Many theologians have pondered difficulties that arise from attempting to understand the concept of the Trinity. For instance—What is our God like? How can we believe in the concept of the three-in-one? Who is this God in whom we can trust?
There isn’t any human reasoning that can explain what God is really like. Hence, this topic must be contemplated with a biblical basis, involving developments and implications for the Christian life. While exploring this topic, I will take a look at varying theological viewpoints and how they relate to the economic, essential and social aspect of the Trinity.
Since the Trinity looks at how the substance of God is essential, at what God is truly like in Himself, it can be said that the essential Trinity is how God looks to God. In (Genesis 1:26), one can see how God thought to create man. Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness.” So God created man in His own image—in the image of God was man created.
Who is God? As God called out to Moses from the Burning Bush, in the presence of the Angel of the Lord (Exodus 3:2), it is said that the person of Jesus Christ appeared to him. As God uttered, "Moses!, Moses!," he was at that time a forgotten shepherd who resided in the backside of the desert. Even so, God knew precisely who he was. This was a defining moment in the life of Moses. Up until this time, he had experienced his life from God in a separate way. This separation experienced by Moses had been real, yet God would soon show how much He cared
about Moses and the people of Israel. Although God had been separate, He was not necessarily distant. Although God is separate, He cares and connects Himself to us. “Then Moses said to God, ‘Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you,' they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?’ And God said to Moses, ‘I Am Who I Am.' And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, "I Am has sent me to you.” (Exodus 3:13-14, NLT)
While Christian doctrine affirms that God is one, He also functions as three persons— God the creator and source of all life, Jesus the Christ who reveals the Father and the Holy Spirit, which is the bond of love
between the Father, and the Son who is continuously at work transforming the world according to the purpose of God. McGrath (2011) says of the Holy Spirit, “He is called ‘ Spirit of God’ (Matthew 12:28), 'Spirit of Truth' which proceeds from the Father” (John 15:26), 'Right Spirit’ (Psalm 51:12), and 'Lord Spirit' (Psalm 50:14)” (p. 161).
St. Augustine uses the scenario of two men who are friends that can also live apart. These men are therefore considered to be represented as substances. McGrath (2011) says of this concept, “Lover and knower, knowledge and love are all substances. But while lover and love, knower and knowledge are like friends, in relative terms, mind and spirit like men are not" (p. 167). He further explains that while two friends can live apart, it is not the same
for lovers. It is possible for man to become estranged where one still loves the other, but is hated by the other without the other realizing it.
As Paul writes to believers, he is encouraging them in this passage of scripture, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with you all. Amen” (2 Corinthians 13:14 NLT). This passage of scripture shows the three persons of the Godhead described with each of their own distinctive qualities:
1) The grace of our Lord Jesus as (Moses brought the law; grace and truth were brought by Jesus Christ). 2) The love of God our Father who is “Love,” 3) Fellowship of the Holy Spirit who is the “Comforter.” As the Father, Son and Holy Spirit relate to each other and the world, the word economic comes from the Greek oikonomikos which translates to the arrangement of activities. With each person in the Godhead comes different roles in relation to the world, such as the Father who sent the son (John 6:44). The Son came down from heaven to do the will of the Father. The Father gave the Son (John 3:16), as His one and only begotten
Son to perform redemptive work. The Father and the Son therefore sent the Holy Spirit.
The first two persons of the Trinity are referred to as the ‘Father’ and ‘Son’ suggesting a family or the analogy of a family in society. This appears to define a certain “Social” aspect of the Trinity. As Freeman, (2005) states, “The scriptures ought to be our guide in all such abstruse and mysterious doctrines” (p. 334). Through the Spirit, God can enter into man’s deadened spirit, bring it back to life with the divine aspect of life and make us His children, whom we are born of God’s life to hold, express and be eternally supplied by Him, to live for Him. As we experience all of God, it is as the Spirit. All that Christ obtained and then attained, and all that the Father is, is completely real and experienced by us in our spirit because we have the witness of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.
As we have finally met “The One” that can be fully shared as if encountering another self, Camille (2003) says, “As God is the lover, Jesus is the beloved, and the Spirit is love itself” (p. 47). The Holy Spirit is the unique presence of God that is proceeding directly from God to be part of a shared life.
References
Camille, A. (2003). Good things come in threes. U.S. Catholic. Issue # 68: Proquest
Religion, (45-47).
Freeman, C. (2005). God in Three Persons: Baptist Unitarianism and the Trinity. Journal of
the NABPR, (323-344).
McGrath, A. (2011). The Christian theology reader, (4th ed.) West Sussex, UK: Wiley-
Blackwell.
Holy Bible: New Living Translation. (2015). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers. As found in the Logos Bible study software program.
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