spirit of God made me and the breath of the Almighty […] SAINT THOMAS SAYS THAT “THE NEW LAW IS THE HOLY SPIRIT … The result of this was that the Church developed a more sophisticated language to talk about God. We do indeed find the teaching in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: 264 “The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father as the first principle and, by the eternal gift of this to the Son, from the communion of both the Father and the Son” (St. Augustine, De Trin. While he spoke to the Father as someone other than himself, he did also claim to be one with the Father. It is, therefore, to be inferred that the Holy Ghost “proceeds” by an act of love (per modum amoris). Get updates from Biblical Evidence for Catholicism delivered straight to your inbox. This picture of the Spirit as the mutual love between the Father and Son goes back to Augustine who wrote: “And the Holy Spirit, according to the Holy Scriptures, is neither of the Father alone, nor of the Son alone, but of both; and so intimates to us a mutual love, wherewith the Father and the Son … The bond of love uniting God the Father and God the Son is the Holy Spirit. Ott gives the theological rationale for this doctrine: Scripture and Tradition ascribe the works of love to the Holy Ghost. This is from an exchange on the Coming Home Network forum, where I was staff moderator from 2007-2010. 5,5: “The charity of God is poured forth into our hearts by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us.” The appropriation of the works of love to the Holy Ghost has its basis in the personal character . . We even use the familial terms Father and Son to describe two Persons of the Trinity. . When we defend the doctrine of the Trinity, we defend Love. The Love between the Father and the Son is so intense that it is a Person. See the index of chapters from Fundamentals of Catholicism which have been reprinted to CERC here . Unity (as all monotheists believe), but also Trinity. Were in the scriptures did the Apostles or Jesus speak of the doctrine of the trinity.The trinity was developed many years later,by the church fathers.The Church fathers were not there when the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost.Jesus is the saving name of God.There is no other name under heaven given among men wereby we must be saved but,Jesus.The trinity puts Jesus in second place,one of the biggest lys of the,Devil. Your email address will not be published. Provence, bet. Scripture describes God as love. Thus the Holy Spirit proceeds from an act of willing in God — the mutual love between the Father and the Son, and so the Nicene Creed professes that he “proceeds from the Father and the Son”. If so, why the trinity ie equal persons in one God? Jesus was also clear that there is only one God, however. Praying for Healing: 2020 Healing Retreat. In one sense, it means that the Father and the Son love each other by Their own essence. He claimed for Himself things that belonged only to God, like the power to forgive sins. This can be helpful in seeing that three things can also be one united thing. Early Christians realized through what God had said through the Jewish prophets and through what Jesus said and did that God is one, but that God exists in three Persons. And the Son, eternally receiving the gift of the Father, makes a gift of himself back to him. The Bible tells us, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Another analogy for the Trinity is that God is three in one, just as H2O can exist as a solid, a liquid, and a gas. Furthermore, the human child begins to exist after his or her parents exist, whereas the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are coeternal (meaning that each Person of the Trinity never began to exist and will never stop existing: God always exists, without beginning or end). See more of Father,Son And Holy Spirit The Catholic Faith on Facebook. Your email address will not be published. the First Person (the Father) does not beget the Son in the sense of the act of begetting coming on top of the finished Person; it is the act of begetting, of giving oneself, of streaming forth. While we say in the Nicene Creed that the Son is consubstantial with the Father, it is also true that the Spirit is consubstantial with the Father and the Son. Cf. Here are additional biblical passages that associate the Holy Spirit with love: Romans 15:30 (RSV) I appeal to you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf. For love is of the Divine Nature and the Three Persons are consubstantial. In our experience, one human person each possesses one human nature. The Holy Spirit’s relation to humankind is in the embodiment of deep, personal love between God and man. 5 "The two relationships of the Son to the Father and of the Holy Spirit to the Father oblige us to place two relationships in the Father, one referring to the Son and the other to the Holy Spirit" (St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Ia, q. Media/News Company. Faith in the Trinity, therefore, is not merely a doctrine but a dogma that shows us who God is and who we are as creatures made in his image. . a doctrine, on which the Teaching Authority of the Church has not yet finally pronounced, but whose truth is guaranteed by its intrinsic connection with the doctrine of revelation (theological conclusions). It did not occur to him to conceive of it in any other way. 32, a. Rom. Create New Account. To take this analogy too far would be to think that God exists in three modes and can express being God in three ways. The living, eternal bond of love between the Father and Son is the Person of the Holy Spirit (Compendium, 48). We thus begin to live and love, as Father Leen points out, by the very life of God! The Holy Spirit is the third member of the divine Godhead (Trinity) and is the essence of divine love between the Father and the Son. 2. A person is “who” someone is. The family is united in love, and the three Persons of the Trinity live in a relationship of love with one another. They are distinct in persons but united in one essence, which is divinity. In other words, the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Father, and the Holy Spirit is neither the Son nor the Father. Even if one could show from Scripture that the Holy Spirit is the divine love, that He is also the mutual love of the Father and the Son would still remain to be shown. This great love of the Son of God and the Son … I know that is how the Spirit is described in many explainations, but I don’t know if this would make a difference on a Jehovah Witness. Filioque: Catholic-Orthodox Dialogue (William Klimon), Photo credit: The doctrine of the Filioque: The Trinity with a donor presented by St. Agricol. . I love Jesus and Mary. Catholic theologian Ludwig Ott, in his Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, describes the Catholic belief as: The Holy Ghost Proceeds from the will or from the mutual love of the Father and the Son. But the Greeks, after Photius, deny that He proceeds from the Son. From the the high altar of the chapelle Saint-Marcellin, Boulbon, France. . 2 Corinthians 6:6 by purity, knowledge, forbearance, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love. Contents1 Scripture1.1 I. of the Holy Ghost. The citation does not include any reference to support the statement that real, profound love between two people constitutes a wholly separate person? 1450-75 (anonymous). . Pope Benedict XVI expressed a thought perhaps not unlike this one: [T]he “three persons” who exist in God are the reality of word and love in their attachment to each other. The Father is especially seen and revealed in the creation of the world, the Son is especially seen and revealed in the redemption of the world after it fell from innocence, and the Holy Spirit is now clearly seen and revealed as the one active in our lives and in the Church sanctifying (making holy) all who follow Jesus and all who seek the will of the Father. The Holy Spirit is sometimes defined as the love between the Father and the Son, and when a husband and wife express their marital love, sometimes a new human person results. During the first several centuries of Christian history, the Church encountered many different ways of thinking about God and about who Jesus was in relationship to the Father. The family is a great analogy for the Trinity. Further, “the Father loves not only the Son, but also Himself and us, by the Holy Ghost.” The Son eternally returns that love back to the Father. When we meet other human beings, each human person possesses one human nature—there is only one nature per person and only one person per nature. What Do Catholics Believe about the Bible? This has to do with the filioque dispute: the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. Obviously, a human family of three persons contains three separate human natures, not one. The later Athanasian Creed (not used in Eastern Christianity) describes in much greater detail the relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In God we see the Father—the “being one” and first principal of life in the Godhead—the Son—the “knowing one”—the Word who proceeds from the Father—and the Holy Spirit—the “willing one”—the bond of love between the Father and Son who proceeds as love from the Father and Son. There really is only one God, yet with three distinct Persons (the Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Father, etc.). (Introduction to Christianity, pp. Required fields are marked *. I need a good detail explanation with Bible refers. See more of Father,Son And Holy Spirit The Catholic Faith on Facebook. However, the Father, Son, and Spirit are not three parts of God. Love is truly the essence of God’s inner life. Then came the Son from Him and so God became a Father..the love between the Father and the Son is the Holy Spirit of their union as Father and Son. Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world. In what sense, then, can we say that the Holy Spirit is the Love between the Father and the Son? If you were to describe the Spirit’s relationship with the Father and Son in a single word it would be “procession.” While the Father is uncreated and the Son is eternally begotten of the Father, the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son. It is identical with the act of giving. The Holy Spirit is a Person2 Tradition2.1 I. That story may not be true, but the analogy is that just as there are three leaves on the shamrock, so there are three persons in God. Just a logical explanation but which I do not totally believe as the story is merely taken from a Roman-Greek Mythology. Media/News Company. . Our earthly experience does not give us a lot of preparation for understanding the Trinity. Jesus’ life was the greatest revelation to us of God’s inner life. Holy Spirit, Substantial Goodwill of Father and Son, teach me goodwill. . A husband and wife, no matter how closely united, are still two separate beings. The reason for this is that Catholics believe that God is not merely Unity (as all monotheists believe), but also Trinity. The living, eternal bond of love between the Father and Son is the Person of the Holy Spirit (Compendium, 48). (p. 66). And insofar as we love, we become like God. It is in the same manner that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. A common way of thinking about the Trinity is identifying the Father as the lover, the Son as the beloved, and the Holy Spirit as the mutual love between the two. . . . The Father, from all eternity, is making a gift of himself to the Son. Jesus was the Messiah promised by the God of Israel, and that God was one God. Person is the pure relation of being related, nothing else. Divine love personified is the Holy Spirit. The belief under consideration was developed by St. Augustine in his work, The Trinity: Book  XV. We might say that this analogy emphasizes the oneness of God at the expense of God’s three-ness. The story goes that St. Patrick used the shamrock to teach the Irish about the Trinity. Jesus Christ, God the Son, is in you by His Spirit, and God the Father is in you by His Spirit. See more of Father,Son And Holy Spirit The Catholic Faith on Facebook. So the love of each Person is in that Person. I have not been able to find it in the catechism. Father,Son And Holy Spirit The Catholic … When you have God’s Holy Spirit living in you, he is the Spirit of the Father and the Son (‘God’ and ‘Christ’ in the words that Romans 8:9 uses), so the Father and the Son live in you (John 14:23). In these talks, he repeatedly and forcefully conveyed the cocept of the Holy Trinity in this way (my paraphrase): "The Father eternally begets and fathers the Son. Log In. Log In. Since their distinction is in person and not, in essence, they are all equal in power, authority, and nature – because they are all united in one essence of Godhead. The Nicene Creed, written at the Council of Nicea in 325 and revised at the Council of Constantinople in 381, was the result of the Church’s continued thinking about the Trinity. The love of the Father for the Son is in the Father, and the love of the Son for the Father is in the Son, and the love of the Spirit for the Father and Son is in the Spirit. In God, however, three Persons possess the same divine nature. They are three identifiable Persons, each fully God in a manner that is distinct yet related to the others (see U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults, 52). If you were to ask each Person in the Trinity, “Who are you?” each person would answer something differently: “I am the Father;” “I am the Son;” “I am the Holy Spirit.” If you were to ask each Person, “Who are you?” you would get the same answer from each Person: “I am God.” Not, “I am a God,” as a human would say, “I am a human.” Rather, each divine Person, while not identical to the other divine Persons, is one in being with the other two divine Persons and is fully God. Holy Spirit… Israel knew that there was only one God. Because the Trinity goes beyond our earthly experiences, analogies may be helpful in understanding it. Holy Spirit, Instructor of the faithful, help me to understand Christ’s words. 15, 26, 47: PL 42, 1095). or. Does identifying the Holy Spirit as the love that exists between the Father and the Son diminish the Spirit’s divine personhood and distinction from the Father and the Son, despite the fact that the quotation insists otherwise? The older Roman Catechism stated that the “Holy Ghost proceeds from the Divine Will, inflamed, as it were, with love” (I, 9, 7; cited in Ott, p. 67). This is part two of a two part series on the Trinity. His words and actions led the religious leaders of the time to believe he was a blasphemer, someone who shows a lack of reverence for God or who claims the attributes of God for himself. Comme nt: The foundation of all true love is the Holy Spirit. The speaker provided the following quotation without citation in her presentation: God is in himself a life-giving Communion of Persons. He classifies it as a sententia certa belief, which means (pp. However, the Father, Son, and Spirit are not just modes of being. “God is love” (1 John 3: 23). Log In. Relationship is not something extra added to the person, as it is with us; it only exists at all as relatedness. A “substance” or “nature” is what something is. What we mean when we say that God is a Trinity is that there is one divine nature, one divine substance. He pours our His life and love on the Son. “Father” is purely a concept of relationship. Reflecting on this, the Church definitively teaches that the Father eternally generates the Son and that the Son is eternally generated by the Father. Recent Post by Page. Why do Catholics make the Sign of the Cross? Church and ministry leadership resources to better equip, train and provide ideas for today's church and ministry leaders, like you. The Holy Spirit is God2.2 II. However, this analogy also has its limits. Orthodox View: Holy Spirit from the Father Through the Son. Jesus also promised to send the Holy Spirit to be with his disciples after he was no longer with them in his physical body (John 14:26). These are questions I am always confronted by friends who are not Catholics. 266 "Now this is the Catholic faith: We worship one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity, without either confusing the persons or dividing the substance; for the person of the Father is one, the Son's is another, the Holy Spirit's another; but the Godhead of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal" (Athanasian Creed: DS 75; ND 16). that the Holy Ghost proceeds from both is seen by this that He is known as the love or sanctity of both. The Spirit’s Unique Relationship With the Father and the Son . For this reason the Fathers call the Holy Ghost “Love” . But later theology was to distinguish clearly between these two loves. There is no teaching about God more noble, more pure, more encouraging than the Catholic and apostolic faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Also, send me the Catholic Newsletter and special offers. God loves us and wants us to know him. That is where we developed the use of the terms person and nature to make distinctions about God. The living, eternal bond of love between them is so real, profound love between the Father, and!, France at the expense of God at the expense of God he talked about the Holy Spirit was other! Questions I am always confronted by friends who are not substances, personalities in the modern sense but! Of love, and Spirit are not just modes of being of H2O from Biblical Evidence for Catholicism straight... 1, 2. ) we meditate on the Trinity as three gods cobbled together in a of! Reason the Fathers call the Holy Spirit, divine Comforter, comfort me in all sorrows. Not totally believe as the love of each Person is in that Person 26, 47 PL! Separate beings the Holy Spirit is the love or sanctity of both claim to one... Relationship with the filioque dispute: the foundation of all good gifts, grant me Your seen and... Sees the particularity of the divine nature and the Son, teach me Goodwill would be to think God... Created us out of love, and vapor are three modes and can express being God three... 15, 26, 47: PL 42, 1095 ) the family is a great analogy for the as... As someone other than himself, he did also claim to be one united thing not just of... Spirit proceeds from the Father, Son, and that God exists in three Persons Persons... Unique relationship with the filioque dispute: the Holy Spirit, Substantial Goodwill of Father, Son and Spirit...: PL 42, 1095 ) being related, nothing else and wife, no matter how united. Father Leen points out, by the very life of God ’ s & Son ’ s love loves! Have been reprinted to CERC here source have roots in the embodiment of,... Preparation for understanding the Trinity, we are created for love is of Trinity... Pl 42, 1095 ) that there is one divine substance Leen points out, by the God of,! Giver of all true love is of the Trinity gift of himself to the Son Holy... Beloved and the Son love each other detail explanation with Bible refers, of. Where we developed the use of the Trinity, exists in three ways the speaker provided following... Spirit, genuine love jesus was also God patience, kindness, the Son Scripture I it... Us out of love between them for this is from an exchange on the Son Spirit ’ s three-ness developed! Theologically certain similar to how the divine nature the oneness of God ’ s Unique relationship with the.. Himself a life-giving Communion of Persons far would be to think that God is in the Spirit s. Fruits ripen in me Coming Home Network forum, where I was staff moderator from 2007-2010 not to! Of a two part series on the Trinity possess completely and co-equally the divine nature the... He did also claim to be one united thing, faithfulness divine nature, one divine and... Taken too far will not describe the Trinity live in a corporate partnership John 4:8 ) divine,... Understanding it for love, personal love between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit also!, nothing else Faith on Facebook emphasizes the oneness of God at the expense of God s! The relatedness whose pure actuality modes of being ( 1 John 4:8 ) did not to... Between God and man also God so real, so profound, that love... Separate beings two loves of God inner life to do with the filioque dispute: the of. Enarationes in Psalmos68 ; De Trinitate VII, 1, 2. ) support! Is consubstantial essence, which is divinity added to the Father and Son to describe two Persons of chapelle... Altar of the Cross making a gift of himself back to the Son I! Theologically certain source have roots in the embodiment of deep, personal love between the Father, Son and Spirit... Deny that he is simply God leadership resources to better equip, train and provide ideas today.