Happy Father’s Day! In honor of Father’s Day, we are going to talk about three church fathers. The Cappadocian Fathers have a lot to do with how we understand the Trinity. The three men all came from wealthy noble families, in an area known as Cappadocia, which is modern day Turkey. During the fourth century Basil, his younger brother Gregory, and his friend also named Gregory shared a common ambition to integrate Christianity with what was good in classic Greek culture. Basil of Caesarea was the bishop in this thriving community, and later built a small monastic community. Gregory and Basil had been roommates in Athens during their studies and became friends.
Basil was more outgoing and active, and Gregory was the introverted contemplative theologian. Gregory was ordained against his will by his father who was a bishop and a contemporary of Athanasius. So in protest, Gregory ran away to Basil who convinced him to return to his duties. Gregory became the bishop of Nazianzus and was also the bishop of the Nicene party at Constantinople, the Eastern capitol which becomes the heart of the Eastern church. Together they joined to fight against Arianism. We will get to that in a minute. Finally, Gregory of Nyssa was Basil’s younger brother and the most intellectual of the trio. As a side note, he figured out how to be married and lead a monastic life. All three men are saints in both the Eastern and Western Church. Basil and Gregory’s grandfather was martyred, and both of their parents were later deemed saints. So we have Basil, Gregory and Gregory, two brothers and a friend who helped to shape how we understand the Trinity.
So I ask you on this Trinity Sunday, “How would you describe the Trinity in just one sentence?”
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Creator Redeemer, Sustainer
One substance in three persons
We can talk about the Trinity today with some clarity, thanks in part to the Cappadocian Fathers.
During the fourth century there were many heresies going around, beliefs about the Holy Spirit not being God but rather a creature (Macedonianism), or Jesus not having a human soul (Apollinarianism), and the church had to figure out how to give voice to the delicacy of the mystery of God and yet guide the church into understanding the foundational reality of God expressed three in one. In addition to these concerns the church was already starting to divide, creating the Eastern and Western Church, and how we defined God was one of the major issues. Did the Holy Spirt proceed from the Father through the Son as it is believed in the East or proceed from the Father and the Son as we believe in the West? How we answer these questions has profound implications about who God is and how we are in relationship with God.
Have you ever wondered how God can be both three and one?
How can Jesus be both fully human and fully divine?
Were all three persons of the trinity there from the beginning?
The leaders of the church struggled with these questions. The question of essence, personhood and substance. Was the Father and the Son of the same substance? How did the Holy Spirit fit in? After decades of debate and many heresies condemned, it was finally agreed that Jesus and God were of the same substance- the term used was “homoousios.” Jesus was of the same substance of God and hence fully God. This was to fight back against Arius who believed that Jesus was created. But think about that for a moment. If Jesus was simply a creation of God, a creature sent by God, then Jesus could not be the revelation of God, the incarnation of God. How then could Jesus die on the cross to show God’s love if Jesus was not God?
How we talk about God, how we understand how the three persons fit together shape how we are Christians. The Cappadocian Fathers answered the God three in one question by blending together two beliefs. The Nicene belief that the Father and Son are homoousios, of one substance and the belief from the Origen that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three hypostases or being. One substance three being. One God three persons. To help us understand that better listen to how Basil explained it, “Substance relates to hypostasis as universal relates to particular” (Letter 214:4). In other words, think of substance as universal, and particular being like a person. We are all part of humanity that is our universal substance, but you also are a particular individual with distinctive characteristics. Your hair, laugh, height are unique to you. So it is with God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three different ways of being God, yet they are of the same substance. Hear this line from the Athanasius Creed, “we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity, neither blending their persons, nor dividing their essence.”
The first draft of the Nicene Creed happened at Nicene in 325, but controversy remained. A Second Council, Council of Constantinople (381), was held, and Gregory the friend was the Bishop there. Addressing the substance of Jesus as equal to God and affirming the Holy Spirit as on par with the divine, we now have a fuller understanding of God. Basil, Gregory and Gregory sought to illumine the divine nature of the trinity while creating what we know as the Nicene Creed.
Borrowing from Robert Latham’s work here are three reasons why the trinity matters.
First trinity matters in relation to creation. Irenaeus, an early church father, described God using the Word and the Spirit like his own two hands in fashioning the cosmos.
God created by speaking (the Word) as the Spirit hovered over the chaos.
Creation is a Trinitarian act, with God working by the agency of the Word spoken and the mysterious movement of the Holy Spirit.
Secondly, Trinity matter for cultural engagement. Islam and Postmodernism are the two forces rivaling Christianity.
Islam emphasizes unity—unity of language, culture, and expression—without allowing for much diversity.
Postmodernism, on the other hand, emphasizes diversity—diversity of opinion, belief, and background—without attempting to see things in any kind of unity. Christianity, with its understanding of God as three in one, allows for diversity and unity. We can see the particular in the individual and the universal nature of God because of three persons in one God.
Finally, the trinity matters when it comes to relationships. The three persons of God are constantly in relationship. Jesus is praying to God, God sends the Holy Spirit, all three created. The very fact that God lives in eternal relationship within the divine speaks to the value of relationships and the one we are called to have with God. Because of the Trinity we can see the relational nature of God. (www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/the-doctrine-of-the-trinity-no-christianity-without-it). Inviting us to know this very personal and holy God.
Both our passages speak to the trinity, to the related and connected nature of God made real to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Paul declares we enter grace through Christ and God’s love is poured out through the Holy Spirit. The three persons of God working together.
Jesus declares, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now” (John 16:12). Maybe that is why it took us so long to find this way of expressing the trinity of God. Commentator Karoline Lewis writes, “Maybe this is the heart of the Trinity. A heart that knows that as much as we try, the Trinity will never be easy. A heart that knows that even our most earnest attempts can never fully explain the Trinity. A heart that knows how much we need to be reminded of our futility and frailty when it comes to even adequate expressions of who God is.” She goes on to write, “I worry sometimes that these doctrines we tout are thought to be the end-all of theology rather than what they truly are — our best efforts to give words to our experiences of God in our lives and in the lives of others. (Working Preacher).
So how do you describe the trinity? I hope it rests in knowing the Spirit of truth comes as we are faithful disciples seeking to be in a more perfect union, a closer relationship with God – God known as parent and Creator, as the Word made flesh, and as life-giving, animating breath.
A God who abides with us and in us. God three in One. Amen.
