Sunday School: On the Unity and Trinity of God

In the second installment of Sunday School, we began to examine our knowledge of God, looking at what separates Him both from His creation and from the gods of non-Christian religions. Our focus in that lesson was on the basic attributes of God; this week, we look at that which separates the Christian understanding of God from the understanding of other monotheistic religions, such as Judaism and Islam.

The title of Lesson Third of the Baltimore Catechism, "On the Unity and Trinity of God," sums up that difference. Yes, as Christians, we believe that God is One; but we also believe that He is Three. A god who is merely one cannot be the Christian God; our God is Three Divine Persons in one divine nature. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equal in all things, including in their divinity.

How can three equal one, or one equal three? We can examine the mystery, but we can never fully explain it. In the modern world, we tend to identify truth only with that which we can fully understand. Our inability to explain the mystery of the Trinity, however, does not mean that it is untrue, because as Question 31 of Lesson Third notes, "A mystery is a truth which we cannot fully understand."

The Athanasian Creed, traditionally read in churches on Trinity Sunday, is a good supplement to this week's Sunday School lesson.

Lesson Third from the Confirmation Catechism has 11 questions, while the corresponding lesson from the First Communion Catechism, designed for younger readers, has 8.

Note that the lesson begins with Question 21, continuing with the numbering from Lesson Second.

Check out this week's lesson, and if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments or ask them in the Catholicism Forum!

Previous Lessons in Sunday School:

• Welcome to Sunday School!
• On God and His Perfections