Who is God?
Awaiting theological review
What you will understand today
What Christians mean when they say God is one, and also Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
In simple words
Christians believe in one God — not three. But this one God is not lonely: he is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Christians call this the Trinity.
It is not one person wearing three masks, and not three gods. A simple way to say it: there is one what (God) and three whos (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit).
Why does it matter? Because it means that love is not something God does now and then — God is love, an eternal exchange of love, and we are invited into it.
Key Bible passage
The shortest definition of God in the Bible.
8He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity.
1 John 4:8 · Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
Father
is God
Son
is God
Holy Spirit
is God
Did you know?
The word Trinity first appears in Greek around 180, in Theophilus of Antioch, and in Latin around 200, in Tertullian.
A common misconception
The Trinity says one equals three — a contradiction.
In fact
It does not say one God equals three Gods. God is one in nature and three in Persons: one in what he is, three in who he is.
A question to take with you
What image of God did you grow up with — a judge, a distant force, a grandfather in the sky? How does God is love change that picture?
One small thing for today
Make the Sign of the Cross slowly once today, thinking of each Person you name.
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- Scripture
- Catechism