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Religion

2009-11-01 15:55:00

Are the Three Persons in God equal?

Question: In the Bible: The Gospel of St. John (chapter 14, verse 28) quotes Jesus saying: “You have heard that I said to you: ‘I am going away, and I will come back to you.’ If you truly loved me, you would rejoice to have me go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” Doesn’t this statement somewhat contradict the belief in the Trinity that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, are co-equal?

Answer: The Holy Trinity is the most profound mystery of the Christian faith. I use the term “mystery” as the sense of something we cannot fully understand. We can talk about the inner relationships between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, but we cannot fully understand the inner life of God. Holy and learned persons have written many volumes about God; but most of this writing is pure human speculation, and in the end the truthful author will have to admit that there is so much we don’t know and cannot know. This is because of the weakness of our intellect. Not even the most brilliant human or angelic intellect is capable of understanding the full life of God. The Bible, in both testaments, gives us inspired insights about God; but the more it says, the less we really understand about the Supreme Being. We know for certain that there is only one God; nevertheless in this one only God there are three distinct persons. Each of the three persons in God is eternal and equal and all-powerful, and the ultimate Source of all life and of everything that exists. We believe that from all eternity God the Father begot his Son, and that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, equal to each and equal to both of them. But we cannot understand all the implications of that fact. We believe that at a certain point in time, determined by the Father, God sent his Son into this world: to be conceived in a unique manner of a Virgin without human intervention, and this Son was born of her in a human manner. Thus Jesus is the Son of God and of the Virgin Mary. This is the mystery of the Incarnation. As a human being, Jesus remained God but comported himself in human fashion in every way, except sinning. Jesus is perfect God and perfect man! Jesus is one person with two natures, human and divine. Jesus has two Wills, which are perfected coordinated and in union with the Will of God. In the text cited by the question, Jesus is speaking as a man about his human nature. As a human being, he can say truthfully: “The Father is greater than I” (John 14:28), as God is greater than any human being. In his divine nature, Jesus can say: “The Father and I are one” (John 10:30). Again in the same chapter 10, Jesus says “The Father is in me and I in him” (verse 38). In his final words spoken before his Ascension into heaven, i.e. in the Great Commission, Jesus states: “Full authority has been given to me both in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:18-19). These statements do not contradict belief in the Trinity: that the three persons are equal! Rather these statements confirm it. Yet all this is a matter of faith, incapable of scientific proof. If science could explain these mysteries, they would no longer be matters of faith. True science and authentic faith are not opposed; rather they are two distinct and separate sources of knowledge; and both have God as their author.