Three Gods at the Kitchen Table
Elena, 15, is preparing for Confirmation in a parish in Birgu. Her cousin David, one of Jehovah's Witnesses, has been visiting the family and has left a glossy tract that calls the Trinity 'a pagan invention' and says Jesus is 'a created god'. The tract quotes John 14:28 ('the Father is greater than I') and Colossians 1:15 ('firstborn of all creation'). Elena's mother, who is not a regular churchgoer, is upset and telephones the parish priest, Fr Borg, demanding that he 'prove the Trinity from the Bible' before Elena's Confirmation in three weeks. Elena's younger brother, aged nine, asks at supper, 'So is Jesus God or not?' Fr Borg has thirty minutes after Sunday Mass, a Bible, and a copy of the Nicene Creed. The parish has a policy of not answering tracts point by point in public, and Elena is worried about upsetting David, whom she likes.
1. How would you explain the doctrine of the Trinity to Elena without using the word 'mystery' as a way of avoiding the question?
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Start with what the doctrine is not. It is not the claim that there are three gods (tritheism), nor that God appears in three masks (modalism), nor that 'Father', 'Son' and 'Spirit' are three ways of speaking about one person. The Church's grammar is: one divine nature (ousia) and three distinct persons (hypostaseis), distinguished by their relations of origin - the Father unbegotten, the Son begotten, the Spirit proceeding.
Show where it comes from. The doctrine is not a philosophical invention imposed on the Bible. It is the Church's attempt to say who God is in the light of the resurrection and Pentecost. The New Testament places Jesus within the divine identity: he is worshipped (Phil 2:6–11), called Lord in the Shema's terms (1 Cor 8:6), and the Spirit is spoken of as God's own Spirit. The baptismal formula in Matthew 28:19 gives the threefold name.
Explain the councils. Nicaea (325) used homoousios, 'of one being with the Father', to exclude the idea that the Son is a creature. Constantinople (381) clarified the Spirit. Chalcedon (451) then clarified that the one person of the Son exists in two natures, divine and human. These are not additions to the gospel; they are fences around it.
Use an analogy carefully. A human analogy can help but must be broken. The best is relational: one God, three persons, each wholly God, none a part of God. The doctrine is a mystery, but not a contradiction: it is not 'one God and three Gods'.
2. How should Fr Borg handle the two proof-texts, and why is proof-texting itself a problem?
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The problem with proof-texting. Taking a single verse out of its context and making it the whole argument is a method that can 'prove' almost anything. Both Catholics and Jehovah's Witnesses can quote verses at each other. The real question is: what is the overall shape of the New Testament's language about God, Jesus and the Spirit?
John 14:28. 'The Father is greater than I' is spoken in the context of the incarnation and Jesus' return to the Father. In John's Gospel the same Jesus says 'I and the Father are one' (10:30) and is confessed by Thomas as 'my Lord and my God' (20:28). The verse speaks of the Son's mission and obedience, not of his being a lesser deity.
Colossians 1:15. 'Firstborn of all creation' does not mean 'first creature'. In the biblical world the firstborn is the heir, the one who has pre-eminence. The same passage says that all things were created 'in him' and 'through him' and 'for him' (1:16–17), which no creature could be. The New World Translation's 'a god' at John 1:1 is a translation decision that reflects the translators' theology; the Greek can be read as 'the Word was God'.
What to say. Do not humiliate David. Say: 'You are asking good questions; here is why the Church reads the whole Bible, not just the verses that seem to fit.' The aim is to show the coherence of the Church's faith, not to win a debate.
3. Elena's mother wants 'proof' and a public refutation. What pastoral and theological judgement should Fr Borg make?
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On 'proof'. Fr Borg should say honestly that the Trinity is not a theorem to be proved like a geometry proposition. It is a revealed mystery, received in faith and expressed in the Church's worship. There are pointers - the experience of salvation, the pattern of prayer, the New Testament witness - but proof is not the right category. Demanding proof from a fifteen-year-old's mother is unfair to her and to God.
On the public refutation. Fr Borg should resist the request to attack David from the pulpit or in the parish bulletin. Public polemics against a relative would damage Elena, scandalise the family and misrepresent the Church. He can offer a private conversation with David, if David wishes; he can give Elena a short, clear explanation; he can pray for the family.
On the three weeks. Confirmation is not a prize for winning an argument. Elena should be encouraged to ask her questions, to understand the creed she will profess, and to see that faith seeks understanding. If she is genuinely uncertain, it is better to delay or to talk honestly than to pretend. The priest's task is to accompany, not to coerce.