God hasn’t revealed such a thing as an extra person(s) in the Blessed Trinity in the deposit of Faith(Scripture and Apostolic Tradition) and since Christ was the definative messenger(As the Word Himself) and He didn’t alude to such a possibility, and we do not have a mechanism to come to know such a thing even if it were the case(a situation which is unlikely to be true to say the least) then the Doctrine of the Trinity won’t be overturned in this world.In Catholic teaching is there anything to preclude the idea that there could be unknown (to us) additional persons in the ‘Trinity’ (leaving aside the need to rename as the “Quarternity” etc. I understand that it is Catholic teaching that there are three persons, but is it definitive that there are only three?
Yes.Thanks for the responses. But is it definitive Catholic teaching that there are three, or that there are only three?
What in these creeds precludes the possibility of there being others?
Simple logic. Trinity is dogma, not Trinity + unknown (which is a contradiction.) If there is more than three, then God is not Triune; though this is untenable since revealed theology does not say this but states three Persons. By the very fact it is dogma that He is Triune, we are bound by necessity to refuse innovation of other Persons, least we depart from the Christian faith.What in these creeds precludes the possibility of there being others?
Thanks TS. If I say: “I have three oranges in my bag”, and even give them a name “the three”, it cannot be logically concluded that there are no other oranges in my bag, or anywhere else for that matter. If there is a specific Church teaching that they are three, and only three, where is it?Simple logic. Trinity is dogma, not Trinity + unknown (which is a contradiction.) If there is more than three, then God is not Triune; though this is untenable since revealed theology does not say this but states three Persons. By the very fact it is dogma that He is Triune, we are bound by necessity to refuse innovation of other Persons, least we depart from the Christian faith.
If you insist.Thanks TS. If I say: “I have three oranges in my bag”, and even give them a name “the three”, it cannot be logically concluded that there are no other oranges in my bag, or anywhere else for that matter. If there is a specific Church teaching that they are three, and only three, where is it?
But we don’t “name” them three, as if giving vaule by the name we give them in some sort of nominalistic fashion, rather we recognise the reality of God being three persons in one substance and one substance in three persons. To say that God is three persons is to exclude the possibility of God being 2,4,5,6,7 etc. persons. To say God is three persons is to make a definative statment about reality.Thanks TS. If I say: “I have three oranges in my bag”, and even give them a name “the three”, it cannot be logically concluded that there are no other oranges in my bag, or anywhere else for that matter. If there is a specific Church teaching that they are three, and only three, where is it?
But as we do not know the fullness of God, and cannot, surely it is possibly if it is not definitively excluded? And calling the Godhead 'the Trinity" could mean “the persons and unity of God we can discern”.But we don’t “name” them three, as if giving vaule by the name we give them in some sort of nominalistic fashion, rather we recognise the reality of God being three persons in one substance and one substance in three persons. To say that God is three persons is to exclude the possibility of God being 2,4,5,6,7 etc. persons. To say God is three persons is to make a definative statment about reality.
"The Trinity is One. We do not confess three Gods, but one God in three persons, the ‘consubstantial Trinity’. [Council of Constantinople II (A.D 553)]
Note this is not at least three persons, but three persons; the Trinity. Again to name something definitively as Trinity is to exclude the possibility of it being a quaternity or anything else.
No way. Mary is a human being, created like all of us. Human beings do not become members of the Godhead alongside the Trinity. The essence of God is uncreated, and so a creature cannot become God.The Virgin Mother Mary is the Spouse of the Holy Spirit. I see her as potentially becoming a part of the Trinity, making the Trinity into a Quad. .
We don’t know everything that there is to know. However we DO know certain things. Things that are revealed by God. We do know per Moses that there is only one God, for example, not dozens as the Greeks had nor hundreds as the Hindus have.But as we do not know the fullness of God, and cannot, surely it is possibly if it is not definitively excluded? And calling the Godhead 'the Trinity" could mean “the persons and unity of God we can discern”.
I am not convinced that there is clear Catholic teaching excluding the possibility of more persons.
But where does it say: three, not four?And we know, per the guidance of the Holy Spirit, that there are three, not two or four, persons in the Godhead. And that there never have nor ever will be two or four or other than three persons.
It says in the magisterial and infallible teaching of the church council of Constantinople as quoted above.But where does it say: three, not four?
Exactly my point. We now know it comes in plasma as well. We knew of three, now we know of more. It was never exclusive. There may yet be other forms of matter.It says in the magisterial and infallible teaching of the church council of Constantinople as quoted above.
Which says one God. Not two Gods or eight Gods or 24.
And it says with exactly the same certitude that that one God isin three persons. Not one God who may possibly be in three persons, but may also possibly be in 4, or 287, or half a person. Or in anything other than three persons.
Like when your science book says water comes in three forms - solid, liquid, and gas - it means three. It doesn’t mean that water ever has or ever will come in anything less than or more than three forms.