In this chapter, I want to highlight two unique features of Pauline Trinitarian theology from White’s book, The Trinity: On the Nature and Mystery of the One God.
1: “Christological Monotheism”
Q. How does strict Jewish monotheism and the worship of Jesus co-exist?
To answer this great question, White refers to Ben Witherington III’s “V- or U-pattern of reflection” of specific Pauline texts – Philippians 2:5-11, Colossians 1:15-20, 1 Timothy 3:16 – to show primitive examples of “Christological Monotheism” in St. Paul’s writings (and the early Church) – taking up the strict Jewish monotheism of that era (“Second Temple Judaism”) and integrating it within the worship of Jesus.
3 features of Israelite monotheism… now applied to Christ
(1) YHWH alone is Creator
- There is only one God and He is the Creator of all things – both visible and invisible (including angelic powers).
- In Jesus “is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:15-17). Jesus is the pre-existent Son of God (“first born”) + Creator with exemplary causality – He is the pre-existent wisdom of the Father (cf. Col 2:3). Jesus, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped” (Phil. 2:6) + “Manifested in the flesh” (1 Tim 3:16) – suggests idea that he pre-existed in being in the flesh. Jesus is both God and man.
(2) YHWH alone is to be worshipped.
- Since YHWH is the one God & has no equal, YHWH alone is to be worshipped and adored.
- Angels, prophets, and any other purported mediating creatures depend entirely upon God.
- Yet Jesus, who has “the name which is above every other name” (Phil 2:9) – that is, the Lord, Kyrios, YHWH… “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (v.10). So Jesus is worshipped at YHWH.
(3) YHWH alone is Saviour.
- Since YHWH is the Creator, He alone has to power to re-create as the eschatological saviour of humanity. The covenant He established with Israel was revealed as ultimately in view of the entire human race.
- In Jesus, God comes as Saviour paradoxically as the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53:11-12). Simply put, it is only when the Lord God of Israel is crucified and raised from the dead in his human nature that God is truly recognized among the nations as the Lord, the only true and living God, who has revealed himself to Israel alone and through Israel to all the world (89). Through Christ “to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Col 1:20).
“God the Creator alone is the Lord, and so too Christ himself is the Lord. Only God is to be worshiped, but Christ is also to be worshiped and confessed as the Lord. Only God can save the gentile nations, but all the nations are now coming to recognize God in Christ crucified and resurrected, who alone can save the human race” (89).
Interestingly, this pattern mirrors precisely the later development of the Nicene Creed.
- Jesus Christ is God before all time, in unity with the Father but also personally distinct as Son.
- God the Son descends from heaven to become man, assuming human form.
- Christ dies for us in order to procure our salvation.
- Christ is exalted in His resurrection.
- Christ, as Lord, will judge all the “peoples” of the earth.
2: Proto-Trinitarian theology
Q. How does strict Jewish monotheism (God is one) and the concept of the Trinity (God is three) coexist?
The “both and” of St. Paul’s “proto-Trinitarian thought”
- Both – St. Paul speaks of 3 distinct personal agents – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
- And – St. Paul give titles & activities to each of them associated with the God of Israel – the God of grace & salvation.
3 examples:
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God [the Father] and the fellowship in the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:14).
“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord [i.e., Jesus], and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God [i.e., Father] who inspires them all in every one” (1 Cor. 12).
But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord [Jesus], because God [the Father] chose you from the beginning to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13).
- Father – principal of origin – He is the origin and source of the life of the Son and the Spirit (order of relational priority – fontal character). “yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist” (1 Cor. 8:6). The Father saves us through the activity of the Son & the Spirit.
- Son – principle of instrumental and exemplary causality – “through whom all things were made” – also plays a role in spending the Spirit (the Spirit of his Son). Galatians 4:6, Rom. 8:9-10. Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:22-24).
- The Holy Spirit – and the Son – can sanctify and deify us as adoptive sons of God the Father. The Spirit accomplishes the saving work of God, and he does so in concord with the saving activity of the Lord Jesus.
Prodigal Catholic 