Introduction
The Orthodox Church is among the three main Christian groups, the other two being Roman Catholics and Protestants. These churches are joined in Faith by a shared approach to tradition, worship, and theology. Orthodox is a Greek-derived word where Orthos means right and Doxa means belief, Orthodox, therefore, is correct belief (McDonald, 2022, p. 152). In Orthodox Christianity, the churches believe in Jesus as the Son and image of God who was crucified to bring salvation. Since Jesus resurrected and ascended to heaven, He left Christians the Holy Spirit as a spiritual companion and guide on earth. The Eastern Orthodox Christians have a culture and belief expressed through their way of worship. They have retained the purity of teachings inherited from the Apostles, believing that the Holy Spirit is present in history and today. This research paper looks at the Eastern Orthodox Christian understanding of the Holy Trinity taught by the Apostle Paul.
The Life and Ministry of St. Paul
Paul was an apostle born in the city of Tarsus. He was born with the name Saul in a Jewish family. He studied in a rabbinical school in Jerusalem headed by Rabbi Gamaliel. He believed in Judaism, and throughout his young life, he zealously fought to defend his beliefs against perceived threats of Christianity (Van der Merwe, 2018, p. 118). Saul is changed into Paul when God reaches down to him to stop persecuting His people. After his conversion, Paul pursued spreading the gospel message and defending Jesus’ teachings.
Paul’s ministry lasted 35 years, with his impact hugely felt on Christianity. He wrote fourteen letters (epistles) to different churches during his life and ministry. He goes on many missionary journeys across various locations such as Asia Minor, Syria, Greece, Italy, and Spain (Witherup, 2018, p. 339). Paul evangelized in many cities and trained apostles such as Timothy and Mark. However, his intense over dedication to God brings him unparalleled trials and suffering. He is whipped, stoned, spends time in prison, and is shipwrecked at sea. Still, he remained steadfast and faithful to his calling to the end (Witherup, 2018, p. 340). Paul wrote his letters while in prison and when he was a free man. Most Christians today understand Christ through Paul’s teachings in his many letters.
The Holy Trinity According to St. Paul
Christians understand the Trinity from a selection of Paul’s letters to different churches. Paul believed in the Holy Trinity, where the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three bodies in one, each with a particular role in Christian life (McDonald, 2022, p. 339). Paul’s final words to the Corinthians show his belief in the Holy Trinity. He signs off the letter with the message, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (The Holy Bible, 2nd Cor 13:14). In the Colossian epistle, Paul talks about the Son’s role as an image of the invincible God.
Paul was faced with divisions in the Corinth church and his way of spreading God’s word was rejected at Galatia. Thus, he responded with what he saw as the basics of his gospel. From his responses, the Trinity emerges as a structure of Faith and prayer (Swain, 2017, p. 11). The Trinity entails understanding God in three persons; God the Father, the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (Soulen, 2017, p. 118). Through the Spirit, Christians have the power of God, which gives hope and joy in Christian life. In Romans 15:13, Paul states that God is the giver of peace and joy through the Power of the Holy Spirit (Patterson, 2018, p. 398). Similarly, Paul asserts that God knows a Christian’s thoughts through the Holy Spirit sent to guide and give wisdom toward a righteous path (Van der Merwe, 2018, p. 112). This doctrine is considered one of the central Christian affirmations about God and through the Trinity, the unity of believers is achieved.
The Holy Trinity is key to understanding Faith and how to teach others in Faith and God’s truth. Paul calls on everyone to be in a relationship with God (Witherup, 2018, p. 335). Therefore, Orthodox preachers are called to provide clarity on the Holy Trinity to flourish Christian relationships with God. In his letter to the Hebrews, Paul says,” Leave behind us then all the elementary teachings about Christ and go on its completion” (The Holy Bible, Heb 6:1).” Completion, in this case, is the comprehension of the wholesomeness and true nature of God as portrayed in the Holy Trinity and the consent to live accordingly with God in Holy Communion. Teaching the Holy Trinity is the same as spreading the message of freedom from sin and eternal life to Christians which maintains the church’s life.
God the Father
God the Father is the first distinct person in the Trinity. When Paul uses the indication of qeo, he is alluding to the Father (Patterson, 2018, p. 388). According to the Romans, God is the Father of all who believe in Him, and these believers are taken into God’s family and are called God’s children. The role of the Father in this context is to be a Father to all children who have chosen God through salvation (Van der Merwe, 2018, p. 123). God as the Father shows compassion on those He has called to be His children.
As a father, God restores creation through His children, raises Christ from the dead, and renews life to those who accept to be delivered through the Holy Spirit. In the Pauline corpus, God is the Father of Jesus and the Father of all Christians. He is the supreme father being in whom Christians believe, worship, and pray. He is the ultimate creator, ruler, and preserver of all sins (Swain, 2017, p. 17). In 2 Corinthians 6:18, the Lord says, “And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me” (The Holy Bible, Rom 8:12). God, as a Father, sacrifices His own Son to save the world. God punishes His children with love rather than with anger.
God the Son
Distinctly, Jesus comes second in the Triune since he is the son of God whom he sent to deliver His people. Orthodox believers see Jesus as the image of God on earth. Jesus is seen as the incarnation of God but a separate person from the Father and the Holy Spirit (Kärkkäinen, 2018, p. 173). Paul talks of Jesus as the first Son of God and the sent one by God. Jesus intercedes for us before the Father because he is God’s Son (Patterson, 2018, p. 386). Paul comparatively looks at the suffering of the present church and links it to the suffering of Jesus Christ. According to Paul, Christ is the only foundation of the Christian church.
Jesus has always existed as the Son of God, in a perfect relationship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. During the course of his earthly ministry, he adopted the role of a son sent by God to save humans. Jesus came to earth as a human with flesh, walked among people, and performed miracles in the name of God, and many people debated who he was. According to the scriptures, Jesus is a divine being, and his part in the Trinity is that of eternal sonhood, having come on earth as the long-awaited Christ, Saviour, and Messiah (Schreiner, 2018, p. 178). Jesus as a Son submitted to his Father’s will and was born on earth as a man. He is divine by nature but chose to take human nature willingly. During his ministry, Jesus operated within the boundaries of humanity as an act of humility, submission to the Father, and fulfilling all righteousness on man’s behalf (The Holy Bible, Philippians 2:5-7). Thus, Jesus is God’s helper and comes second in command to accomplish God’s work on earth.
Through Jesus as His Son, God accomplishes his work willingly and joyfully. The Bible tells multiple things about Christ’s work here on earth, what he has done, what he currently does, and what he promises to do in the future through God’s power (Macdonald, 2022, p. 155). Jesus atones man’s sins by dying on the cross on behalf of man. He rises from the grave, his resurrection defeating sin, Satan, and death. God the Son offers forgiveness of sin and eternity to all who trust in God. After Jesus’ resurrection, he appeared to people in bodily form for forty days and ascended back to heaven.
God the Holy Spirit
In Eastern Orthodoxy, Christians believe in the presence of the Holy Spirit as a third body of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit first appears in the New Testament during the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan. According to St Luke’s narrative, the Holy Spirit was in the form of a dove that descended from heaven (Soulen, 2017, p. 126). To that end, Paul preaches that conversion to Christ through baptism entails canceling past sins and starting a righteous life in the Spirit. He tells the church in Corinth that “we are washed clean, justified, and sanctified through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God” (The Holy Bible,1 Cor. 6:11). To the Romans, he writes that “the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is living in them, then he who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to their mortal bodies through His Spirit living in them” (The Holy Bible, Rom 8:11). Paul says that the Spirit helps Christians in their weaknesses, for if they cannot find words to pray, the Spirit intercedes since it has knowledge of everyone’s thoughts.
The Spirit serves as a connection between Christ and the believer. Paul states that life comes from the Spirit and that both the Spirit and Jesus Christ intercede for Christians before the Father (Schreiner, 2018, p. 210). In the church of Corinth, Paul tells the people that one cannot proclaim to know Jesus and the word of God if they do not possess the holy spirit. The Holy Spirit influences a Christian mind to understand the work of God and live with it in their hearts. According to the apostle, the Spirit has a divine authority enabling people to call upon the Father. As a part of the Trinity God uses the Spirit to guide and teach Christians towards the path of righteousness. Ultimately, everyone living by the Spirit is God’s child and earns the promise of eternal life.
The Influence of the Pauline Corpus Holy Trinity on the Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church emphasizes a way of life and belief shown through worship. They acknowledge the true Doctrine of God in an orthodox way. The church maintains the virtues of the received teaching of the apostles, with followers being more conscious of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit being present from the past into the modern-day (Kärkkäinen, 2018, p. 182). The Orthodox creed, a symbol of their Faith, acknowledges the Holy Trinity and believes in the Father Almighty as the creator of heaven and earth and all things in them. Recognizing God in the three persons provides a variety of ways Orthodox Christians relate to God. God’s nature is presented in the three heavens and bodies of the Trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
God is the Universal Creator
God as the Father is seen as the creator, God the Son is seen as salvation, and God, the Holy Spirit, is seen as the wisdom of creation. The Holy Trinity allows Christians to have alternative conceptions of God (Benz, 2017, p. 35). The concept of God the Father is seen through God being the supreme creator, judge, and punisher of humans. As the Son, He lives and exists on earth with mankind and the Holy Spirit fills Christians with God’s power and life. Thus, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are God in one irrespective of the three persons in the Holy Trinity. In his letter to the Colossians, Paul said, “We have never failed to remember you in our prayers and ask that through perfect wisdom and spiritual understanding you should reach the fullest knowledge of His will and so be able to lead a life worthy of the lord” (The Holy Bible, Col 1:9-12). The Christian understanding of the Holy Trinity is that it reveals God’s essence and purpose of creation. Accepting this Trinity calls on Christians to be holy for God’s own purpose and His grace and implies that God calls Christians to serve and strive to know Him fully.
Jesus is the Son of God
The creed recognizes belief in one Lord Jesus Christ as the one and only Son of God. Thus, Christians believe Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, Light of Light, true God of God, one in essence with the Father. He is the incarnate of the Holy Spirit through whom salvation will come down from heaven, and whose kingdom shall prevail forever. The teachings of Paul about the holy Trinity remind Christians that Jesus is the cause of their Faith, and acting according to his teachings shows their belief in God’s existence. In knowing Christ as the author of Faith given by God, Paul signifies that God gave esteemed Jesus on earth to reveal his kindness and show the wholeness of the Trinity on the cross (Błasiak,2018, p. 72). The Trinity is, therefore, key to understanding the Christian Faith and lays the basis for theological teachings. Christians who follow Paul’s teachings regarding the Trinity understand that everything exists because of God as the Supreme Being and creator.
Consequently, Christians can reach God and obtain salvation through His son Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit which guides man on the spiritual path. In the first letter to Timothy, the apostle explains that preachers must be highly esteemed in the Lord and hold to Faith with a clear conscience (The Holy Bible, 1 Tim. 3:8-9). In this regard, anyone called to be a minister for God’s word must be wise and have strong Faith given through the belief and oneness of the Holy Trinity (Soulen, 2017, p. 119). The Holy Trinity, therefore, establishes the call for preachers to participate in the mission of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
The Holy Spirit as a Helper
The Orthodox Christians acknowledge the Holy Spirit as the giver of new life, who comes from God the Father. They believe that the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are worshipped and exalted together and are the ones spoken about by the prophets (Kärkkäinen, 2018, p. 167). The Holy Trinity gives orthodox Christians hope and the promise of salvation leading to eternal life. Christians believe God sent the Holy Spirit to comfort them through the tribulations of true discipleship (Błasiak, 2018, p. 77). After the ascension of Jesus to heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to assist the disciples in their great commission in the world. Romans 5: 5 states that God’s love through the Holy Spirit was given to Christians to help them endure the challenges of discipleship (Van der Merwe, 2018, p. 127). Therefore, with the Spirit of the Lord, Christians have the power to persevere persecution while doing God’s work and not giving up because salvation awaits them after their excellent works on earth.
As the Spirit imparts wisdom to the faithful, they will live according to the will of God. Paul portrays the Holy Spirit as the body of God that lives inside a Christian and offers salvation to whoever receives him in their lives. In Corinthians 3:17, Paul states that the Lord is the Spirit who gives man freedom (Schreiner, 2018, p. 115). Hence, whoever possesses the Holy Spirit is free from sin and has God’s power inside them (Benz, 2017, p. 189). Following the assertion, God is made one with Spirit encouraging Christians to seek the presence of its holiness in their lives. Consequently, Christians must keep themselves pure since their bodies are a dwelling place for the Spirit (Van der Merwe, 2018, p. 128). A Christian body is a temple made whole by the presence of the Holy Spirit and must be kept clean from sin and worldly desires. Christians understand the meaning of keeping their bodies pure and leading righteous lives. The Spirit helps Christians overcome immoral actions, injustices, and things that would not please the Lord. Thus, the belief of being God’s temple is the foundation that guides Christians to live righteous lives to show reverence for God’s power and kindness.
Conclusion
St. Paul does not always mention the divine persons in their sequence. Often the Father comes first. Other times, the Spirit is seen through salvation that the Son offers. Each part of the Trinity has different roles; the Father and the Son work to redeem, and the Son, through his death on the cross, fulfills it. The Holy Spirit applies, seals, and authenticates this salvation in the hearts of the believers. It is the Father who sent the Son, and again the Father sent the Spirit. Christian salvation is achieved through the Trinity, and this is shown in Eastern Orthodox ways of worship. Their creed acknowledges the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The Father plans and designs, the Son accomplishes, and the Holy Spirit guarantees. The formula for baptism in the Orthodox churches has been Trinitarian in nature. People in these churches are baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Finally, the church meetings end with wishing the congregation the love of God, the Peace of Jesus Christ, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit as they face life and perform the acts of true discipleship.
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