The Trinitarian Mission of Christian Theology

This response paper discusses the correlation between Christian missions and the Holy Trinity, and the importance of the Trinitarian mission in theology. It explores the role of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in salvaging the sins of human beings and creating a new world order.

Running head: RELIGION
Religion
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The following response paper will deal with the important aspects related to the Christian
missions and their correlation with that of the Holy Trinity. Many issues are indeed interwoven
with the liturgical theology and the mission of the Holy Trinity. The theology of mission has
been a relevant matter in the discussion over the past few years. The theology based on the Holy
Trinity has not gained that much importance as this theology of mission. Some of the critics have
argued that the development of the missionary theology has been a very important aspect for the
understanding of proper theology.1 It has also been a positive development of the theology as
well. The Holy Communion of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit has been regarded as a
crucial incidence for the development of the Christian theology. The development of the
Trinitarian basis of the Christian Mission does have many theoretical underpinnings for
Christian theology.
The theology of mission
The Trinitarian mission of the Christian theology has been regarded as one of the central
points for the development of the theological aspects. The Trinitarian mission has not been
involved as the source of the notable issues within the religion. The theologians have proclaimed
over the years that the entire God has been included in each Member of the Holy Trinity, namely
the Father, The Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. One term is very much associated with this
issue as Missio Dei. This term has been used widely in many areas and it has become very
common in many articles related to the Christian theology. This term was derived in the
missionary conference in Willingen in the year 1952. They have also suggested the outcome that
1 Thompson, John. "Modern Trinitarian Perspectives." Scottish journal of theology 44, no. 3 (1991): 349-366.

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the missionary theology is not at all a human work but a completely the work of the trinity of
Gods.2
According to theology experts, the mission is only directed by the will, desire and actions
of the Holy Trinity. The context of Pentecost is also very deeply associated with it as well. The
Trinity can be considered as the obstacle to the mission and dialogue of the Christian theology.
On the contrary, some critics have also argued over the fact that the Holy Trinity can be taken as
the means of salvation for the human beings. The nature of God can reflect in the Trinitarian
theology as well. Another important thing in this context is that God is only one but not the
triune or the trinity. It is a concrete matter of argument that the existence of God, Son and the
Holy Trinity should not be kept as a static issue beyond the existence of the human beings. The
human beings are expected to celebrate the glory of the life of the Jesus Christ, understand the
sacrifice He made to make the human beings free of sins and bring the salvation for them. This is
why the human beings should always acknowledge the glory of the God in the best ways indeed.3
The followers of Jesus Christ had complete faith in Him and they believed that He is the
ultimate person to bring them the desired salvation.4 However, Jesus once told His disciples to
believe in Him as well as believe in God. This became very confusing for them since they
understood that Jesus and God were different persons. One might ask the relevance of the Holy
2 Thompson, John. "Modern Trinitarian Perspectives." Scottish journal of theology 44, no. 3 (1991): 349-366.
3 Dawson, R. Dale. The Resurrection in Karl Barth. Routledge, 2017.
4 Benz, Ernst. The Eastern Orthodox Church: Its Thought and Life. Routledge, 2017.

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Trinitarian mission as Jesus Christ is perceived as the God but He is the Son of God as well.
Thus the followers might question the importance of having different Gods to pray to. The
followers of Jesus heard Him pray to His Father and talk of His Father.5 Then they got to know
about the deity of Jesus Christ.6 The matter of the Trinitarian Mission as initiated by God has
some implications for salvaging the sins of the people. However this suggests that God had sent
His Son and the Holy Spirit to make the people free of their sufferings. This factor has some
important critiques as well. The Christian culture has been developed on the basis of this fact in
some ways indeed.7
The importance of the Trinitarian mission
The triune of God i.e. the God, the Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit will work
together to salvage the sins of the human beings in the world. However, the emphasis has been
put in the work of the church in several ways than the mission of God.8 In the earlier times the
mission theology had been target points through the apologetic proofs that were based on the
5 Emery, Gilles. The Trinity: an introduction to Catholic doctrine on the Triune God. The Catholic University of
America Press, 2012.
6 Swain, Scott, and Michael Allen. "The obedience of the eternal Son." International Journal of Systematic
Theology 15, no. 2 (2013): 114-134.
7 Swain, Scott, and Michael Allen. "The obedience of the eternal Son." International Journal of Systematic
Theology 15, no. 2 (2013): 114-134.
8 Velkoski, Aleks, and Todd Carpenter. "The Holy Trinity." (2015).

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Bible. These proofs were mainly collected to spread the Christian culture all over the world by
the collective efforts of the Christian missionaries and the churches.9 The conversion of people of
other religions into Christianity had become a serial matter. The Christian missionaries had often
made the differences between the ontological trinity and the economical trinity. The Christian
missionaries who have described in favor of the ontological trinity have focused on the inter
relationships between the three persons of the Holy Trinity.10
All the three persons have taken up the complementary roles to salvage the human
beings. The Trinitarian work of the redemption will have to be undertaken in several ways by
these three persons. In the opinion of some theologians the human beings will have to go through
the suffering for their evil deeds. However, God had sent Jesus Christ to salvage their sins in the
new ways. The role of the Holy Spirit has been regarded as one of the most significant issues for
the Church to deal with. The human beings would not be able to believe the abstract truths
without the proper expression of those truths. There are some crucial truths from the Scripture on
the nature of economical trinity. The missionaries of the church had played a very significant
role in making the people understand about the basic issues from the scripture.11
9 Wylie, John Thomas. The Holy Spirit. AuthorHouse, 2016.
10 Nelson, Thomas. The century of the Holy Spirit: 100 years of Pentecostal and charismatic renewal, 1901-2001 .
Thomas Nelson, 2012.
11 Kostenberger, Andreas J., and Peter T. O'Brien. "Salvation to the Ends of the Earth." Salvation to the ends of the
Earth(2017).

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Some of the theologian experts like Calvin has exclaimed that this universe is entirely the
creation of God. Some people also have argued in contrast to this statement by saying that the
God does have three different personas that look after different issues indeed. The Church had
also declared that the God was the first missionary who had sent His Son in the likeness of the
sinful human being.12 He had to sacrifice his life for salvaging the sins of the human beings. The
God has taken forth many works of redemption and this has been the basis for Him to redesign
the world without the existence of the sins. The theologian like Newbigin has also exclaimed that
the true reign of the God has been the foundation stone for the entire cosmic history of the
universe. According to the Trinitarian missionaries, the aim of God was not just to eradicate the
sins from the world by sacrificing the life of His Son but to create a new cosmos with a new
natural order.13
As the theologians have expressed their opinion, they say that the God has also suffered
with the act of crucifixion of His Son the Jesus Christ.14 The mission of the Son or Jesus Christ
could be seen from the perspectives of the missionary in the realms of the Missio Dei. The Father
or God suffers with the sins of the human world and he also glorifies His Son to preach His
12 Frame, John M. Systematic theology: An introduction to Christian belief. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2013.
13 Van Oort, Johannes. "The Holy Spirit and the early Church: The experience of the Spirit." HTS Theological
Studies 68, no. 1 (2012): 148-155.
14 Taylor, John V. The go-between God: the Holy Spirit and the Christian mission. Wipf and Stock Publishers,
2015.

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messages to the human world. Apart from that the God is also seen as the benefactor who raises
Jesus Christ from the realm of dead and give Him the Kingdom.15 However, the mission of the
Holy Spirit is also very closely linked with that of the Son or Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is the
one who gets united the Son and the God forms the Holy Spirit in its ultimate way.
Conclusion
As per above discussion, the paper can be concluded that the Holy Spirit can be
considered as the base for the Trinitarian Mission of theology. All the three parts of the Holy
Communion or the Holy Spirit have their own purposes or missions in this world. The motive of
all these purposes is the salvation of the human beings and creating a new world order for the
human beings to live in. The purposes of both Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit will lead to the
freedom of the human beings from their sins. The experts of theology have viewed their opinions
in trying to unify these three personas.
References
Benz, Ernst. The Eastern Orthodox Church: Its Thought and Life. Routledge, 2017.
Dawson, R. Dale. The Resurrection in Karl Barth. Routledge, 2017.
Emery, Gilles. The Trinity: an introduction to Catholic doctrine on the Triune God. The Catholic
University of America Press, 2012.
15

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Frame, John M. Systematic theology: An introduction to Christian belief. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R
Publishing, 2013.
Kostenberger, Andreas J., and Peter T. O'Brien. "Salvation to the Ends of the Earth." Salvation to
the ends of the Earth(2017).
Nelson, Thomas. The century of the Holy Spirit: 100 years of Pentecostal and charismatic
renewal, 1901-2001. Thomas Nelson, 2012.
Swain, Scott, and Michael Allen. "The obedience of the eternal Son." International Journal of
Systematic Theology 15, no. 2 (2013): 114-134.
Taylor, John V. The go-between God: the Holy Spirit and the Christian mission. Wipf and Stock
Publishers, 2015.
Thompson, John. "Modern Trinitarian Perspectives." Scottish journal of theology 44, no. 3
(1991): 349-366.
Van Oort, Johannes. "The Holy Spirit and the early Church: The experience of the Spirit." HTS
Theological Studies 68, no. 1 (2012): 148-155.
Velkoski, Aleks, and Todd Carpenter. "The Holy Trinity." (2015).
Wylie, John Thomas. The Holy Spirit. AuthorHouse, 2016.