The Concept of Trinity
and Its Implication for Christian Communication in Indian Context
by Joseph Oomen
Rev. Joseph Oomen is a priest of the Mar Thoma
Church and has recently completed his Master of Theology in Communication at
the United Theological College, Bangalore.
The following article appeared in the Bangalore
Theological Forum, Volume 34, Number 1, June 2002, page. 75-82. Bangalore
Theological Forum is published by The United Theological College,
Bangalore, India. This material was prepared for Religion Online by Ted and
Winnie Brock.
SUMMARY
The author discusses some practical
applications of the concept of the Trinity to the praxis of Christian life. He
does this within an Indian context, including a look at later developments and
the implications for Christian communication.
What is our God like? How shall we believe in
the Three-in-One? Is such a doctrine intelligible? Who is the God in whom we
trust? These are perhaps the most important questions that any one can ask. No
human language or analogy can sufficiently explain what God is like. But still
we must explore it. I will be trying to do that against the background of our
present Indian context. It includes the Biblical basis, later developments and
the implications for Christian communication. I shall then conclude this paper
with some practical applications of the concept of the Trinity to the praxis of
Christian life.
The Doctrine of Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity affirms
that while God is one, He exists as three persons: The unknown God, creator and
source of all life; Jesus Christ who has revealed the Father, and the Holy
Spirit, the bond of love between Father and Son, who is always at work in
transforming the world according to God’s purpose.
Belief in God as Three-in-One is as old as
Christianity itself.1 The word Trinity doesn’t appear as a
theological term till near the end of the second century. It was first used as
‘Trias’ by Theophilus, the Bishop of Antioch in AD. 180 and later by Tertullian
as Trinitas2 to signify that God exists in three persons.
Through the centuries the doctrine has been violently attacked and robustly
defended.3 A doctrine then is nothing else than the facts
almighty God made known to human beings by revelation, facts about God in
Himself, or about God in his relations with His creatures.4 According
to Marie Fargues a mystery is a truth which we must believe because God has
made it known to us, but which we cannot perfectly understand".5 Trinity
is a mystery as well as a doctrine, which is beyond our intuitive recognition
and faculty. One God in Three persons, that is the mystery of the Holy Trinity.
The Biblical Basis of Trinity
The word Trinity is not found in the Bible. In
the Old Testament, according to K. V. Mathew, we don’t have any definitive
description about the nature of God. In the expression ‘Eheh’6 the
‘ousia’ of God is denoted not by a static being but a dynamic creative
becoming. The Hebrew word Elohim is plural. So the single Godhead comprises the
majesty of divine plurality. The nature of God as it is shown in the book of
Genesis implies that God is a family (Genesis 5:2-3); God is one (Deut. 6:4,
Ex. 20:3). What we see in the Old Testament is only a foretaste or glimpse of
the Trinity, when viewed from the vantage point of New Testament.7 There
are many who see the Trinity in the plural form of the divine name Elohim. But
there is no doctrine of the Trinity in the Old Testament.
The early Christians had a Trinitarian
experience. For them the Spirit of God was personal. In the fourth gospel, the
divinity of Christ is explicitly stated (John 1:1, 1:18), and Jesus introduced
to them paracletos as Comforter, Councilor and Advocate. The New Testament
developed the monotheism of the Old Testament further. Arthur W. Wainwright
says that in the New Testament Christ is called ‘Lord’, in the Septuagint it is
a title often used as an equivalent of Yahweh.8 The epithets
‘Lord’ and ‘God’ are ascribed to Christ in the New Testament. The triadic
passages, Matt. 28:19,2 Corinthians 13:14, Acts 2:33 testify to the Triune God.
Still there are arguments among scholars that
the doctrine of Trinity has no real biblical basis. Cyril C. Richardson argues,
"It is not a doctrine specifically to be found in the New Testament. It is
a creation of the Fourth Century Church,"9 John Hick has
the same view: "the doctrine of incarnation and Trinity may turn out to be
an intellectual construction,"10 hence he denies its
biblical foundation. But according to H. P. Owen, "The Doctrine of the
Trinity is firmly grounded in the New Testament".11 He
argues that 18 references to the Holy Spirit out of 62 in the book of Acts
describe Christ as a person. Another argument is that all the baptisms in the
Acts of Apostles were in the name of Christ and almost all the epistles of St.
Paul start with binitarianism.12 It shows that Trinitarianism
took time to develop. This shift from binity to trinity supports the
understanding of Cyril C. Richardson.
Development of the Trinitarian Formula
The apologists were the first to make an
attempt to explain Trinity intellectually. Later the antignostic fathers
developed the Trinitarian formula further as One Substance and Three Persons.
We cannot say that they are three substances, for that would be tritheism.13 By
the end of the third century Anus propounded his theory stating that neither
the Son nor the Holy Spirit were co-eternal and co-equal with the Father or
with each other.14 Two attempts before Arianism were modalism
and dynamism. The former denied continuity to the modes and the latter did not
affirm personal status to them. The Athanesian contribution of one ousia
(essence) and Three hypostases (persons) was later developed by the Cappadocian
Fathers and the doctrine of Trinitarian monotheism was developed. The unity is
reflected in their mutual co-inherence or co-indwelling. The co-eternity,
co-equality and co-essentiality of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit were
officially proclaimed at the first great council of the church at Nicea in 325.
Later the synod of the Constantinople confirmed it.15
In the later theological development we can see
two analogies; individual and social. Augustine followed the individual analogy
and he formulated the psychological doctrine of the Trinity in the West.
Similarly the social analogy formulated a social doctrine of the Trinity in the
East. Through mind, knowledge and love the human being resembles the divine
being. In this way according to Augustine, humans reflect the mystery of the
Trinity.
"The social doctrine of the Trinity is in
a position to overcome both monotheism in the concept of God and individualism
in the doctrine of man, and to develop a social personalism and personalist
socialism," says Moltmann and adds, "That is important for the
divided world in which we live and think."16 When we say
the Trinitarian formula, it means ‘Drei-einigkeit’17 three
persons, one communion of fellowship in unique unity.
The Trinity gives us more space for pluralistic
ways of understanding of God in the Indian context. The Indian context is
polytheistic. The early church used epithets like ousia. hypostasis and Logos.
And even by the apostles from the Greek philosophical thought highlights their
venture in interpreting Trinity in that context. John Hick’s basic contention
is that we are required to undergo a ‘Copernican revolution’ in our theology of
religion: shift from the Ptolemic world view to a Copernican world view.18 This
means a paradigm shift from a Christ-centered or Jesus-centered to a
God-centered model. The God of the Bible is not only transcendent but also
immanent. He is primarily and originally transcendent, and secondarily and
derivatively immanent.
Keshab Chandra Sen expounded the meaning of the
Trinity in the light of the Vedantic understanding of Brahman as Sachidananda.
He suggests that the Father is sat (being), the still God; son
is sit (knowledge), the journeying God and Holy Spirit
is Ananda (joy) the returning God.19 But here
we see a tendency towards modalism and some argue that Brahman does not exist
as an empirical object and its existence has no being, consciousness and bliss
according to Upanishads.20 R. Panikkar argues that the Trinity
is the junction where the spiritual dimensions of all religions meet. All
religions have mystery and the Christian language for that mystery of God is
Trinity.21 Panikkar finds in this more room for interreligious
dialogue.
Trinity and Christian Communication
All Christian communication starts with the
fact that God is communication in Himself. In the Trinitarian communion the
dialogue between the persons is ongoing.22 God sent Jesus
Christ to the world, his disciples recognized him as a sign of God and He
revealed the Father and the Holy Spirit. Martini says, "It is also the
Holy Spirit who ‘opens’ the Trinity to the world and at the same time unites
the world to the Son and the Father".23 The Trinity is not
a monarchic, but a sharing God, interacting and participating. His communication
is not like the old transmission model but a novel cultural model. For
instance, the mystery of incarnation was first revealed to poor shepherds. The
paschal mystery was revealed to women, who were marginalized at that time. The
visible support of his Sonship by the Holy Spirit was communicated to John the
Baptist, and the mystery of the Eucharist to the disciples, who were ordinary
people. He communicates through all the human senses (1 John 1:1-3).
"God’s revelation and communication is not passing on of ‘information’ but
it is a dialogic process with concrete effects on life like the sacraments and
on the relation of men with the ultimate being".24
Eating the forbidden fruit by Adam and Eve in
Eden, the killing of Abel by Cain (Gen. 4:1-16), the sin of pride in Babel
(Gen. 11) destroy communication. Sin breaks the relationship and communication
dies.
According to Marshall McLuhan, the message is
the ‘medium’. The Christian message is nothing but a person, Jesus Christ; He
is the message and medium. Primarily he addressed the marginalized, poor,
sinners, and all those who were despised by society. The Trinity speaks through
creative words. The word becoming flesh is the divine plan. The relationship
within the Trinity extends to human beings and enters into an ‘I-Thou’
relationship. "Where there is an ‘I’ nor a ‘Thou’, the word ‘love’ no
longer has any meaning."25 says, Stephen Neill.
By means of the word we communicate, we enter
into relationships, we receive other person’s expressions of thoughts, feelings
and intentions, and we communicate our own to them. ‘Word’ and ‘Action’ are
identical in God. The Word of the Trinity is powerful in itself. The Word of
the Spirit destroys the confusion in the language in Acts 2. The words ‘dabar’
in Hebrew and ‘Logos’ in Greek include action.26 God expresses
himself in word. John calls the Word the ‘Logos’ and proclaims that the Word
was with God. Thus Trinitarian communication promotes unity in diversity,
ecumenical dimension, sharing and relationship, equality, love, liberation,
prophetic words, which all come together and which are all principles of
Christian Communication.
The Implication of Trinity in the
Present Context
India as a developing country has made rapid
progress in agriculture, industrialization and urbanization. But India is still
facing major problems like poverty, illiteracy, casteism, linguism, terrorism,
religious fundamentalism, fanaticism, exploitation and provincialism.
All these factors hinder effective
communication. The relationships among nations, neighboring countries,
religions, churches, members of the churches and even the members of the same
family are in decline. In such a condition the role of the Trinitarian
communication is crucial. The Triune God who contains the qualities of mutual
encouragement and mutual acceptance can be communicated effectively in a
multi-cultural and multi-lingual country like India.
In the communication-salvation history-process,
God reveals himself and communicated in the Old Testament and collected Israel
as the people of God. Then this revelation-communication became personified in
Jesus Christ, the Word became flesh. Out of revelation-incarnation the church
was born on the day of Pentecost with the coming of the Holy Spirit.27 Thus
the church is born through the Son in the Holy Spirit by the communication of
the Father. Christian faith is double communication. God communicates with us:
we communicate his love with others. That is why Bathasar calls this process
God’s drama with humanity and humanity’s drama with God.28 In
the pure monotheistic understanding, domination is inevitable since monotheism
is a synonym of monarchianism. The Triune God represents fellowship, love,
co-operation, mutual understanding, democratization, decentralization,
participation, interaction and sharing whereas the monotheistic God supports
domination and hierarchy and patriarchism. The Triune God with His inherent
love and fellowship demands us to share His qualities and teaches us to share
power properly.
The church is the living expression and
continuation of God’s communication. The proclamation of the word of God is
Kerygma and experiencing communion and community living is Koinonia. The
proclamation of the church is based on incarnation and revelation. On the one
hand, like Christ, the church lives to evangelize,29 and on the
other hand, like Christ, the church carries out the work of redemption from poverty
and oppression.30 Jesus came to preach the good news to the
poor and not to make them poorer. "The exclusivistic and particularistic
claims of the gospel are stumbling blocks to people today, especially in our
democratic, egalitarian culture that is distrustful of making distinction
between people."31Trinitarian communion is total communion in
love. Without sacrament no church can express her Kerygma. The Eucharist is the
extreme manifestation of fellowship and the sharing of the heavenly joy.
Avery Dulles in reviewing the documents of
Vatican II arrived at five different models of communication in the church.
They are: the hierarchical model, the herald model, the sacramental model, the
communion model and the secular dialogue model.32 In this
approach, the world of other faiths are not considered as "mission
fields" but as a realm in which the Triune God is always at work,
including the communication and dialogue with non-Christian religions.
Religions are integral part of culture. Any interreligious dialogue must
therefore be seen as a form of intercultural communication.33Genuine
dialogue does not include personal interests and diplomacy but always seeks
human dignity. Interreligious dialogue is always based on love, faith, hope,
mutual concern, mutual acceptance and mutual encouragement. Nothing is imposed
on others and such dialogue provides a ‘we’ feeling and an ‘I-Thou’
relationship. The Triune God gives us courage to participate in such kind of
interreligious dialogue. Because of this R. Panikkar interprets the Trinity as
the meeting point of all religions. Exclusive monotheism can only contribute to
the development of feudalism or capitalism but the Triune God can provide
social justice, since it is social in nature.
The Triune God is the basis of a classless
society. In the Trinity we have the Father, the Mother and the Son. The Hebrew
and Syriac languages themselves make It easy to call the spirit ‘The Heavenly
Mother’ because ‘Ruach’ and ‘Ruho’ are feminine. This idea helps to overcome
masculinism in the idea of God and in the church.34 It
recognizes a liberated brotherly and sisterly community of men and women. The
Trinity gives freedom, dignity and respect to women. Most of the churches do
not give women opportunities to participate in the decision-making bodies. But
in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit there arises a community of human beings
without superiority or subordination.
If we worship many gods, we will never be one.
If we worship an exclusively monotheistic God we will become more and more
selfish. If we worship the Trinitarian God we should be able to grow into a
sharing, classless, inspired and an empowered community.35
Our world is crying for justice and dignity,
for harmony and sharing, and for equality and fellowship. Society is a
reflection of the Triune God in which there is equality and justice. When human
society becomes a reflection of the Trinity it is the Kingdom of God on earth.
Casteism in the church, the tension between the haves and have-nots, the rich
and the poor, the divided denominations etc., are challenges in the present
context. The descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost created a sharing church
to eradicate disparities from the church, which is a visible sign of the
Kingdom of God on earth. The claim of the Triune God is not individualism but
social relationship.36 The Kingdom of God is a social reality.
The Holy Bible traces the story of God’s
communication with humans and human communication with God and with other
fellow men and women. Jesus Christ revealed the mystery of the Holy Trinity
through incarnation. All theists believe that there is only one God, the
creator of humans and of the earth. Only Christians believe that the one God
exists in three-fold form of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Trinity is the
model for the ideal human society. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are
co-equal, co-eternal and co-essential. The Trinitarian paradigm is a
self-emptying kenotic model of divine, love and fellowship. In a
multi-religious, multi-lingual, multi-cultural society, the Trinity urges us to
inter-religious dialogue, inter-denominational cooperation and for a
participating outlook. The doctrine of Trinity is an inspiring reality to the
church, to other religions and a challenge to the human society as a whole.
End Notes
1. Louis George Mylene, The Holy
Trinity (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1916), 62.
2. Geevarghese Mar Osthathios, Sharing
God and a Sharing World (New Delhi: ISPCK, 1995), 1.
3. John Thurmer, A Detection of the
Trinity (Flemington Markets: The Paternosten Press, 1984), 9.
4. Louis George Mylene. op. cit., 25.
5. Marie Fargues, The God of
Christians, translated by Jennifer Nicholson (London: Geoffrey
Chapman, 1968), 181.
6. K.V. Mathew, "Trinity-Semantic
Considerations", Triune God: Love, Justice, Peace, edited
by K.M. Tharakan (Mavelikkara: Youth Movement of Indian Orthodox Church, 1989),
72.
7. Geevarghese Mar Osthathios, op.cit., 3.
8. Arthur W. Wainwright, The Trinity in
the New Testament (London: SPCK, 1962), 79.
9. Cyril C. Richardson, The Doctrine of
the Trinity (New York: Abingdon Press, n.d.), 17.
10. Huw Parri Owen, Christian
Theism (Edinburgh: T and T. Clark, 1984), 142.
11. Ibid., 53.
12. Geevarghese Mar Osthathios, op
cit., 4.
13. E.L. Mascall, The Triune God: An
Ecumenical Study (West Sussex: Churchman Publishing Ltd., 1986), 12.
14. V.C. Samuel. "The Triune God of
Christian Orthodoxy", Triune God: Love. Justice, Peace,
edited by K.M. Tharakan (Mavelikkara: Youth Movement of Indian Orthodox Church,
1989), 42.
15. K.E. Kirk, "The Evolution of the
Doctrine of the Trinity", Essays on the Trinity and the
Incarnation, edited by A.E.J. Rawlinson (Longmans, Green and Co. Ltd.,
1928), 159.
16. Jurgen Moltmann, "The Reconciling
Power of the Trinity in the Life of the Church and the World", Triune
God: Love, Justice, Peace, edited by K.M. Tharakan (Mavelikkara: Youth
Movement of Indian Orthodox Church, 1989), 32.
17. Ibid., 22.
18. Huw Parri Owen, op.cit., 141.
19. Robyn Boyd, An introduction of
Indian Christian Theology (Madras: CLS, 1969), 34.
20. Ruth Reyna, introduction to Indian
Philosophy (New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.Ltd., 1971),53.
21. R. Panikkar, The Unknown Christ of
Hinduism: Towards an Ecumenical Christophany (Bangalore: Asian Trading
Corporation, 1982), 23.
22. Franz-Joseph Eilers, Communicating
in Community: An Introduction to Social Communication (Indore:
Satprakashen Sanchar Kendra, 1996), 36.
23. Ibid., 37.
24. Ibid., 39.
25. Stephen Neill, The Christian’s
God (London: United Society For Christian Literature Lutterworth
Press, 1958), 14.
26. Yves M.J. Congar. The Word at the
Spirit, translated by David Smith (London: Cassell Ltd., 1986), 10.
27. Franz -- Josef Eilers. Communicating
Between Cultures: An Introduction to Intercultural Communication (Indore:
Satprakashan Sanchar Kendra, 1993), 145.
28. Ibid., 147.
29. Franz-Josef Eilers, Communicating
in Community, op.cit., 45.
30. Franz-Josef Eilers, Communicating between
Cultures, op.cit., 146-147.
31. Donald G. Bloesch. op.cit., 55.
32. Franz-Josef Eilers, Communicating between
Cultures, op.cit., 158.
33. Ibid., 159.
34. Jurgen Moltmann. "The Reconciling
Power of the Trinity in the life of the Church and the World" Triune
God: Love, Justice, Peace, op.cit., 31.
35. Geevarghese Mar Osthathios, op
cit., 16.
36. Jurgen Moltmann, The Trinity and
the Kingdom of God (London: SCM Press Ltd., 1981), 19.
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