Trinity
Christian conception of God as consisting of three persons (hypostases) — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit — sharing the same substance (ousia)
The Trinity (Latin: Trinitas, lit. 'triad', from trinus 'threefold') is a Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God. It defines one God as existing in three divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit. They are considered to be coeternal and consubstantial, constituting three distinct persons (hypostases) that share one essence/substance/nature (homoousion).
The Fourth Lateran Council, an ecumenical council held in 1215 AD, declared that the Father begets, the Son is begotten, and the Holy Spirit proceeds. In this context, the single essence/nature defines what God is, while the three persons define who God is. The doctrine expresses both a distinction between, and a indissoluble unity of, the three personages. The process of creation and grace is viewed as a single shared action of the three divine persons, who each manifest their unique attributes. This is expressed in the statements that everything is "from the Father", "through the Son", and "in the Holy Spirit".
The doctrine is called Trinitarianism, and its adherents are Trinitarians. Most major Christian denominations today are Trinitarian.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Trinity” is christian conception of God as consisting of three persons (hypostases) — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit — sharing the same substance (ousia). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Trinity, Christian and conception, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “christian conception of God as consisting of three persons (hypostases) — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit — sharing the same substance (ousia)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q37090. The Library of Congress control number is sh85137555. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1215.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Trinity” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.