The Doctrine of The Trinity in LDS and "Catholic" Contexts

Paul Owen

1. In this essay I would like to offer, in the spirit of inter-religious dialogue, some thoughts on what must surely be the religiously sensitive person's most beautiful object of contemplation: the nature of God. In particular, I want to explore the understanding of God as a Trinity of persons, as articulated in the historic Creed of the Council of Nicaea (325 CE).² I reproduce here by way of introduction my own translation of the text of the Nicene Creed interspersed with relevant Scripture passages:
 

We believe in one God (Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 45:5; James 2:19) the Father Almighty (1 Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 4:6; John 17:3), maker of all things both seen and unseen (Genesis 1:1; Isaiah 44:24; John 1:3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2), and in one Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4) Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 4:5), the Son of God (Hebrews 1:2-8), the Only Son begotten of the Father (John 3:16), that is from the Being of the Father (John 1:18; Hebrews 1:3), God from God (John 1:1-2; 1:18; Hebrews 1:8-9), Light from Light (John 1:5; 8:12; 1 John 1:5), true God from true God (John 17:3 cf. 17:21; 1 John 5:20), begotten not made (John 1:2-3; 1:14-15; Colossians 1:13-17), essentially the same as the Father (John 1:1; 8:58; 10:30; 14:9-10; Hebrews 1:3), through whom all things came into being (John 1:3; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2), both in heaven and upon earth (Genesis 1:1 cf. Colossians 1:16), who on behalf of humanity and for our salvation came down (John 16:28) and was enfleshed (John 1:14), became human (Philippians 2:6-7), suffered [death] (Matthew 16:21; Mark 10:45; Romans 8:32; Philippians 2:8) and came back to life on the third day (Mark 10:34; Luke 24:46; 1 Corinthians 15:4), and ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9) and is coming to judge the living and the dead (Matthew 25:31-46; John 5:25-29; Revelation 22:12), and [we believe] in the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19; John 15:26; 1 Corinthians 12:4-6; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18; 13:14).³

2. What do non-LDS Christians mean when they speak of God as one Being, three persons? How does this conception of God, shared by Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and Protestants, differ from the understanding of God's oneness and threeness within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?⁴ This short essay makes no pretensions to offer any definitive answers to such questions, but rather will attempt to lay some groundwork which may help people to appreciate what exactly mainstream Christians mean when they speak of the Holy Trinity.⁵ This is not intended to be a defense of the Trinity, but rather an explanation of how the doctrine is understood within the framework of historic, orthodox Christianity.
 
 

3. First of all, mainstream Christians distinguish between the trinitarian economy of God, and the trinitarian ontology of God.⁶ What does that mean? These terms are an attempt to come to grips with two aspects of God's relationship to the world: his otherness (transcendence), and his presence in the world (immanence).
 
 

4. God is not, in his essence,a part of the space-time continuum which we might designate the "created order."⁷ It is necessary to distinguish between the Life of God, which is grounded in Divine Sovereignty (Exodus 3:14), and the life of the contingent world.⁸ Luke attributes the following statement to Paul the apostle in the book of Acts: "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; neither is He served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things" (Acts 17:24-25).⁹

5. Genesis 1:1 tells us, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." It is illuminating to compare this with John 1:1, which says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." So apparently, God and his divine Word both existed prior to "the beginning." Paul writes: "And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:17). Here we see that Christ, as God's image (Col. 1:15), precedes the created order, and the very existence of that order is sustained by Christ. The same message rings true in Proverbs 8:22-31. There we read that "from everlasting" (Prov. 8:23) God existed with his Wisdom, before the heavens and the earth were brought into existence. Because of the fact that Genesis 1:2 mentions the role of the Spirit of God in creation, as well as the connection between God's Spirit and Wisdom in passages such as the apocryphal Wisdom of Solomon (7:22-25) and Psalm 104:24 & 30, some theologians have taken this to imply that God's Wisdom is associated with the Holy Spirit, just as God's Word is associated with the Son. In light of the fact that the language of Colossians 1:15ff., and Hebrews 1:2-3 applies such imagery to Christ however,¹⁰ it is probably best not to draw rigid distinctions with respect to the relationship of God's Wisdom to the Son and the Spirit. The same ambiguity exists with regard to God's Word for that matter, since the very act of speaking implies breath, which might easily be associated with the Spirit (Hebrew ruach cf. Isaiah 40:7-8; 59:21).
 
 

6. At any rate, traditional Christians insist that one not confuse the non-contingent essence of God, with the space-time continuum of the "post-beginning" created order.¹¹ Yet, the scriptural allusions to God's Wisdom and Word existing with God in the beginning imply that within the very structure of the non-contingent "be-ing" of God there is internal relationality. God possesses non-contingent Life within himself---in fact, non-contingent Life is a fairly good working definition of the "essence" of God---yet this Life is shared in a plurality of self-distinction.¹² God shares his Sovereign Life with Others. Orthodox Christians understand those Others to be the Son and the Holy Spirit, who may be distinguished from the Father insofar as God may be distinguished from the Wisdom of God and the Word of God, yet not so far as to postulate that God could ever be God-without-Wisdom, or God-without-Word. An essential continuity between the self-grounded identity of God and the begotten Son and proceeding Holy Spirit, is indicated by the very phrases "Son of God" and "Spirit of God." The Word is the Son as "Son OF God," and Wisdom is the Spirit as "Spirit OF God." It is the OF which signifies that the divine essence is shared by each self-distinction.¹³ The Son and Spirit are not creations of God; nor was there ever a time when the Son was not Son, or the Spirit was not Spirit. From another angle, never was there a time when God was a Son/Word-less God, or a Spirit/Wisdom-less God. The essential nature of who God eternally is, irrespective of the created order, is displayed in this plurality of self-distinction.
 
 

7. Thus far we have been attempting to talk about God's ontology, or being; and we have given some reasons why traditional Christians speak of a non-contingent essence of God.¹⁴ But we must move beyond the realm of ontology to that of "economy." This is a move from contemplating God as he eternally and non-contingently is "in himself," to speaking of God as he moves and acts in the created world. God is not only other than the world, but also "immanent" in the world. The same Paul who insisted that God is not a contingent being, also affirms that, "He is not far from each one of us" (Acts 17:27). God not only exists non-contingently apart from the world, but he also chooses to exist as a distinguishable person within the world. The world is not a part of God, neither does the world exist apart from God, but rather the world exists "by" God. Paul says that "in him we live and move and exist" (Acts 17:28). Yet the intimate relationality between God and the created order does not thereby make God "part of" the created order. God in his essence remains distinct, which is why the Apostle quickly adds: "Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature (to theion) is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man" (Acts 17:29 cf. Romans 1:20-23).¹⁵

8. Just as we saw that there is, according to classical Christian thought, a trinitarian structure to the non-contingent Being of God, so likewise there is a trinitarian structure to the historical "economy" of God. Or in other words, God is three not only in himself, but is also God three-fold "for us." God's non-contingent being is reflected in the self-revelation of God in the realm of contingency. Hence, the New Testament scriptures present us with God in three "modes of existence." God is the Father who sends his Son into the world on a mission of redemption (John 3:16; Galatians 4:4). And God is the Father who sheds abroad the Spirit of His Son upon all those who are called into the fellowship of the Divine Life (Romans 5:5-6). The apostle Paul expresses it in these words: "And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' " (Galatians 4:6). To receive "eternal life" is to be taken up into the non-contingent Life of the eternal Godhead.¹⁶ It is the Life which is revealed in the intimate fellowship of the Father and the Son (1 John 1:1-3). We earlier suggested that "non-contingent Life" is at least one serviceable working definition of the "essence" of God. This finds confirmation in 1 John 5:20, which states: "And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding in order that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life" (emphasis added). The true God is the one in whom to be is to be in Jesus Christ. Because the self-distinctions of Father and Son are both grounded in the same essence, the same shared Life, the definition of the true God, as opposed to the idols of the world (1 John 5:21), is not exhausted either by the revelation of the Father alone, or the Son alone. That is why John tells us, "Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also" (1 John 2:23).

9. This is why Jesus could say, "He who believes in Me does not believe in Me, but in Him who sent Me. And he who beholds Me beholds the One who sent Me" (John 12:44-45). Likewise Jesus tells Thomas, "If you had known me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him" (John 14:7). This does not mean that Jesus is the Father, as though there were no personal distinction between the two; but rather it means that the Son is one in essence with the Father (John 10:30). Jesus’ remark to Thomas functions rhetorically in preparation for that great confession which Thomas makes in John 20:28: "My Lord and my God!" The two persons may be distinguished with respect to their place in the divine economy, but not with respect to Deity (John 1:1). The Father and the Son mutually indwell one another (John 14:10-11); they share the same non-contingent Life (John 1:4; 8:58); and this is the life which believers are granted to participate in by grace (John 17:20-24). Because the Father, within the order of the divine economy, has granted to the Son to have Life "in himself" (John 5:26), which reflects the communion which has always existed between the two (John 17:5 & 24), the Son grants the life of God to all those who believe in him (John 17:2-3).
 
 

10. This three-fold structure to the divine economy pervades the discourse of the first-century apostolic witness.¹⁷ God condescends to reach down to man, displaying the trinitarian structure of the Divine Life which entered the world in the historical mission of the Son, and confronts the world with the Life-giving presence of the One God in the person of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:14-18). The trinitarian economy is witnessed at the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:13-17), whereby the identity of Jesus Christ is publicly unveiled. The "heavens were opened" (Matt. 3:16), and the true nature of Jesus Christ as the Son of God is attested by the Spirit (3:16), and the Father (3:17). The unique identity of Jesus is related by association with the Divine Others. John the Baptist realized the implications of this revelation: Jesus of Nazareth is none other than the Son of God (John 1:34), who existed prior to John (despite the fact that John was conceived six months earlier [Luke 1:24-26]), and has the authority to baptize the world with God's Spirit (John 1:33). This Messiah is none other than the incarnate presence of Israel's God, for whom John had been sent in preparation (Isaiah 40:3//Matt. 3:3).

11. This baptismal scene brings to light the triadic allusions in the Suffering Servant passages in Isaiah's prophecy. Within chapters 40-55 of Isaiah, we read of the future ministry of an enigmatic figure, the Suffering Servant (50:4-9), who at one and the same time seems to represent Israel's righteous remnant (49:3), as well as Israel's God (50:1-3). Isaiah 40:3 anticipates the earthly visitation of God, which will result in the display of "the glory of the LORD" (40:5). This glorious visitation is rooted in the revelation of God (40:5), and the immutable nature of God's Spirit (40:7) and Word (40:8). The Lord will come and bring about the "rule" (Hebrewmashal) of God by the strength of his own arm (40:10 cf. Revelation 22:12). When Israel's God visits the earth, he will be a shepherd to his people (40:11 cf. John 10:11). In 42:1, we read of God's Servant, the Chosen One, upon whom God's Spirit will rest; the One who will "bring forth justice to the nations." Here again we are confronted with Israel's God, the Servant, and the Spirit of God. This triad of God, Servant, and Spirit also appears in 48:16: "And now the Lord GOD has sent Me, and His Spirit." In 40:10 it is the Lord GOD (Adonai YHWH) himself who comes to shepherd Israel; whereas in 48:16, the Lord GOD (Adonai YHWH) is distinguished from the One who is "sent", and from the Spirit. Yet the One who is sent in verse 16 is none other than YHWH, the God of Israel, as the preceding context makes plain---the LORD is the speaker throughout 48:3-15. Despite the referential shift however, we find no hint that two Gods are in view in these passages; in fact, Isaiah takes great pains to emphasize the unrivalled exclusivity of the one true God (e.g. 40:25; 43:10; 44:6-8). Somehow the identity of the Servant, and the identity of Israel's God who sends the Servant are related to one another.¹⁸

12. This identification of the Servant, the one who is sent to bring salvation to Israel (Isaiah 49:5; 53:11), with Israel's God, who is in some sense both the Sender and the Sent, is amplified in light of three other considerations: 1) Isaiah 7:14 has already anticipated the coming of one who will be a "sign," and whose name will be "Immanuel" ("God is with us"). 2) Isaiah 11:1-4 has predicted the arrival of a messianic "branch" who will be endowed with the Spirit of God to bring judgment upon the earth (11:4 cf. 42:13). 3) Isaiah 57:13 promises that God will exalt the one who trusts him; and 57:15 identifies YHWH as the high and exalted One who dwells with the "crushed" (dakka cf. 53:5, 10). The same Hebrew roots (rum and nasa) which are used in 57:15 are also found in 52:13: "Behold, my Servant will prosper, he will be high (yarum) and exalted (nissa)"; and in 6:1: "I saw the Lord (adonai) sitting on a throne, high (ram) and exalted (nissa)." These two terms are rarely combined together in the Hebrew Bible.¹⁹ 4) Hence perhaps it should come as no surprise that the Apostle Paul develops this Isaianic imagery in the hymnic passage of Philippians 2:6-11. Isaiah 53:12 is alluded to in Philippians 2:7, which immediately follows Paul's affirmation of Jesus’ pre-incarnational equality with God in verse 6. We can now see how it is that Paul derived the notion that the one who "emptied Himself" is none other than the one who "existed in the form of God" (verse 6).²⁰

13. Lest there should be any doubt that Paul was thinking along these lines, in Philippians 2:10, Paul applies to Jesus the words of Isaiah 45:23: "I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance." Yet in the same context Paul distinguished between Christ and the Father. It is God who exalts Christ Jesus (Phil. 2:9); and it is the Father who receives glory when Jesus Christ is confessed as Lord (2:11). Paul apparently saw in Isaiah 45:23 a reference to the Father and the Son, possibly on the basis of the reference to the word (Word?) which goes forth from God's mouth. But another basis of distinction may be based on the wording of the LXX (Greek) version of Isaiah 45:23, which reads: "to Me shall bow every knee, and every tongue shall confess to God." Paul may have distinguished between the "Me" of 45:23, and the "God" which is mentioned at the end of the verse; hence deriving a distinction between God (theos) and Lord (kurios), who both fall under the identity of the exclusive Deity proclaimed in 45:21-22.²¹

14. It is in the relationship of the one God to the Servant of Isaiah's prophecies that we see as poignantly as anywhere else the nature of the economic Trinity. God's three-fold identity as Father, Son and Spirit, is related to the historical progress of redemption. The One God who exists within himself, non-contingently as God, Wisdom and Word, as Father, Son and Spirit, is the One who reveals himself within the realm of contingency, within the constraints of the space-time continuum, as the three-fold Godfor us. The triune identity of God is historically unfolded in the story of salvation, whereby the eternal, sovereign, non-contingent "I AM" enters the fallen world, assumes a delimited role and identity over against others in space-time history, and both secures, as the Son, and sheds abroad, as the Holy Spirit, the eternal life of God. The historical life, death, and subsequent glorification of Jesus of Nazareth becomes nothing short of the historical experience of God.²² And the sending forth of the Holy Spirit to empower and indwell the Church, is nothing short of God's own historical "coming down" to dwell in the midst of his people (Ezekiel 37:14 & 27).²³
 
 

15. The Latter-days Saints, as I understand them, are eager to affirm the Sovereignty and Eternality of God, but they have serious reservations about the doctrine of Immutability and Spirituality as it is often understood within Classical Christianity. All I can do here is stake out the boundaries within which I believe constructive conversation must take place.

16. The LDS affirm that God is the Eternal Creator of all things, although this is subject to a range of understanding within Mormon thought. TheLectures on Faith 2.2 states plainly: "We here observe that God is the only supreme governor and independent being in whom all fullness and perfection dwell; who is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient; without beginning of days or end of life" (emphasis added). God's uniqueness is maintained in the words "only supreme governor;" his self-existence is contained in the term "independent being;" and his eternality is expressed in the words "without beginning."

17. The LDS Book of Moses, affirms these same truths in its creation account. The account begins with an affirmation of the eternality of God: "I am the Lord God Almighty, and Endless is my name; for I am without beginning of days or end of years; and is not this endless?" (Moses 1:3).²⁴ This statement is a theological affirmation of God's unique position in relation to the created order, for the following verse continues: "And, behold, thou art my son; wherefore look, and I will show thee the workmanship of mine hands; but not all, for my works are without end, and also my words, for they never cease" (Moses 1:4 emphasis added). Verse 4 may imply that just as God is eternal, so are his "works" and his "words." Although this is consistent with the LDS view that the universe is eternal, it still maintains that the eternality of the created order issues out of the eternal creativity of God. I do not believe these affirmations can be limited to this earth and its order of reality, for Moses 1:33 affirms that God has created "worlds without number," and in 1:38 God says, "there is no end to my works, neither to my words." This not only maintains a theological connection between God's decree ("words") and whatever exists ("works"), but it maintains that one is contingent upon the other, perhaps not temporally, but certainly logically: "And by the word of my power, have I created them" (Moses 1:32 emphasis added). This holds true for both the physical (Moses 2) and spiritual (Moses 3) realms.

18. The LDS Book of Abraham does not necessarily contain any information that would conflict with the eternality nor the sovereignty of God, although certain statements within it are sometime interpreted in such a manner as to raise serious questions about God's uniqueness in relation to the created order. Abraham 3:3,9 does not necessarily imply that there are orders of reality above and beyond the jurisdiction of the God of this world-order, although one could read such an implication out of such references. Abraham 3:16 states: "If two things exist, and there be one above the other, there shall be greater things above them." This does not necessarily imply that there are intelligences greater than the God of this order, for the "greater things" may refer simply to the members of the Godhead themselves: "therefore Kolob is the greatest of all the Kokaubeam that thou hast seen, because it is nearest unto me" (3:16 cf. 3:24). Abraham 3:18 does affirm the eternality of intelligent spirits; but 3:19-22 goes on to affirm that God is superior to all other spirits/intelligences, and nowhere is it implied that God, nor the one "like unto God" (3:24), was ever "organized" (cf. 3:22). This certainly allows for the view that although all intelligences are eternal in a temporal sense, they owe their "being" or "organization" to the non-contingent God.

19. Mormon theology may have no room for a view of God as the "First Cause," but there is room for conceiving of God---by which I mean the Godhead---as the universe's "Eternal Cause."²⁵ God may not precede the created order in a temporal sense, but that does not have to prevent LDS theologians from affirming that there is a line of demarcation between God as he is "in himself," and God as he is for the created order. The balance which trinitarian theology seeks to maintain is to distinguish between the ontology and the economy of God without sacrificing the relation between the two. It is my suspicion that LDS theology may have the weakness of failing to distinguish between the ontological Trinity and the economic Trinity because of an exaggerated sense of continuity between God and the created order which is not a necessary element of Mormon theological and philosophical discourse.²⁶ Is there a basis upon which some LDS thinkers might reflect more upon the relationship between God's non-contingent life and his self-revelation in the (logically) contingent world?
 
 

20. A further step which may help to increase understanding in religious discourse between traditional Christians and Latter-day Saints, is to explore more carefully what is meant by the sorts of distinctions which are drawn between terms such as "Being" and "person." The doctrine of the Trinity insists that God is three with respect to personal distinction, but one with respect to Divine Nature. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are essentially the same, but personally differentiated. What is the purpose of drawing such distinctions?
 
 

21. It first of all must be kept in mind that there are two viewpoints which most Christians perceive to be unscriptural theological frameworks: modalism and polytheism. Polytheism can simply be defined as offering religious devotion to more than one God.²⁷ Since Christians from the earliest stages of church history have offered prayer, worship and religious devotion to Jesus Christ alongside God the Father, to separate the Son and the Father as two Gods rather than one would seem to fall into the error of polytheism, and hence idolatry. The only other solution would be to withhold prayer and worship for the Father alone, which would seem to contradict the pattern of religious devotion attested in the New Testament witness.²⁸

22. The other error which most Christians believe it necessary to avoid is modalism. Modalism arises from the failure to maintain a proper theological continuity between the economic Trinity and the ontological Trinity. The three persons are explained as three "roles" which God plays for our sake; but these manifestations are not believed to reflect who God actually is within himself. In other words, the problem with modalism is that Godessentially remains unknown. Father, Son and Holy Spirit, are simply names which God assumes within history, but they do not correspond to the Reality of who God actually is. God in his essence remains veiled and hidden, and we are left with no objective referential ground by which to define or describe the God we claim to be in relationship with.²⁹ It is these two perceived errors which orthodox trinitarianism attempts to avoid.
 
 

23. At this point it may be helpful to define some terms which many Christians use as they explain their understanding of God:³⁰ 1) "Substance" (Latin substantia) or "being" (Greek ousia) is that of which an objectively real person or thing consists. All real objects (whether spiritual or material) have "substance," otherwise they are mere figments of the imagination.³¹ 2) "Essence" (Latin essentia) or "nature"(Latin natura) refers to what someone or something is like; or what qualities, powers or characteristics are by definition possessed by a person or thing. 3) "Subsistent" (Latin subsistentia) or "person," (Latin persona) are words which are used to refer to a given instance of a particular substance. Orthodox Christians believe that God is one eternal, personal and spiritual divine substance,³² who exists in three modes of subsistence, or three self-distinctions.
 
 

24. Now when we come to the biblical evidence a decision has to be made. Does one start with the assumption that God is one, and then attempt to explain how God can be three; or does one begin with the knowledge that God is three, and then attempt to explain in what way God can be one? This decision is an important one, and as we will see, it is the basis of important differences of understanding among Christians of different traditions. Protestants and Roman Catholics, who tend to be under greater influence from the heritage of the Western tradition, generally start with the assumption of God's oneness. The Eastern Orthodox Church on the other hand follows the heritage of the East, and hence tends to begin with the knowledge of God's threeness. Whether consciously or not, the LDS Church appears to side with the Eastern tradition in this matter.³³

25.  In the opinion of the present writer, the Western tradition is correct to begin with the assumption of God's oneness, and move from there to an explanation of God's threeness. Revelation begins with the Old Testament, not the New; and hence it seems fundamentally misguided to begin building a portrait of God based upon later stages of revelation. One must first come to grips with what the Hebrew Bible teaches us about the nature of God; and then upon that foundation we can establish a clearer understanding of God as derived from the New Testament witness. Perhaps no truth is more fundamental to the religion of the Old Testament than the revelation of Deuteronomy 6:4: "Hear O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!" When the Lord Jesus was asked by a Jewish scribe what was the most important commandment of all, he replied: "The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The LORD our God is one LORD" (Mark 12:29). Hence there is good reason to take Deuteronomy 6:4 as the capstone of true biblical religion. St. James took the shema to be such a fundamental truth that even the demons recognized it (James 2:19).

26. Yet alongside this fundamental truth of God's oneness, we find the New Testament scriptures describing God the Father alongside two other persons: the Son and the Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19 reads: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." 2 Corinthians 13:14 states: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all." In 1 Peter 1:2 we read of those who are chosen "according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood." How are statements such as these to be understood in light of the monotheistic heritage of the Old Testament? Clearly these three persons are to be understood in some sort of close relationship with one another; but does this mean that we are to speak of three Gods instead of one?
 
 

27. There are indications in the New Testament witness of how such statements ought to be reconciled with one another. In 1 Corinthians 8:4-6 St. Paul discusses the matter of pagan idolatry, and it is clear that Deuteronomy 6:4-5 is in the background.³⁴ Paul brings up the matter of loving God in 8:3, which brings to mind Deuteronomy 6:5. In 8:4, we read that most Christians understand in reality that, "there is no God but one." What Paul means is clarified by 8:7, where the Corinthians are reminded that, "not all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol." Sandwiched in between these two statements we read as follows from verses 5-6: "For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords [i.e. in the pagan religions], yet for us [i.e. in the Christian religion] there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through him."³⁵ The wording of 8:6 clearly seems to reflect Deuteronomy 6:4; and what is significant is that Paul distinguishes two persons in Moses’ words, based on the terms YHWH and elohim. In Paul's understanding, the term "God" used here refers to the Father, whereas the term "LORD" refers to Jesus Christ. Thus both the Father and the Son are associated together under the one Deity spoken of by Moses! Hence, the exclusive love which Deuteronomy 6:5 insists must be reserved for "the LORD your God" would be understood to embrace both the Father and the Son.

28. A second passage which may bring clarity in this regard is John 10:30, where Jesus is depicted as claiming: "I and the Father are one." Mainstream Christians generally take this to mean that the Father and the Son share the same essence, or divine nature. The usual alternative to this is to take these words to mean that the Father and the Son are only one in purpose and action. However there are good reasons for favoring the "one in essence" reading: 1) John 1:1 has already informed us that the Father and the Son are both God (theos not merely theios).³⁶ 2) The issue at stake in John 10:24ff. is the identity of Jesus, not his union of will with the Father. 3) The Jews clearly understood Jesus to make claiming to be God, as seen by their response: "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God" (10:33 emphasis added). John records their statement very carefully. What is at stake is a question of "be-ing." The Jews insist on Jesus being merely a man; the rhetorical contrast which John intends the reader to pick up insists on Jesus being God; which is exactly what the Jews understood his claim to be. Hence the oneness which Jesus claims with the Father in 10:30 is best understood ontologically as a oneness of Be-ing. It is this same identity of Be-ing which Jesus claims in 8:58: "before Abraham came into being I AM" (cf. Exodus 3:14). In 8:54, Jesus identifies his Father as the one whom the Jews claim as their God; hence this I AM statement asserts an ontological equality (con-substantiality) between Jesus and the Father. Again, this should come as no surprise, since the reader has already encountered these words in the very first verses of John's gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God" (John 1:1-2 emphasis added). The copulative verb eimi occurs four times (in the imperfect tense) in the space of two verses, which tells us that the identity between God the Father and God the Word (the Son) is a matter of ontology, or being.³⁷

29. It is this understanding of the ontological identity of the Father and the Son which lies behind the controversial homoousion clause in the Nicene Creed which we translated "essentially the same as the Father." The Father and the Son are understood by orthodox Christians to be "of the same essence," because the Son is begotten of the Father's own being (ek tes ousias tou patros).³⁸

30. This understanding finds further support in at least one other New Testament text. In Hebrews 1:3 we read of the Son: "who being the brightness of the glory and an exact representation of his essence" (hypostaseos autou).³⁹ The Son is an exact representation of the essential nature of God. If God were to "image-ine" himself, this is what his mind's eye would see. The Son cannot be split off from the essence of God any more than the brightness of a light can be separated from the light itself. Hence the imagery of the first clause of this verse, which describes the Son as "the brightness of the glory."⁴⁰ This same idea is expressed several times in John's gospel: "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only [Son] from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). "No man has seen God at any time; the one and only God, being in the bosom of the Father, he has explained Him" (1:18).⁴¹ "Not that any man has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father" (6:46). "These things Isaiah said, because He saw His glory, and he spoke of Him. . . . And he who beholds Me beholds the One who sent Me" (12:41 & 45). Or in the words of the Nicene Creed: "God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made, essentially the same (homoousion) as the Father."⁴²
 
 

31. It is sometimes assumed that the distinction between God's essence or substance, and the divine persons is a unique feature of Nicene Trinitarianism, and that LDS thought has no room for such subtleties, but this is not the case. B. H. Roberts and Orson Pratt both distinguished between God's underlying nature (substance) and the particular incarnations of that nature (subsistents). Orson Pratt writes: "We are compelled to admit that the personage of God must be eternal, exhibiting no marks of design whatever, or else we are compelled to believe that the all-powerful, self-moving substance of which he consists organized itself. But in either case, whether his person be eternal or not, His substance, with all its infinite capacities of wisdom, knowledge, goodness, and power, must have been eternal."⁴³

32. B. H. Roberts confesses: "The Latter-day Saints believe in the unity of the creative and governing force or power of the universe as absolutely as any orthodox Christian sect in the world."⁴⁴ Roberts here is using the term "governing force" in a sense intended to approximate the Classical Christian term "Divine Being." Elsewhere,⁴⁵ he describes individual Gods as radiations of "the same nature and qualities and attributes." When the individual Gods are considered in terms of their essential unity, they are described as "blended into one divine essence, constituting the spirit of the Gods . . . one spirit essence in which all are united. This is God immanent in the universe; omnipresent, and present with power; omniscient, all knowing; omnipotent, almighty. This united force and power of all the Gods of the universe . . . holds all things in an eternal present." Did Roberts believe that the individual incarnations of the Universal Intelligence have independent existence, once separated from their source? No: "But this Spirit of God is never separated from its source, any more than rays of light are separated from the luminous bodies whence they proceed."⁴⁶

33. Many Latter-day Saints appear reticent to speak of distinctions between God's nature and the persons who possess that nature, but there is precedent for it in LDS theological discourse. Truman Madsen describes B. H. Robert's view in the following terms: "There is one God, ‘the Eternal God of all other gods’ (D&C 121:32). That means there is only one God-nature to which the children of God may be linked by the Spirit."⁴⁷ This is an area which I believe holds the potential for understanding the mystical-monotheistic underpinning of the earliest LDS "plurality of Gods" language, as well as offering a point of constructive dialogue between LDS and "catholic" Christians. Both camps are agreed that there is a sense in which God is one in nature, yet plural in person. Simplistic representations of polytheism in Mormon thought and philosophical sophistry in Classical Christian thought need to be set aside in order that meaningful theological exchanges can continue to take place.
 
 

34. There is one final issue which ought to be addressed in the interest of increasing understanding between traditional Christians and LDS on the topic of the Trinity. That is the matter of unity and diversity in theological understanding of the nature of God's oneness and threeness. Many Christians give the impression that all who believe that God is a Trinity (essentially one, but personally differentiated) are in complete agreement as to the nature of the unity of God's Being. That however is not the case, and obscuring the different viewpoints on this subject does not do anyone any favors. There are at least three areas where certain differences of understanding need to be recognized.
 
 

35. First of all, there are differences between the views of the Apologists (second and early third centuries CE), and those of the post-Nicene Fathers (fourth and fifth centuries CE). The Apologists (e.g. Justin, Athenagoras, Tertullian, Irenaeus,) did not express their understanding of God in exactly the same manner as did later Fathers (e.g. Athanasius, the Cappadocians, Augustine). The Apologists’ main opponents were gnostics and modalists; the Arian controversy had not yet arisen, and hence they cannot be expected to have formulated their definitions in light of later controversy. J. N. D. Kelly outlines two of the primary differences between the earlier and later stages of understanding:
 

There are two points in the Apologists’ teaching which, because of their far reaching importance, must be heavily underlined, viz. (a) that for all of them the description "God the Father" connoted, not the first Person of the Holy Trinity, but the one Godhead considered as author of whatever exists; and (b) that they all, Athenagoras included, dated the generation of the Logos, and so His eligibility for the title "Son", not from His origination from within the being of the Godhead, but from His emission or putting forth for the purposes of creation, revelation and redemption. Unless these points are firmly grasped, and their significance appreciated, a completely distorted view of the Apologists’ theology is liable to result.⁴⁸

36. For the Apologists, the Son and the Spirit were not eternally con-substantial persons, but rather extensions of God's essence who became distinct "persons" for the purposes of creation and redemption.⁴⁹ We offer two quotes here by way of illustration; one from Tertullian and one from Athenagoras. Tertullian writes:

 
We have already said that God devised the whole universe by Word, by Reason, by Power. Among your own philosophers, too, it is argued that Logos, that is Word and Reason, would seem to be the Artificer of the universe. This Logos Zeno defines as the maker who has formed and ordered all; he will have it that this Logos is also called fate and God, and mind of Jove, and universal law. All this Cleanthes gathers up into Spirit and affirms it to pervade the universe. We, too, to that Word, Reason and Power (by which we said God devised all things) would ascribe Spirit as its substance; and in Spirit, giving utterance, we should find Word; with Spirit ordering and disposing all things, Power. This, we have been taught, proceeds from God, begotten in this proceeding from God, and therefore called "Son of God" and "God" because of unity of nature. For God too is spirit. When a ray is projected from the sun, it is a portion of the whole, but the sun will be in the ray, because it is in the sun's ray, nor is it a division of substance, but an extension. Spirit from Spirit, God from God---as light is lit from light. The parent matter remains whole and undiminished even if you borrow many offshoots of its quality from it. Thus what has proceeded from God, is God and God's Son, and both are one. Thus Spirit from Spirit, God from God--- it makes in mode a double number, in order not in condition, not departing from the source but proceeding from it (Apology, 21.10-13).⁵⁰

37. Likewise note the following statement from the pen of Athenagoras:
 

Let no one think it stupid for me to say that God has a Son. For we do not think of God the Father or of the Son in the way of the poets, who weave their myths by showing that gods are no better than men. But the Son of God is his Word in idea and in actuality; for by him and through him all things were made, the Father and the Son being one. And since the Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son by the unity and power of the Spirit, the Son of God is the mind and Word of the Father.

But if, owing to your sharp intelligence, it occurs to you to inquire further what is meant by the Son, I shall briefly explain. He is the first offspring of the Father. I do not mean that he was created, for, since God is eternal mind, he had his Word within himself from the beginning, being eternally wise. Rather did the Son come forth from God to give form and actuality to all material things, which essentially have a sort of formless nature and inert quality, the heavier particles being mixed up with the lighter. The prophetic Spirit agrees with this opinion when he says, "The Lord created me as the first of his ways, for his works."

Indeed we say that the Holy Spirit himself, who inspires those who utter prophecies, is an effluence of God, flowing from him and returning like a ray of the sun. Who, then, would not be astonished to hear those called atheists who admit God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and who teach their unity in power and distinction in rank (Plea Regarding Christians, 10)?⁵¹

38. There is both continuity and discontinuity between the views of these earlier writers and those of the post-Nicene period. The continuity is in the fact that the three Persons were each understood to be of the same "substance" and hence fully God, yet personally distinguished from one another. But there is discontinuity in that the Apologists held to an essentially Monarchian view of the Deity. The Father is God in the proper sense; the Son and the Spirit derive their divinity by sharing in the essence which belongs to the Father as the source of the Godhead. It is also unclear in these earlier writers how the conclusion could be avoided that there once was a time when the Son and the Spirit did not exist as distinct persons. The Son and the Spirit always existed within God as Word and Wisdom (Irenaeus), but not necessarily as personal subsistences alongside the Father.
 
 

39. A second distinction that needs to be drawn lies between the views of the Eastern and Western theological traditions. The most influential exponents of the point of view which came to prevail in the West are Athanasius (ca. 295-373CE) and Augustine (ca. 354-430CE). The most prominent of the Eastern theologians are the great Cappadocian Fathers: Gregory Nazianzen, Gregory Nyssen and Basil, who were most active from the period 360-81CE. The Cappadocians are credited with offering a more clearly articulated understanding of the con-substantial relationship of the Holy Spirit to the other two persons---an issue which was not adequately addressed by the Nicene Council.⁵² What is the major point of difference between the Eastern and Western Church? It has to do with the understanding of the relationship of the Father to the Monarchy of the Godhead.⁵³ Both East and West are agreed that the Father has a certain priority of position within the Trinity. The Father alone is unbegotten and non-proceeding. But does the Monarchy, the font of Deity, reside in the Father's person, or in his Being? Is the Son begotten of the Father's person, or his Being? Does the Spirit proceed from the Father's person, or his Being? If, as the Eastern Church insists, the font of Deity resides in the Father's person, then the Spirit clearly must proceed from the Father alone, since the Son does not possess the Father's person. But if the font of Deity resides in the Father's Being, then the conclusion may be drawn that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, since all are agreed that the Father and the Son are con-substantial, that is, that they are identical in essence. Largely due to the influence of Augustine, the Western Church gradually settled on the view that the Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son, and eventually the words "and the Son" were added to the text of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (381CE) in the sixth century in conjunction with the Third Council of Toledo (589CE).

40. This argument has important theological ramifications. If the font of Deity is located in the Father's person, then the divine nature of the Son and the Spirit will of necessity be a derived divinity. In fact, it is a general tendency of the Eastern Fathers (Gregory Nazianzen excluded) to speak of God the Father as the cause of the Deity of the Son and the Spirit. The issue at stake is whether or not each of the Persons of the Trinity can be spoken of properly as God in their own right (autotheos).⁵⁴

41. There remains an element of ontological subordinationism in the language of the Eastern view, which in the mind of those inclined toward the view of the Western tradition leaves the door open to implicit Arianism. Furthermore, by making the one ousia which is shared by the three persons abstract, and locating it in the person of the Father, the Eastern view confuses divine substance (Deity) with divine nature (Divinity), and hence leaves the door open to tritheism. As Donald Macleod notes: "The core, then, is clear: the essence of the Son and the Holy Spirit cannot be subordinate in any sense to the essence of the Father because it is one and the same essence, equally self-existent in each person. Consequently, such terms as ‘begotten’ and ‘proceeding’ apply only to the persons of the Son and Spirit, not to their essence. Otherwise, we have three divine beings."⁵⁵

42. There are dangers inherent in both viewpoints.⁵⁶ The Eastern Church charges the West with subordinating the person of the Holy Spirit to the Father and the Son; and furthermore suspects that the Western tradition leaves an open door to the heresy of modalism. The Western Church charges the East with subordinating the Son to the Father; and furthermore suspects that the Eastern tradition leaves an open door to the heresy of tritheism. The present writer is inclined to side with the West in this matter, and believes that the weight of biblical evidence favors the view that the Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son.⁵⁷ But the main point in this context is that both East and West fall under the category of "orthodox" Christianity; both in good conscience affirm the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. However their respective viewpoints on the procession of the Holy Spirit are reflective of fundamentally different understandings of the nature of the "oneness" of the Trinity. The West insists that the three eternal Persons share a common Deity---each Person is autotheos. The East maintains that the three eternal Persons share a common Divinity---the Father alone is Deity in a proper sense (autotheos).⁵⁸

43. Many popular-level treatments of the doctrine of the Trinity, especially in evangelical literature, offer only a superficial discussion of this matter if they even mention it at all, generally relegating this argument to the trash heap of ivory tower technicalities for "theologians" to quibble about.⁵⁹ But passing over the difficult issues in order to increase reader accessibility doesn’t do anyone any favors. Theology is not a task for those who are unwilling to stretch their minds and grapple with difficult concepts.
 
 

44. This brings us to one final line of distinction which needs to be drawn if our discussions concerning the Holy Trinity are to rise above the level of vague generalities. In contemporary theological and philosophical discussion, there are two heuristic approaches to understanding the Trinity. There is a "social" model, and there is a "psychological" or "modal" (not "modalistic") model. Generally speaking, these two approaches can be traced back to the differences between the East and the West in their articulation of the nature of the "oneness" of the Godhead; but the current "social" model is also largely driven by perceived philosophical difficulties with the doctrine of the Trinity as articulated in Western manifestos such as the so-called Athanasian Creed. The "modal" or "psychological" model goes back to Augustine, and has been advocated by important thinkers in our century such as Karl Barth, Karl Rahner, Donald Bloesch, Kelly James Clark and Thomas F. Torrance.⁶⁰ The "social" model is more heavily indebted to the Cappadocians, and is represented by theologians such as Cornelius Plantinga, Leonardo Boff, Jürgen Moltmann, Richard Swinburne, Millard Erickson and Clark Pinnock.⁶¹

45. What is the difference between these two approaches? Essentially they differ as to their contemplative ground, or starting point. The psychological/modal approach begins with the ontological oneness of God's Being and uses social analogies to explain how the Persons relate to one another. The social approach begins with the inter-relation of the Persons, and articulates the nature of their oneness within the construct of their perichoresis or "mutual indwelling" (John 14:10-11). The psychological/modal model does not deny the idea of perichoresis; but neither does it employ this concept as a means of explaining the ontological "oneness" of the three Persons. In other words, the two models differ as to their understanding of the significance and function of the doctrine of perichoresis. One (the social construct) uses the concept of "mutual indwelling" to explain how the three eternal Persons can be "one." The other (the modal construct) uses the concept of "mutual indwelling" to illustrate the internal relationality of God's Being.

46. The primary illustration which the social model uses to describe the Trinity is that of a harmonious society. Allow me to illustrate this viewpoint with a citation from Cornelius Plantinga:

 
Let me propose generally, then, that the Holy Trinity is a divine, transcendent society or community of three fully personal and fully divine entities: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit or Paraclete. These three are wonderfully unified by their common divinity, that is, by the possession by each of the whole generic divine essence---including, for instance, the properties of everlastingness and of sublimely great knowledge, love, and glory. The persons are also unified by their joint redemptive purpose, revelation, and work. Their knowledge and love are directed not only to their creatures, but also primordially and archetypally to each other. The Father loves the Son and the Son the Father. Extrapolating beyond ex-plicit New Testament teaching, let us say that the Father and the Son love the Spirit and the Spirit the Father and the Son. The Trinity is thus a zestful, wondrous community of divine light, love, joy, mutuality, and verve.⁶²

47. Essentially social trinitarianism begins with the construct of a "divine society," and then bases the oneness of the Persons in the harmony and union of activity of that society. Modal trinitarianism begins with the construct of a "divine Being," and then uses social analogies to explain the inter-relationality of the three Persons. Modal trinitarians do not understand the Father, Son and Spirit as fundamentally a unified society; but rather the three Persons are understood to be "modes of existence" of the one Being of God. God's oneness is grounded in the non-contingent Life which God has in himself; the threeness speaks of the relationality which is comprehended within the Reality of God's self-existent Life. Donald Bloesch expresses this approach:
 

48. God does not simply act in a threefold way but exists within himself in a tripersonal relationship. The economic Trinity reflects the immanent Trinity, but it also follows it and is not to be equated with it. The doctrine of the Trinity asserts that there are distinctions within God himself, and these distinctions constitute a fellowship of subjectivities that in their perfect unity mirror one divine intellect and one divine will. There is a trinity of persons but a unity of essence.⁶³
 

49. The primary illustration of this approach is the "psychological" analogy of the relationship of the mind to the self.⁶⁴ Gregory A. Boyd explains:

 
In this analogy, the distinctness in union of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is thought of as being something like ("analogous to") the distinctness, say, of a person's intellect, heart, and will within the unity of the one person (St. Augustine). Each "aspect" of the person is distinct, yet inseparable from the others, and together they constitute the single personality of that person. Or, another version of this model suggests that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are something like the self's relationship to its own self-image (Jonathan Edwards). The very act of thinking, it is pointed out, requires a type of plurality within the one self (e.g. who is talking and who is listening?). So does the act of loving or hating oneself (who is loving and who is being loved?). The "fellowship" of the three divine "persons" is something like this, according to this model.⁶⁵

Again, the point being made here is that both the social model and the modal/psychological model are approaches which are taken by mainstream, orthodox Christians; all of whom would quickly affirm their commitment to the belief that God is essentially one, but personally differentiated.
 
 

50. Discussions between traditional Christians and Latter-day Saints need to take into consideration the spectrum of possibilities within the framework of historic, orthodox Christianity. Mainstream Christians should not give the misleading impression that there is no theological "breathing room" for different trinitarian perspectives underneath the umbrella of "orthodoxy;" and neither should Latter-day Saints be quick to caricature the doctrine of the Trinity, without taking the time to understand the spectrum of opinion which orthodox Christians have arrived at as sincere people of good faith attempt to grapple with the mystery (Isaiah 45:15; 1 Timothy 3:16) of the relation of God's one essence to his triune self-distinction.