Prayer and Revelation - Online Christian Library

PRAYER AND THE TRIUNE GODThe doctrinal formulation for the Trinity is that God is "one in essence, and three inperson." This does not entail a contradiction, since we are not saying that God is "one inessence, and three in essence," or that God is "one in person, and three in person." Thatis, we are not saying that God is one and three in the same sense, but that he is one in onesense, and three in another sense. Therefore, there is no contradiction in the doctrine ofthe Trinity.By the word "essence," we refer to the attributes of God, such as his omnipotence andomniscience. The sum of the divine attributes constitute the definition of God, just as thesum of any object's attributes constitute the definition of that object. The word "person"refers to a center of consciousness within the Godhead. Thus God has one definition, butthere are three persons who wholly and equally participate in that definition.However, this does not translate into polytheism. The above does not compel us to affirmthe existence of three distinct and independent Gods. This is because the God of the Bibleis by definition a Trinity; therefore, one Trinity constitutes only one God. For example, ifby definition a normal human body includes two kidneys, then the fact that I have twokidneys does not mean that I consist of two human bodies. Since by definition eachnormal human body has two kidneys, the very fact that I have two kidneys means that Ihave one normal human body. Likewise, the biblical definition of deity is that God is aTrinity, so if there is one Trinity of divine persons, there is one God.There is no other God besides the God of the Bible, and the God of the Bible is a Trinity.Even by itself, this doctrine sets Christianity apart from all other worldviews andphilosophies, whether religious or secular. Since this is a foundational belief about realitythat contradicts all other worldviews on their views of reality, it means that if Christianityis true, then all other religions and philosophies are false, and if even one non-Christianreligion or philosophy is true, then Christianity is false. Christians should be unafraid toaffirm this, and to defend Christianity as the exclusive truth in private conversations andpublic debates. 7The following three chapters discuss the relationship between prayer and each person inthe Trinity.7 Vincent Cheung, Ultimate Questions.5