And a voice from heaven was heard: “You are my beloved Son, in you, I am well pleased” (Mark 1:10-11) “And immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens dividing and the Spirit as a dove coming down upon him. The Baptism of Jesus shows an important passage because the voice of God descends from Heaven to recognise him as the beloved Son: Jesus addresses God the Father as something other than himself, in many steps, but, at the same time, all his experience, his very substance, refers to God. And no one knoweth the Son, but the Father: neither doth any one know the Father, but the Son, and he to whom it shall please the Son to reveal him.” (Mathew 11,27) How can you say, Show us the Father?” (John 14.9)Īll things are delivered to me by my Father. “Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father. In the Gospels, Jesus and God the Father are indicated as one: It is in the New Testament that the Trinity encounters its revelation when the Word becomes flesh in Jesus (John 1:14) and, after the latter’s death and resurrection, with the descent of the Holy Spirit. Generally speaking, the books of the Old Testament preserve the uniqueness of the Person and Substance of God, also to avoid falling into the risk of polytheism. There are of course some hints that prepare the advent of the Messiah, or of the Holy Spirit, or even passages that differentiate in some way the manifestations of God, speaking for example of a “ reflection of perennial light, a spotless mirror of God’s activity and the image of his goodness” (Wisdom 7:26). God is one and only, and from the vitality and fullness of His Spirit comes the spirituality of men. In the Old Testament, there is no mention of the Trinity. The last definition “and from the Son”, rendered with the Latin expression filioque was added on the occasion of the drafting of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed and was one of the main causes of the Great Eastern Schism of 1054 because the patriarch of Constantinople at the time considered it a heresy. Therefore the Holy Spirit comes from the Father and the Son, is made of their very substance. Where the verb to proceed is used in the meaning of deriving. With the Father and the Son is adored and glorified who spoke through the prophets. Who proceeds from the Father and the Son who equally Citing the Creed again:Īnd I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and giver of The third Person of the Holy Trinity is the Holy Spirit, sent by God the Father in the name of Christ. We have already named two of them citing the Creed: God the Father, creator of heaven and earth, and Jesus Christ his Son, Savior of the world. What are the three Persons who make up the Holy Trinity? To define these three persons, the Greek term “hypostasis” was used, with the theological meaning of person, accompanying it to the concept of “ousia”, substance, to define that in the Trinity one ousia and three hypostasis, one substance and three persons coexist. It is precisely in this prayer that we learn from childhood that the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is summed up: God is one, his divine substance is unique, and yet three distinct “persons” coexist in this unique substance. Not made, consubstantial with the Father, In this document-prayer, which was intended to settle the numerous disputes that divided the church of the time, the uniqueness of God is affirmed as the first article of the profession of faith:Īnd, in a second article, the divinity of Jesus Christ son of God is recognised and declared: This central mystery of the Christian faith and life has been affirmed since the First Council of Nicaea, in 325 AD, and inserted in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed drawn up after the Council.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |