The mystery of the Holy Trinity is the “central mystery of Christian faith and life” (CCC 234) and “it is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the “hierarchy of the truths of faith” (CCC 234).
Yet very few Catholics can actually explain the Trinity. How would you explain this mystery to a Muslim, for example? When asked by our fellow Christians, our response is usually “it means there are three persons in one God.” When probed what exactly that means, we are likely to say “I can’t really explain that, that’s why it’s a mystery.”
While we cannot fully explain, we should be able to adequately describe the Trinity to someone who shares our faith. Let me try to help you with this article.
There are religions who recognize their God as creator of all things and source of all life. But these religions depict their God as “one-person.” Unlike this “one person” concept of God, the God revealed to us (by God himself) is a God who is Trinitarian, i.e. “three persons in one God.”
Our God is a communicating God. God wants to make Himself known to us. God does not want to be mysterious and unknown. On the contrary, God knows that when we truly know him, we will fall in love with him. Thus, the whole Bible is about how God continually communicates himself to us.
So how does God reveal himself?
Answer: God first revealed himself as Yahweh.
Very early in the bible, there was a point when God communicated to men and women the name by which he wanted to be known: Yahweh. It means “I am who am.” In Tagalog, as I recall Bishop Teddy Bacani say in one of his talks, it could translate to “A, basta. Ako si ako.” It means that God is simply being, being in its fullness, or unlimited being.
Biblical scholars who study the nuances of language believe that the more accurate translation of Yahweh is “I am who will show myself to be, by the actions which I will do on your behalf.” This translation suggests two things:
- God wants to be known progressively, not in a one time kind revelation. This means that the God of the Old Testament must be known also through what is revealed by God in the New Testament.
- Secondly, the translation suggests that God will be known by the actions that he will do for his people.
What do we know about who God is based on the actions that God has done?
- God liberated the Jews from slavery. The Jews could not help but marvel at what Yahweh has done. Imagine, they were previously a bunch of slaves oppressed by the Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they became a people with their own king and land!
- However, the Israelites frequently disobeyed and turned away from Yahweh many times in their history as a nation. They would worship other gods, commit acts of injustice to their own people especially the poor, widow and orphans, and disobey the laws given to Moses. But despite all these, Yahweh never gave up on them.
Through these actions, Yahweh became known not just as a powerful God, but a God “abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” His justice is tempered with mercy. It is not a vindictive kind of justice, but a saving kind of justice.
The people would backslide, yet Yahweh never gives up on the sinner. “For a brief moment I have abandoned you, but with great tenderness I will gather my people. For a moment, in an outburst of anger, I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I have had mercy on you, says Yahweh, our Redeemer.” (Isaiah 54:7-8)
The disobedience continued; but Yahweh’s persistent love also prevailed. Then, one day Yahweh did the most unexpected and undreamed of action of all time. Yahweh no longer spoke through signs, but through a Son, Jesus of Nazareth.
“God has spoken in the past to our ancestors through the prophets, in many different ways, although never completely; but in our times he has spoken definitively to us through his Son.” (Hebrews 1:1-2)
What did the words and actions of Jesus reveal about who God is?
In his ministry, Jesus speaks of Yahweh in a very unusual way. He calls Yahweh: “Father.” This is a radical idea since this invokes an intimate relationship with God, something akin to the relationship of father and child, and not king and subjects as the Jews were used to. In fact, Jesus says that we should use the word “abba,” which is the way a little child endearingly calls its father. Throughout his life, Jesus speaks and acts in a way which suggests a personal and intimate relationship with God as Father.
Jesus also reveals the Spirit of God which came down upon him during baptism. He promises the Spirit to his disciples at the Last Supper, saying that the Father will send him, and that he (Jesus) himself will send him (John 14:16-17, 25; 15:26; 16:7-14). But the Spirit is given only after Jesus has been glorified (John 7:39). Then Jesus gives the Spirit on the day of the Resurrection to the disciples, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). And in Pentecost, there is the outpouring of the Spirit to Mary and the disciples gathered in the upper room.
Through the words and actions of Jesus, the name of God has changed. It is no longer “Yahweh." After God becomes man in the person of Jesus and the sending of the Holy Spirit in Pentecost, God’s name is now: “Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
And what is the Holy Trinity?
Through his actions and words, we now know that God has a Son, who was with him in the beginning, and who was God like him. It is this Son who became flesh and lived among us. God does not only have a Son, but also a Spirit. This Spirit is the one who pours out the love of God into our hearts (Romans 5:5). (Note: Think of "Jesus as Son" as Jesus who is begotten by, or comes from, the Father).
Can you tell us more about the Holy Spirit? I don’t have a mental picture of the Holy Spirit, unlike the Father and the Son.
This Spirit is not the Father nor the Son but is sent by them both not as another spirit like an angel, but as their common Spirit, and thus God like them.
The Holy Spirit is a spirit and is a person. The Holy Spirit does not have a material body, and yet the Spirit is someone. The Holy Spirit is someone who performs spiritual functions and acts of the intellect. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would lead the disciples to all the truth (John 16:12), that the Spirit would also bear witness regarding him (John 15:26), and would speak for the disciples when they faced the tribunals (Matthew 10:19-20).
The Holy Spirit is also Love in Person. It is because the Spirit is Love in person that the Spirit can pour forth into our hearts the love of God when the Spirit is given as gift to us. (Romans 5:5)
(My own mental picture of the Holy Spirit is a “spiritual presence” who is with me wherever I go).
So God changed his name from Yahweh to the Holy Trinity?
In a manner of speaking, yes. The name of God is now Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is in that name we are baptized. We enter into the life of one God-Community of Persons.
In summary, our God exists as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. From all eternity God is a Trinity of Persons, but this truth was revealed gradually: first, as Yahweh, then through the sending of Jesus Christ, and then in the coming of the Holy Spirit.
So in God, there is one "What" and three "Who’s."
What is the implication of the Holy Trinity in my life?
The fact that now we are told by God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, that God is a communion of Persons bonded together by love, means that we human begins are called to live in a communion of love with each other.
Sources:
The two main sources used in this article are the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the book of Bishop Teodoro Bacani entitled From Yahweh to the Trinity (Manila: Gift of God Publications, undated). In many parts of my article, I quoted complete sentences verbatim from Bishop Ted’s book without citing them in footnotes. I am hoping that this citation will suffice in acknowledging his ideas).
