On the Trinity 1.7–1.11

By these and similar testimonies of the divine Scriptures, which, as I said, our predecessors used more abundantly in overcoming such false charges or errors of the heretics, the unity and equality of the Trinity is commended to our faith. But because many things in the holy books are said, on account of the incarnation of the Word of God, which took place for the restoring of our salvation so that the man Christ Jesus might be the mediator between God and men, in such a way as to signify that the Father is greater than the Son, or even to show it most plainly, men have gone astray, examining or looking at the whole course of the Scriptures with too little care, and they have tried to transfer what is said of Christ Jesus according to the man to his substance, which was everlasting before the incarnation and is everlasting. And they say that the Son is less than the Father because it is written that the Lord himself said, "The Father is greater than I." But the truth shows that in this way the Son is less even than himself. For how was he not made less even than himself, who emptied himself, taking the form of a servant? For he did not so take the form of a servant as to lose the form of God, in which he was equal to the Father. If, then, the form of a servant was so taken that the form of God was not lost, since in the form of a servant and in the form of God he is the same only-begotten Son of God the Father, in the form of God equal to the Father, in the form of a servant the mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who does not understand that in the form of God he is greater even than himself, and in the form of a servant less even than himself? Not without reason, therefore, does Scripture say both: that the Son is equal to the Father, and that the Father is greater than the Son. The former is understood on account of the form of God, the latter on account of the form of a servant, without any confusion. And this rule for resolving this question throughout all the holy Scriptures is drawn from one passage of the Epistle of the apostle Paul, where this distinction is commended more plainly. For he says: "Who, being in the form of God, did not think it robbery to be equal to God; but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, made in the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man." The Son of God, therefore, is equal to God the Father by nature, less by fashion. For in the form of a servant which he took he is less than the Father; but in the form of God, in which he was even before he took this one, he is equal to the Father. In the form of God he is the Word through whom all things were made; but in the form of a servant he was made of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law. Accordingly, in the form of God he made man; in the form of a servant he was made man. For if the Father alone, without the Son, had made man, it would not have been written, "Let us make man in our image and likeness." Therefore, because the form of God took the form of a servant, each is God and each is man: but each is God on account of God who takes, and each is man on account of the man who is taken. For by that taking up neither of them was turned and changed into the other: neither was the divinity changed into the creature so as to cease to be divinity, nor the creature into the divinity so as to cease to be creature.

As for what the Apostle says, "But when all things have been subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who subjected all things to him": either it was said so that no one might think that the human fashion of Christ, which was taken from the human creature, would afterward be changed into the divinity itself, or, to put it more precisely, into the deity, which is not a creature but is the unity of the Trinity, an incorporeal, unchangeable nature, consubstantial and coeternal with itself. Or if anyone contends, as some have held, that "the Son himself will also be subjected to him who subjected all things to him" was said in such a way that he believes this subjection to be a future change and conversion of the creature into the very substance or essence of the Creator, that is, that what had been the substance of a creature will become the substance of the Creator, he certainly grants at least this, about which there is no doubt: that this had not yet happened when the Lord said, "The Father is greater than I." For he said this not only before he ascended into heaven but even before he suffered and rose from the dead. And those who think that the human nature in him is to be changed and converted into the substance of the deity, and that "then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who subjected all things to him" was said as if it were said, "then the Son of Man himself, and the human nature taken by the Word of God, will be changed into the nature of him who subjected all things to him," think that this will happen when, after the day of judgment, he hands over the kingdom to God the Father. And therefore even according to that opinion the Father is still greater than the form of a servant which was taken from the Virgin. And if some affirm even this, that the man Christ Jesus has already been changed into the substance of God, they certainly cannot deny that the nature of man still remained when, before his passion, he said, "For the Father is greater than I." Hence there is no hesitation that this was said in the sense that the Father is greater than the form of a servant, though in the form of God the Son is equal to him. Nor, when he hears what the Apostle says, "But when he says that all things have been subjected to him, it is plain that he is excepted who subjected all things to him," let anyone think that it is to be understood of the Father in such a way that he subjected all things to the Son so that the Son did not himself subject all things to himself. The Apostle shows this to the Philippians when he says: "But our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our lowliness to be conformed to the body of his glory, according to his working, by which he is able even to subject all things to himself." For the working of the Father and the Son is inseparable. Otherwise neither did the Father himself subject all things to himself, but the Son subjected them to him, who hands over the kingdom to him and abolishes every principality and every authority and power. For these things are said of the Son: "When he hands over," he says, "the kingdom to God the Father, when he has abolished every principality and every authority and power." For he who abolishes is the one who subjects. Nor let us suppose that Christ will hand over the kingdom to God the Father in such a way as to take it away from himself. For some empty talkers have believed even this. For when it is said, "he hands over the kingdom to God the Father," he himself is not separated, since together with the Father he is one God. But those who are careless about the divine Scriptures and eager for disputes are misled by the word that is used, "until." For it continues thus: "For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet," as if, when he has put them there, he will not reign. Nor do they understand that this is said in the same way as this: "His heart is established; he will not be moved until he sees his desire upon his enemies." For when he has seen it, he will not then be moved. What, then, is "when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father"? As though God the Father did not have the kingdom now? But because the mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, is going to bring all the righteous, in whom he now reigns as they live by faith, to sight, which the same apostle calls the vision "face to face," it is said, "when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father," as if it were said, "when he has brought those who believe to the contemplation of God the Father." So when he says, "All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him," the Father will then be revealed by the Son when he has abolished every principality and every authority and power; that is, so that the dispensation of likenesses through angelic principalities and authorities and powers will no longer be necessary. Speaking in their person, not unfittingly, it is understood to be said to the bride in the Song of Songs, "We will make you likenesses of gold with studs of silver, while the king is on his couch"; that is, while Christ is in his hidden place, because "your life is hidden with Christ in God; when Christ, your life, appears, then you too will appear with him in glory." Before this happens, "we see now through a mirror in a riddle," that is, in likenesses, "but then face to face." For this contemplation is promised to us as the end of all actions and the eternal fulfillment of joys. For "we are children of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be; we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." For what he said to his servant Moses, "I am who I am. This you shall say to the children of Israel: He who is has sent me to you," this we shall contemplate when we live forever. For so he says: "And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." This will happen when the Lord has come and has brought to light the hidden things of darkness, when the darkness of this mortality and corruption has passed away. Then will be our morning, of which it is said in the Psalm, "In the morning I will stand before you and will contemplate." Of this contemplation I understand it to be said, "when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father"; that is, when the mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, has brought the righteous, in whom he now reigns as they live by faith, to the contemplation of God the Father. If I am foolish here, let someone wiser correct me; to me it seems nothing else. For we shall seek nothing else when we have come to the contemplation of him, which is not ours now, so long as our joy is in hope. "But hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience," while the king is on his couch. Then will come what is written: "You will fill me with joy with your countenance." Nothing further will be sought beyond that joy, because there will be nothing further to seek. For the Father will be shown to us, and it will be enough for us. Philip had understood this well, so that he said to the Lord, "Show us the Father, and it is enough for us"; but he had not yet understood that he could have said the same thing in this way too: "Lord, show us yourself, and it is enough for us." For in order that he might understand this, the Lord answered him, "Have I been with you so long, and you have not known me? Philip, he who has seen me has seen the Father too." But because he wished him to live by faith before he could see that, he went on to say, "Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?" For "as long as we are in the body we are away from the Lord; for we walk by faith, not by sight." For contemplation is the reward of faith, and for that reward hearts are cleansed by faith, as it is written, "cleansing their hearts by faith." And that hearts are cleansed for that contemplation is proved above all by that saying, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." And because this is eternal life, God says in the Psalm, "With length of days I will fill him, and I will show him my salvation." Whether, then, we hear "Show us the Son" or hear "Show us the Father," it amounts to the same, because neither can be shown without the other. For they are one, as he himself says: "I and the Father are one." Finally, because of this very inseparability, it is sometimes enough to name either the Father alone or the Son alone as the one who will fill us with joy with his countenance. Nor is the Spirit of both, that is, the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, separated from this. This Holy Spirit is properly called "the Spirit of truth, whom this world cannot receive." For this is our full joy, beyond which there is none: to enjoy God the Trinity, in whose image we were made. For this reason Scripture sometimes speaks of the Holy Spirit as if he alone were sufficient for our blessedness; and he alone is sufficient for this reason, that he cannot be separated from the Father and the Son; just as the Father alone is sufficient because he cannot be separated from the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the Son alone is sufficient for this reason, that he cannot be separated from the Father and the Holy Spirit. For what does he mean when he says, "If you love me, keep my commandments; and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom this world cannot receive," that is, the lovers of the world? For "the soulish man does not perceive the things of the Spirit of God." But it may still seem that "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate" was said as though the Son alone were not sufficient. But in that other place it is said of the Spirit as if he alone were wholly sufficient: "When that Spirit of truth comes, he will teach you all truth." Is the Son, then, separated from this, as though he himself did not teach all truth, or as though the Holy Spirit fulfilled what the Son was less able to teach? Let them say, then, if they please, that the Holy Spirit is greater than the Son, whom they usually call less than he. Or, because it is not said, "He alone," or "No one but he will teach you all truth," do they therefore allow the Son to be believed to teach together with him? Then the Apostle has separated the Son from knowing the things that are God's, where he says, "So also no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God," so that these perverse people could now say on this basis that no one teaches even the Son the things of God except the Holy Spirit, as the greater teaches the lesser; to whom the Son himself attributes so much as to say, "Because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you."

But he said this not because of any inequality between the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, but as though the presence of the Son of Man with them would be a hindrance to the coming of him who was not less, because he did not empty himself, taking the form of a servant, as the Son did. It was necessary, therefore, that the form of a servant should be taken away from their eyes, since, looking at it, they thought that Christ was only what they saw. Hence also what he says: "If you loved me, you would surely rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I"; that is, "It is necessary for me to go to the Father for this reason, that while you see me thus, you judge from what you see that I am less than the Father, and so, occupied with the creature and the fashion I have taken, you do not understand the equality I have with the Father." Hence also this: "Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to the Father." For touch makes, as it were, an end of knowing. And therefore he did not want the heart's attention to him to end in him in such a way that only what was seen should be thought to be he. But the ascension to the Father was to be seen as he is equal to the Father, so that there might be the end of the vision which is enough for us. Sometimes again it is said of the Son alone that he is sufficient, and the whole reward of our love and desire is promised in the vision of him. For so he says: "He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father; and I will love him and will show myself to him." Here, because he did not say, "I will show him the Father too," did he therefore separate the Father? But because it is true that "I and the Father are one," when the Father is shown, the Son, who is in him, is shown too; and when the Son is shown, the Father, who is in him, is shown too. Therefore, just as when he says, "And I will show myself to him," it is understood that he shows the Father too, so also in what is said, "when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father," it is understood that he does not take it away from himself. For when he brings believers to the contemplation of God the Father, he will surely bring them to the contemplation of himself, he who said, "And I will show myself to him." And so, consistently, when Judas said to him, "Lord, how is it that you are going to show yourself to us and not to this world?" Jesus answered and said to him: "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him." See how he not only shows himself to the one by whom he is loved, since he comes to him together with the Father and makes his dwelling with him. Or will it perhaps be thought that, when the Father and the Son make their dwelling in the one who loves them, the Holy Spirit is shut out from this dwelling? What, then, is it that he says above about the Holy Spirit: "whom this world cannot receive, because it does not see him; you know him, because he remains with you and is in you"? He is not, then, separated from this dwelling, of whom it is said, "he remains with you and is in you." Unless perhaps someone is so absurd as to suppose that when the Father and the Son come to make their dwelling with the one who loves them, the Holy Spirit will depart from there and, as it were, make room for greater ones. But Scripture meets this carnal thought; for a little earlier he says, "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever." He will not, then, depart when the Father and the Son come, but will be in the same dwelling with them forever; for neither does he come without them, nor they without him. But for the sake of making the Trinity known, some things are said separately, with each person named on his own; yet they are not understood with the others separated from them, because of the unity of the same Trinity and the one substance and deity of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

So our Lord Jesus Christ will hand over the kingdom to God the Father, without separating himself or the Holy Spirit from it, when he brings believers to the contemplation of God, where is the end of all good actions, everlasting rest, and joy that will never be taken from us. For he signifies this when he says: "I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you." Mary, sitting at the Lord's feet and intent on his word, foreshadowed a likeness of this joy: at rest, that is, from all action and intent on the truth in a certain way of which this life is capable, by which, however, she prefigured what is to be forever. For while her sister Martha was busy with the action of necessity, which, though good and useful, is yet to pass away when rest has succeeded it, she herself was resting in the word of the Lord. And so, when Martha complained that her sister was not helping her, the Lord answered: "Mary has chosen the best part, which will not be taken away from her." He did not call what Martha was doing a bad part; but he called this one the best, which will not be taken away. For the part that consists in ministering to need will be taken away when need itself has passed. For the reward of a good work that will pass away is a rest that will remain. In that contemplation, therefore, God will be all in all, because nothing other than he will be sought from him, but it will be enough to be enlightened by him alone and to enjoy him fully. And so he in whom the Spirit intercedes with groanings that cannot be uttered says, "One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I may contemplate the delight of the Lord." For we shall contemplate God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, when the mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, has handed over the kingdom to God the Father, so that our mediator and priest, the Son of God and Son of Man, no longer intercedes for us; but he himself also, insofar as he is a priest, having taken the form of a servant for our sake, is subjected to him who subjected all things to him and to whom he subjected all things; so that insofar as he is God he has us subjected together with him, and insofar as he is priest he is subjected to him together with us. Therefore, since the Son is both God and man, the man is rather another substance in the Son than the Son is in the Father; just as the flesh of my soul is another substance in relation to my soul, though in one man, more than the soul of another man is in relation to my soul. When, then, he has handed over the kingdom to God the Father, that is, when he has brought those who believe and live by faith, for whom the mediator now intercedes, to the contemplation for whose attainment we sigh and groan, and when the labor and groaning have passed away, he will no longer intercede for us, the kingdom having been handed over to God the Father. Signifying this, he says: "I have said these things to you in likenesses; the hour will come when I will no longer speak to you in likenesses, but will tell you plainly of the Father"; that is, there will no longer be likenesses when the vision is face to face. For this is what he means by "but will tell you plainly of the Father," as if he said, "I will show you the Father plainly." For he says "I will tell" because he is his Word. For he goes on to say: "In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came out from God. I came out from the Father and came into this world; again I am leaving the world and going to the Father." What is "I came out from the Father" but "I appeared not in the form in which I am equal to the Father, but otherwise, that is, as less, in the creature I took"? And what is "I came into this world" but "I showed the form of a servant, which I took when I emptied myself, even to the eyes of sinners who love this world"? And what is "Again I am leaving the world" but "I am taking away from the sight of the lovers of the world what they have seen"? And what is "I am going to the Father" but "I am teaching my faithful to understand me as I am equal to the Father"? Those who believe this will be counted worthy to be brought from faith to sight, that is, to the vision itself, and in bringing them there he is said to hand over the kingdom to God the Father. For his faithful, whom he redeemed with his blood, for whom he now intercedes, are called his kingdom; but then, making them cleave to himself there where he is equal to the Father, he will no longer ask the Father for them. "For the Father himself," he says, "loves you." For he asks by reason of that in which he is less than the Father; but by reason of that in which he is equal, he hears prayer together with the Father. Hence he certainly does not separate himself from what he said, "For the Father himself loves you"; but he makes it understood according to what I recalled above and have sufficiently shown: that very often each person in the Trinity is named in such a way that the others are understood there too. So, then, "For the Father himself loves you" is said in such a way that the Son and the Holy Spirit are understood as well: not that he does not love us now, he who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all; but God loves us as we shall be, not as we are. For such as he loves, such he keeps forever; and this will be when he who now intercedes for us has handed over the kingdom to God the Father, so that he no longer asks the Father, because the Father himself loves us. And by what merit, except that of faith, by which we believe before we see what is promised? For through it we shall come to sight, so that he may love us as such as he loves us that we may be, not such as he hates because we are, and exhorts and enables us not to wish to be so forever.

Therefore, once this rule for understanding the Scriptures about the Son of God is known, so that we distinguish what in them sounds according to the form of God, in which he is equal to the Father, and what according to the form of a servant which he took, in which he is less than the Father, we shall not be troubled by statements of the holy books that seem contrary and in conflict with one another. For according to the form of God both the Son and the Holy Spirit are equal to the Father, because neither of them is a creature, as we have already shown; but according to the form of a servant the Son is less than the Father, because he himself said, "The Father is greater than I"; he is less than himself, because it is said of him, "He emptied himself"; he is less than the Holy Spirit, because he himself says, "Whoever speaks blasphemy against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him." And it was in the Spirit that he worked mighty deeds, saying, "If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you." And in Isaiah, in the reading which he himself read aloud in the synagogue and showed, without a trace of doubt, to be fulfilled in himself, he says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me; he has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives," and the rest; and for doing these things he says that he was sent for this reason, that the Spirit of the Lord is upon him. According to the form of God, all things were made through him; according to the form of a servant, he himself was made of a woman, made under the Law. According to the form of God, he and the Father are one; according to the form of a servant, he did not come to do his own will but the will of him who sent him. According to the form of God, "as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself"; according to the form of a servant, his soul is sorrowful even to death, and "Father," he says, "if it is possible, let this cup pass from me." According to the form of God, he is the true God and eternal life; according to the form of a servant, he became obedient to death, even death on a cross. According to the form of God, all things that the Father has are his, and "All mine are yours," he says, "and yours are mine"; according to the form of a servant, the teaching is not his own but that of him who sent him.