Classical trinitarianism is a term which has been used to refer to the model of the

trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...

formulated in early Christian creeds and classical theologians, such as

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

and

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...

. This form of trinitarianism is often contrasted to what is called "

social trinitarianism Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...

", and thus is sometimes pejoratively called "anti-social trinitarianism".

History

During the

Arian controversy The Arian controversy was a series of Christian disputes about the nature of Christ that began with a dispute between Arius and Athanasius of Alexandria, two Christian theologians from Alexandria, Egypt. The most important of these controversies c ...

, the Council of Nicaea to establish the doctrine of the trinity. In this council, it was established that the Son is eternally begotten from the Father, but not created by the Father. This was in contradiction to the view of Arius, who believed the Son was begotten as a creature as a product of the Father's will, and thus not being of the same essence as the Father. However, the Nicene writers argued that eternal generation does not undermine the Son as coeternal.

Doctrine

Personhood

Classical trinitarianism has often been said to sometimes struggle in assinging content or traits to each of the persons of the trinity. Trinitarian theologians have struggled with needing an answer to the question on what properly distinguishes the Father, Son and Holy Spirit properly for each other, and if the presence of too many properties would diminish the unity of God. In this framework, a "person" is defined as an existing subject distinct from others. However, this definition alone does not fully explain the uniqueness of each Person, and overemphasizing their distinctions could be argued to lead to

tritheism Tritheism (from Greek τριθεΐα, "three divinity") is a polytheistic nontrinitarian Christian conception of God in which the unity of the Trinity and, by extension, monotheism are denied. It asserts that, rather than being single God of thre ...

. To address this challenge, classical Trinitarians have put forward three key principles: (1) the consubstantiality of the three persons, affirming that no one person is more divine than the others; (2) the Son’s begottenness from the Father; and (3) the Holy Spirit’s procession from the Father (and the Son). According to this view, the persons of the Trinity are distinguished solely by relations of procession—unique relational properties that are not shared among all three. Thus, in this view the doctrine of

eternal generation of the Son The eternal generation of the Son is a Trinitarian doctrine, which is defined as a necessary and eternal act of God the Father, in which he generates (or begets) God the Son through communicating the whole divine essence to the Son. Generation is ...

is an important doctrine, which expresses the relationship between the Father and Son, while the

eternal procession of the Holy Spirit The Eternal procession of the Holy Spirit is a theological concept in trinitarianism that describes the relationship of the Holy Spirit within the Holy Trinity. The doctrine of the eternal procession of the Holy Spirit is related to the doctrine ...

expresses the eternal relation between the Father and the Holy Spirit. According to the

Independent Baptist Independent Baptist churches (also called Independent Fundamental Baptists or IFB) are Christian congregations that generally hold to fundamentalist or conservative views of Evangelical Christianity and Baptist beliefs, such as believer's bapti ...

theologian Thomas Ross, to the Father is ascribed the property of being unbegotten (''agennesia''), to the Son the property of being begotten (''gennesia'') and to the Holy Spirit the property of being proceeding (''ekporeusis''). Thus, the way God is one differs from the way he is three. When it is said that God is one, it is referred to his essence or being, while when it is said that God is three, it is referred to the manner in which the essence subsists (or exists) in each person.

Economic trinity

Within the classical trinitarian view, there is only one ''ad extra'' divine work. However, at the same time one can make distinctions in the works of God according to the persons of God, thus there are three modes of working in the one divine work, the order of the works of God in history reflecting the eternal relations of begetting and procession. Thus, in every work of the trinity, the Father is thought of as being first, then the Son and finally the Holy Spirit.

Comparison to Social Trinitarianism

The social model of the trinity differs from the classical model by viewing the persons of the trinity as three centers of consciousness and will, the distinctions between the persons not being defined primarily by eternal relations of origin and by viewing the trinity as a society or a community. Attributing will to nature instead of as a hypostatic property also logically leads to

dyothelitism Dyothelitism or dithelitism (from Greek δυοθελητισμός "doctrine of two wills") is the Christological doctrine that teaches the existence of two wills (divine and human) in the person of Jesus Christ. Specifically, dyothelitism corre ...

, the belief that Jesus had two wills. However social trinitarians often uphold

monothelitism Monothelitism, or monotheletism was a theological doctrine in Christianity that was proposed in the 7th century, but was ultimately rejected by the sixth ecumenical council. It held Christ as having only one will and was thus contrary to dyoth ...

, which is the belief that Jesus had only one will. William Lane Craig (a social trinitarian) has argued that the non-social view of the trinity is only "thinly veiled

Unitarianism Unitarianism () is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian sect of Christianity. Unitarian Christians affirm the wikt:unitary, unitary God in Christianity, nature of God as the singular and unique Creator deity, creator of the universe, believe that ...

References

{{Reflist Ancient Christian controversies Attributes of God in Christian theology Christian terminology