Reflections ...
Question.—What is the meaning of the Trinity, of the Three Persons in One?
Answer.—The Divine Reality, which is purified and sanctified from the understanding of human beings and which can never be imagined by the people of wisdom and of intelligence, is exempt from all conception. That Lordly Reality admits of no division; for division and multiplicity are properties of creatures which are contingent existences, and not accidents which happen to the self-existent.
This is in accord with orthodox Trinitarian understanding.
The Divine Reality is sanctified from singleness, then how much more from plurality. The descent of that Lordly Reality into conditions and degrees would be equivalent to imperfection and contrary to perfection, and is, therefore, absolutely impossible. It perpetually has been, and is, in the exaltation of holiness and sanctity. All that is mentioned of the Manifestations and Dawning-places of God signifies the divine reflection, and not a descent into the conditions of existence.
No issue here – in Biblical language we can speak of 'ascent' and 'descent', but such are meant in the figurative sense, following a universal symbology, in which the human experience invariably designated as the Middle Realm. As stated above, God is not subject to contingent categories, such as define spatial or temporal conditions.
(The footnote to this paragraph refers to pantheism being implicitly rejected.)
Likewise, when St Paul speaks of Jesus Christ as God who "
emptied himself ... being found in appearance as a human being, he
reduced himself, becoming obedient all the way to death, and a death by a cross", again this is figurative language, as God cannot be 'emptied', nor undergo increase or decrease.
God is pure perfection, and creatures are but imperfections ...
Again, this distinction is preserved in the Christological doctrine of hypostatic union.
Now if we say that we have seen the Sun in two mirrors—one the Christ and one the Holy Spirit—that is to say, that we have seen three Suns, one in heaven and the two others on the earth, we speak truly. And if we say that there is one Sun, and it is pure singleness, and has no partner and equal, we again speak truly.
This is in line with Trinitarian understanding, an understanding that goes back into Jewish theological understanding in the era immediately prior to the appearance of Christ.
The epitome of the discourse is that the Reality of Christ was a clear mirror, and the Sun of Reality—that is to say, the Essence of Oneness, with its infinite perfections and attributes—became visible in the mirror. The meaning is not that the Sun, which is the Essence of the Divinity, became divided and multiplied—for the Sun is one—but it appeared in the mirror. This is why Christ said, “The Father is in the Son,” meaning that the Sun is visible and manifest in this mirror.
John 14:9: "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father."
The Holy Spirit is the Bounty of God which becomes visible and evident in the Reality of Christ. The Sonship station is the heart of Christ, and the Holy Spirit is the station of the spirit of Christ. Hence it has become certain and proved that the Essence of Divinity is absolutely unique and has no equal, no likeness, no equivalent.
Again, quite orthodox.
This is the signification of the Three Persons of the Trinity. If it were otherwise, the foundations of the Religion of God would rest upon an illogical proposition which the mind could never conceive, and how can the mind be forced to believe a thing which it cannot conceive? A thing cannot be grasped by the intelligence except when it is clothed in an intelligible form; otherwise, it is but an effort of the imagination.
A mystical proposition is not necessarily illogical, according to its axioms.
It has now become clear, from this explanation, what is the meaning of the Three Persons of the Trinity. The Oneness of God is also proved.
This seems a thoroughly Trinitarian declaration!
(Where ellipses occur, the original text has been edited for brevity, hopefully without detriment to the meaning.)
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Addendum to the above – this is not to infer that the Baha'i promote a doctrine of the Trinity, simply that the Christian doctrine is not at odds with the Bahai teaching.
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