BIRMINGHAM — The General Assembly has voted 282-212 to receive a report on the nature of the Trinity, after an attempt to send the report back for more study and work was defeated by a close vote — 227 to 240.
Those votes reflect a debate in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) over language in the report — and particularly over what words are acceptable to use to describe the Trinity.
Some were concerned that selecting alternatives to the language of “Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” even if those alternatives are taken directly from the Bible, amounts to using metaphors inappropriately.
The paper — “The Trinity: God’s Love Overflowing” — is the result of five years of work, after the assembly in 2000 asked that a group be created to study the doctrine of the Trinity.
“The doctrine of the Trinity is the summary of the gospel,” in declaring that God is love in three distinct but inseparable persons, said Daniel Migliore, a theology professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and a member of that working group.
Migliore told the assembly that the paper affirms the traditional names of “Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” but does not preclude other designations, “mined from Scripture,” that also “express truly but imperfectly something of the reality of the triune God.”
The report describes the “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” language as the “anchor” for Trinitarian images. But it also refers to other imaginative ways of thinking of the Trinity — such as “compassionate mother,” drawn from Isaiah; “beloved child,” drawn from Matthew; and “life-giving womb,” also from Isaiah.
The paper was revised in the Theological Issues and Institutions Committee to add Christological language — adding what committee moderator Nancy Olthoff described as “a substantive paragraph that affirms Jesus Christ’s identity and work.”
Even with that, however, some Presbyterians are more receptive to alternative language for the Trinity than others.
Christians recognize that the Trinity is a sacred mystery, but “the confusion is not made clear enough by this paper,” said Jonathan Lovelady, a minister from Shenandoah presbytery, in arguing that the report needed more work. “Is there a difference between a name and an analogy, a name and a metaphor?”
Some might ask “what’s the big deal?” Lovelady acknowledged. But he said the question of how to describe and name God was important to the early church and still matters now.
Some feel “the Trinity is being transformed to suit the culture,” Lovelady said — asking if someone could be baptized “in the name of our ark, cornerstone and temple,” rather than “in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?”
But the Book of Order already requires that the language of “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” be used when performing baptisms, according to Charles Wiley of the PC(USA)’s Office of Theology and Worship.
Alan Gray, a minister from Abingdon presbytery, argued that “the reason we call God `Father’ is because He reveals himself in Scripture as the father of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not simply an analogy of who God is — it’s God’s own chosen way of naming Himself.”
But other commissioners said having a variety of images to describe the Trinity can be helpful. For example, Nathan Young, a youth advisory delegate from Olympia presbytery, said he’s grown up in a single-parent family, without a father present. But Young’s mother is a pastor — so an image of God as mother has resonance for him.
Now that the assembly has voted to receive the report, both print and electronic studies will be developed based on it, as will liturgical resources.
The assembly also passed, with no discussion, another report the committee had considered — one called “Invitation to Christ: Sacramental Practices,” which asks congregations to make a two-year commitment to deeper sacramental practice. The intention is that theological reflection on that experience will deepen Presbyterians’ understanding of the links between baptism and communion.
The practices the report encourages including asking congregations, on each Lord’s Day, to set the baptismal font in view of the congregation, to open it and fill it with water, and to set the cup and plat on the Lord’s table. Congregations also are encouraged to celebrate the Lord’s Supper more frequently.
The assembly opened for business June 15, but for the past three days has been meeting in committees. So, on its first morning gathering as a whole, the assembly installed as its vice-moderator Robert Ervin Wilson.
Wilson, 67, is a retired mechanical engineer and an elder from Fellowship Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
It also approved the appointment of William J. Carl III as president of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and thanked the seminary’s former president, C. Samuel Calian, for his service.
“I think the future is very bright for theological education,” Carl told the assembly, referring in part to a just-announced $150 million gift from Denver businessman Stan Anderson, part of which will be used to support Presbyterian seminaries.
