The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are equal in essence or substance, but they have distinct roles. When one person of the Trinity acts, the other persons are present. There is however a logical order or progression. The Father is the source and creator, the first to be revealed to man. The Son is the incarnate Word and redeemer, revealed to man in the fullness of time. The Holy Spirit is the sanctifier, the giver of life, that is sent from the Father and Son, revealed to man at Pentecost.
Did God exist prior to revealing Himself to Moses in the burning bush? Of course, He is the creator of the world, but chose to reveal Himself at the right time to the right person.
Did Jesus exist prior to the Incarnation in the womb of the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation? Of course, Jesus is the Word and “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”[i] What did not exist before was Jesus’ humanity. This He takes on at the Incarnation.
Did the Holy Spirit exist prior to Pentecost? Of course, the angel Gabriel said to Mary, “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.”[ii] The Holy Spirit therefore was given to Mary prior to Pentecost. The evening of the Resurrection Jesus appears to the disciples in the upper room and says, “Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”[iii] The Holy Spirit therefore was given to the disciples prior to Pentecost. Both of these outpourings of the Holy Spirit are unique and to the individual and given for a particular reason. The outpouring at the annunciation is unique to Mary, as the Mother of God. We remember this gift at each Holy Mass during the epiclesis, which occurs directly after the Sanctus in the Eucharistic Prayer. It is at this moment that the priest calls upon the Holy Spirit to overshadow the gifts of bread and wine, as the Holy Spirit once overshadowed the Virgin Mary. The priest prays, “To you, therefore, most merciful Father, we make humble prayer and petition through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord: that you accept and bless these gift, these offerings, these holy and unblemished sacrifices…”[iv] The outpouring in the upper room to the disciples is unique as they are given the power to forgive sins. The gift of the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sin is perpetuated at each ordination, when the newly ordained priest receives this gift. The outpouring given at Pentecost is universal, for all believers and is given so that all the faithful can be a witness of Christ. Jesus says, “…you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”[v] This power of Pentecost is perpetuated in a personal Pentecost at the Sacrament of Confirmation, where in the sacrament; the Holy Spirit comes in a unique way to each member of the faithful in order to
The Holy Trinity is eternal and beyond time, but the persons of the Trinity are manifested in the temporal world and in a logical order or progression, there is a plan; there is a reason or order.
Why do some religions believe in Scripture, but not in the full truth of the Trinity? The following verses are often misunderstood and therefore misinterpreted.
John 5:19 – Jesus answered and said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, a son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees his father doing; for what he does, his son will do also.”
John 7:28-29 – So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said, “You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”
John 14:28 – You heard me tell you, “I am going away and I will come back to you. If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater that I.”
How can we understand them correctly?
What can be said about these verses?[vi] First, they may be referring to Christ’s human nature, as distinguished from his divine nature. His human nature, being created, is clearly subordinate to the Father divine nature.
Second, they may also refer to Christ’s Person insofar as the Person of the Son is generated or begotten by the Person of the Father. This doesn’t mean he is unequal in his divine nature and therefore not divine; rather, it means there is a certain logical relationship between the two Persons of the Father and the Son (who are both equally divine) in which it may be said, rightly, that “the Father is greater than I” – greater in the order of the three divine Persons, not greater in the order of nature or being.
Third, they may refer to the Son’s role in the economy of redemption. He came to fulfill the Father’s will in redeeming us and to reveal the Father to us, thus serving the Father. Hence, the Father holds a position in some sense superior to his. Thus the Son might be said to be inferior to the Father in the role he plays but not in his essential nature.
For those who do not believe in the Holy Trinity, the major attack is not only the Holy Spirit but on Jesus. They claim that Jesus is not God. If Jesus is not God, neither is the Holy Spirit God.
How do we know from scripture that Jesus is God, and therefore the Holy Spirit is also God?
John 1:1 – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John 20:28 – “Thomas says to Jesus, ‘My Lord and my God.’ In the original Greek it literally reads, ‘The Lord of me and the God of me.’ It would be nothing short of blasphemy for Jesus not to rebuke Thomas if he was wrong. Jesus does nothing of the sort; he instead accepts Thomas’s profession of his identity as God.”[vii]
The beginning of the book of Hebrews says, “In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through a son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe.”[viii] The letter to Hebrews goes on say that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of Psalm 2:7 “You are my son; today I am your father…”, Psalm 102:26 “Of old you laid the earth’s foundations; the heavens are the work of your hands”, and Psalm 110:1 “Take your throne at my right hand, while I make your enemies your footstool.”
“The Bible indicates that God alone created the universe (Is. 44:24) and ‘the builder of all things is God’ (Heb. 3:4). However, Jesus created the heavens and the earth (Heb. 1:10). This passage by itself proves that Jesus is God, since an Old Testament reference to God (Ps. 102:25-28) is now given to him.”[ix]
John 8:58 – Jesus takes the name of God, “I Am” (Ex. 3:15-18), and applies it to himself.
Acts 7:54-60 – Saint Stephen prays to Jesus while he is being martyred, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” He like Saint Thomas declares Jesus as Lord. What is important about this verse is that Saint Stephen is “filled with the holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and say the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God…” Being filled with the Holy Spirit, he makes the declaration that Jesus is Lord. If this is a false declaration and Jesus is not Lord then the Holy Spirit is not the spirit of truth, but of falsehood.
John 19:7 - What crime did Jesus commit? He was put to death for blasphemy. He was put to death for claiming to be God. The Jews said to Pontus Pilate, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.” The Pharisees said on several accounts that only God can forgive sins, and Jesus, because He is God forgave sins, this infuriated them and resulted in the plotting of His death. If Jesus did not claim to be God, if He did not teach and act with the authority of God, then He would not have been put to death for claiming to be God. If Jesus said that He is God, and this is the reason He was put to death, we need to believe Him.
ACTIVITY: Titles and attributes Old and New
Titles and attributes given to God in the Old Testament are also given to Jesus in the New Testament. Jesus is given the same title as God, because He is God. Read each verse from the Old and New and tell the group what title is given.
Lord of Lords (Deut. 10:17; Rev. 17:14)
Savior (Is. 43:10-11; Acts 4:12)
First and Last (Is. 44:6; 22:13) Alpha and Omega (Rev. 1:8; 22:13-16)
Rock (Isaiah 8:14; 1 Peter 2:7-8)
Shepherd (Ps. 23:1; Heb. 13:20-21)
Unchanging (Mal. 3:6; Heb. 13:8)
Judge of the world (Ps. 96:13; John 5:22)
Every tongue confess (Is. 45:23; Phil. 2:9-11)
[i] John 1:1
[ii] Luke 1:35
[iii] John 20:22
[iv] The Order of the Mass; Eucharistic Prayer I
[v] Acts 1:8
[vi] Catholic Answers; The Essential Catholic Survival Guide
[vii] Ibid.
[viii] Hebrews 1:1-2
[ix] Catholic Answers; The Essential Catholic Survival Guide