This document provides an overview of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. It begins by noting that while the concept of God as one being in three persons is not explicitly found in the New Testament, it emerged in the early Church. The document then examines passages from the gospels that point to Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God as distinct persons. It discusses how baptism in the early Church involved confession of faith in God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Trinity is presented as the central mystery of the Christian faith, with each person of the Trinity revealed through their distinct roles in creation and redemption. The early Church is described as experiencing the inner divine life of love from the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and

1. JCTR Bulletill, no. 86,
lvuxlcrn AIricll, Nairobi,
'o[1i CIlSC Study, Nairobi,
i, Paulines Publications
:ion and Catholic Social
ilobalizntitn: and Cathotic
Maryknoll, 2ll05, 9-27,
19 Tradition that Gives
1l1," in Clobniizntion I11zd
The One God in Three Persons of Christian
Revelation
Dr. jenl1-Mnric HYllcilltlzc Qlle1lW11,SJ
Hckilllil College, Nairoin-Kcnua
Introduction
Human beings today live in a complex religious world with
pluralistic views on God. Polytheists", monotheists, pantheists,
henotheists? and atheists are living together with their specific views
of God in this postmodern age of tolerance, mutual respect and freedom
of conscience.
Fascinated by the mystery of love disclosed by Jesus Christ, the
Christian icon of the invisible and incomprehensible God of Hebrew
Bible, I explore the progressive revelation of God as Father, Son and
Holy Spirit.
Although Christians of the early Church claimed to believe in one
God in three distinct persons, the concept of the Trinity is not found
in the New Testament. The concept only emerged later in Western
Christianity with Tertullian (160-220 AD).3 This concept of the Holy
Trinity clarified the Christian belief in God as a community of three
divine persons eternally related and living in perfect communion. The
Scripture, the Christian liturgy, the sacramental practice of baptism
and the ecclesial Council creeds are the life settings of this awesome
doctrine.
In the gospels, we see Jesus, the eschatological prophet of Galilee,
the incarnate Son of God, in prayerful dialogue with the one he calls
his Father who sent him to proclaim the Kingdom of God present in
him and yet future. We also hear Jesus in John's gospel promising to
his disciples the sending of the Holy Spirit in his name.
At Jesus' baptism, the Father's voice was heard addressing Jesus as
the beloved Son and the Spirit was seen coming down on Jesus as the
45

2. Dr. [can-Marie Hyacillthe Ouenuni
dove. In the Gospel of John, Jesus equated himself with God and was
accused as a blasphemer by the Jews of the first century Judaism who
were strict monotheists (Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 45:22; Psalm 96:5).
And yet Christians claimed to be monotheists by rejecting modalism-
as a way of understanding their oneness of God. They also claimed
that the Son and the Holy Spirit are not less than the Father as the
three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit possess the same being and
essence of God.
How do we interpret rightly the data of the New Testament leading
to the Christian revelation of God as one in three distinct persons? Is
there a connection between the doctrines of Incarnation and that of
the Holy Trinity? What is the practical impact of the doctrine of the
Holy Trinity in Christian life?
This essay studies the doctrine of the Trinity by exploring the
baptismal confession of God worshipped and professed as one in three
persons. It articulates an African theology of Trinity based on vital
participation and vital unions leading to a Church as a communion of
persons in love with God and with God's creation.
1.0. The Trinity: The Central Mystery of Christian Faith
Christians are followers of Jesus Christ. They believe in one God as
Father, Son and Holy Spirit." For them God is not revealed as a single
individual but as a community of three distinct divine persons. In
their early creeds, blessings and baptismal celebrations, Christians
professed that the Father is the almighty creator of heaven and earth.
The Son is the only begotten Son of the Father in whom the world
was created. The only begotten Son became man, preached the
Kingdom of God for which he lived, died and rose for the salvation of
human beings. The Holy Spirit is the giver of the divine life proceeding
from the Father and the Son that pervades the life of the Church since
the Pentecost event. These three distinct divine persons are believed as
one God possessing equally the nature, essence, and substance of God.
In the early Church, baptismal celebrations were occasions for
Christians to publicly express their faith in the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. Through baptism, they were made adopted sons and daughters
of the Father, brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ and a temple of the
Holy Spirit. Their baptismal condition made them enjoy out of grace
the friendship and forgiveness of God by participating in the divine
46
life of the three
inaugurated their
Church. Baptism
the gift of the Holy
divine persons of
to the
early Church.
The apologist J
threefold name:
crucified under
the prophets.
The threefold
Thessalonians 1:
Jesus, the
Jesus as distinct . .
in him all things
mediator between
his adult life as
flesh had a deep
divine power over
sin, to interpret
free of sin placed
(John 1:14; 29; 1
Sent by the
the same kind
(John 14:16; Acts
part in divine

3. .nd was
srn who
n 96:5).
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claimed
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The On(' God ill Three Persons of Christian Revelation
life of the three divine persons. Like Jesus Christ, Christians
inaugurated their Kingdom-oriented life by being incorporated in the
Church. Baptism conformed them to Jesus Christ and they received
the gift of the Holy Spirit. This enabled them to witness to the three
divine persons of the Holy Trinity who dwell in their lives dedicated
to the transformation of creation distorted by sin for which Jesus Christ,
the eternal Son made flesh, offered an atoning sacrifice once and for
alP
The baptismal triple confession of God as Father, Son and Holy
Spirit is the historical background of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
The Articles of the Apostles' Creed stated the Trinitarian belief of the
early Church.
The apologist Justin described baptism and twice referred to the
threefold name:
In the name of God, the Father and Lord of the Universe, and of our Savior
Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with
water ...there is pronounced in the water over him the name of God the
Father and Lord of the universe ... and the name of Jesus Christ, who was
crucified under Pontius Pilate, and in the name of the Holy Spirit, who through
the prophets foretold all things about Jesus, he who is illuminated is washed."
The threefold name is clearly found in the key passages of the New
Testament such as Mark 1:9-11; Matthew 3:16-17; Matthew 28:19; 1
Thessalonians 1:1-6; 2 Corinthians 13:14 and 2 Peter 1:1-4.
Jesus, the Word, is called God in John 1:1. John 10:30 states that
Jesus as distinct from the Father is one in being with the Father. "For
in him all things were created" (Colossians 1:16) and he is the only
mediator between God and human beings (1 Timothy 2: 5). During
his adult life as preacher of the Kingdom of God, Jesus, the Word made
flesh had a deep impact on the massive crowds of Israel through his
divine power over sickness, demons and death. Jesus' ability to forgive
sin, to interpret with unparalleled authority the law and to lead a life
free of sin placed him on equal footing with the living God of Israel
(John 1:14; 29; 1 Corinthians 15:24).
Sent by the Father in the name of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is of
the same kind and of the same rank with the Father and the Son
(John 14:16; Acts 5: 3-5; Corinthians 3:16; 6:19; Hebrew 3:7). He took
part in divine creation of the world (Genesis 1: 6; Psalm 33: 6). The
47

4. Dr. lean-Marie Hyacinthe Ouenum
Holy Spirit, the helper and comforter, is the giver of divine life (John
3:8; Romans 8: 14-16; Galatians 5:22; Romans 8:26-27). He empowers
Christians for ministries, witness and holiness (Luke 1:15; Acts 6:5;
Acts 2:4; Ephesians 5:18; John 14:16).
In the New Testament, each person of the Holy Trinity is revealed
in their distinct contribution to the redemptive history of humankind
(John 17:3). It is appropriate for the Father to be the origin of creation
as it is a supernatural act of the godhead involving the only begotten
Son and the Holy Spirit. It is appropriate for the only begotten Son to
save the creation as planned by the Father in the Holy Spirit. It is
appropriate for the Holy Spirit to sanctify and to perfect the creation
designed by the Father and ordered by the only begotten Son. The
Father, out of love for his creation distorted by sin, sent the only
begotten Son born at Bethlehem; both Father and Son sent the Holy
Spirit to inaugurate, at the Christian Pentecost, the divine life of love
shown by the adopted children of God in the Church (John 3:16;
Romans 8:32; John 3:3).
The Church is then the consciousness of the self-communication
of the one God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit in perfect communion
of love. The early Church has experienced the abundant inner divine
life of love flowing from the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit.
The revelation of the one God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit has
united the disciples of Jesus Christ in the bond of love, enabling them
to start drawing the whole world into the Trinitarian communion of
love. Rooted in the Trinitarian communion, the early Church has been
an instrument of unity between Jews and non-Jews, forming a new
inclusive family of God. This new family emerged as the Kingdom
people living for a better world of social harmony, peace and justice.
The blood shed by Jesus Christ at Calvary has removed sin as the
main factor of division (John 19:34; Ephesians 2:14-16). The early
Church was a sign of communion with God; it enabled a communion
between men and women called to be brothers and sisters in Jesus
Christ. The revelation of the one God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit
was linked with the sacredness of inclusive community over rites of
purity, ceremonial laws and practices that exclude people from
communion. The early Church was a sacrament of Trinitarian
communion recreating the divided family of God into a new family of
48
adopted SOl'
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The One God in Three Persons of Christian Revelation
adopted sons and daughters of God united by the grace of salvation.
Jesus Christ as the historical manifestation of the transcendent inner
life of love of the Trinity embodies a life of love, compassion, forgiveness,
solidarity, service and friendship. As a man of communion, Jesus Christ
breaks down barriers of selfishness and hatred that isolate human
beings from one another. He invites human beings to form a family of
the Trinitarian God bound by social harmony, peace and justice.
By healing the wounds of division in human hearts, the Holy Spirit
enables the disciples of Jesus Christ to repent from self-isolation and
self-righteousness. By removing the seeds of every kind of evil in human
lives, the Holy Spirit promotes the personal and communitarian life of
believers by transforming the creation of God into the Kingdom of
salvation. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the disciples of Jesus
Christ care for the creation, share with one another and participate in
the Kingdom agenda by serving the purpose for which the eternal
Son of God became man. He became man to invite human beings to
participate in the Trinitarian divine life of love - overcoming selfishness,
self-interests and self-preservation. The Holy Spirit is God working in
human hearts and minds, making human relationships the channels
of God's Trinitarian love for the creation. Faith in the Trinitarian God
consists in living the mystery of mutual love in one's personal story. It
requires a life shared in interpersonal love made of dialogue, openness,
transparency, receptivity and inclusive hospitality.
2.0. The Connection between the Doctrines of Incarnation and Trinity
The doctrine of Incarnation is about God's Son becoming man for
the salvation of the lost humanity. It implies the preexistence of the
eternal God's Son who voluntarily embraced the state of humiliation
required by his incarnation:
Who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant,
and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the
death of the cross."
Jesus Christ the incarnate God is the decisive historical event of
salvation history. The doctrine of Incarnation presupposes the
49

6. Dr. Jean-Marie Hyacinthe Ouenuni
preexistence of Jesus Christ as the eternal Word of God within the
Godhead (John 1:1; John 1:14). As a second coequal person alongside
God the Father, Jesus Christ is the God-man who embodies the grace
of God and who bridges the gap between himself and the lost humanity
in a creation groaning for deliverance from decay and corruption. Jesus
Christ as incarnate God is the man intended by God to rule over the
new creation. As the Son of man in Daniel 7:13, Jesus is the heavenly
figure, the only begotten Son generated eternally by the Father. By
preaching the Kingdom of God during his public life, Jesus possessed
the divine character, divine power and divine authority to substantiate
his claim as divine Son sent by the Father to renew the creation by
saving the lost humanity through his life, ministry, passion,
crucifixion, death and resurrection. As Jesus Christ is truly the Son of
God by nature, redeemed human beings can become adopted sons
and daughters of God through his work of salvation.
Thus, there is a close connection between the doctrines of
Incarnation and Trinity.
The doctrine of the Trinity ascribes to the Holy Spirit the status of
"Lord and Life-giver proceeding from the Father, and with the Father
and the Son to be worshipped and glorified" (Council of Constantinople
in 381). The Holy Spirit as well as the Son have the same nature as God
the Father. Therefore, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one; each divine
person is God in his own right without the risk of tri-theism.'?
By becoming man, the eternal Son of God took up human nature
through his holy conception and nativity. As the Word made flesh,
Jesus Christ is both divine and also human. He belongs to the
covenantal people of God, heir of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and
claimant of the Davidic dynasty. The evangelist Matthew rooted the
God-man in the genealogy of his Jewish ancestors. Jesus Christ as the
real man was subject to pain, grief, suffering and death. He was tempted
but he never sinned. As fully God and fully man, Jesus' two distinct
natures were inseparably joined together forever unmixed and
unconfused (Council of Chalcedon 451).
The Holy Spirit has made possible the incarnation of the eternal
Son of God in the womb of the Virgin Mary by allowing him to take
the very human nature that qualifies him as mediator between human
beings and God.
50
3.0. The Practi
For ChTis'oa
Father loved e
forth the Holy
breathing and
Three Persons,
communion,
harmonious bj
knowing and .
love. The fella
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The African .~
John Samuel
I am."12
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the universe
ongoing in,
puberty, m~
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3.0. The Practical Impact of the Doctrine of Trinity in Christian Life
For Christians, God is infinite love. Before the world was made the
Father loved eternally the Son and their eternal fellowship breathed
forth the Holy Spirit. Personal relationships of paternity, filiation, active
breathing and passive breathing characterize the being of God. The
Three Persons of the Holy Trinity are related to one another in perfect
communion, cherishing one another in glorious peace, joy and
harmonious friendship. Together, they possess the divine powers of
knowing and loving that constitute them as the perfect community of
love. The fellowship of the three persons is unrestricted. They worked
together to bring creation to existence and they delight to sustain,
save and sanctify the world distorted by sin. By reconciling the world
to himself through the death on the cross of his only begotten Son
made flesh, the Father provides once and for all a bridge-builder between
the Godhead and creation. The resurrection of the Son made possible
the sending by both Father and Son of the Holy Spirit who transforms
the created reality into the image of the Holy Trinity.
In the African context of life-force and vital union." Trinitarian
communion is the divine expression of African human life as a
particular participation in the higher forms of life. The highest form of
life in the Christian perspective is the divine life of love, source of all
reality. Divine love precedes creation. It inspires salvation history and
provides hope for a perfected creation. Divine Trinitarian love as the
depth of human relationships is the way the Trinitarian God relates
to creation, salvation and the final establishment of his Kingdom.
An African Christian theology of human family is the metaphor of
Trinity. Human family in African context is made of ancestors, the
living dead, the living members of the community and the unborn.
The African vision of human family is well expressed by the dictum of
John Samuel Mbiti: /II am, because we are, and since we are, therefore
I am./I!2
The sub-Saharan African human person is related to God, ancestors,
the living dead, living members of the community, the unborn and
the universe. The identity of the person in sub-Saharan Africa is an
ongoing interaction with different forms of reality such as birth,
puberty, marriage, adult social responsibilities and death. Life is
51

8. Dr. Jean-Marie Hyacinthe QlIemlm
perceived as an interconnection of different parts of human reality
interpreted and assumed in a holistic way. The well-being of the person
in sub-Saharan African is connected with the community in which is
found vital force, communion, sharing and participation in the complex
relationships that constitute human history at personal and
communitarian levels. Tradition plays a crucial role in human
development. It enables the African to be self-transcendent and to be
transformed into a higher form of life. This higher form of life hoped
for by the African is revealed in Christian tradition as participation in
the inter-Trinitarian life won once and for all by Jesus Christ through
his paschal mystery. In this way, the hope for self-transcendence
through community life is perfectly achieved by African Christians at
baptism which initiates them into Christ's community. In Christ, the
African finds fulfillment of community tradition. The incarnate God
assumes African community tradition by transforming it into
participation in the community life of the three divine persons. In
Christ's community, the Holy Spirit is the healer; he liberates the African
from all that threatens good life including sin and lack of wisdom and
understanding of the purpose of the Holy Trinity. By connecting the
believer to the healing ministry of Jesus, the Holy Spirit releases the
divine power of healing the mind and heart that makes the African
whole and attuned to the will of the Holy Trinity. Born of God in
Christ's community through baptism, the African receives from the
eternal Son of God made man, the fullness of God's life and becomes a
new creation of the Holy Spirit incorporated in the Church for the
glory of the Father.
The Holy Trinity is the revelation of the true and living God of
salvation that shapes human interpersonal relationships. By
empowering human beings to live in close friendship with Jesus Christ,
the eternal Son of God sent by the Father into the world, the Holy
Spirit inspires piety, fraternal living, dialogue, collaboration,
partnership, solidarity, justice, mutual love, mutual care and sharing
in Church and Society for freedom from egotism.
Conclusion
The Trinity is the mainstream Christian approach to God as revealed
in Scripture, liturgy, creeds, baptismal sacrament and the lives of prayer
52
other
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from the do
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light consu
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African
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End Not

9. an reality
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The aile God ill Three Persons of Christian Revelation
of the disciples of Jesus Christ. Christian life begins and ends with the
Trinity. The life of the Trinity is disclosed in personal prayer flowing
from the doxology of God's creatures related to the mystery of salvation.
Those who follow Jesus as the bearer of salvation recognize him as
the Son whom the Father,
Has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds; who
being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and
upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged
our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high."
Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior of the world, is the light from
light consubstantial with God. He makes God utterly transcendent
present, known and loved through his humanity consubstantial with
us. Jesus Christ, the Word of God and the eternal Son of God, is the
revelation of God who mediates salvation by becoming the man
intended by God to rule over creation. In this God-man, God's Spirit
is at work from conception to death and beyond to make him the first
of many and the new obedient Adam who draws men and women to
the Father. The Spirit has inspired and empowered the God-man in
his soteriological actions for the benefit of the fallen humanity .
Through baptism, African Christians responding in faith to God's
love present in Jesus Christ receive God's self-communication and fulfill
his openness to interpersonal relationships in the community of Father,
Son and Holy Spirit. By worshipping the mysterious God of Christian
revelation through the Father, in the Son and by the Holy Spirit, the
African Christian suggests that the religious experience of salvation
leads to the Trinitarian understanding of life as a gift to be shared in
solidarity with the creation of God redeemed by the eternal son of
God and perfected by the Holy Spirit into God's eschatological
Kingdom hoped for when God will be all in all.
End Notes
Polytheists believe in many gods. For them the sun, rain, thunder, fields,
seas and all natural forces have their own gods.
Henotheists believe that the god of their land is supreme over the gods of
other lands.
53

10. Dr. Jean-Marie Hvucinthe Quenum
Warfield, Studies in Tcrtuliian and Augustine, Oxford University Press, New
York,p.3.
For Christians, the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, and
yet there is only one God. And this one God does not reveal himself in three
different modes (modalism); they are three distinct persons within the
Godhead instead of being three different names for the same personal God.
Vincent Mulago has developed an interesting framework of African theology
based on life-force and vital union in Benezet Bujo "Vincent Mulago: An
enthusiast of African Theology", d. Benezet Bujo and Juvenal Ilunga Muya,
eds. African Theology: The Contribution of the Pioneers (Nairobi: Paulines
Publications Africa, 2003), 18.
Matthew 28:19 and Hippolytus baptismal creed.
"Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures and was buried,
and rose again the third day in accordance with the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians
15:3-4).
Justin, Apology. 1.61 NE 63.
Philippians 2:6-9.
10 The Christian God is one, not three Gods. Tri-theism is not an option for
mainstream Christianity.
11 Vincent Mulago, "Traditional African Religion and Christianity" in Jacob, K.
Olupona, ed. African Traditional Religion in Contemporary Society (NY: Paragon
House, 1990),120.
12 John S.Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy (Nairobi: Heinemann, 1999,1969),
106.
13 Hebrew 1:2-3.
54
In troductio
The Afr2
amongst o~
social, poli ,
is genuine
cultural, s
liberate A·
the contine
1.1. What i
Africa
vast size,
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minerals
remains
Francoph: '
Africa is
thoughts,
Africa is