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The Holy Trinity is a theological term reflecting Christian teaching about the Trinity of God. This is one of essential concepts Orthodoxy.

The Holy Trinity

From lectures on dogmatic theology at the Orthodox St. Tikhon Theological Institute

The doctrine of the Holy Trinity - the foundation of the Christian religion

God is one in essence, but threefold in persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, consubstantial and indivisible.

The word “Trinity” itself is of non-biblical origin; it was introduced into the Christian lexicon in the second half of the II century by Saint Theophilus of Antioch. The doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity is given in Christian Revelation.

The dogma of the Holy Trinity is incomprehensible, it is a mysterious dogma, incomprehensible at the level of reason. For the human mind, the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is contradictory, because it is a mystery that cannot be rationally expressed.

It is no coincidence that Fr. Pavel Florensky called the dogma of the Holy Trinity "a cross for human thought." In order to accept the dogma of the Most Holy Trinity, the sinful human reason must reject its claims to the ability to cognize and explain everything rationally, that is, to comprehend the mystery Holy Trinity it is necessary to reject your understanding.

The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is comprehended, and only in part, in the experience of spiritual life. This comprehension is always associated with an ascetic deed. VN Lossky says: "The apophatic ascent is the ascent to Golgotha, therefore no speculative philosophy could ever rise to the mystery of the Holy Trinity."

Faith in the Trinity Distinguishes Christianity from All Others monotheistic religions: Judaism, Islam. The doctrine of the Trinity is the basis of all Christian doctrine and morality, for example, the doctrine of God the Savior, God the Sanctifier, etc. VN Lossky said that the Doctrine of the Trinity “is not only the basis, but also the highest goal of theology, for … To cognize the mystery of the Holy Trinity in its fullness means to enter the Divine life, into the very life of the Most Holy Trinity. "

The doctrine of the Triune God is reduced to three provisions:
1) God is trinity and trinity consists in the fact that in God there are Three Persons (hypostases): Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

2) Each Person of the Most Holy Trinity is God, but They are not three Gods, but a single Divine being.

3) All three Persons are distinguished by personal, or hypostatic properties.

Analogies of the Holy Trinity in the world

The Holy Fathers, in order to somehow bring the doctrine of the Holy Trinity closer to the perception of man, used various kinds of analogies borrowed from the created world.
For example, the sun and the light and heat emanating from it. A source of water, a spring coming from it, and, in fact, a stream or river. Some see an analogy in the structure of the human mind (St. Ignatius Brianchaninov. Ascetic experiences): mutual relations serve in the image of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. "
However, all these analogies are very imperfect. If we take the first analogy - the sun, outgoing rays and heat - then this analogy presupposes a certain temporal process. If we take the second analogy - a source of water, a key and a stream, then they differ only in our understanding, but in reality it is a single water element... As for the analogy associated with the abilities of the human mind, it can only be an analogy of the image of the Revelation of the Most Holy Trinity in the world, but in no way of intra-Trinity being. Moreover, all these analogies place unity above trinity.
Saint Basil the Great considered the rainbow to be the most perfect analogy borrowed from the created world, because “one and the same light is continuous in itself and is multicolored”. “And in multicolor a single face is revealed - there is no middle and no transition between colors. It is not visible where the rays are delimited. We clearly see the difference, but we cannot measure the distances. And collectively, the multicolor rays form a single white. One essence reveals itself in a multicolored radiance ”.
The disadvantage of this analogy is that the colors of the spectrum are not independent individuals. On the whole, patristic theology is characterized by a very wary attitude towards analogies.
An example of such an attitude is the 31st Word of St. Gregory the Theologian: “Finally, I concluded that it is best to abandon all images and shadows, as deceitful and far from reaching the truth, to keep the mindset of a more pious one, stopping at a few sayings” ...
In other words, there are no images to represent this dogma in our mind; all images borrowed from the created world are very imperfect.

A Brief History of the Dogma of the Most Holy Trinity

Christians have always believed that God is one in essence, but threefold in persons, but the very dogmatic doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity was created gradually, usually in connection with the emergence of various kinds of heretical delusions. The doctrine of the Trinity in Christianity has always been associated with the doctrine of Christ, with the doctrine of the Incarnation. Trinitarian heresies, Trinitarian disputes had a Christological basis.

Indeed, the doctrine of the Trinity was made possible by the Incarnation. As it is said in the troparion of the Epiphany, in Christ “Trinity is worship”. The doctrine of Christ “is a temptation for the Jews, but folly for the Greeks” (1 Cor. 1:23). Likewise, the doctrine of the Trinity is a stumbling block for both “strict” Jewish monotheism and for Hellenic polytheism. Therefore, all attempts to rationally comprehend the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity led to delusions of either Jewish or Hellenic nature. The first dissolved the Persons of the Trinity in a single nature, for example, the Sabellians, while others reduced the Trinity to three unequal beings (Arians).
The condemnation of Arianism occurred in 325 on the First Ecumenical Council with Nicaea. The main act of this Council was the compilation of the Nicene Creed, in which non-biblical terms were introduced, among which the term "homousios" - "consubstantial" played a special role in the Trinitarian disputes of the 4th century.
To reveal the true meaning of the term "homousios" it took great efforts of the great Cappadocians: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and Gregory of Nyssa.
The great Cappadocians, first of all, Basil the Great, strictly distinguished the concepts of "essence" and "hypostasis". Basil the Great defined the difference between “essence” and “hypostasis” as between the general and the particular.
According to the teachings of the Cappadocians, the essence of the Divine and its distinctive properties, that is, the originality of being and Divine dignity, belong equally to all three hypostases. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are the essence of its manifestation in Persons, of which each possesses the fullness of the divine essence and is in indissoluble unity with it. The Hypostases differ from each other only in personal (hypostatic) properties.
In addition, the Cappadocians actually identified (first of all, two Gregories: Nazianzen and Nyssa) the concept of "hypostasis" and "person". “Face” in theology and philosophy of that time was a term that belonged not to the ontological, but to the descriptive plane, that is, the face could be called the mask of an actor or the legal role played by a person.
By identifying “person” and “hypostasis” in Trinitarian theology, the Cappadocians thereby transferred this term from the descriptive plane to the ontological plane. The consequence of this identification was, in essence, the emergence of a new concept, which he did not know antique world: This term is “personality”. The Cappadocians succeeded in reconciling the abstractness of the Greek philosophical thought with the biblical idea of ​​a personal deity.
The main thing in this teaching is that personality is not part of nature and cannot be thought of in terms of nature. The Cappadocians and their immediate disciple St. Amphilochius of Iconian called the Divine hypostases “the ways of being” of the Divine nature. According to their teaching, personality is the hypostasis of being, which freely hypostases its nature. Thus, a personal being in its specific manifestations is not predetermined by an essence that is attached to it from the outside, therefore God is not an essence that would precede Persons. When we call God an absolute Person, we thereby want to express the idea that God is not determined by any external or internal necessity, that He is absolutely free in relation to His own being, is always what he wants to be and always acts in this way, as he wants, that is, he freely hypostatizes His triune nature.

Indications of the Trinity (Plurality) of Persons in God in the Old and New Testaments

V Old Testament there is a sufficient number of indications of the trinity of Persons, as well as veiled indications of the plurality of persons in God without specifying a specific number.
This plurality is already mentioned in the first verse of the Bible (Gen. 1, 1): "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." The verb “bara” (created) is in the singular, and the noun “elohim” is in the plural, which literally means “gods”.
Life. 1:26: "And God said: Let us make man in our image and in our likeness." The word "let us create" is plural. The same Gen. 3:22: "And God said: Behold, Adam became like one of Us, knowing good and evil." “Of Us” is also plural.
Life. 11, 6 - 7, where it is about the Babylonian pandemonium: “And the Lord said: ... let us go down and confuse their language there,” the word “come down” is in the plural. Saint Basil the Great in Six Days (Conversation 9) comments on these words as follows: “It is truly strange idle talk to assert that someone is sitting on his own, giving orders, supervising himself, forcing himself imperiously and insistently. The second is an indication of actually three Persons, but without naming the persons and without distinguishing them. ”
Chapter XVIII of the book "Genesis", the appearance of three Angels to Abraham. At the beginning of the chapter, it says that God appeared to Abraham, in the Hebrew text is “Jehovah”. Abraham, having gone out to meet the three pilgrims, bows to them and addresses them with the word “Adonai,” literally “Lord,” in the singular.
In patristic egzeges, there are two interpretations of this place. First: the Son of God appeared, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, accompanied by two angels. We meet this interpretation from the martyr. Justin the Philosopher, St. Hilarius of Pictavia, St. John Chrysostom, blessed Theodoret Kirrsky.
However, most of the fathers are Saints Athanasius of Alexandria, Basil the Great, Ambrose of Mediolan, blessed Augustine- believe that this is the appearance of the Holy Trinity, the first revelation to man about the Trinity of the Divine.
It was the second opinion that was accepted by the Orthodox Tradition and found its embodiment, firstly, in the hymnography, which speaks of this event precisely as a phenomenon Of the triune god, and in iconography ( famous icon"The Old Testament Trinity").
Blessed Augustine (“On the City of God”, Book 26) writes: “Abraham meets three, worships one. Having beheld the three, he understood the mystery of the Trinity, and having bowed as if to one, he confessed the One God in Three Persons. "
The indication of the Trinity of God in the New Testament is, first of all, the Baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Jordan from John, which in the Church Tradition received the name Theophany. This event was the first explicit Revelation to mankind about the Trinity of the Godhead.
Further, the commandment about baptism, which the Lord gives to His disciples after the Resurrection (Matt. 28, 19): “Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit”. Here the word “name” is in the singular, although it refers not only to the Father, but also to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit together. Saint Ambrose of Mediolana comments on this verse as follows: "The Lord said" in the name "and not" in the names ", because there is one God, not many names, because there are not two Gods and not three Gods."
2 Cor. 13, 13: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit with you all." With this expression, the Apostle Paul emphasizes the personality of the Son and the Spirit, who bestow gifts on an equal basis with the Father.
1, John. 5, 7: “Three testify in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one ”. This passage from the Epistle of the Apostle and Evangelist John is controversial, since this verse is absent in the ancient Greek manuscripts.
Prologue of the Gospel of John (John 1: 1): "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Here God is understood as the Father, and the Son is called the Word, that is, the Son was eternally with the Father and was eternally God.
The Transfiguration of the Lord is also the Revelation of the Holy Trinity. Here is how he comments on this event evangelical history VN Lossky: “That is why the Epiphany and Transfiguration are celebrated so solemnly. We celebrate the Revelation of the Holy Trinity, for the voice of the Father was heard and the Holy Spirit was present. In the first case, under the guise of a dove, in the second - like a shining cloud that overshadowed the apostles. "

Difference of Divine Persons by hypostatic properties

According to church teaching, the Hypostases are the essence of the Person, and not the impersonal forces. At the same time, the Hypostases have a single nature. The question naturally arises, how to distinguish between them?
All divine properties relate to the general nature, they are inherent in all three Hypostases and therefore cannot express the differences of Divine Persons by themselves. Impossible to give absolute definition each Hypostasis, using one of the Divine names.
One of the features of personal being is that personality is unique and inimitable, and therefore, it defies definition, it cannot be subsumed under a certain concept, since the concept always generalizes; cannot be brought to a common denominator. Therefore, a person can be perceived only through his relationship to other persons.
This is what we see in Holy Scripture where is the idea of Divine Faces x is based on the relationship that exists between them.
Approximately starting from the end of the 4th century, we can talk about the generally accepted terminology, according to which the hypostatic properties are expressed in the following terms: with the Father - unborn, with the Son - being born (from the Father), and procession (from the Father) with the Holy Spirit. Personal properties are the essence of incommunicable properties, eternally unchanged, exclusively belonging to one or another of the Divine Persons. Thanks to these properties, Persons differ from each other, and we cognize them as special Hypostases.
At the same time, distinguishing three Hypostases in God, we confess the Trinity as consubstantial and indivisible. Consubstantial means that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three independent Divine Persons possessing all divine perfections, but they are not three special separate beings, not three Gods, but the One God. They have a single and indivisible divine nature. Each of the Persons of the Trinity possesses the divine nature perfectly and completely.

Argam writes:

Hello. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one person in different manifestations or are they three different personalities? Thank you.

The Holy Scripture speaks of ONE ONE God, but at the same time it calls God both the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is impossible for us, people who know everything in comparison, to understand the physical nature of God, His physical structure. Moreover, the Bible forbids us to do this.

If the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are ONE ONE God, and at the same time these three divine Persons coexist in time and have communication between Them, then the conclusion suggests itself that these are three separate Persons of ONE God.

They are not different personalities, they are not one person either. How is this possible, you ask? I do not know. God is much higher than man, and no man can understand the physical structure of God, just as it is impossible for an ant that climbed on my boot to understand my physical structure. Therefore, I will not tell you more than the Bible tells me. And at the same time, I will not try to humiliate one of the divine Personalities, depriving Her of the right to be God (as, for example, the followers of the Watchtower Society do, trying to distort what is written in other places) just because I do not find a similarity among people and earthly world... An attempt to belittle the nature of God to a human level is a direct violation when the glory incorruptible god try to limit the likeness to a perishable person.

Blessings!

Vasily Yunak

Read more on the topic "Trinity in Christianity":

Question: Please explain what is meant in Christianity by such concepts as "Father", "Son" and "Holy Spirit".

We are talking about concepts that have arisen in religious beliefs. These concepts were necessary for people at a time when the concepts of energies and vibrations were difficult and unreasonable to apply. At that time, all concepts about God, about the Creator, about the Son of God and about the energy flowing from the Creator, were, one might say, adapted to the worldview and attitude of that time. Yes, you have an expression: everything has its time. And this is true, because you live in space and time, and each time stream is associated with information and energy flow. This is where this expression comes from. Time conditions the entry and exit from one Stream to another. That scheme of concepts about the Trinity, about the trinity, may have been the only one possible in that time stream. Now is a different time, different concepts dominate the minds of people. Now it is possible to explain everything from the standpoint of the world of the Cosmos, from the standpoint of cosmic concepts, from the standpoint of the world of energies. That is why I am now speaking from these new positions about the old concepts, known to you, in a somewhat different way.

So what is the concept of the Trinity that you know so well? Father, Son and Holy Spirit - this is the foundation of the entire Christian worldview, especially the Orthodox. I want to clarify these concepts.

I talked a lot about the Father, about the Great Creator of the Universe - about Sabaoth. And this ... It is very difficult for me to explain with worthy words, so as not to hurt anyone's feelings. This is not an old man with a beard that you portray in temples and churches, this is the Greatest Energy of immense power. This is Light, the Source of Light, the Source of pure energies, at the same time it is the Mind, which has all the feelings and emotions. This is the Creator of the Worlds, the Creator of the Universe, the Great Creator, the One Who constantly cares about His creations, Who is constantly in the process of work, for the process of creation is constantly happening. It is a process that does not have a stop, no rest. All of us in Space are at work. The Creator creates worlds, gives life to all entities: from luminaries and planets to intelligent entities and those whose life flows through the world of animals, plants and minerals. This is, in a very generalized way, the activity of the Father, whom you call God.

Now about the second hypostasis in the Trinity. You say that the Son of God is one and the same as the Father, that They are one. In a way, yes, but in fact - these are two different Essences (I use a word that is understandable for you), or two Spirits that have a common energy, but the manifestations and implementation of their life are different, because there are no two identical Spirits in the Universe that are identical in nature , a set of emotions, feelings.

All living things have the ability to develop and improve themselves. We are not frozen in centuries, petrified in our perfection. We live our life in a different world, a world of energies, no less beautiful and amazing than your material world. We have great opportunities, but this does not mean that we do not develop, do not improve ourselves. We investigate and study everything that happens in the worlds, change our views, for we are alive.

So who, in your opinion, is the Son of God? This is a particle of the Father, His immediate energy. But you are all children of God, the energy of the Father flows in you, the energy for life. So what's the difference? First of all, the fact that the Creator, capable of creating worlds, is capable, and this is His right, to create something for Himself. There are souls, or Spirits, created by Him as Essences close to Him. The bearer of the basic principle - Love, wanted not only to give this energy to people, but also to realize it on close Aspects.

You are created in the image and likeness, I have repeated this many times. You know the saying "as above, so below." The Father created a family, according to your ideas, or created souls that are close to Himself in His inner mood: a woman's, and through it he produced (directly through His energy) a Son. In your opinion, this is a half-blood Son, created directly through the energy of creation by the Father. The Creator has one such Son, in him the energy of Love of God Himself, the Creator Himself, has been realized. The Son is a directly separated part of the Father, a part of His energy. But this is already another Essence, separate from the Father, existing separately.

The Father gave the Son the opportunity to incarnate on Earth once, to fulfill a certain mission, work. Together with him, first of all, He embodied his Mother - the Spouse of the Father. And he embodied not in the royal mansion, but in a simple village house and made it possible to feel like equal children of God. He did not violate the Law of Free Will introduced by Him in relation to His Spouse and Son. He gave them the opportunity to live the life of ordinary earthly people, with their own hardships and hardships. The Father made no exceptions to His messengers. He wanted people to recognize them, first of all, through the heart, through intuition.

Living life earthly man, I have become, undoubtedly, different, undoubtedly that the Earth and its inhabitants have become close and dear to me. I understand earthlings differently, I feel them, your emotions and feelings are close and understandable to me. Your logic, ethics and morality are clear. Your behavior, your actions and actions are understandable to me. I, one might say, feel earthlings through my heart, through my soul.

So what is the Holy Spirit? How to explain it modern concepts previously unavailable? This is undoubtedly energy - the energy flowing from the Creator, the energy of Life and Love, the energy that sustains the life of the Spirit in the body. Without this Stream, the realization of life is impossible. Both we and you are in this Stream, and therefore we can say that we are one through the Holy Spirit, through the energy of the Creator's Love. This unity is felt by many light Spirits through their open heart connected to this Divine “prana”, to the Stream from the heart of the Creator.

Pure heart can feel, feel, let him see, God through His energy, through this Stream, which you call the Holy Spirit.

I accept all names, so long as they do not create a barrier for the perception of the new through new concepts coming to you.

What do Christians believe about the Holy Trinity?

Speaking the most in simple words, Christians believe that there is only one God, and this God exists in three Persons (Persons). These three Persons are God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

Some Christians use this diagram to explain the Trinity. Father and Son and Holy Spirit are one God, not three names of the same Person. Personalities are different: the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father.

Trinity and the Bible

God is one absolutely perfect divine Being in three Persons. We call the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Personalities because they have personal qualities. There is a personal relationship between them.

When Christians talk about their belief in one God in three Persons (Trinity), they do not mean one God in three Gods, or one Person in three Gods.

They believe in one God, knowable in three Persons.

Father - God, the first Person of the Trinity; The Son is God, the second Person of the Trinity; The Holy Spirit is God, the third Person of the Trinity.

Why do Christians believe in the Trinity?

The Bible clearly says that there is only one God, but all three Persons are called God.

There is only one God:

· Listen, Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one ().

· Before me there was no God, and after me there will be no ()

Father - God:

· Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ ().

Son - God:

· ... The Word was God (). Jesus is called the Word.

· I and the Father are one ().

· Thomas, a disciple of Jesus, turned to Him: "My Lord and my God" ().

Jesus did not reproach Thomas for his mistake. Rather, Jesus accepted this conversion. Other people in Scripture, such as Paul and Barnabas (), forbade people to worship them as gods.

· And about the Son: “Thy throne, God, in the age of the century; the rod of Thy kingdom is the rod of righteousness ... ”().

· Therefore, God also exalted Him and gave Him a name above every name, so that every knee of heavenly, earthly and hells bows before the name of Jesus, and every tongue will confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is to the glory of God the Father ().

The divinity of Jesus is also referred to in the following verses:; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ...

The Holy Spirit is God:

· But Peter said: Ananias! Why did you allow Satan to put in your heart the idea of ​​lying to the Holy Spirit and hide it from the price of the earth? ... you lied not to people, but to God ().

More than 60 times the Scripture simultaneously mentions the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

· -17: “And being baptized, Jesus immediately came out of the water, - and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and John saw the Spirit of God, who descended like a dove and descended on Him. And behold, a voice from heaven saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. "

· Matthew 28:19: "... so go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit ..."

· 2 Cor.13: 13: "The grace of the Lord (our) Jesus Christ, and the love of God (Father), and the communion of the Holy Spirit with you all."

· -6: “One body and one spirit, as you are called to the one hope of your title; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all of us. "

· -6: “When the grace and philanthropy of our Savior, God, appeared, He saved us not by works of righteousness, which we would have done, but by His mercy, by the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, which He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, the Savior our ... "

See also ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and .

Misconceptions about the Trinity

Zmisconception # 1:“The word“ Trinity ”is not in the Bible; this teaching was invented by Christians in the 4th century. "

Truth: Indeed, there is no word "Trinity" in the Bible, nevertheless, belief in the Trinity has a biblical foundation. There is no term “Bible” in the Bible either.

The word "Trinity" has been used to explain the eternal relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Trinity is reflected in many Bible passages (see below). False beliefs flourished in the early centuries of Christianity, and there are many of them today. The early Christians constantly had to defend their beliefs. Listed below are early Church thinkers (and writers) who championed the doctrine of the Trinity long before AD 300. e.

Misconception # 2:"Christians believe there are three Gods."

Truth: Christians believe there is only one God.

Some may consider Christians to be polytheists (those who believe in multiple gods) because they call the Father God, the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God. But Christians believe in only one God. The Bible says there is only one God. But she also uses the word "God" to refer to three distinct personalities. For centuries, people have tried to come up with a simple explanation for the Trinity. Each illustration has its own limitations, but some of them may be useful. For example, they said that:

God is not 1 + 1 + 1 = 3

God is 1 x 1 x 1 = 1

Traditionally, it is believed that St. Patrick used the shamrock clover as an illustration of the Trinity. He asked: “Is there one leaf or three? If there is one, then why does it have three petals of the same size? And if there are three, then why only one stalk? If you cannot explain such a simple riddle as clover, then how can you hope to understand such a deep mystery as the Holy Trinity? "

Misconception # 3:"Jesus is not God."

Truth: Jesus is God, the second Person of the Holy Trinity.

1. Words of Jesus Himself · He forgave sins. We can forgive the sin committed against us, but we cannot forgive the sin committed against others. Jesus forgave all sins. (;) · He accepted worship as God, therefore He is equal to the Father. (;) · He called Himself the Son of God - this title the Jews rightly perceived as a claim to equality with God. ()

Misconception # 4:"The Godhead of Jesus is less than the Godhead of the Father."

Truth: Jesus is equal to God the Father. Those who reject this truth can rely on the following arguments and verses. (These heresies date back to the time of Arius, AD 319)

Verses mistakenly used to support the teaching that Christ was created:

1. Col. 1:15: if Christ was “born before all creation,” was He created?

Answer: The expression “born first” (lit., “firstborn”) cannot mean that Christ was created, since Paul says that all creation was created by Him and for Him, and also that He existed first of all creation, and that everything They should be (). Traditionally, the "firstborn" was the main heir. In the context of the first chapter of Colossians, Paul says that Christ, being the Son of God, is the main heir of all creation ().

2. John 3:16: Does the expression “only begotten Son” mean that Jesus had a beginning?

Answer: "only begotten" ( monogenes) does not mean that Jesus had a temporary beginning; this means that Jesus is the only, "unique" Son of God. In the Old Testament on Greek Isaac is called the "unique" son of Abraham, although he had other children (). Jesus is the Only Begotten Son of God because He is the perfect God and the only eternal Son of the Father ().

Verses mistakenly used to support the teaching that Christ is less in nature than the Father:

1. John 14:28: if the “Father is greater” than Jesus, how can Jesus be God?

Answer: During His human life on earth, Jesus voluntarily shared our natural limitations in order to save us. Therefore, the words "My Father is greater than Me" must be applied to Christ as a Man.

2. 1Cor.15: 28: If Jesus is God, then why does He submit to the Father?

Answer: here we are talking about the will of Christ as a Man.

3. Mark 13:32: If Jesus is God, how could He not know the time of His return?

Answer: Jesus willingly humiliated Himself in order to experience the limitations of human life. Paradoxically, Jesus remained the omniscient God (). These are the paradoxes to be expected if, as the Bible says, God decides to live a full human life ().

Misconception # 5:"Father, Son, and Spirit are just different titles for Jesus, or three different ways that God has revealed Himself to people."

Truth: The Bible makes it clear that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are different personalities.

Some believe that the doctrine of the Trinity is contrary to the truth that there is only one God. They claim that Jesus alone is the only true God, and therefore Jesus is “the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” () and not just the name of the Son. Surely there is only one God, but we must let the Bible explain what that means. And the Bible clearly says that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three persons:

· Father sends Son (;)

· The Father sends the Spirit (;)

· The Son speaks not of Himself, but in the name of the Father ()

· The Spirit does not speak of Himself, but in the name of Jesus ()

· The Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father ()

· Father and Son - two witnesses ()

· The Father and the Son glorify each other (), and the Spirit glorifies Jesus the Son ()

· The Son intercedes for us before the Father (; Greek - parakletos); Jesus the Son sent the Holy Spirit, another Intercessor (in the Russian translation of the Comforter,; 26)

· Jesus Christ is not the Father, but the Son of the Father ()

C Jesus does not call Himself Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He says that Christian baptism testifies to a person's faith in the Father, the Son, whom the Father sent to die for our sins, and the Holy Spirit.

Misconception # 6:"Jesus was not really a perfect God and a perfect man."

Many people have long rejected the idea that Jesus is both the perfect God and the perfect man. They tried to resolve this paradox by naming Jesus common man through whom God spoke, or God, Who only took the form of a man, or offered some other "simple" theories. Indeed, we cannot fully comprehend with our minds how in Jesus God became man. But the incarnation - the truth that God became flesh - is the highest confirmation that nothing is impossible for God (;). And the Bible makes this truth clear.

The Bible clearly shows that Jesus was a perfect man:

In childhood, He developed physically, intellectually, socially and spiritually ().

He was tired; He slept; He was sweating; He was hungry and thirsty; He shed blood and died; His body was buried (; His blood ().

Paul also said that the rulers of this age unknowingly crucified the Lord of glory ().

All the fullness of the Godhead is in Jesus ().

The early Christians' response to these misconceptions

Early Christian theologians of the first two centuries AD wrote many books in defense of Christianity against dangers:

· persecution by the Roman Empire. Until the beginning of the 4th century, Christianity was illegal, and Christians were often brutally persecuted.
· heresies that distort the basic teachings of Christianity, especially about the divinity of Jesus Christ and the nature of God.

Apostolic Creed was one of the earliest statements of faith, written to clarify the foundational teachings of Christianity. It emphasizes the true humanity of Jesus, which was denied by the heretics of the day.

I believe in God the Father almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, our Lord, conceived of the Holy Spirit, virgin Mary, who suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified, died and buried, descended into the underworld, rose from the dead on the third day, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from where He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, in one, holy ecumenical church, into the communion of saints, into the remission of sins, into the resurrection of the flesh and into eternal life.

Nicene Creed was written by Church leaders in AD 325. e., and subsequently supplemented. It was written to defend the Church's belief in the perfect deity of Christ and to officially reject the teachings of Arius, who said that Jesus is a created, lower deity.

We believe in one God, the Father, Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, of everything visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only begotten, from the Father born before all ages, light from light, true God from true God, born, not created, consubstantial with the Father, through whom everything was created; for the sake of us, people, and our salvation for the sake of him who came down from heaven and took flesh from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became a man, crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, suffering and buried; and he who rose again on the third day according to the scripture, and ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father, and who comes again with glory to judge the living and the dead; His kingdom will have no end.

And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord Life-giving, from the Father outgoing, worshiped and glorified equal with the Father and the Son, who spoke in the prophets. Into one holy universal and apostolic church... We confess one baptism for the remission of sins. Expect resurrection of the dead and the life of the next century. Amen.

Afanasyevsky Symbol of Faith written about 400 A.D. e. and named for Athanasius, the great defender of the doctrine of the Trinity, says that the three Persons are not three Gods, but one God.

And the universal faith is as follows: we honor the one God in the Trinity, and the Trinity in unity, without mixing hypostasis and not dividing the divine essence into parts.

For one is the hypostasis of the Father, the second is the Son and the third is the Holy Spirit.

But the deity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is one, the glory is equal, and the greatness is equally eternal. As the Father is, so is the Son, so is the Holy Spirit.

The Father is not created, the Son is not created, and the Holy Spirit is not created either. The Father is incomprehensible, and the Son is incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit is also incomprehensible. The Father is eternal, and the Son is eternal, and the Holy Spirit is eternal.

However, there are not three eternal, but one eternal; as well as not three uncreated or three incomprehensible, but one uncreated and one incomprehensible.

Likewise, the Father is omnipotent, and the Son is omnipotent, omnipotent and the Holy Spirit. However, not three omnipotent, but one omnipotent.

Thus, the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. However, not three Gods, but one God.

And also the Father is the Lord, the Son is the Lord, and the Holy Spirit is the Lord. However, not three Lords, but one Lord.

For just as Christian truth prompts us to confess each hypostasis separately as God and Lord, so universal piety forbids us to speak about three Gods or three Lords.

The Father is not created by anyone, not created or born.

The Son by the Father alone was not created, not created, but born.

The Holy Spirit from the Father (and the Son) is not created, not created and not born, but proceeds.

So, there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits.

In this Trinity there is no first and last, no greater or lesser, but the three Hypostases among themselves are equally eternal and equal; therefore, as already said, the Trinity must be worshiped in unity and unity in the Trinity.

Therefore, whoever desires to be saved think so about the Trinity.

But for eternal salvation one must also unconditionally believe in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In this way, true faith is to believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is both God and man. God, from the nature of the Father, born before all time, and man, from the nature of the mother, born in time; perfect God and perfect man, in which a rational soul and human body equal to the Father in deity, and less than the Father in humanity. But although he is both God and man, yet not two Christs, but one Christ.

He is one not by the transformation of the divine into the human, but by the perception of the human into the deity.

He is completely one, but not by the merging of natures, but by the unity of the personality.

For just as the rational soul and body together are one man, so God and man are one Christ, who suffered for our salvation, who descended into hell, who rose from the dead on the third day, who ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father, from where He will come to judge the living. and the dead.

At His coming, all people will rise from the dead with their bodies to give an account of their deeds.

And those who have done good will go into eternal life, but those who have done evil will go into eternal fire.

This is universal faith. He who does not faithfully and firmly adhere to it cannot be saved.

The dogma formulated at the Council of Chalcedon 451 in defense of truth from false teachers, claims that Jesus is the perfect God and the perfect Man.

Following the holy fathers, we unanimously teach to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, perfect in deity and perfect in humanity; true God and true person having a soul and a body; consubstantial with the Father in deity and consubstantial with us in humanity, similar to us in all, except for sin; born before centuries from the Father according to deity, in the last days of these days born for our sake and our salvation for the sake of the Virgin Mary of the Mother of God according to humanity; one and the same Christ, the Son, the Lord, the only begotten, in two natures it is not merged, invariably, inseparably, inseparably cognizable (the difference between the two natures is in no way abolished by their union, but the properties of each nature are preserved, united in one Person and in one Hypostasis); into two Persons, not cut and not divided, but one and the same Son and the only begotten God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ; how the prophets spoke about Him from ancient times, and how the Lord Jesus Christ Himself taught us, and how he gave us the symbol of our fathers.

*) In the Greek text of this verse, the Holy Spirit is called the "Eternal Spirit."