The Trinity — three persons in one God. Confused? Let’s break it down! The Trinity is the central mystery of the Catholic faith. To learn more about this important part of Catholic doctrine, watch our “Trinity in 2 Minutes” video.
First, there are a few misconceptions about this triune mystery. Many people believe that Christians profess their faith in three gods…not true! Almost all Christians believe in one God, in a unity of three persons. These three persons are all equally God, and yet distinct from one another.
The first person of the Trinity is The Father: God the Father is the creator of the world.
The second person of the Trinity is The Son: God the Son, Jesus, became incarnate for us, becoming human to save us from our sins.
The third person of the Trinity is The Holy Spirit: God the Holy Spirit is poured into us, guiding us in faith.
But, while they are three distinct persons, they are not three separate gods. Where is this revealed to us? Many parts of Scripture have alluded to the Trinity, with it explicitly named in the Gospel of Matthew (28:19), when Jesus sends out the Apostles to: “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” When we make the sign of the cross, we are professing our faith in the Trinity.
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But how did we come to understand all of this? In 325, during the First Council of Nicaea, the bishops clarified to believers that Christ was “of one substance” with God the Father. In the following years, there were still various debates about the person of the Holy Spirit. In 381, the First Council of Constantinople gave clarity to the divinity of the Holy Spirit. These 4th century doctrines finalized the creed and solidified the belief in the Triune God.
The councils utilized a Greek term, “hypostasis,” meaning something or someone possesses “an underlying reality or substance, as opposed to attributes or to that which lacks substance.” Hypostasis has been used for centuries to refer to each person of the Trinity, and the term “hypostatic union” is used in reference to God the Son being both fully human and fully divine.
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We can see the Trinity represented in many different ways, especially in sacred art, with the Father often depicted as an old king on a throne, the Son depicted as a lamb or in his earthly form, and the Spirit as a dove or flame. We can also see representations of the Trinity in simpler symbols such as the clover, the fleur-de-lis, and the triquetra, or “Trinity knot.”
The Trinity remains a mystery in our faith, so if you don’t quite understand it, don’t worry! The true focus of the mystery of the Trinity is on God’s love through and between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
