Antiquity of the Faith in the Indwelling of the Trinity

Introduction

   Lately, there has occurred a view that there is some “new presence” of the Holy Trinity in men and that this presence is a recent phenomenon that has been actualized in the late 1800s. According to that view, there is no mention of a Trinitarian indwelling among the Christians until the 19th century.
   Current work is to show that such a statement is not true and that the faith in the indwelling of the Holy Trinity in man was already present in the Catholic Church from the very beginning. This work is not to condemn anybody but only to show the truth in this matter, to prevent this little historical error from spreading.

On the expression “new presence”

   First of all, we cannot speak of the “new presence” of God because He Himself is unchanging in His essence. But we can speak of some “new presence” of Jesus while He was a Man on earth and resurrected from the dead. The same expression however cannot be referred to all the Persons of the Holy Trinity otherwise than by the allegory. Thus it would rather be proper to speak of the “new action” of God or the “new action” of the Holy Trinity. Hence it seems that this expression “new presence” can be accepted only allegorically.

Traces of the teaching on the indwelling of the Trinity in the Holy Scripture

   As for the very truth of the indwelling of the Trinity in man, it was already expressed in the very beginning by our Lord Jesus Christ when he said:
   “If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him” (Jn. 14:23). And because the Father and the Son are always with the Holy Spirit, it is certain that They will make Their home together with the Holy Spirit, just as John testifies in his epistle about the indwelling of God in these words: “And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. Now he who keeps His commandment abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us” (1 Jn. 3:23-24). So the Spirit is already present together with the Father and the Son in us who believe in the name of Jesus Christ and love one another.
   The consubstantiality of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is the faith of the Catholic Church from the very beginning, although it was expressed officially at the Council of Constantinople in the year 381.¹ This Council did not formulate any new laws or beliefs but did formulate in new words those truths that were confessed by the Holy Church from the very beginning. So when the believers of that times confess the consubstantiality of the Three Persons of God and they take to heart the words of Jesus about making a home in the man who loves Jesus and listens to His word (Jn. 14:23), they believe at the same time that it is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit who are making their home in the faithful.
   Our Lord Jesus says also: “In a short time the world will no longer see me; but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will understand that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you” (Jn. 14:19-20). Take a closer look: He speaks of His resurrection and His secret indwelling in the hearts of the faithful. He will live in His disciples and they will live in Him, but He is in the Father, so if the disciples live in Him, they will live in the Father too. And again, it is certain that the Father and the Son are always together with the Holy Spirit. So when Jesus says “you will understand that… I am in you” He gives to His disciples this faith that He will be in them together with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
   Saint Paul writes about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who is called the Spirit of God (Rm. 8:9,11; 1 Co. 6:19), but next to it, he writes about the indwelling of Jesus Christ too (Ga. 2:20, Rm. 8:10). It should be noted that the orthodox Christians never believed that the Father would be separable from Jesus and the Holy Spirit. So when Saint Paul writes about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the indwelling of Jesus Christ he brings the notion of the indwelling of the Father too. Because “he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also” (1 Jn. 2:23), and it is likewise with the one who acknowledges the Holy Spirit.
   Moreover, when Paul says about Christians that they are the temple of God (1 Co. 3:16), it means in the intention, that they are the temple of all the Trinity. “And that is what we are – the temple of the living God. We have God’s word for it: I will make my home among them and live with them; I will be their God and they shall be my people” (2 Co. 6:16).² And it should be known that “when we speak of three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we confess that they are one God, one divine substance. And contrariwise, when we speak of one God himself, the one divine substance are three persons”.³ So when Paul writes that “we are the temple of the living God”, it is the expression of the truth that all the Three Persons of God live in us.

The teaching on the indwelling of the Trinity according to the writings of the Church Fathers

   Besides the Gospel and St. Paul testimonies we can notice that the truth of the indwelling of the Holy Trinity was confessed by the Fathers of the Church, and so for this, let us take a look at the brief topic “Indwelling of Trinity” in A Patristic Greek Lexicon edited by Lampe (Oxford 1961, p. 1406). First, will be given the quotation and below, the translation:

τριάς, ἡ,
II. group of three, triad;
B. Trin.;
7. ref. spiritual life of Christians;
   c. indwelling of Trin. κατοικητήριον [sc. the soul] τῆς ὁμοουσίου τ. Alex.Sal.Barn.proem.7(438E); ὁ...τοῦ...πατρὸς...λόγος ἑκάστῃ μυστικῶς ἐνυπάρχει τῶν οἰκείων ἐντολῶν· ὁ δὲ πατὴρ ὅλος ἐστὶν ἀχώριστος ἐν...τῷ...λόγῳ· ὁ τοίνυν δεχόμενος ἐντολὴν...τὸν ἐν αὐτῇ δέχεται λόγον. ὁ δὲ τὸν λόγον...δεξάμενος δι' αὐτοῦ τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ...ὄντα συνεδέξατο πατέρα καὶ τὸ ἐν αὐτῷ...πνεῦμα ἅγιον...ὁ γοῦν ἐντολὴν δεξάμενος καὶ ποιήσας αὐτὴν λαβὼν ἔχει μυστικῶς τὴν ἁγίαν τ. Max.cap.theol.2.71(M.90.1157A); μακάριος ὄντως ἐστὶ τῆς ἀληθοῦς...τυχὼν οὐ μόνον ἑνώσεως τῆς πρὸς τὴν ἁγίαν τ., ἀλλὰ καὶ ἑνότητος τῆς ἐν τῇ ἁγίᾳ τ. νοουμένης, ὡς ἁπλοῦς καὶ...μονοειδὴς κατὰ τὴν δύναμιν πρὸς τὴν ἁπλὴν...κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν γεγενημένος id.ambig.(M.91.1196B); cf. ὑπὲρ τὴν ὑλικὴν δυάδα γενέσθαι διὰ τὴν ἐν τῇ τ. νοουμένην ἑνότητα Gr.Naz.or.21.2(M.35.1084B); πάσης τῆς αἰσθητικῆς οὐσίας πρὸς τὴν αἰσθητὴν ἀποθεμένους φυσικὴν οἰκειότητα, τῆς δὲ θείας μόνης γνησίως ἐπιλαβομένους ἐφέσεως διὰ τὴν...νοουμένην ἐν τῇ τ. ἑνότητα Max.ambig.(1193D); ib.(1196A);

Translations:

“A dwelling [sc. the soul] of the consubstantial Trinity”⁴ – Alexander Salaminus (527-565), Laudatio in apostolum Barnabam, 7, in: Acta Sanctorum – Junii – tomus secundus, Antwerp 1688, p. 438E;

[Below the quotation will be full, not as in the Lampe’s lexicon:]
“God the Word of God the Father is mystically present in each of his own commandments. God the Father is by nature completely inseparable in the whole of his Word. Therefore the one who receives the divine commandment and accomplishes it receives in it the Word of God. The one who has received the Word through the commandments has received along with him the Father who is in him by nature, as well as the Spirit who is also in him by nature. For the Scripture says, “Amen I say to you, the one who receives anyone whom I send receives me; and the one who receives me receives the one who sent me.” Therefore the one who has accepted a commandment and performed it has received in mystical possession the Holy Trinity”⁵ – Maximus the Confessor (580-662), Capitum theologicorum et oeconomicorum duae centuriae, 2.71, in: Patrologia Graeca, v. 90, ed. Migne, Paris 1865, c. 1157A;

[Here likewise, the quotation will be full:]
“Such a person, I say, is truly blessed, since he has attained not only true and blessed union with the Holy Trinity, but also the “unity perceived in the Holy Trinity”, insofar as he has become simple, indivisible, and of a single form as much as is possible in relation to simple and indivisible being, imitating the simple and indivisible Goodness through his habitual exercise of the virtues, and laying aside the condition of his naturally divided faculties thanks to the grace of God, with whom he has become one.” – Maximus the Confessor (580-662), Ambiguorum liber, in: Patrologia Graeca, v. 91, ed. Migne, Paris 1865, c. 1196B;⁶

The above explanation was about the sentence: “[they] passed beyond the material dyad on account of the unity perceived in the Trinity”⁷ – Gregory Nazianzenus (329-390), Orationes 21, 2, in: Patrologia Graeca, v. 35, ed. Migne, Paris 1857, c. 1084C;

“In setting aside the natural bond that sensation has with sensible objects, they nobly took hold of desire for the divine alone, “on account of the unity,” as I said, “perceived in the Trinity.”” – Maximus the Confessor, Ambiguorum liber, in: Patrologia Graeca, v. 91, ed. Migne, Paris 1865, c. 1193D, and the same, c. 1196A;⁸

Now, in addition to these examples from A Patristic Greek Lexicon, we can take a look at a few chosen quotations from the Church Fathers:

“Learn [as follows]. Having received the forgiveness of sins, and placed our trust in the name of the Lord, we have become new creatures, formed again from the beginning. Wherefore in our habitation God truly dwells in us” (The Epistle of Barnabas, 16, in: Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume I – The Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, New York 1903, p. 147).

“The Word of God who dwelt in man, and became the Son of man, that He might accustom man to receive God, and God to dwell in man, according to the good pleasure of the Father” (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3, 20, 2, in: Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume I – The Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, New York 1903, p. 450).

“God dwells in those who act uprightly” (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 4, 30, 3 in: Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume I – The Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, New York 1903, p. 504).

“Christ dwells in us, and where Christ dwells God dwells. And when the Spirit of Christ dwells in us, this indwelling means not that any other Spirit dwells in us than the Spirit of God. But if it is understood that Christ dwells in us through the Holy Spirit, we must yet recognise this Spirit of God as also the Spirit of Christ. And since the nature dwells in us as the nature of one substantive Being, we must regard the nature of the Son as identical with that of the Father, since the Holy Spirit Who is both the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of God is proved to be a Being of one nature. I ask now, therefore, how can They fail to be one by nature? The Spirit of Truth proceeds from the Father, He is sent by the Son and receives from the Son. But all things that the Father hath are the Son’s, and for this cause He Who receives from Him is the Spirit of God but at the same time the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit is a Being of the nature of the Son but the same Being is of the nature of the Father. He is the Spirit of Him Who raised Christ from the dead; but this is no other than the Spirit of Christ Who was so raised. The nature of Christ and of God must differ in some respect so as not to be the same, if it can be shewn that the Spirit which is of God is not the Spirit of Christ also” (Hilary of Poitiers [310-367], On the Trinity, 8, 26, in: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Second Series, Volume IX – Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus, Oxford 1893, p. 144-145).

“The Only Begotten is by Nature Life: for in Him we live and move and are [Ac. 17:28]. But He is introduced into us of a surety through faith, and dwelleth in us through the Holy Ghost: and the blessed John the Evangelist will testify saying in his epistles Hereby know we that He dwelleth in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit [1 Jn. 4:13]. Christ will therefore quicken them that believe in Him, as being Himself Life by Nature and dwelling in them. But that the Son indwelleth in us by faith, Paul will furnish proof, saying, For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, of Whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith [Ep. 3:14-17]. Since then through faith Life by Nature entereth into us, how is he not true that saith, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting Life? that is to say, the Son Himself, nought else than Him being conceived of as Life” (Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John, vol. 1: 2, 4, concerning Jn 3:36, Oxford 1874, p. 198-199).

Final words

   In the end, the words of God said through the prophet Ezekiel, and a few remarks from the True Life in God:

   “I shall put my spirit in you” (Ezk. 36:27). See that His Spirit is the Holy Spirit, and He is the One God, so wherever the Spirit dwells there the Holy Trinity dwells.

   “I shall put my spirit in you, and you will live” (Ezk. 37:14).

   “I am not giving you any new doctrine, I am only reminding you of The Truth and leading those who wandered astray, back to the complete Truth;” (TLIG, 20.12.1988)

   “do not expect any new revelation; His Calls are only a reminder of the Divine Truth, a reminder of how to live holy, a reminder that God is Love;” (TLIG, 3.03.1989)

   “I reveal nothing new;” (TLIG, 10.01.1990)

   “My Signs are not given to you to make a sensation on this earth;” (TLIG, 3.03.1989)

   “this Message is not given to them to draw sensation but to make them realise the urgency, the graveness and the importance of My Call; the urgency of their conversion; the graveness of the condition of their soul; the importance to change their life and live holy; the importance of My Messages which are spiritual food, a nourishing supplement to their spirituality, a medicinal ointment to their wounds inflicted on them in this darkness by the evil one;” (TLIG, 18.05.1991)

Written and collected by Jakub Szukalski

Notes:
1  As for the consubstantiality of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son, it was expressed officially at the Council of Constantinople II in the year 553.
2  Cf. Lv. 26:11-12 (“I will set up my dwelling among you, and I will not cast you off. I will live in your midst; I will be your God and you shall be my people”), Ezk. 37:27-28 (“I shall make my home above them; I will be their God, they shall be my people. And the nations will learn that I am Yahweh the sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctuary is with them for ever”), Zech. 2:14 (“I am coming to dwell in the middle of you”).
3  Council of Rheims 1148, DZ 390.
4  English translation is found in Appendix B: Laudatio Barnabae apostoli, 125-126, in: Michael R. Cosby, Creation of History: The Transformation of Barnabas from Peacemaker to Warrior Saint. Second Edition, Eugene (OR) 2021, p. 187.
5  English translation is found in Maximus the Confessor, Selected Writings, 2, 71, New York/Mahwah (NJ) 1985, p. 162.
6  English translation is found in Maximos the Confessor, On Difficulties in the Church Fathers. The Ambigua, vol. 1, Harvard 2014, p. 323.
7  Ibidem, p. 321.
8  Ibidem, p. 321.