Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Fr John Behr on the Trinity

Taken from The Living Pulpit (April-June, 1999), by Fr John Behr:

The Trinity: Scripture and the Greek Fathers

Some 30 years ago, Karl Rahner claimed that most Christians are “mere monotheists,” that if the doctrine of the Trinity proved to be false, the bulk of popular Christian literature, and the mindset it reflects, would not have to be changed. Unfortunately, this is largely still true.

Defining the doctrine of the Trinity as a mystery which cannot be fathomed by unaided human reason invites a position such as Melanchthon’s: “We adore the mysteries of the Godhead. That is better than to investigate them.” But the danger of not reflecting carefully on what has been revealed, as it has been revealed, is that we remain blinded by our own false gods and idols, however theologically constructed.

So how can Christians believe in and worship the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and yet claim that there is only one God, not three? How can one reconcile monotheism with trinitarian faith?

My comments here follow the structure of revelation as presented in Scripture and reflected upon by the Greek Fathers of the fourth century, the age of trinitarian debates. To avoid the confusion into which explanations often fall, it is necessary to distinguish between: the one God; the one substance common to Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and the one-ness or unity of these Three.

The Father alone is the one true God. This keeps to the structure of the New Testament language about God, where with only a few exceptions, the world “God” (theos) with an article (and so being used, in Greek, as a proper noun) is only applied to the one whom Jesus calls Father, the God spoken of in the scriptures. This same fact is preserved in all ancient creeds, which begin: I believe in one God, the Father...”

“For us there is one God, the Father... and one Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 8:6). The proclamation of the divinity of Jesus Christ is made no so much by describing Him as “God” (theos used, in Greek, without an article is as a predicate, and so can be used of creatures; cf. John 10:34-35), but by recognizing Him as “Lord” (Kyrios). Beside being a common title (“sir”), this word had come to be used, in speech, for the unpronounceable, divine, name of God Hiself, YHWH. When Paul states that God bestowed upon the crucified and risen Christ the “name above ever name” (Phil 2:9), this is an affirmation that this one is all that YHWH Himself is, without being YHWH. This is again affirmed in the creeds. “And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God... true God of true God.”

According to the Nicene creed, the Son is “consubstantial with the Father.” St Athanasius, the Father who did more than anyone else to forge Nicene orthodoxy, indicated that “what is said of the Father is said in Scripture of the Son also, all but His being called Father” (On the Synods, 49). It is important to note how respectful such theology is of the total otherness of God in comparison with creation: such doctrines are regulative of our theological language, not a reduction of God to a being alongside other beings. It is also important to note the essential asymmetry of the relation between the Father and the Son: the Son derives from the Father; He is, as the Nicene creed put it, “of the essence of the Father” – they do not both derive from one common source. This is what is usually referred to as the Monarchy of the Father.

St Athanasius also began to apply the same argument used for defending the divinity of the Son, to a defense of the divinity of the Holy Spirit: just as the Son Himself must be fully divine if He is to save us, for only God can save, so also must Holy Spirit be divine if He is to give life to those who lie in death. Again there is an asymmetry, one which also goes back to Scripture: we receive the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead as the Spirit of Christ, one which enables us to call on God as “Abba.” Though we receive the Spirit through Christ, the Spirit proceeds only from the Father, yet this already implies the existence of the Son, and therefore that the Spirit proceeds from the Father already in relation to the Son (see especially St Gregory of Nyssa, To Ablabius: That there are not Three Gods).

So there is one God and Father, one Lord Jesus Christ, and one Holy Spirit, three “persons” (hypostases) who are the same or one in essence (ousia); three persons equally God, possessing the same natural properties, yet really God, possessing the same natural properties, yet really distinct, known by their personal characteristics. Besides being one in essence, these three persons also exist in total one-ness or unity.

There are three characteristics ways in which this unity is described by the Greek Fathers. The first is in terms of communion: “The unity [of the three] lies in the communion of the Godhead” as St Basil the Great puts it (On the Holy Spirit 45). The emphasis here on communion acts as a safeguard against any tendency to see the three persons as simply different manifestations of the one nature; if they were simply different modes in which the one God appears, then such an act of communion would not be possible. The similar way of expressing the divine unity is in terms of “coinherence” (perichoresis): the Father, Son and Holy Spirit indwell in one another, totally transparent and interpenetrated by the other two. This idea clearly stems from Christ’s words in the Gospel of John: “I am in the Father and the Father in me” (14:11). Having the Father dwelling in HIm in this way, Christ reveals to us the Father, He is “the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15).

The third way in which the total unity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is manifest is in their unity of work or activity. Unlike three human beings who, at best, can only cooperate, the activity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one. God works, according to the image of St Irenaeus, with His two Hands, the Son and the Spirit. More importantly, “the work of God,” according to St Irenaeus, “is the fashioning of man” into the image and likeness of God (Against the Heretics 5.15.2), a work which embraces, inseparably, both creation and salvation, for it is only realized in and by the crucified and risen One: the will of the Father is effected by the Son in the Spirit.

Such, then, is how the Greek Fathers, following Scripture, maintained that there is but one God, whose Son and Spirit are equally God, in a unity of essence and of existence, without compromising the uniqueness of the one true God.

The question remains, of course, concerning the point of such reflection. There are two directions for answering the question. There are two directions for answering the question. Theological reflection is, to begin with, an attempt to answer the central question posed by Christ Himself: “Who do you say that I am?” (Matt 16:15). Yet at the same time, it also indicates the destiny to which we are also called, the glorious destiny of those who suffer with Christ, who have been “conformed to the image of His Son, the first-born, of many brethren” (Rom 8:29). What Christ is as first-born, we too may enjoy, in Him, when we also enter into the communion of love: “The glory which though hast given me, I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one” (John 17:22).
See also my Attempt to Summarize Trinitarian Theology, which was highly influenced by Fr John. See also the following online articles by Fr John:
The following books are available as "limited previews" by Google Books:
He has also completed a new book, which should be published in March 2011: The Case Against Diodore and Thedore .

8 comments:

jollekd said...

Felix, many thanks for this. Like all of Behr, bracing and helpful.

Dn. Lucas said...

Fr.,

Thanks for this, and also for the link to Fr. Behr's article on Marriage & Asceticism. Any chance you might post on the latter?

Anonymous said...

Wonderfully helpful.

Daniel said...

Just read the Marriage and Asceticism article by randomly coming across it.

What do you think of his avocation of a similar position to Evdokimov although from a different route regarding the role of sex in marriage? i.e. beyond procreation?

Perhaps I am misremembering Evdokimov and other modern Orthodox teachings on marriage, either way what are your thoughts?

elderchild said...

There is Only ONE True Living G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL, and HE has no g-d for HE IS The Only True G-D, and HE has no father for HE IS Father(Creator) of ALL.......

The Messiah testified that "He had a G-D and Father", and that "His G-D and Father was also the G-D and Father" of His Brethren.......

The Messiah testified, "That they would know YOU, The Only True G-D".......

"Only" = without others or anything further; alone; solely; exclusively.......

And Truth IS, as Paul testified, "G-D was in The Messiah", Paul did not testify that 'g-d was the messiah'.......

And Paul testified of "ONE G-D, Father of ALL".......

The Messiah testified of "The Only True G-D", and The Messiah testified that He had a "G-D and Father", and The Messiah's G-D and Father was, is and always will be The ONE and Only True Living G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL.......

Paul testified, "And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world has been hid in G-D, WHO CREATED ALL things by The Messiah".......(Eph3:9)

And The Father(Creator) spoke The Word "Let there be Light" and "there was Light".......

LIGHT begot Light.......

The Messiah, "The Light which enlightens every man", was "The Beginning of The Creation of The ONE and Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL.......(Rev 3:14)

There is Only ONE True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL, and HE IS The G-D and Father(Creator) of The Messiah and His brethren.......

John 17:3 "And this is Eternal Life, that they might know YOU The Only True G-D, and The Messiah, Whom YOU have sent".......

Mark 12:32-33 "And the scribe said unto The Messiah, Well, Master, You have said The Truth: for there is ONE G-D; and there is NONE OTHER but HE. And to love HIM with all your heart, and with all your understanding, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and to love his neighbor as yourself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices".......

Rom 3:30 "Seeing it is ONE G-D, WHO shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith".......

1 Cor 8:6 "But to us there is but ONE G-D, The Father, of WHOM are all things, and we in HIM; and one Master, The Messiah, by Whom are all things, and we by Him".......

Rev 3:14 The Messiah was "The Beginning of The Creation of The ONE and Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL".......

Eph 4:6 "ONE G-D, Father of ALL, WHO is above all, and through all, and in you all".......

John 4:24 "G-D is A SPIRIT: and they that worship HIM must worship HIM in Spirit and in Truth".......

Luke 24:39 The Messiah testified after He was "raised from among the dead", "Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself, handle Me and see, for A SPIRIT DOES NOT HAVE FLESH AND BONES, AS you see I HAVE".......

The ONE and Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL can not die.......period.......

The Messiah died and "The ONE and Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL raised Him from among the dead"....... And The Messiah's incorruptible body ascended into the clouds.......

James 1:13 "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of G-D, for G-D CAN NOT BE TEMPTED with evil, neither tempts HE any man".......

Heb 4:15 "For we do not have a High Priest(The Messiah) Who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, for He WAS in all points TEMPTED like we are, yet without sin".......

The ONE and Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL, HE CAN NOT BE TEMPTED with sin AS THE MESSIAH WAS.......period.......(continued)

elderchild said...

1 Tim 2:5 "There is ONE G-D, and one mediator between G-D and men, the man-The Messiah".......

James 2:19 "You believe that there is ONE G-D, you do well, yet the devils also believe, and tremble".......

John 20:17 "The Messiah said unto her, Touch Me not; for I have not yet ascended to My Father: but go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Father; and to My G-D, and your G-D."

Mark 3:33-35 "The Messiah answered them, saying, "Who is My mother, or My brethren"? And He looked round about on them which sat about Him, and said, "Behold my mother and my brethren! For whoever shall do The Will of G-D, the same is My brother, and My sister, and mother"".......

Rom 8:29 "Whom G-D did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of HIS Son, that The Messiah might be the firstborn among many brethren".......

Hope is you are one of the brethren of The Messiah.......

The brethren of The Messiah know there is Only ONE True Living G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL.......

And Truth is as The Messiah tesified, " My(Our) Father is greater than I".......(John14:28)

And Truth is as Paul testifed, "The HEAD of The Messiah is The ONE and Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL, and The Head of the man is The Messiah, and the head of the woman is the man".......(1Cor11:3)

Those who would pervert The Order of The ONE and Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL will have to answer to HIM.......

For The ONE and Only True Living G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL, "HE Created all things by The Messiah" and The Messiah was "The Beginning of The Creation of The ONE and Only True Living G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL.......

Truth is "The Messiah is The Son of The ONE and Only True Living G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL".......

The Messiah testified that He had a "G-D and Father" and that His "G-D and Father" was also the "G-D and Father" of His Brethren.......

And The ONE and Only True Living G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL, HE has no god, for HE IS G-D, and HE has no father, for HE IS Father(Creator) of ALL, and HE has no brethren, for HE IS Father(Creator) of ALL.......

Hope is there would be those who experience The Miracle that is receiving "the love of The Truth" for they will "experience The Messiah and The Power(Our Father) that raised Him from among the dead".......

The Faith of those who have received "a love of The Truth" is grounded in Miracles, not mere colored marks(words) written on a dead tree(page) and bound in a book.......

Thankfully The ONE and Only True G-D, Father of ALL, HE yet communes with HIS Children, HE yet reveals all things.......

Father Help! and HE does.......

Peace, in spite of the dis-ease(no-peace) that is of this world and it's systems of religion, for "the WHOLE(not just a portion) world is under the control of the evil one" indeed and Truth.......

Truth IS, a lie is not.......

Abide in The Truth....... francis

Nicholas Park said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
elderchild said...

The 1st Day of Creation.

"And darkness covered the face of the deep".......

Then G-D spoke HIS Word into being.......

"Let there be Light".......

And "There was Light"!

And such 'Light' is Forever!

So Hope is Alive!

Good to realize that the 1st Day of Creation, although begun
in darkness, ended in 'Light'!

And such 'Light' was not the sun, moon or stars for they were
not created until the 4th Day. Such 'Light' was "the glory The
Messiah had with Our Father before the world began".......

The Messiah, "The Light of the world"!

The Messiah, "The beginning of The Creation of G-D".......

Peace, in spite of the dis-ease(no-peace) that is of this world.
"for the WHOLE world is under the control of the evil one".......