Does God have 3 minds?

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fisherman_carl

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As Christians we believe in the Trinity, that is 3 Persons in one God. However, does that mean God has 3 separate minds in the 3 Persons? Or does the divine nature have one shared mind between the 3 Persons? And, if God has 3 separate minds would they be separately omniscient from each other?

There is only one God, one being. But does the Holy Spirit think exactly the same thoughts as the Father and the Son and thus having one mind all the time. Or do they think independent thoughts from one another having separate minds?
 
No answers yet. I’m leaning towards God as having only one mind because 3 separately omniscient minds would be difficult to comprehend as being only one being. Although in Genesis God did say let us make man in our image. Was he talking to himself or to other minds?
 
Hello Fisherman Carl. I would answer your question for you but I am definitely not an expert on Trinitarian theology. That said, it is the 2:29 EST here in the eastern half of the United States so that might be why its taking a while for you to get a response. Many of those who post here on the forums are from the United States.
 
A person has a mind of his own. So the Persons of the Trinity each have a mind of their own.

An ant (or a bee) has a mind. Each ant (or bee) has a mind of its own. But ants (and bees) have a “hive mentality” - a collective mind which acts in harmony for a common purpose.
 
fisherman_carl said:
No answers yet. I’m leaning towards God as having only one mind because 3 separately omniscient minds would be difficult to comprehend as being only one being. Although in Genesis God did say let us make man in our image. Was he talking to himself or to other minds?
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Fisherman Carl, I think that is one of the best questions I have come across in my long walk with Jesus Christ.
I am not a theologian, but I am an engineer and I have spent years in “disecting” Scripture. I do beleive that Jesus is telling us the truth when He says in Matthew, “ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you”. I also do believe that He wants us to know Him more and more, And He will give us the understanding (revelations, aha’s etc.) as we slowly learn about Him. How else do you build a close relationship. He certainly is not, and does not want to be a God “from afar”. But we have to ask and seek and knock - like you do Carl! Good for you!
When the Trinity is explained, it is explained in a way that seems to be a contradiction, at least to me. The Trinity is the Godhead consisting of three separate and equally equal (I know, not good language) persons. Each person in the Godhead is separate, yet they all are “of one mind” so to speak. It is something like when you would experience being with someone that would know what you are about to say before you say it, perhaps is thinking in the same patterns as you are, someone that is very “tuned to” the way you think, reason and express yourself, one perhaps that you would be in “extreme” agreement with. Yet the person has his (or her) own free will regarding you, being in your presence and expressing himself.
Another side of this Union or Trinity is that there is a hiarchial order, where one Person is subjected to another. Thus, God the Father has the ultimate authority, God the Son is subjected to Him (even though Jesus responded to a question about who God is, by saying, “He who has seen me has seen the Father”), and the Person of the Holy Spirit is subjected to God the Son, yet He is the Spirit the God!
For us human beings it is hard to understand, since we are so much lower than God, and we do not have the perfect picture of this relationship. However, that is exactly what it is; a perfect relationship - three separate, perfect Persons with three separate minds yet all of one mind, always in agreement!
Remember how Scripture refers to “the mind of Christ”? Well, Carl, think about how that concept works in us. When we are born again through a renewed spirit received from God (not the Holy Spirit), and we start to live our lives “in Christ” and He starts to live His life in us, we gradually “should” become more and more agreeable with His Word. Since we are not perfect beings and never will be as long as we live in this fallen world, the only thing perfect about us is the new spirit that God placed in us when we accepted Christ as Savior. And gradually when we live out our lives in Him by the spirit, we will become more and more like Him, we will understand more, we will more and more agree with God’s Word. Does this make any sense to you, Carl?
I hope it does. Perfect understanding of God is not possible, but getting close to understanding is sometimes the best we can hope for as imperfect as we are.
God bless you Carl, keep asking questions! There is no question that God cannot answer, and no honest question that He will not answer.
 
There is only one divine essence; therefore there is only one divine intellect and one divine will.
 
God is not Wordless, and the Word of God is not without subsistence, nor does He have a beginning or an end. There never was a time that God was not without the Word. He forever possesses His own Word, begotten of Himself, not like our words that have no subsistence and dissolve into air. Having a subsistence in Him and life and perfection, not proceeding out of Him, but within Himself, the Word possess all the attributes of the Begetter. Our word proceeds out of our mind, but it is not wholly identical with our mind, but one in nature with it and yet a separate subject from it, designed to reveal our mind to others. In like manner, the Word of God in its independent subsistence reveals the mind of God, but possesses all the same attributes that are seen in God, and is of the same nature as God. Therefore, there is one mind.
 
I would think that since they are each distinct persons they have distinct minds, but are transparent to each other. What I mean by that is that all three know all there is to know about everything, and think all thoughts about all things all at once in that eternal moment. They don’t have linear thought patterns where some thoughts existed in the past, and some thoughts are yet to be thought in the future. They are pure acting power, doing all possible things, and thinking all possible thoughts in the now of eternity.All thoughts are always present to God.
 
aemcpa said:
There is only one divine essence; therefore there is only one divine intellect and one divine will.
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That’s right. God is one. He has one divine nature. The divine nature has the faculties of intellect and will. Each of the Persons of the Trinity possesses the one divine nature, and acts using the one divine nature.

If the Persons of the Trinity had three minds and three wills, there would be three divine natures, and therefore, three Gods. But there are not. There is one God.
 
this is jesus speaking
Mark 10:18

King James Version (KJV)

18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

this is god speaking
Isaiah 45:6

King James Version (KJV)

6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else.

and there is not a peep that i know of in the bible of the holy ghost speaking

you tell me what do you think
 
witwoa said:
and there is not a peep that i know of in the bible of the holy ghost speaking.
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Here’s a peep:
But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak. For it is not you that speaks, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you. [Matt 10:19-20]
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Some good answers so far to a difficult question. I’m still leaning towards one mind. In the mean time I checked this book called “Theology and Sanity”, by Frank Sheed. The book describes God’s one divine nature and 3 persons. He says a nature or essence gives the ability to do something, whereas a person has an identity and actually does the something. For instance a human has a human nature and can ride a bike, solve a math problem, and contemplate himself. All these abilities come from the fact that he is human and has nothing to do with his personal identity. Thus, I think it follows then that the ability to think and contemplate comes from a person’s nature. On the other hand someone named Frank for instance, riding a bike, is identified as Frank the person riding the bike. Frank is the one riding his bike. His nature is giving him the ability to do so.

Since God has only one divine nature then his ability to think must come from this one source and therefore he must have one mind that each of the 3 Persons possess and use. Thus, when Jesus is speaking he is using the mind of God. When the Holy Spirit is speaking he also uses the mind of God. And when the Father speaks it also comes from the mind of God.

That is what I am thinking? What do you think?
 
To complicate matters is the fact that Jesus has a human nature and a divine nature. That would mean Jesus has both a human mind and a divine mind coexisting in the Hypostatic union.
 
Jesus has a Human Nature and a Divine Nature. He has His own will, “Father, not my will by yours be done.” Although He says that “The Father and I are one,” He says that only the Father knows when the last day is. He says that the Spirit will not speak on His own but only what He hears (from the Father and the Son); but the Spirit intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.

So, I would say that Jesus has, as a person, His own will and His own Mind. The Spirit intercedes and, so, has His own Mind. So, I would say that God has Three Minds, one for each Person.
 
I would go for 3 persons, with 3 minds, each fully possesing the divine essence, will and the fullness of divine knowledge. However I don’t see how these three distinct minds could do anything but agree entirely with each other, and have perfect knowledge of each other (a bit like that couple who’ve been married for 60 years or so and finish each others sentences etc. if imperfect beings can do this, imagine what the completly perfect persons of the Trinity could do)
 
fisherman_carl said:
To complicate matters is the fact that Jesus has a human nature and a divine nature. That would mean Jesus has both a human mind and a divine mind coexisting in the Hypostatic union.
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Exactly. When we speak of the Trinity, we are speaking of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three Persons, possessing the one divine nature. It is the one divine nature through which each Person operates. There is but one divine mind and one divine will.

But Jesus, while being a divine person and fully possessing the divine nature, also took on a human nature. His human nature is fully human: he has a human mind and a human will, and those are limited in the way that human nature is limited. But He is not a human Person, but a divine Person.

Keep reading Frank Sheed. He helps with such understandings. Also, see his book “Theology for Beginners.”
 
JimG said:
Exactly. When we speak of the Trinity, we are speaking of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three Persons, possessing the one divine nature. It is the one divine nature through which each Person operates. There is but one divine mind and one divine will.

But Jesus, while being a divine person and fully possessing the divine nature, also took on a human nature. His human nature is fully human: he has a human mind and a human will, and those are limited in the way that human nature is limited. But He is not a human Person, but a divine Person.

Keep reading Frank Sheed. He helps with such understandings. Also, see his book “Theology for Beginners.”
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This fact demonstrates that the intellect and will are resident in the nature and not in the person; therefore; one divine nature can be possessed of only one divine intellect and one divine will.
 
Does this sound right? A person has a nature. Thus a person has a mind. So each Person of the Trinity has a mind, but it is the same one. Since they each possess the same divine nature. Thus God can only have one mind but each Person fully possesses it as they each possess the one divine Nature.
 
fisherman_carl said:
As Christians we believe in the Trinity, that is 3 Persons in one God. However, does that mean God has 3 separate minds in the 3 Persons? Or does the divine nature have one shared mind between the 3 Persons? And, if God has 3 separate minds would they be separately omniscient from each other?

There is only one God, one being. But does the Holy Spirit think exactly the same thoughts as the Father and the Son and thus having one mind all the time. Or do they think independent thoughts from one another having separate minds?
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I am not a philosopher so this could be a very stupid question. But what exactly is defined as a “mind”? Do you mean a brain? If not the brain, are we not speaking of a person and their will?

So if we are speaking of persons, when we speak of minds, then this question would already be answered because we do believe in God as being three persons.

But if that is not what is meant by a mind, then what are we referring to as a mind?
 
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