The word "Trinity" comes from "Trinitas", a Latin abstract noun that most literally means "three-ness" (or "the property of occurring three at once"). Or, simply put, "three are one". The first recorded use of this Latin word was by Tertullian in about 200, to refer to Father, Son and Holy Spirit, or, in general, to any set of three things. The Greek term used for the Christian Trinity, "Τριάς" (a set of three or the number three) has given the English word triad. Sanskrit word, Trimurti has a similar meaning, as has "Dreifaltigkeit" in German, and many other words in other languages.

New Testament does not use the word "Τριάς" (Trinity), but only speaks of God (often called "the Father"), of Jesus Christ (often called "the Son"), and of the Holy Spirit, and of the relationships between them. The word "Trinity" began to be applied to them only in the course of later theological reflection. The Early_Christianity: Earliest Christians were noted for their insistence on the existence of one true God, in contrast to the Polytheism of the prevailing culture.

While maintaining strict monotheism, they believed also that the man Jesus Christ was at the same time something more than a man (a belief reflected, for instance, in the opening verses of the Epistle_to_the_Hebrews Letter to the Hebrews, which describe him as the reflection of God's glory and bearing the impress of God's own being, and, yet more explicitly, in the prologue of the Gospel according to John) and also with the implications of the presence and power of God that they believed was among them and that they referred to as the Holy Spirit. The Epistle to the Colossians even goes so far as to state that "in [Jesus] lives all the fullness of Deity bodily" Colossians 2:9).

The importance for the first Christians of their faith in God, whom they called Father, in Jesus Christ, whom they saw as Son of God, and in the Holy Spirit is expressed in formulas that link all three together, such as those in the Gospel according to Matthew, the Great Commission: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" Matthew 28:19); and in the Second Letter of Paul_of_Tarsus - St Paul to the Corinthians: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all" 2 Corinthians 13:14).

Conclusions about how best to explain the association of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit with the one God developed gradually and not without controversy. Christians had to reconcile their belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ with their belief in the one-ness of God. In doing so, some stressed the one-ness to the point of considering Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit as merely three modes or roles in which God shows himself to mankind; others stressed the three-ness to the point of positing three divine beings, with only one of them supreme and God in the full sense. Only in the fourth century were the distinctness of the three and their unity brought together and expressed in mainline.

Christianity in a single doctrine of one essence and three persons. Some Christians still debate the differences found in the New Testament, where Christ declared "I and my Father are one," but also prayed on the cross, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani" (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?), which is often explained that first sentence refers to Jesus' divine nature and the second one to his human nature; another explanation is that the prayer on the cross quotes Psalm 22:1 in order to name the entire Psalm, interpreted as prophesying Jesus' crucifixion; and still others say that it is a ridiculous notion that this man is yelling at himself that he is abandoning himself.

In 325, the First_Council_of_Nicaea - Council of Nicaea adopted a term for the relationship between the Son and the Father that from then on was seen as the hallmark of orthodoxy; it declared that the Son is "of the same substance" (Ousia -ὁμοούσιος) as the Father. This was further developed into the formula "three persons, one substance". The answer to the question "What is God?" indicates the one-ness of the divine nature, while the answer to the question "Who is God?" indicates the three-ness of "Father, Son and Holy Spirit."

It is also worthy to note that this council was set up and organized by the pagan Roman Emperor Constantine, who was more interested in solidifying his empire under one religion rather than being in line with the Bible, which he did not believe in. Also the Pope of the time did not show up to this council, and neither did many of the top clergy of the time. Furthermore, as the council went on less and less people attended.

Historically, the lack of a clear scriptural basis for the Trinity was viewed as a disquieting problem, and one mediaeval forger added a passage now known as the Comma Johanneum into the First Epistle of John explicitly referencing the trinity. The forgery found its way into several later copies, and eventually into the Textus Receptus which formed the basis of the King James Version. Erasmus, the compiler of the Textus Receptus, noticed that the passage was not found in any of the ancient manuscripts, but was forced by the religious authorities to continue to include it. Isaac Newton, usually known for his Scientific discoveries, rediscovered the forgery, and modern Textual_criticism has since concurred with his findings; many modern translations now either neglect to include the passage, or make it clear that it is not found in the early manuscripts.

The Trinitarianism - Trinitarian view has been affirmed as an article of faith by the Nicene_Creed - Nicene (325/381) and Athanasian Creed - creeds (circa 500), which attempted to standardize belief in the face of disagreements on the subject. These creeds were formulated and ratified by the Church of the third and fourth centuries in reaction to eterodox - heterodox theologies concerning the Trinity and/or Christology - Christ. The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, revised in 381 by the second of these councils, is professed by Orthodox_Christianity - Orthodox Christianity and, with one addition (Filioque clause), the Roman Catholic Church, and has been retained in some form by most Protestantism - Protestant eligious_denomination - denominations.

The Nicene_Creed, which is a classic formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity, uses "Ousia - homoousios" (Greek_language - Greek: of the same essence) of the relation of the Son's relationship with the Father. This word differs from that used by non-trinitarians of the time, "homoiousios" (Greek: of similar essence), by a single Greek letter, "one Iota - iota", a fact proverbially used to speak of deep divisions, especially in theology, expressed by seemingly small verbal differences.

One of the (probably three) Church councils that in 264-266 condemned Paul_of_Samosata for his Adoptionist theology also condemned the term "homoousios" in the sense he used it, with the result that, as the Catholic Encyclopedia article about him remarks, "The objectors to the Nicene doctrine in the fourth century made copious use of this disapproval of the Nicene word by a famous. Moreover, the meanings of "ousia" and "Hypostasis" overlapped at the time, so that the latter term for some meant essence and for others person. Athanasius of Alexandria (293-373) helped to clarify the terms.

This one God however exists in three persons, or in the Greek Hypostasis_- hypostases. God has but a single divine nature. Chalcedonian - Chalcedonians — Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants — hold that, in addition, the Second Person of the Trinity — God the Son, Jesus — assumed human nature, so that he has two natures (and hence two wills), and is really and fully both true God and true human. In the Oriental Orthodox theology, the Chalcedonian formulation is rejected in favor of the position that the union of the two natures, though unconfused, births a third nature: redeemed humanity, the new creation.

In the Trinity, the Three are said to be co-equal and co-eternal, one in essence, nature, power, action, and will. However, as laid out in the Athanasian Creed, only the Father is unbegotten and non-proceeding. The Son is begotten from (or "generated by") the Father. The Spirit proceeds from the Father (or from the Father and through the Son — see Filioque_clause for the distinction).

It has been stated that because God exists in three persons, God has always loved, and there has always existed perfectly harmonious communion between the three persons of the Trinity. One consequence of this teaching is that God could not have created Man in order to have someone to talk to or to love: God "already" enjoyed personal communion; being perfect, He did not create Man because of any lack or inadequacy He had. Another consequence, according to Fr. Thomas Hopko, is that if God were not a trinity, He could not have loved prior to creating other beings on whom to bestow his love.

Thus we find God saying in Genesis 1:26, "Let us make man in our image." For trinitarians, emphasis in Genesis 1:26 is on the plurality in the Deity, and in 1:27 on the unity of the divine Essence. A possible interpretation of Genesis 1:26 is that God's relationships in the Trinity is mirrored in man by the ideal relationship between husband and wife, two persons becoming one flesh, as described in Eve's creation later in the chapter.

Mutually indwelling A useful explanation of the relationship of the distinguishable persons of God is called perichoresis, from Greek_language - Greek going around, envelopment (written with a long O, omega - some mistakenly associate it with the Greek word for dance, which however is spelled with a short O, omicron). This concept refers for its basis to John 14-17, where Jesus is instructing the disciples concerning the meaning of his departure. His going to the Father, he says, is for their sake; so that he might come to them when the "other comforter" is given to them.

At that time, he says, his disciples will dwell in him, as he dwells in the Father, and the Father dwells in him, and the Father will dwell in them. This is so, according to the theory of perichoresis, because the persons of the Trinity "reciprocally contain one another, so that one permanently envelopes and is permanently enveloped by, the other whom he yet envelopes." Hilary of Poitiers, Concerning the Trinity 3:1).

This co-indwelling may also be helpful in illustrating the trinitarian conception of salvation. The first doctrinal benefit is that it effectively excludes the idea that God has parts. Trinitarians affirm that divine_simplicity. God is a simple, not an aggregate, being. God is not parcelled out into three portions, as Modalism - modalists and others contend. The second doctrinal benefit, is that it harmonizes well with the doctrine that the Christian's union with the Son in his humanity brings him into union with one who contains in himself, in St. Paul's words, "all the fullness of deity" and not a part.

Perichoresis provides an intuitive figure of what this might mean. The Son, the eternal Word, is from all eternity the dwelling place of God; he is, himself, the "Father's house", just as the Son dwells in the Father and the Spirit; so that, when the Spirit is "given", then it happens as Jesus said, "I will not leave you as orphans; for I will come to you." Some forms of human union are considered to be not identical but analogous to the Trinitarian concept, as found for example in Jesus' words about marriage. Mark 10:7-8 "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh."

According to the words of Jesus, married persons are in some sense no longer two, but joined into one. Therefore, Orthodox theologians also see the marriage relationship as an image, or "ikon" of the Trinity, relationships of communion in which, in the words of St. Paul, participants are "members one of another." As with marriage, the unity of the church with Christ is similarly considered in some sense analogous to the unity of the Trinity, following the prayer of Jesus to the Father, for the church, that "they may be one, even as we are one". John 17:22

So where do we go from here? What's the solution to this Trinitarian mess?

It's as Simple as ABC then once you have that settled, you follow the God of the universe, Jesus and not religion, You have no need of it. Open up God's word with a desire to Know Him and God will reveal Himself to you in ways that man can only wish that they could do. God's truth will fill your heart with wisdom and you won't need man or man made doctrines to explain to you who He is. We all need to realize the fact that none of us can ever figure Him out, His ways are so much higher than our ways but, we can know Him on a personal level through His word and through His Spirit. He will supply us with all that we need to follow Him day by day and there is nothing like being personally "hooked Up" with the Creator of this Universe.