Trinitarian
Analogies
Analogies
The least inadequate (or best) way to explain the Trinity is through citing the three parts of this attribute of God
Love = Lover (F), Beloved (S), and Love (HS)
T/F: God can make 1+1=3
T/F: God can sin
T/F: God doesn’t have a body
F: While God is omnipotent, logical contradictions aren’t even a thing
F: God is omnibenevolent, true, immutable
T: God is immaterial, omnipotent, omnipresent
T/F: The OT gives more detail about the Trinity than the NT
F
T/F: The Trinitarian councils affirmed the orthodox understanding of the Trinity.
T
T/F: Christians are the only major world religion that believes in the Trinity
True
The star (or Sun) analogy which explains the Trinity as:
Star = Father, Son = light, and Holy Spirit = heat, falls into this heresy that makes the Son and H.S. lesser than the Father.
Arianism
T/F: God’s attributes can be known through reason.
T/F: God’s attributes cannot be known from Scripture.
T/F: The name God gives himself in Scripture is Yahweh which means “Creator”.
T, F, F (x2): the attributes are known through reason and Scripture. Yahweh, the name God gives himself, means “I AM.”
T/F: The term “Trinity” is not contained in Sacred Scripture
T/F: The best evidence of the Trinity in Scripture comes from the Great Commission.
True (x2)
T/F: The Council of Nicaea supported the orthodox understanding of the Trinity.
T/F: The Council of Constantinople supported Modalism.
T, F
Recall the Trinitarian formula
1 God in 3 Divine Persons
The water analogy which explains the Trinity as God taking on three different forms just as water can be liquid, solid or vapor, falls into this heresy.
Modalism
Name the four omni- attributes
Omnibenevolent, omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient
This hint is given about the nature of the Trinity when God appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre in Genesis 18
God appeared as three people
What are the two criterion needed for a council to be ecumenical?
T/F: The Ecumenical councils are part of Sacred Scripture
Universal representation of bishops
Presence of pope/papal representative
False. Sacred Tradition
T/F: The Trinity can be fully known to human reason without the assistance of divine revelation
T/F: The Trinity is a theological mystery b/c we can know of it but not fully understand.
F, T
The three leaf clover analogy which explains that the three leaves are all components of the one leaf as the three Divine Persons are all components of the one God, falls into this heresy.
Partialism
Name the three attributes without prefixes and the two attributes with the prefix “imm.”
Eternal, One, True
Immaterial, Immutable
What hint regarding the Trinity is found in the Genesis creation account
God refers to Himself in the plural form “let us make man in our image and our likeness.”
What are the three criterion of a Church Father
Orthodoxy, Antiquity (lived during the early centuries of the Church), Holiness of life
Explain how the Trinity is like Pi.
Both can be known by the human mind but not fully understood because they are infinite.
Name three Trinitarian heresies covered in this unit and describe one.
Arianism (Son + H.S. lesser than the Father) , Modalism (God takes on three modes who are not distinct persons), Partialism (God is divided into three parts)
What is theological voluntarism? Name one attribute of God it overemphasizes and one attribute it overlooks.
God can do anything, even logical contradictions. It overemphasizes God’s omnipotence at the expense of his truth, immutability, and or omnibenevolence.
Recall three events from the Gospels where all divine persons of the Trinity are revealed
Annunciation, Baptism, Transfiguration, Great Commission
Recall the two Trinitarian councils in proper chronological order.
Nicaea (325 AD) + Constantinople (381 AD)
Some say the Trinity is a logical contradiction because it makes God both one and three at the same time and in the same way. Explain how this is not true. In other words, how is the Trinity not a contradiction.
The Trinity is one and three in a different manner (one = divine being, in three persons)