The Father begat the Son.

The Father and Son spirated the Holy Spirit.

Why did God stop communicating his divinity to subsequent persons?

Any more and it wouldn't be a trinity. It's right there in the name

While Augustine was working on his book On the Trinity, he was walking by the seaside one day, meditating on the difficult problem of how God could be three Persons at once. He came upon a little child. The child had dug a little hole in the sand, and with a small spoon or seashell was scooping water from the sea into the small hole. Augustine watched him for a while and finally asked the child what he was doing. The child answered that he would scoop all the water from the sea and pour it into the little hole in the sand. 'What?' Augustine said. 'That is impossible. Obviously, the sea is too large and the hole too small.' 'Indeed,' said the child, 'but I will sooner draw all the water from the sea and empty it into this hole than you will succeed in penetrating the mystery of the Holy Trinity with your limited understanding.' Augustine turned away in amazement and when he looked back the child had disappeared.

And that child's name was Albert Einstein.

But when he looked back there were TWO sets of footprints

Martin Q. Blank said:

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The Father begat the Son.

The Father and Son spirated the Holy Spirit.

Why did God stop communicating his divinity to subsequent persons?

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The filioque has entered the chat.

Martin Q. Blank said:

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The Father begat the Son.

The Father and Son spirated the Holy Spirit.

Why did God stop communicating his divinity to subsequent persons?

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Great question.

My simplistic understanding is that love requires a lover and a beloved, a relationship of two persons. Perhaps the perfection found in the relationship between a lover and a beloved is not attainable if another person is added? Can we say that a lover and a beloved is the irreducible number necessary for a relationship of perfect love?

We read in Scripture that God is love. Divine love, which is the exclusive domain of God, also requires a relationship. Divine love must necessarily be an infinitely perfect self-giving love because that is the pure essence of love; total self-giving. If God is love then we know that God's divine nature necessarily means that divine love is infinitely perfect.

God the Father (lover) eternally begets and perfectly loves God the Son (beloved), who eternally lovingly empties himself for love of the father and the love between them is God the Holy Spirit (spiritu sanctus = holy breath).

Put another way, God the Father is God. Proceeding from God the father is God's self-knowledge of himselfand this is actually the Son. God the Holy Spirit is the relationship of divine love between God's self-knowledge (the Son) and God (the Father). In loving the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit perfectly completes the Trinity, rendering any further divine persons impossible.

Takes three to tango!

Quote:

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The Father begat the Son.

The Father and Son spirated the Holy Spirit.

Why did God stop communicating his divinity to subsequent persons?

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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it...14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

I'm a little hung up on the word 'communicating'. The Word was with God, and the Word was God regardless of any communication.

3 But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God."

The way I've heard it that it takes one person to love themselves, another person to be able love someone else, and another person after that to share a love for a different person. Thus the Trinity. I would add that another person is required in order to be able to love someone who hates you. Since God is Love and would not hate Himself, that's where humans and free will come into the picture.

DirtDiver said:

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I'm a little hung up on the word 'communicating'. The Word was with God, and the Word was God regardless of any communication.

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The Son was begotten. The Spirit proceeded. What do you call that?

The best, and simplest, explanation I've ever had is that the Trinity is like a superhero, Ironman in this case. Iron man, with access to his superpowers, represents God. Tony Stark is revealed with the mask is removed. Tony, in the form of man, is subject to death. The heart, Holy Spirit, is the love that binds the two together and is the gift that is shared with us. All represent the same same "being", separate entities that exist as one.

I think the real hang up here is that God is not a "being" as we understand beings. Exodus 3:14 "I am that I am". We have no paradigm with which to properly understand. It is an existence within the mystic realm and as such, not measurable by the science design to quantify a physical realm.

Edit to get pic, that still didn't work