#15: Religious Concepts - Father, Son , and Holy Spirit

What does it mean when it says one God in three persons?

According to this central mystery of most Christian faiths, there is only one God in three persons: while distinct from one another in their relations of origin and in their relations with one another, they are stated to be one in all else, co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial, and "each is God, whole and entire". Accordingly, the whole work of creation and grace is seen as a single operation common to all three divine persons, in which each shows forth what is proper to him in the Trinity, so that all things are "from the Father", "through the Son" and "in the Holy Spirit".

The terms bible and trinity do not appear in the bible where might they have come from?

Many concepts seen as essential elements of the Christian faith, such as "monotheism", "incarnation", "omnipotence", are denoted by terms not found in the Bible, although Christians consider the concepts to be contained in the Bible. The term "Bible" itself, which is not found in the Bible, is an example (the word biblia is Latin for book). The term "Trinity" is another such term.

The idea of the trinity is implied in the bible. Where?

While the Fathers of the Church saw the Trinity even in the Old Testament, as in the appearance of three men to Abraham in Book of Genesis, chapter 18, it was the New Testament that they saw as a basis for developing the concept of the Trinity. The most influential of the New Testament texts seen as implying the teaching of the Trinity was Matthew 28:19, which mandated baptizing "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit".

When did the idea of the trinity begin?

Scripture does not contain expressly a formulated doctrine of the Trinity. Rather, according to the Christian theology, it "bears witness to" the activity of a God who can only be understood in trinitarian terms.

The doctrine did not take its definitive shape until late in the fourth century. During the intervening period, various tentative solutions, some more and some less satisfactory were proposed.

What does the Scutum Fidei say about the relationship between the three parts of the trinity?

The "Shield of the Trinity" or Scutum Fidei diagram of traditional medieval Western Christian symbolism, since 12th-century CE.