By the Most Rev. Mark A. Pivarunas, CMRI
(Winter 2008)
How often we make the Sign of the Cross and invoke the Holy Trinity, and yet give little thought to the significance of the words which mark the beginning of all our prayers. Whenever we begin to pray, we invoke the Blessed Trinity, one God in three Divine Persons: “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
So, too, when we pray the Psalms, we end with “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.” The first part of this beautiful prayer was composed by the Apostles, and the conclusion — “…as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.”— was added at the time of the Council of Nicaea.
Where does the doctrine of the Trinity come from?
Now we are well aware that this wonderful doctrine was explicitly taught by our Divine Savior, for we find frequent references to it throughout the New Testament. Jesus Christ commanded His Apostles: “Going therefore teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost” (Matt. 28:19). In the Gospel of St. John we read: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… and the Word was made flesh” (John 1:1). And again in St. John’s Gospel, Our Lord proclaimed: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).
In His solemn address at the Last Supper, Jesus Christ promised to send the Holy Ghost to His Apostles: “And I will ask the Father and He will send you another Paraclete that He might abide with you forever” (John 12:16).
And if we search carefully into Sacred Scripture, we will find that this wonderful mystery of the Blessed Trinity was also revealed implicitly in the Old Testament. With good reason could St. Augustine say that “the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, if read with a true Christian spirit, testify that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one only God in the unity of essence and substance.”
It should also be remembered that the two great truths of the Trinity and the Divinity of Jesus Christ are closely united, for if there be not a plurality of Persons in God, there can be, of course, no Divine Messias. Therefore, the reasons which go to show that the Holy Trinity exists are the same reasons that prove the Divinity of Christ.
How is the holy trinity revealed through grammar?
Let us begin this consideration with the Hebrew word for God “Elohim,” which is found throughout the Old Testament together with the word “Jehova.” What is unique about the word “Elohim” is that it is a plural word but is always used with the singular verb. It is not to be supposed that the sacred writers who firmly believed in one God would have repeatedly made such a grammatical mistake, especially when the Israelites were surrounded by their pagan neighbors who were polytheists (those who falsely believe in many gods).
Why does God refer to himself in the plural?
Furthermore, in the book of Genesis, we read of the creation of the world by God: “In the beginning, God created heaven and earth.” When we get to the passage on the creation of man, we find, “And God said, ‘Let Us make man to Our image and likeness’” (Gen. 1:26). Let us note that God here speaks of Himself in the plural. This occurs again after the fall of Adam where we read in the book of Genesis that God speaks thus: “Behold Adam has become like one of Us” (Gen. 3:22). This is also repeated in the account of the Tower of Babel, “Behold, it is one people . . . come ye, therefore, let Us confuse their tongues” (Gen.11:6-7). Again, in Isaias, we read: “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? Who shall go for Us?’ And I said, ‘Lo, here am I, send me’” (Isa. 6:8).
Another wonderful Old Testament reference is found in the well-known passage of Deuteronomy which has been frequently repeated by the Jews, both past and present: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one” (Deut. 6:4). In the Latin Vulgate, it is, “Audi Israel, Dominus, Deus Noster, Dominus unus est”; however, the original Hebrew language omits the word “is.” So the passage reads: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord, Our God, the Lord, one.” And if we put the Hebrew words for God in place of our English translation, it reads, “Hear, O Israel, Jehova, Elohim, Jehova, one.” Is it not remarkable that God’s Name is repeated three times, yet emphatically ends with the word “one”?
In close accord with this passage from Deuteronomy, we find the prophet Isaias describing his vision of the Lord with the two attending seraphim who cried: “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth; all the earth is filled with Thy glory.” Sacred Scripture often uses adjectives for nouns or names. Likewise in olden times individuals were often designated by adjectives indicative of striking characteristics for which they were noted. God Himself is often designated by adjectives such as the Almighty, the Omnipotent, the Eternal, the All-Wise. Once again it is remarkable that the seraphim cried out three times, “Holy, Holy, Holy, the Lord God of Sabaoth!”
What is symbolized by “sitting at the right hand”?
In Psalm 109 of the Old Testament, there is a beautiful reference to the Holy Trinity recited at Sunday’s Vespers: “The Lord said to My Lord, sit Thou at My right hand.” In the Hebrew, it reads “Jehova said to My Lord . . .” Now certain modern rabbis have claimed that the reference “My Lord” referred to Abraham. However, it is well known in the East that to “sit at the right hand” means equality. How could anyone claim that Abraham was equal to Jehova? It was this very Psalm about which Our Lord questioned the Jews and they could give no response, for they knew well it could not pertain to anyone but One equal to God.
Another beautiful Old Testament reference to the Holy Trinity is the Lord’s visit to Abraham. Let us carefully look at an extract of this text from the 18th chapter of Genesis:
“And the Lord (Jehova) appeared to him … There appeared to him three men … And as soon as he saw them he ran to meet them… and adored down to the ground. And he said, ‘Lord, if I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away from thy servant: but I will fetch a little water and wash ye your feet and rest ye under the tree … Strengthen ye your heart, afterwards you shall pass on: for therefore are you come aside to your servant,’ and they said: ‘Do as thou hast spoken’… And when they had eaten, they said to him: ‘Where is Sara, thy wife?’ He answered, ‘Lo, she is in the tent:’ and he said to him, ‘I will return… And the Lord said to Abraham… is there anything hard to God? According to appointment I will return’… And the men rose up from there… And Abraham walked with them … And the Lord said, ‘Can I hide from Abraham what I am about to do’….”
St. Augustine held the opinion that this passage referred to the Holy Trinity. “Behold,” he says, “how, suddenly, the Incorporeal Majesty descends on earth under the corporeal figure of three men. Abraham runs eagerly to meet them, he extends to them his suppliant hands, kisses their knees and says: ‘Lord, if I have found grace before thee pass not away from thy servant.’ Observe, Abraham runs to meet three and adores one: unity in three, Trinity in One… Behold how the Celestial Majesty sits at the table of a mortal, accepts a repast and establishes a familiar conversation between God and man.”
In the Divine Office, the Church refers to this vision of God to Abraham with the words “Tres vidit et unum adoravit” — “He saw Three; he adored One.”
Last but not least, we read in Psalm 39 the very verse repeated by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews: “In the head of the book it is written of me that I should do thy will” (Hebrews 10:7). The uniqueness of this passage comes to light when we consider the very first line of the book of Genesis. In our English translation of the Old Testament, we find the words:
“In the beginning God created Heaven and earth. And darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God moved over the waters.”
How was the meaning of “in the beginning” changed when the Hebrew Bible was translated into the Greek?
Now the first three words of this verse from Genesis may be rendered “By the Beginning” or “Through the Beginning,” and thereby be made to read “By (or through) the Beginning, God created Heaven and earth.” The Hebrew word “Bereschit” (translated into English as “in the Beginning”) has been recognized by rabbinical writers as capable of referring to the idea of a Divine Person. For rabbinical scholars explain in their writings (Meghilla, fol. 8 recto) that the 72 ancients who translated the Hebrew Bible into the Greek Septuagint changed the order of the words “in the Beginning,” placing these words after instead of before the words “God created heaven and earth.” This they did so that King Ptolemy, at whose request the Greek Old Testament was made, might not conclude that the Jews worshipped two gods instead of one. In the Thosephot or additions to the gloss of Rabbi Solomon Yarhhi, there is an explanation in the margin to justify this rearrangement of order of the words “in the Beginning”:
“The Greeks know that the name of God should always be assigned the first place. Ptolemy might have thought that there were two divinities and that the Bereschit signified a Creator as well as Elohim… to the end that the king should not consider that Bereschit was the name of the Divinity, that there are two divinities, and that the second proceeds from the first.”
What is truly unique is that the opening phrase of Genesis, in Hebrew Bereschit (“by or through the Beginning”), corresponds with St. Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians, where Jesus is called “the Beginning,” and this immediately after having written: “For in Him all things are created in heaven and in earth, visible and invisible… and He is before all: and by Him all things consist” (Col. 1:16-17). This also corresponds to the Apocalypse of St. John, which begins with the words, “The revelation of Jesus Christ,” and in which He speaks of Christ as “the Alpha and the Omega.”
St. John also begins his Gospel with the words: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was made nothing that was made.”
All of this is a powerful reminder of the wonderful harmony between the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament God was preparing the world for the singular event when the Second Person of the Trinity would come down from heaven and become man. In the New Testament, we find the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies in our Divine Savior Jesus Christ.
With what fervent devotion, then, should we invoke the Triune God, not only by making the Sign of the Cross thoughtfully, but also in the many other Catholic prayers in which this central mystery of our Faith appears, especially those of the Mass itself.
–Taken from the Reign of Mary Quarterly Magazine, Issue 129
