What is the trinity? The relationships of all three

[Pathway2]

I am trying to comprehended the relationship between father,son,Holy spirit and I think I am going through temptation of agreeing with what I assume is Arianism. I understand they are all God, it is just dealing with them being equal to each other.

 

[AndrewAxland]

There is another thread that was started last night about the same question called “Im confused about this”. Read the discussion there and ask any questions you may have there. Here’s the link:

https://forums.catholic-questions.org/t/im-confused-about-this/489055

 

[Wesrock]

I am trying to comprehended the relationship between father,son,Holy spirit and I think I am going through temptation of agreeing with what I assume is Arianism. I understand they are all God, it is just dealing with them being equal to each other.

The Father is the principle without principle. The Father begeta the Son and the Son is begotten by the Father. The Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.

But this is one being, not three beings. One eternal, not three externals. One power, not three powers. One God, not three gods. I suggest looking up the Athanasian Creed and its Trinitarian profession of faith.

The Father has never been without the Son or Spirit. God was, is and will always be Triune.

God is one being who is three persons. There is one Intellect and Will of God, not three, and it belongs co-equally and fully to all three persons. The Trinity, in a sense, is how God experiences/knows Himself (this is a limited analogy). It’s a revelation that God made to man about Himself.

 

[Wesrock]

One limited explanation I’ve seen relates the Son to God’s intellect and the Holy Spirit to God’s will.

God’s own self-knowledge of Himself is so perfect that it is a perfect image of Himself so that it is a person, differing only in relationship to the Father. This is the Son or Word/Logos.

God loves Himself (in a healthy way, not selfish), and His love of Himself, between the self and the self-awareness of Himself, is so perfectly good that this procession is, relationally, a new person as well. This is the Holy Spirit.

I am sure I botched that explanation, and keep in mind this is being framed in limited human terms.

 

[Ron_Conte]

The Father, Son, and Spirit each fully posses the Divine Nature. So whatever is true about the Divine Nature (the Godhead) is true about each person. Each Person is love, is mercy, is truth, etc. Each person is all-knowing all-powerful, etc. What distinguishes them is their relationship to one another.

The Father does not proceed. The Son proceeds only from the Father. The Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.

The analogy often used (and just as often misused) is that the Father is analogous to the will, the Son is analogous to knowledge, and the Spirit is analogous to love. In the human person, we have will, intellect, and (hopefully) love. But this is just an analogy. Each Person is Love. Each Person exercises will and is all-knowing.

The above explanations where God loves himself or knows himself are not correct. The Father’s knowledge of Himself is said, as an analogy, to be so full that it is the Son, and the love between the Father and the Son is said to be so full that it is the Spirit. But in fact each Person has will, knowledge, and love.

 

[Wesrock]

The above explanations where God loves himself or knows himself are not correct. The Father’s knowledge of Himself is said, as an analogy, to be so full that it is the Son, and the love between the Father and the Son is said to be so full that it is the Spirit. But in fact each Person has will, knowledge, and love.

No analogy is correct if that’s how you want to approach it. You yourself related the Father as being the Will, the Son knowledge, and the Spirit as Love. How is that any more correct given that each is knowledge, will, and love, as you say? And the rest of my first post was clear that Intellect and Will belong co-equally to all. My own analogy was based on Thomas Aquinas’ explanation in the Summa on procession and relationships in God.

 

[Wesrock]

To understand Saint Thomas’ explanation, an explanation of how he viewed the mind is important. When I contemplate knowledge of a Triangle, my mind takes the form of triangularity. Likewise for any form I consider - the mind holds the form or essence of the object.

So when God knows Himself, the “mind” or self-knowledge of God is the perfect image of Himself. It is identical by what it is and so not a different being, but there exists in God this generation, this relationship of paternity and filiation which we refer to as Father and Son.

More could definitely be written on Saint Thomas’ philosophy of the mind that I alluded to in the first paragraph. I do not have time at the moment.

 

[margaret42]

The comparison i’m familiar with is water. It comes in three forms, but all are water-ice, liquid, and steam.

 

[End_Timer]

I submit this as the Holiest Image in the world, the “Last great
vision of Fatima” Is it allowed to consider the Trinity as
God, the First Family ?

 

[steve-b]

I am trying to comprehended the relationship between father,son,Holy spirit and I think I am going through temptation of agreeing with what I assume is Arianism. I understand they are all God, it is just dealing with them being equal to each other.

Breaking this subject into parts

From the OT we see from Genesis a plural imagery for God… as in persons in One God.

From the NT we see 3 names for those persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, but no specific term Trinity used in scripture

For the full answer

the Trinity explained .

 

[steve-b]

I submit this as the Holiest Image in the world, the “Last great
vision of Fatima” Is it allowed to consider the Trinity as
God, the First Family ?

Stunning!!!

 

[fredystairs]

This week’s Arlington Catholic Herald had a column by a priest on the subject of the Trinity that I thought was quite good. Here is the link:

Understanding the Trinity - Arlington Catholic Herald

Blessings

 

[Lo-Chesed]

I think it rather blasphemous to imply Mary is part of the Trinity. A greatly honored and chosen human isn’t Deity. No wonder Protestants cringe at this sort of nonsense. Mary wasn’t sinless, albeit a very godly woman. Nothing is to be gained by putting Mary down, neither is there anything to be gained by making Mary an object of prayer and tacit worship.

 

[OsculeturMeOsculo]

Mary is not part of the Trinity nor does the image imply that.

 

[mrsdizzyd]

On this image Mary is standing apart from the Trinity. What makes you think she is being depicted as divine in this image?

 

[Francis]

No,Mary is not a part of the Trinity,your mistaken, Mary is sinless.She intercessor for us all ,being our spiritual Mother. Catholic don’t worship Mary. your a protestant ! who are confused about Catholic beliefs,i suggests you read and study them properly before commenting.

 

[jochoa]

When pondering God as the Creator of everything, the greatest creation possible, and the logical means to fulfill the greatest creation, one can recognize that the Creator must necessarily exist as three distinct persons, that are each fully the Creator of everything. God remains the ALL-Knowing Just Father; God becomes the only-begotten Son of the Father by process of generation to participate as a true friend in the greatest creation; and God, as the Holy Spirit, demonstrates becoming an eternally true friend by process of spiration, so that we might have a leader to demonstrate the way to perfection.

Therefore, the relationship between each person is that the Son is eternally generated from the Father and the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds by spiration from the Father and the Son.