The doctrine of the Trinity attempts to describe how the one God is revealed as three distinct persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and yet is one substance. The language of Father and Son could be viewed as implying a hierarchy within the Trinity. In this paper I will outline the problems with this interpretation and the use of figurative language when describing the orthodox understanding of the Godhead. After briefly presenting the historical and theological background to the doctrine of the Trinity and describing three common heresies I will explain how the language used to describe God can be regarded are hierarchical, and briefly touch on the problems of using everyday human language to describe the transcendent Trinity.
Council of Nicaea
Words made flesh: What important insights are there for the practical theologian in the conviction that Jesus Christ is ‘God Incarnate’?
The study of the nature and person of Jesus Christ, known as Christology, has provoked much debate and controversy from the early Christian period up to the present day. To answer the question whether Jesus was only human or whether he was divine or both is the task for the practitioner of the Gospel when faced with those who challenge the historical understanding of Jesus. To illustrate this task, the position of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and contemporary writers on the identity of Jesus will be compared to the Arian heresy.
