Three in Person

How can God be one yet. Three.

It may seem to be contradictory because were saying God is one essence and three persons, and we're accustomed and our vantage point assuming bank to see one being is one person not to that extent, the doctrine of the Trinity in this formulation is mysterious to most readers cause many to scratch their heads in frustration. How do we understand such a difficult topic today on Renewing Your Mind. We continue Dr. RC Sproul series on systematic theology and will learn that while the doctrine of the Trinity is mysterious. It is by no means a contradiction some time ago I had a conversation with a professor of philosophy and one of the American universities and he told me that he was an atheist, and that he couldn't understand how any intelligent person could embrace Christianity because of the very heart of the Christian system of thought was a manifest contradiction and I suppose what's that and he said while the doctrine of the Trinity of the doctrine of the Trinity is a contradiction in intelligent people on embrace contradiction/supply agree with part of that. I said I grant you that the intelligent people ought not to embrace contradictions. Though many of them often do I agree with you that intelligent people should not embrace contradictions is about what surprises me is that you would classify and categorize the Christian doctrine of the Trinity as a contradiction not that surprising to me that people do that from time to time but what surprises me is that you are professor of philosophy and you are doing this because I'm assuming here, perhaps erroneously, that is a professor of philosophy you been well trained in the science of discipline of logic and know enough about logic to know its fundamental premise, the law of non-contradiction and are carefully trained to know the difference between a contradiction and a paradox. Let's look at it. I said a grant that the formula for the Trinity is paradoxical, but it is by no means contradictory and let me show you why the historic formula is that God is one in essence and three in person. I said to my philosophy professor friend. This is certainly you can see that what this formula is saying is that God is one and one thing and three in something else now to break the law. Contradiction one would have to say that God is one in essence and only one in essence and God is three. In essence, or saying God is one and only one in person and at the same time say that God is three in person because the simple definition of the law of non-contradiction is that something cannot be what it is and not be what it is. At the same time and in the same way were in the same relationship. Now I can be a father and a son at the same time, but not in the same relationship I cannot be my own son for my own grandson. That's obviously impossible, and so when we look at the formal categories of rational thought. We see objectively.

I hope that this formula is not contradictory and this was one of the things that the church struggled with profoundly in the first four centuries. In order to be faithful to the clear teaching of Scripture that on the one hand, God is one and on the other hand, that Christ is divine that the father is divine and that the Holy Ghost is divine and that's no mean feat to be able to resolve this apparent contradiction, because at first glance it looks as if the Christian community was confessing faith in three God's which would violate the principle of monotheism that was so deeply entrenched in the Old Testament while let's look at the word paradox for a moment the word paradox is based upon the Greek root and a Greek prefix. The prefix par means basically alongside of you heard of parachurch ministries you heard of paratroopers paramedics paralegals there people that work alongside of other people and so terrible as something that Jesus rose alongside teaching that he gives to illustrate a point well par means alongside and the word docs here comes from doctors paradox of two doctors right Roger paradox to doctors paradox that has the word here comes from the Greek word cocaine. Also, from which the heresy of DOS. Autism is known and derived from the same or and that verb in its verb form means to seeing to think or to appear now. So from those words, we get the idea of a paradox is something that, when placed alongside of something else seems or appears to be contradictory but when you look at it more closely and subjected to careful scrutiny. You see that in fact it is not a contradiction.

And that's what I was asking this professor of philosophy to do with respect to the Christian formula for the Trinity. It may seem to be contradictory because were saying God is one essence and three persons, and we're accustomed in our vantage point assuming bank to see one being is one person, we can't conceive of how one being couldn't contain three persons, and still only be one being not to that extent, the doctrine of the Trinity in this formulation is mysterious. Nobody's arguing that point and it boggles the mind to think of a being who was absolutely one in his essence of what he is on yet within that single essence are three persons. Now we also have to talk about the meaning of these two terms because again why this seems to be contradictory is because we have a tendency to see these terms essence in person as virtual synonyms, as this man is a being he is a human being is also a person and we again this I said we are accustomed to thinking one person per bearing weight on the lessee has multiple personalities and would take him to the psychiatrist at this point everything one being per person one person per being now the concept of essence comes from the Greek word again, another Greek word comes from the Greek participial form of the verb to be. Which is the word Luciana which means being or substance who are why favorite translation of this in the vernacular is the word staff when I was going to school in Holland that had the learn the Dutch language.

Of course authority work for in the theological language but my wife's priority was to learn what they call a hashtag encoder can tell that is that the house in the town and they in the kitchen language so she could go shopping and didn't make a difference distinction between a turnip and I brain brain and so the city was visiting yourself for that sort of thing in a course one of the appliances that one would use in a culture that was meticulous and finicky about clumsiness was a vacuum sweeper with the word for vacuum sweeper and Dutch restored stove soccer which literally means a stuffed soccer is people are really imaginative in the way they they name their new product for what's that thing lots of stuff soccer you know what you think it is. Look at it. It sucks up all the stuff the divide on the floats that we get here in a much more sophisticated ontological metaphysical term and stuff soccer but I like that word stuff because what is the stuff for me. And this is what's the stuff of which you were made, what is the stuff that distinguishes a human being from an antelope or an antelope from a great great from God.

There is the stuff of deity. The essence that you see the substance of what God is in himself, and what the church were saying is that God is one essence there's only one stuff there's not part of God here and then separated from that is another part of God over here that would be to be aims and God is only one being and so one we mean then about saying that God is one in being but three in person a little more difficult part of the problem we have with that is that when this formula was derived in the early church.

It was derived from the Latin roots of the word person but we get word was persona and its primary function in the Latin language was as a legal term or as a term that was used in the dramatic arts. You're all familiar with the trademarks for the world of drama are the twin masks indicating tragedy and comedy. You got a :-) for comedy in your honor :-( for tragedy and they are portrayed in masks fit over an actor's face. I remember long hundred years ago when the modern version of the book of Job was cast into a play that was held on Broadway called J the and in that play one distinguished actor played two different roles and it was Basil Rathbone played the Sheriff of Nottingham in the classic Robin Hood and who played. Of course, for all those years Nigel Bruce Lee played Sherlock Holmes well. Basil Rathbone played the role in JB of God and of Satan. And when I want to see that when I was in high school. We had tickets that were literally front row center I could've reached out and tapped Basil Rathbone on the arm I was doing this performance. What was so vivid to me in my recollection of that performance was that when he would change identities in the play when he would indicate that he was being God, he would hold up a mask in front of his face was the mask of God that he would speak through that mask as he assumed the personality or the character of God. Then when he was Satan or the devil he would hold up a different mask and this followed the ancient custom in Greek drama as well is in Rome implies it was customary for actors that were highly trained to play more than one role in a play they were doing something from Euripides, for example, so somebody could have more than one part of the way they did then was to distinguish their persons by speaking through these masks and the Latin word for the mask was the word persona so that when people like Tertullian, for example 1st spoke of this formula of the Trinity and talked about one being three persona he was saying that there are three roles, as it were, that God is playing here that is manifested on the one hand, as father and the other hand, the sons the other is the Holy Spirit, and so the point of all that is that the idea of person. In this formula does not correspond exactly to our English concept of personality because again for us. One person means one distinct be in technical theology in order to make the distinction in the Godhead among the persons of the Trinity. Other terms have been used. My favorite one, which I think is most helpful and I hope is not confusing to you is the word sub assistance subsistence.

Now that's probably not word you're too familiar with in terms of its theological use. You may hear it from time to time with respect to somebody's eking out a living on a very poverty level form of existence than fact we call that extreme level of poverty.

What a subsistence that they are basically surviving. They are not existing. There subsisting and where indicating that subsistence says a below par level of life guy well again. The reason why we sense this is something low or below something else is because that prefix will know what the prefix subdomains.

That means under or below submarine was not an airplane in World War II. It was a boat that went where under the water. There you go.

Alright, so now what about this assistance or will receive the common term between subsistence in existence. When we use the term existence is a common daily word that we use and yet it's one that Sue filled to the brim with all kinds of philosophical and theological assumptions.

I gave a lecture. Once an Orlando conference where the whole point of my lecture was to deny is emphatically as I could and as categorically as I knew how the existence of God. And when I began that lecture I said what my task is today is to convince you folks that God does not exist. Can this gas from the ground. What are you talking about cutting game are you playing them a play is of the worst thing we ever happen to us is to discover that God exists in the specific meaning of the term exist because the term exists in our language has derived etymologically from the Latin axis A, which means tax remains out of and stare means to stand. Facilities exist to some of this outstanding but is outstanding.

In what sense what was meant by this word philosophically centuries ago, going all the way back to Plato and before Plato was the idea that there is being pure and simple and pure being depends on nothing for its ability to be it is eternal it has the power of being within itself. It is by no means creature early. The thing that characterizes creaturely existence is not being but becoming because the chief character trait of all creatures is the change. Whatever you are today. He will be different ever so slightly tomorrow and today here that much different from what you were yesterday. If it's only that your 24 hours older than you were at this time yesterday that the idea of existence says to existence the stand out of something. The idea meant to stand out, of being the something that exists is something that has 1 foot in being than the other foot in becoming or in nonbeing unless it's connected somehow to being. It couldn't be, we wouldn't be human beings would be human becoming's if it were had both feet and bang it couldn't be a creature point I'm saying is that we don't want to think of God like this.

If you asked me is God I see is of course God is with this exist. Not in this sense, because that would make him what a creature. A dependent derived existence, but rather we say God is here, God is being not becoming not changing the is a terminally the same, and so we say there's one being within that being are not three separate existences. Remember the difference in the prefix exist means to stand out of being or nonbeing, but the word of the theologians use with respect to the Trinity is not the word three existences. The three subsystems. This that is underneath the pure being of God in a lower dimension, we must distinguish among the subsistence is which the Bible calls father son and Holy Ghost are three existences not three beings but rather three subsistence is within that one eternal being that is God. And so we can say that the distinction among the three persons is a necessary distinction because the Bible makes the distinction and it is a real distinction, but we say it's not an essential distinction of remainder is not an essential decision in the being mean by that is not important that we make the distinction and it doesn't matter makes no difference whether we believe the father, son, and holy is not. Sometimes we use the term essential to mean what it's so important that without it you don't have what you need to have it. It's absolutely crucial to possessing what it is you want and that sent its essential meaning supremely important, but when I say that the differences among the father son and the Holy Spirit are real but not essential be more specific and precise with respect to the word essential say. These represent real differences within the Godhead, but not within the essence of deity itself.

One day in three persons, father, son, and holy as controversy scrolled helping us better understand the Trinity working her way through RC series foundations this week. Your on Renewing Your Mind and were glad you joined us. Bagley web concentrating on the Trinity this week, but the entire series covers so many other essential doctrines like the atonement sin, salvation, Angels and Demons and the return of Christ. We like for you to have this a DVD set more than 23 hours of teaching when you call us with your gift of any amount.

We will send it to you. Our number is 800-435-4343 but you can also make a request online@renewingyourmind.org. Thank you for being with us today and before we go. I wanted to let you know there are a number of ways you can listen to the program. For example, when you go to Renewing Your Mind.org you'll see ways to listen. One of those is through email. Just enter your email address and you'll receive a link in your inbox every day. Learn more and Renewing Your Mind.org. Now let's listen to a portion of RC's lesson tomorrow.

We are dependent beings we are created being.

But God is not dependent not created not finite, but he has the power of being in and of himself. He doesn't derive it from something else. God is absolutely different than us. We will learn about God's incommunicable attributes those attributes that he possesses alone next Thursday.

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