A church dictionary

by Walter Farquhar Hook

The sublime mystery of the Trinity in Unity is taught by revelation—not by reason; although it is not in contradiction to this, rightly exercised, nor more unintelligible than many of the “things hard to be understood” in Holy Scripture. A plurality in the Godhead is indicated by the language of the very earliest revelations; which plurality is plainly expressed under the Gospel dispensation—a sacred Three being enumerated by mutual relation in the form of baptism, and by name in the apostolic benediction; which Three are also frequently mentioned together elsewhere, though not in terms so clear.

The doctrine may perhaps be gleaned as much from the economy of creation, as from that of redemption; and herein may be observed, that in the very commencement of the sacred history, the Deity is mentioned under a term of plural signification; and when man, the more eminent work, is to be made, and is afterwards spoken of, a Divine council seems implied: “Let us make man,” &c., “the man is become as one of us!” This peculiar fact seems referred to, and corroborated by, the introduction to St. John’s Gospel; which declares that the “Word was in the beginning with God.” Again, each of the sacred Three is noticed as acting separately in the work. With respect to the Father this is clear from innumerable passages, in which the Lord God is mentioned as the Creator, unless in such a Trinity be implied, which then shortly decides the point at issue. Of the Son it is said, “all things were made by him;” and expressly, “without him was not anything made that was made.” (John i. 3; Col. i. 16.) And of the Holy Spirit, that by him are made and created both man and beast. (Job xxxiii. 4; Ps. civ. 30.) Thus is that passage intelligible, “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made: and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.” (Ps. xxxiii. 6.) The mode of operation in the work of redemption has been before noticed. To all these may be added, that the sacred Three are mentioned equally as sending and instructing the prophets and teachers, (Jer. vii. 25; Matt. ix. 38; x. 5; Acts xxvi. 16–18; Isa. xlviii. 16; Acts xiii. 2, 4; xx. 28,)—and equally speaking by them. (Heb. i. 1; 2 Cor. xiii. 3; Mark xiii. 11.) Each, too, gives life—raises the dead—and is joined in the form of baptism, and Christian benediction.

The word Elohim is a plural noun (Gods); and as that was the first term used in the Divine revelation, it seems intended to indicate that plurality—the holy Trinity—afterwards more plainly revealed. And it is to be noticed, that by this word (Elohim) was the earliest revelation made to man. In this was the faith of the patriarchs expressed, as particularly in Gen. xxviii. 20–22; and by this name God expressly declares he appeared unto them, when by his “name Jehovah” he was “not known.” (Ex. vi. 3.) Indeed this latter term seems for a time to have been used less as a name, than as a character, of the Elohim, since it was subsequently that it was announced as the “name”—I AM—by which the Divine plurality was to be known in unity. (Ex. iii. 14; vi. 2.) Jehovah God hath not been “seen at any time;” whereas, of the Elohim, one, at least—the angel Jehovah in prelude to his incarnation—condescended frequently to appear, and talk with man. The translation of Jehovah by Adonai (or Lords) is also remarkable; with the coincidence to be found in the mode adopted by the heathen, of speaking of their gods; as in the name of Baalim for Baal. (Judges ii. 11; Hosea xi. 2.)

That Elohim implies plurality seems evident, from the construction of such a passage as Gen. xx. 13, where it is said, “when they, Elohim, caused me to wander.” Again, (xxxv. 7,) when “they appeared unto him,” at Bethel. And (Josh. xxiv. 19) “the Elohim are holy.” In Ps. lviii. 11, the Elohim are called “judges;” in Ps. cxlix. 2; Isa. xliv. 2, and liv. 5, “makers” and “kings;” in Eccl. xii. 1, “creators;” and in Jer. xxiii. 36, “the living Gods.” Other places are mentioned by Parkhurst; as Gen. xxxi. 53; Deut. iv. 7; v. 23, or 26; 1 Sam. iv. 8; 2 Sam. vii. 23; Isa. vi. 8; Jer. x. 10, &c.

In perfect accordance with this is the first great commandment given from Mount Sinai: “I am the Lord thy God,” (Jehovah Elohim,) thou “shalt have no other gods before me;” more plainly set forth in the baptismal “name”—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, a “holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity,” in inseparable Unity, and perfect co-equality, as may be most safely concluded, from the various passages in which the sacred Three are mentioned in different order—the Father first, in Matt. xxviii. 19,—the Son first, in 2 Cor. xiii. 14,—and the Holy Ghost first, in 1 Cor. xii. 4–6; Eph. iv. 4–6, and Luke i. 35.

The laws and ordinances of the Jews were peculiarly adapted to guard the pure worship against heathen idolatry; therefore, when the legislator, in speaking of God, uses a term implying plurality, which he does, with verbs and persons singular, above thirty times, this, too, in the Decalogue, and in the repetition of laws, and frequently prefaced by an address, demanding attention,—“Hear, O Israel!” “Thus saith the Lord!” it could not but be that plurality in the Godhead was intended to be announced. This is strongly corroborated by such expressions as “holy Gods,” “thy Creators,” being used by Joshua and Solomon; the one an eminent type of Christ, the other inspired with learning in an extraordinary degree.—See Bishop Huntingford’s “Thoughts on the Trinity,” xxii., xxiii. And we may be rather confirmed in the opinion, by the futile attempts of the Jewish Rabbins, to make tolerable sense of the peculiar phraseology adopted, while denying the implication of a plurality.

The doctrine of a Trinity, and this in Unity, is not then an arbitrary assumption, or an attempt to be wise “above that which is written;” but it necessarily arises out of certain Scriptural expressions and passages, which though apparently, or to human sense, contradictory to each other, must in reality be consistent: and the Catholic, or orthodox system, framed on the whole of these, reconciles them in a more easy and natural manner than any other scheme offered.

The word “Trinity,” it is confessed, does not occur in Holy Scripture; nor does the word “Unity,” as applied to the Deity. But neither do the words “omnipresence” and “omniscience;” and as the use of these has never been objected to in speaking of the attributes of Him who is everywhere present, and “knoweth all things,” so may the others be used with equal propriety to express the distinct existence of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and the simple oneness of God! The use is admissible, to prevent circumlocution; and irreverence may be deprecated where language is inefficient. The word Trinity was used by the Greek and Latin Fathers, in the middle of the second century, in a way that indicated it was not then a novel expression; and was considered by the orthodox so unobjectionable, as to be employed without reserve in their opposition to the Sabellian heresy.

Indeed, the primitive Fathers appear to have indulged an idea, that without a distinction of hypostases in the Godhead, it is difficult to imagine that αὐτάρκεια, or self-sufficiency, and perfect bliss, which seems to have arisen from a Divine society, as in Prov. viii. 22, 23, particularly 30, and elsewhere. Indeed, the notion of a Trinity has prevailed immemorially, long before the term was adopted; and is found in the heathen worship, as well as in the Church; both, no doubt, having it from a common original.

TRINITY SUNDAY. The solemn festivals, which in the foregoing parts of our annual service have propounded to our consideration the mysterious work of man’s redemption, and the several steps taken to accomplish it, naturally lead us up to, and at last conclude with, that of the Trinity. The incarnation and nativity, the passion and resurrection of the blessed Jesus, demonstrate how great things the Son of God hath condescended to do for us. The miraculous powers with which the first disciples were endued, and the sanctifying graces with which all the faithful are assisted, do prove how great and how necessary a part the “Holy Spirit” bore in this work, both for publishing the salvation of the world, and for rendering it effectual. And all agree in representing to us the inestimable love of the “Father,” by whom that “Son” was sent, and that “Spirit” so wonderfully and so plentifully shed abroad. Most justly, therefore, after such informations how fit a subject this is for our wonder and adoration, does the Church on this day call upon us to celebrate the mystery of those “three” persons in the unity of the Godhead; each of whom hath so kindly, and so largely, contributed to this united and stupendous act of mercy, upon which the whole of all our hopes and happiness depends.—Dean Stanhope.