Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian Bosse  Hello Gentlemen,
Consider the Trinity in light of the Hypostatic Union. You have one being made up of three persons. In addition to this, one of these persons is said to be fully God and fully man. This whole convoluted (do not take 'convoluted' in a prejorative sense) situation appears to be inconsistent. Now, I do not believe it is inconsistent because I think it is what Scripture teaches and I think whatever Scripture teaches will be consistent even if I cannot see it. I agree that my understanding is lacking, but it may be the case that because of my finitude I will never be able to understand some things such as the Hypostatic Union and the Trinity - especially taken together. In this sense, I can say that I am embracing an apparent contradiction. I do not believe it is an actual contradiction. But, I cannot adequately explain the situation so as to make things explicitly consistent. My guess is that everyone on this board is in the same situation as I am. In the end, we accept the Trinity and the Hypostatic Union with all the difficulties it presents our minds because we believe it to be taught by Scripture.
Sincerely,
Brian |
Brian,
I can see that these doctrines are difficult, but what is the "apparent" contradiction in them. Nothing you said involves a contradiction (apparent or otherwise).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian Bosse You have one being made up of three persons. In addition to this, one of these persons is said to be fully God and fully man. |
It seems to me you have actually avoided the appearance of any contradiction.
The Trinity: God is one in essence, and three in persons.
Hypostatic Union: Jesus is both fully God and fully man.
Now I haven't joined these two statements into a single argument because they are not using the same terms in the same sense. I did not say simply that "Jesus is God", but more specifically that "Jesus is
fully God". To me this means that Jesus is one person of the Trinity. He is also (according to the doctrine of the Trinity) one in essence with the Godhead.
Contradictions may occur if we incorrectly define some of the terms used in the Doctrine of the Trinity and the Doctrine of Hypostatic Union. The apparent contradictions may occur when we speculate beyond what Scripture clearly reveals.
We may not know for certain what the exact relationship is between the Trinity and Hypostatic Union, but we can say for certain that if we define the terms of the Trinity and Hypostatic Union in such a way as they cause a contradiction, then we are wrong. And we are not to embrace these contradictions. Rather, we should allow that our knowledge and understanding has it's limits, and we reject any thing that violates our reasoning. We may not fully understand the inter-workings of these doctrines, but neither can we put our faith into something that violates or reason because God does not contradict himself.