Posted on 05/24/2016 6:49:46 AM PDT by Salvation
Many of you know that I write the Question and Answer column for Our Sunday Visitor. Given the celebration of Trinity Sunday this past Sunday, I thought I might reproduce here on the blog a question/answer regarding the Trinity. It is a fairly common question; perhaps you have it, too. Remember that my answers in the column are required to be brief.
We read in a recent Sunday Gospel (May 1, 2016) that Jesus says that the Father is greater than He (Jn 14:28). Since we are all taught that each Divine Person of the Blessed Trinity fully possesses the nature of God, equally to be adored and glorified, what did Jesus mean by such a statement?” – Dick Smith, Carrolton, TX.
Theologically, Jesus means that the Father is the eternal source in the Trinity. All three persons of the Trinity are co-eternal, co-equal, and equally divine. But the Father is the Principium Deitatis (the Source in the Deity).
Hence, Jesus proceeds from the Father from all eternity. He is eternally begotten of the Father. In effect, Jesus is saying, “I delight that the Father is the eternal principle or source of my being, even though I have no origin in time.”
Devotionally, Jesus is saying that He always does what pleases His Father. Jesus loves His Father; He’s crazy about Him. He is always talking about Him and pointing to Him. By calling the Father greater, He says (in effect), “I look to my Father for everything. I do what I see Him doing (Jn 5:19) and what I know pleases Him (Jn 5:30). His will and mine are one. What I will to do proceeds from Him. I do what I know accords with His will.”
So although the members of the Trinity are all equal in dignity, there are processions in the Trinity, such that the Father is the source, the Son eternally proceeds from Him (Jn 8:42), and the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son as from one principal (Jn 15:26).
St Thomas speaks poetically of the Trinity as follows:
Genitori, Genitoque … Procedenti ab utroque … compar sit laudautio
(To the One Who Begets, and to the Begotton One, and to the One who proceeds from them both, be equal praise.)
The Athanasian Creed says the following regarding these processions:
The Father is made by none, neither created nor begotten.
The Son is of the Father alone, neither made nor created, but begotten.
The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son, not made, nor created, nor begotten, but he proceeds from them.
So although equal, processions do have an order. The Father is “greater” (as source), but is equal in dignity to Son and Holy Spirit.
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Touchy, touchy! Let's clear up a couple of things. I was not offering an opinion, I was stating facts and offering a suggestion.
An example of a fact is: Red, Green and Blue are examples of additive primary colors. An opinion would be Blue is a better color than Red. I hope that clears up the confusion you seem to be having.
I’m fine with this.
Let’s go find some other fish to fry!
And verga worships the same god as I do...
Golly!
I've always thought IT WAS INCLUDED because the Apostle John WROTE it.
It is nice to learn that the selectors in Rome decided it was wonderful and chose to keep it.
Not quite.
You were making some kind of claim.
Have you any EVIDENCE to back it up?
Over the years, my hair has been subjected to subtractive colors (or some such force).
Not touchy.
It’s not your ping list and it’s none of your business.
If I cared what you thought about it, I’d have asked you opinion about it.
I don’t and I didn’t.
Get over it.
Yes I am convinced. I am convinced that for the most part Catholics give thoughtful polite responses, while many of the reformation group are pit yorkies.
You accused me of posting just to post, but yet on this very thread elsie is giving his/her usual canned responses and has yet to make a contributory post. Do you ignore his posts for a reason?
I was going to stay out of this but since the moderator is allowing your cross thread comments....
You are wrong. Having a semester of two of Greek and access to BibleHub w/ parallel translation does not make you a Greek scholar. My Grandfather was a Native speaking Greek with a Ph.D. in language development. He taught Greek at the university level. I learned quite a bit from him during my homeschooling.
Language, especially Greek and English are dynamic, not static. The meaning and use of words have a natural flow to them. If you want to understand the meaning of Biblical verses you need to view it not only in its textual context, but also its historical context. A prime example of this is the word "Bible" itself.
βίβλος literally means library, or collection of books, but originally it referred the inner bark of the of a papyrus plant. Currently it means a collection of sacred writings to Christians.
I went back and reread Verga's thread. While his explanation is not dead on perfect, it is much closer than what you claim. In other words you are in error.
Wow someone woke up on the wrong side of the pastrami sandwich this morning.
Was OT the Kione greek you learned?
OT should be it.
. Waiting on your documentation the Council of Nicea said God came into existence as you claim.
You keep looking.
I agree. The historical context is crucial to an understanding along with the textual context.
I went back and reread Verga's thread. While his explanation is not dead on perfect, it is much closer than what you claim. In other words you are in error.
You will note I asked him more than once to provide his breakdown of Luke 1:34. To date he has not.
I'm still waiting on his reply for evidence to back up his claim the Council of Nicea stated "God came into existence" to substantiate is #160 post.
To date, and like the vast majority of questions he is asked, verga has not answered.
You two have fun discussing philosophy. I hope you both find the Truth.
It will not be found in a philosophy book though.
Unless something new breaks on this thread, I'm moving on to other things.
And the Pit Bulls of FR salute you!!
verga, terycarl and Vladimir998
Now THIS is some firm data to sink one's teeth into!
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