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Christos Sp. Voulgaris
The
Biblical and Patristic Doctrine of the Trinity
From: The Greek Orthodox Theological Review, vol. 37 (Νov.) 3-4, Holy Cross Orthodox Press, Brookline, Mass., 1992.
8. Conclusions
The foregoing presentation of the
biblical and patristic doctrine of the unity of the Trinity does not cover
the entire Christian doctrine about God, while some aspects of it, like, the
procession of the Holy Spirit, the identity of will and energy of the divine
persons, etc., need further elaboration. What has been said, however,
gives us a clear clue to the ‘mystery’, that is, to the fact that the
Christian doctrine about God cannot be expressed in a concrete formula, for
revealing Himself God is plenitude of stains, which cannot compromise with
each other. Thus, his power is restrained by His wisdom; His love is
restrained by his justice; His transcendence is restrained by His revelation,
etc. If we want to get a ‘complete’ and ‘clear’, as much as possible,
picture about God, corresponding to the revealed reality, we must take all
these of His revelation into account. Otherwise, if we try to adjust
them to ‘our’ picture about God and reconcile them with human reason, we
distort the mystery of the Trinity, which, lying beyond reason, is subject to
faith alone, for God the Creator of the universe is identical with God the
redeemer and with God the sanctifier. To human reasoning, the paradox
of the Christian faith, “One God in three Persons” is a contradiction; as a
contradiction also the other theological proposition that the three divine
Persons, though united in one substance, are distinguished from each other on
account of attributes peculiar to each one. Thus God is one
distinguished within Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is
plain then that this theological proposition does not explain the mystery of
the Trinity, but rather preserves it by showing that there is no other
(human) way available to approach it. The intention of theology is not
‘gnosiological’ but ‘doxological’.
In the same context we must identify the
revealed and transcendent Trinity and at the same time differentiate
them. In the first case, the fact that in Jesus we have “the whole
fullness of deity” (Colossians 2:9) indicates that the transcendent, eternal
God is identical with the revealed; that revelation is the way to His
knowledge in Himself, that is, in His eternal existence. Otherwise,
revelation would be stripped of its absolute character and leave room for
additional, human ways to God’s knowledge. At the same time, however,
it is equally important to distinguish between transcendent and revealed
reality in God. In other words, the fact that God reveals himself does
not imply that we can have a complete and perfect knowledge of Him in
Himself. The fact that it was not the whole Trinity which was
incarnated, but only the Son, compels us to be very careful in identifying
between revealed and transcendent God, in spite of the fact that the Son
revealed the fullness of the deity. Thus, the difference here is
between ‘substance’ and ‘energy’, the first indicating God in Himself, in his
transcendent existence beyond any conception and knowledge, while the second
indicating God’s activity in the world alone is subject to knowledge.
‘Substance’ and ‘energy’, therefore, are two aspects of the same reality; the
revealed God remains a mystery, and being a mystery He is
revealed. Revelation does not remove or explain the mystery,
while the mystery does not hinder revelation. Though identified in the
same entity, substance and energy are at the same time differentiated,
indicating God in mystery and God in revelation. Thus, dealing with God
in His revealed reality, theology tries at the same time to ‘protect’ Him
from the arbitrariness and autonomy of human reason.
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