what is the trinity?

Question

what is the trinity?

Answer 1

Here is the best definition. please note that 'Catholic' should be interp[reted as universal and not referring to the Roman Catholic Church.

The Creed of Athanasius
The Athanasian Creed is that latest of the ecumenical creeds, dating back to the early dark ages. Though seldom used in worship, it is one of the clearest definitions of the Trinity and the incarnation ever written.



Whosoever will be saved,
before all things it is is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith.
Which Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled,
without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.
And the Catholic Faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity
in Unity,
neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance.
For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son,
and another of the Holy Ghost.
But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one,
the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal.
Such as the Father is, such is the Son,
and such is the Holy Ghost.
The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate,
and the Holy Ghost uncreate.
The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible,
and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible.
The Father eternal, the Son eternal,
and the Holy Ghost eternal.
And yet they are not three eternals,
but one eternal.
As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated,
but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible.
So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty,
and the Holy Ghost Almighty.
And yet they are not three Almighties,
but one Almighty.
So the Father is God, the Son is God,
and the Holy Ghost is God.
And yet they are not three Gods,
but one God.
So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord,
and the Holy Ghost Lord.
And yet not three Lords,
but one Lord.
For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge ever y
Person by Himself to be both God and Lord,
so we are forbidden by the Catholic Religion, to say, there be three Gods,
or three Lords.
The Father is made of none,
neither created, nor begotten.
The Son is of the Father alone,
not made, nor created, but begotten.
The Holy Ghost is of the Father [and of the Son],
neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.
So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons;
one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.
And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other; none is greater, or l ess
than another;
but the whole three Persons are co-eternal together and co-equal.
So that in all things, as is aforesaid,
the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.
He therefore that will be saved
must thus think of the Trinity.

Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation
that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ .
For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess,
that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man.
God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds;
and Man, of the Substance of His Mother, born in the world;
Perfect God and perfect Man,
of a reasonable soul in human flesh subsisting;
Equal to the Father, as touching His Godhead;
and inferior to the Father, as touching His Manhood.
Who, although He be God and Man,
yet He is not two, but one Christ;
One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh,
but by taking of the Manhood into God;
One altogether; not by confusion of Substance,
but by unity of Person.
For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man,
so God and Man is one Christ.
Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell,
rose again the third day from the dead.
He ascended into heaven, He sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God
Almighty,
from whence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
At whose coming all men shall rise with their bodies
and shall give account for their own works.
And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting;
and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.
This is the Catholic Faith, which except a man believe faithfully,
he cannot be saved.


Amen.

Answer 2

Father ,Son, and Holy Spirit.One God,three persons.Sort of like 1x1x1=1 God.Genesis 1 says "and God said let us make man after our own image"...
The US is the trinity.In John1,Collosians 1,and Hebrews 1,they all say Jesus was there at creation and all things were created through him.That is why it says "Let us...after our..."The Holy Spirit was there too,hovering over the waters.
In Acts 5 Peter says to Ananias," You have lied to the Holy Spirit...you have not lied to man ,but to God.
Jesus only became the son at His incarnation.That was for our sake so we could relate to the situation.We use about 10% of our brain so this is difficult to understand.
It isn't a trio like 1+1+1= 3 gods but 1x1x1= 1 God in three persons.The oneness people like to think Jesus is God and just switches hats but that won't stand up to scripture.Old or New Testament.

Answer 3

Christ, according to the faith, is the second person in the Trinity, the Father being the first and the Holy Ghost the third. Each of these three persons is God. Christ is his own father and his own son. The Holy Ghost is neither father nor son, but both. The son was begotten by the father, but existed before he was begotten -- just the same before as after. Christ is just as old as his father, and the father is just as young as his son. The Holy Ghost proceeded from the Father and Son, but was equal to the Father and Son before he proceeded, that is to say, before he existed, but he is of the same age of the other two.

So, it is declared that the Father is God, and the Son God and the Holy Ghost God, and that these three Gods make one God.

According to the celestial multiplication table, once one is three, and three times one is one, and according to heavenly subtraction if we take two from three, three are left. The addition is equally peculiar, if we add two to one we have but one. Each one is equal to himself and the other two. Nothing ever was, nothing ever can be more perfectly idiotic and absurd than the dogma of the Trinity.

--Robert Ingersoll, 1895

Answer 4

The Trinity is in the Christianity. It is God in three persons like Father, Son and Holy Spirit. You can think of it as water having three states: solid, liquid and gas. This isn't the best analogy though. God basically has three forms.

Answer 5

A statement created by the Nicaean council.

Curious thumbs down,
I wonder if they really know that the statement above is the truth.....

The New Catholic Encyclopedia - 1967, VOL. XIV, PAGE
The formulation "one God in three Persons" was not solidly established, certainly not fully assimilated into Christian life and its profession of faith, PRIOR TO THE END OF THE 4TH CENTURY. But it is precisely this formulation that first claimed to title "The Trinitarian Dogma. AMONG THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS, THERE HAD BEEN NOTHING EVEN REMOTELY APPROACHING SUCH A MENTALITY OR PERSPECTIVE.


Encyclopedia Britannica, 1976:299:
Many of the early Church Fathers, even the most orthodox, seemed to incline in one or the other direction. It was not until the 4th century that the distinctness of the three taught by subordinationism and their unity taught by modalism were brought together in a single orthodox doctrine of one essence and three persons. Their Council of Nicea in 325 AD stated the crucial formula for that doctrine in its confession that the Son is "of the same essence [homoousious] as the Father," even though it said very little about the Holy Spirit.

The American Peoples Encyclopedia, 1975:
"TRINITY: The doctrine of the trinity was made official by the Council of Nicea (A.D. 325) and was given its definitive statement by the Council of Constantinople (A.D. 381)."


By the way distinct MEANS separate!
dis·tinct /dɪˈstɪŋkt/ -adjective
1. distinguished as not being the same; not identical; separate (sometimes fol. by from):

Answer 6

This is not easy to explain. It is the three persons of God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Together they form the Godhead and run the Universe. The Father is the creator, the Son is the savior, and the Holy Spirit is the helper.

Answer 7

God.

1 Father x 1 Son x 1 Holy Spirit = 1 God

Answer 8

The Christian trinity is the Father (God), the son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit (what lives inside Christians). They are distinct but not separate (3 in 1)

Answer 9

God-Father
God-Son, Jesus Christ
God-Holy Spirit.

God in 3 persons, blessed Trinity.

Answer 10

The trinity is God the father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. One God that exists in three forms simultaneously.