Now we will go on to see the study concerning the Triune God throughout the ages. The New Testament is divided mainly into three sections: the Gospels and the Acts, the Epistles, and Revelation. The Gospels primarily recorded the ministry and revelation of the Lord Jesus. Then the apostles wrote the Epistles as a continuation of the revelation of the Lord Jesus; the most important writer among them was Paul. Lastly, the apostle John wrote Revelation. After the writing of Revelation was finished, the Lord’s word clearly indicates that the revelation of God has been completed and that no one should add anything to it, nor should anyone take away anything from it (22:18-19). Theologians and godly people throughout the generations have acknowledged that after the apostle John finished writing Revelation, the revelation of God has been completed and nothing more can be added.
After the passing away of the apostles, there were the so-called church fathers in church history. Raised up at the end of the first century and in the middle of the second century, they were a group of people, including both Jews and Gentiles, who expounded the biblical truths. They studied extensively the writings of the apostles as well as the contents of the Old Testament and had high theological attainments. Due to their research, the term Trinity was coined. Although the Bible does not have the term Trinity, it has the Trinity as a fact.
The studies and records of the church fathers were all in Greek. In the sixth century, around A.D. 570, the papal system was officially instituted and widely recognized by the churches; thus, a catholic church was formed, which became the antecedent of the Roman Catholic Church. From around A.D. 100 to the formation of the papal system at the end of the sixth century, this period of four to five hundred years was called “The Period of Councils” in church history. Theological studies during this period continued to be written in Greek.
After the establishment of the Catholic Church with its headquarters in the city of Rome, where Latin was used most prevailingly, theological studies entered the second stage, the stage of the Latin language. From the seventh century to the sixteenth century, theological literature was written chiefly in Latin. Even during the Reformation, Martin Luther still used Latin in his writings, although he was German. Therefore, Latin also occupies quite an important position in theological research.
Then in the 1700s, during the time of Zinzendorf and John Wesley, theological studies gradually turned from Latin to English. In particular, in the beginning of the nineteenth century when the Brethren were raised up, their opening up of the Bible had a tremendous influence on the teaching of biblical truths. Even to the present time, the essential, fundamental theology in Protestantism, both in Europe and America, is still ninety percent based upon the Brethren theology. Then the spread of theology to China produced the Chinese theology. The language in Chinese theology evolved from Greek, Latin, and English. In Latin, the word triune is used for the Trinity. Tri means “three” and une means “one”; hence, triune means “three-one,” being both three and one. This is why fifty years ago, based upon this, we changed the expression three persons, one body in Chinese theology into the expression three-in-one, which we used for many years. Then we felt that even adding the word in is misleading, so we dropped it; now we simply say “the three-one God,” that is, “the Triune God.” According to the pure revelation of the Bible, God is triune; He is the Triune God.
Why does the Triune God have the aspect of being three? To answer this question we have to study from the theology in the Greek language to the theology in the Latin language. In Greek theology, concerning the study of the Trinity, regardless how hard they tried, the theologians were not able to find any suitable expression from the Holy Scriptures; eventually they found the word hupostasis (singular). Hupo means “underneath” and stasis means “a supporting substance”; hupostasis, therefore, means “a supporting substance erected underneath.” For example, the three legs of a three-legged table are the hupostases (plural) of the table. In Paul’s Epistles this word is rendered as confidence or assurance (cf. 2 Cor. 9:4; Heb. 3:14), referring to something on which one can stand firmly. This means that the Triune God has three hupostases, three substantial, dependable supports-the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. These three-the Father, the Son, and the Spirit-are the three supports of the Triune God.
Concerning the aspect of the Divine Trinity’s being three, another Greek word that is used is prosopa, which is equivalent to the Latin word, personae, from which the English word person is derived. However, most people today are not clear about the meanings of these terms. This is why Philip Schaff, a church historian, was in favor of using the Greek word hupostases, supporting substances, instead of the other terms.
Hupostases refers to the aspect of the Divine Trinity’s being three. Nevertheless, the Divine Trinity is one in His essence. The Greek word for essence is ousia, denoting the essence of the substance. In Latin it is essentia, equivalent to the English word essence. The Triune God has three hupostases but only one ousia. In other words, to explain this according to the Chinese theology, we may say that the Triune God has three persons but only one essence; the persons should not be confounded and the essence should not be divided; the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three in person, but They are one in essence.
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