This is an overview of the 3-dimensional structure of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
The Trinity is historically the first case of a complementary reconciliation of Christian teachings. By the fourth century, many heretical spinoffs of this doctrine had been generated, and the Church council that convened at Nicaea in 325 AD hammered out a creed to reconcile the various interpretations of Scripture. This creed made it explicit that God is one substance existing in three Persons:
"We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible; And in one Lord Jesus Christ, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made.... And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified...."
The Reformers reaffirmed the Trinity as a doctrine taught in Scripture (see verses below). They formulated carefully-worded confessions that elaborated on the Trinity, such as the Westminster Confession of 1647. Following are some relevant portions of this confession:
"In the unity of the Godhead there be three Persons of one substance, power and eternity; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.
"The Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity, being very and eternal God, of one substance, and equal with the Father....
"The Holy Spirit, the third Person in the Trinity, proceeding from the Father and the Son, of the same substance and equal in power and glory, is, together with the Father and the Son, to be believed in, loved, obeyed, and worshiped throughout all ages."
In these orthodox Catholic and Protestant affirmations, three kinds of relational terms are evident: 1) Unity: consanguinity, relateness, sharing in the same substance or essence, oneness; 2) Diversity: difference, variety, contrast, distinction, dissimilarity, individuality; 3) Equality: parity, impartiality, co-importance, equivalence, commonality, mutuality, interdependence, fairness, essential to the whole. In the Trinity all three of these relational terms are operating simultaneously and eternally as one relationship.
The Unity-Diversity-Equality relationship is a paradigm that has many applications in other areas of Christian theology.
If one or more of the three terms in the relationship is denied or diminished, a simpler, more impoverished structure results. Sub-Christian views or heresies arise from these reduced relationships. There are seven possible forms of these views, depending on which of the terms are diminished, as follows:
1. Unity + Diversity affirmed, Equality rejected: Hierarchy, a unit organized under one Supreme agent, with one purpose, but with a rank of levels of importance and authority among the members of the unit. (This structure is unstable and tends rapidly to reduce to monism).
2. Unity + Equality affirmed, Diversity rejected: Conformity, a collection of equal individuals without distinctions as to order or roles.
3. Diversity + Equality affirmed, Equality rejected: Plurality, a loose-knit group of diverse but equal individuals with unresolved differences as to purpose and actions. (Example: the ancient Greek and Roman gods and fates.)
4. Unity affirmed, Diversity and Equality rejected: Monism. Loss of individual identities in the overriding power of the One. Example: Metaphysical Monism of the ancient Greeks and Eastern religions based on Buddhism (see the Introduction).
5. Diversity affirmed, Unity and Equality rejected: Relativism. No cooperation or mutuality; independence of individuals. A very prevalent view in modern thought and in religions such as Hinduism.
6. Equality affirmed, Unity and Diversity rejected: Dualism. Godhead is split into two equal but opposite, polarized factions with no common purpose. Example: Manicheism, in which principles of good and evil are locked in an eternal struggle with no hope of resolution because both sides are of equal strength.
7. Unity, Diversity, and Equality all rejected: Anarchy. No relations or rules; equivalent to atheism and loss of all rational basis for existence. Another prevalent modern view that is tantamount to nihilism, the rejection of all rational answers to life and an attraction to nothingness.