II. Summary & Evaluation : The Suffering of God in the Light of the Trinity
What is really
important about Moltmann’s idea about the Trinity is the Reciprocal love of the Three Persons. He focused on the Relationship of the Three Persons (relationship of LOVE), their unity (like Augustine) more than their substance. This is because for Moltmann, when one talks about substance, there is a great tendency to fall into a hierarchical idea about the Three Persons, the question of who is greater, the Father, Son or Spirit?? or who came first among the three?? or the danger of falling into Tritheism ( 3 Gods) or falling into Modalism, that God appears in three modes of being, which St. Augustine strongly counteracted during his time.
In addition, he did not use substance to explain the Trinity because for him, it is not biblical and it is impersonal. With this idea, one would realize that he embraced the word Person because it perfectly denotes relationship. Person, as we know, is always a person in relation to or with another person, say Father to Son, Son to Father; Holy Spirit, from the love of the Father and the Son (like St. Augustine’s idea).
I think Moltmann is one of those who gave a good explanation of theology of the Cross. His idea is unique and I believe it is linked with Process Philosophy which says that God is affected by human suffering. Many questions arise when we talk about the theology of the Cross like, if God is almighty, why would He suffer? Did the Father and Holy Spirit suffer with Jesus on the cross?
Anyway, Moltmann holds that the perfect explanation of the Trinity is seen on the Cross. It is on the Cross that the TRINITY revealed Himself in the fullest sense showing a relationship of communion and love among the Persons. How is this?
On the cross, Christ experienced suffering but in His suffering, God the Father (who offered the Son), suffered also with His Son, and the Holy Spirit was the one uniting the Two in LOVE. Thus, the whole Trinity was there on Calvary. And so we see here the communion (unity) of the Persons even in suffering.
For the record……Jürgen Moltmann is also known as the Father of Political Theology. He applied his theology into politics. For him, the Trinity shows solidarity and communion. He says that if we focus on the love of each of the Persons, it will show communion and affect the views we have on the political life of society, hoping that we will also live in love and solidarity. It would then be a clear reflection of the relationship of the Trinity in politics.