On the Trinity 3.2

1. If, then, Scripture does not lie (and it certainly does not lie) when it says that God the Word is true God and true Son of God, as it does in many places — as the Father says, “This is my beloved Son”; and as John writes, “And we are in the true Son of God, Jesus Christ; he is the true God and eternal life”; and as Jeremiah prophesies, “Gods who did not make the heaven and the earth, let them perish from the earth; the Lord, who made the heavens with understanding, he is the living and true God” — then it is surely plain that he is by nature and properly God, uncreated, without beginning, and in every respect exactly like God the Father. For no cause of the nature of a true God is found, nor is a true God said to be made, nor is a true Son thought of as of another substance. And the fact that it says, “This is my Son,” and, “This is the true God,” excludes seeking another genuine Son, or another who is properly God. And in another way: if he is true God and Son, then according to the generation above he has a Father but does not have a God; according to the generation below he has a God but [does not have] a father …, not to set out on an untrodden path, being wholly a man; and those outside too declared: “Believe in God and revere him, but do not search.” And again: “God is immortal, ageless, begetting himself, ever young, not made; he himself is the begetter of truth, he himself wise and true.” … God, he spoke thus: “And truly the race of God is ever faithful.” For since he himself is the begetter of truth, he could not be grasped by human understanding unless that understanding, filled with his truth, kindled from it a light for itself for its inquiries.

2. If God is one, as Moses says, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord your God is one Lord”; and the Son too is praised as only-begotten God and one Lord Jesus Christ, wholly consubstantial and equal in honor with God the Father, one and another in hypostasis, but one in Godhead and in concord. For in this [we see] the Greeks, once again under an unseen necessity and against their will, turned round toward the truth, and in this part holding a disposition that agrees in voice and mind with ours, proclaiming in writing and expressly: “There is one God; he himself is lord over all, most high, and he was born the first begetter of all, and root, and beginning.”

3. If the name “Father” is always God’s, and the names “Son” and “Only-begotten” are the Son’s, then he is a natural and true Son, and without beginning, and not a son in our way. For the Only-begotten has by nature no brother of the same Father, nor is he called father before he has been born ….

4. If the Son is fittingly called the Word of God, he coexists with the one who begot him, being properly related to him by nature, and having been begotten impassibly and without beginning. For the Father cannot be conceived without his subsistent Word; nor indeed is the Word created, but he is begotten impassibly. In parallel: if the Son is rightly written to be the Word and Wisdom of God, and through him all things came to be, then he was not created by the Word of God, but begotten from his womb. For the Word of God is one; and in what other Word could he have been created? These things even the choicest of the Greeks declare: “For the offspring of God bring forth things unspeakable”; “and he is above all passion and nature.”

5. If the Son is, as has been shown, eternal life itself and the true light, he did not begin to be and to live. And in parallel, if the Father too is these things, he differs from him in nothing, not even in thought.

6. If the Son is said to be the power and wisdom of God, he is co-eternal, without beginning, with the one who begot him; for there was not a time when the Father existed without these, nor is it fitting to say that, not having them, he later acquired anything. And those who learned something from the wisdom outside, seeing no second form, no second time (if it is right to say so) of the existence of the Godhead, said to the best of their ability: “God immortal himself bears all things; he himself is his own begetter, and root, and end, and son.”

7. If he saves equally with the Father, being Savior, and moreover makes wise, makes true, justifies, sanctifies; and if whatever the Father does, these the [Son] does likewise, he appears not unlike him.

8. If the Only-begotten is the radiance of the glory and the stamp of the hypostasis and the image of God, who is formless, invisible, and without beginning, as Paul writes to the Hebrews; and if he speaks truly when he says, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father,” “I and the Father are one,” then he is consubstantial, co-eternal, equal, and exactly like God the Father. For light from light is not begotten of another substance, nor later; and “stamp of the hypostasis” shows the sameness and exact likeness of nature, glory, and almighty rule; and a rational image signifies what is equal and like; and whoever sees a creature does not see the uncreated. For he said that the hypostases are one in Godhead, and in a unity of substance he distinguished the persons as two.

[9.] … nor did he beget in a way subject to passion, but as light begets its radiance, impassibly and without separation; for he is incorporeal. And the wise men outside believed, as far as their weakness allowed, thus: “For God immortal is not born from birth-pangs, nor from a womb; he is from himself, being both begetter and son.”

10. If every creature is changeable, but the Only-begotten is unchangeable, then he is not a creature.

[11.] … [no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom] the Son reveals him, while the Son knows him with no one revealing it to him, then he is not created, but begotten ….

12. If the Scriptures know him as equal to the Father — for Paul writes, “He did not count being equal with God a thing to be grasped,” and, “In him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead”; and the evangelist says that “the Son made himself equal to God”; and if Jeremiah calls him God, beside whom no other will be reckoned, and Isaiah calls him God, mighty, holder of authority — how, according to the heretics, does he fall short, and how is he not equal to the Father in all things?

[13.] … considers the [new] preaching, that concerning Christ and the Holy Spirit, superior, because it contains what is perfect, as was shown in the thirtieth discourse; it is fitting that the Son and the Spirit in every way and altogether fall short of God the Father in nothing.

14. If Paul enjoins those who believe in the Son to escape the charge of creature-worship, and moreover calls those godless who before this had known only God the Father apart from the Son, then God the Word is not a creature.

15. If the Jews, having disbelieved Christ when he made himself equal to God, and having crucified him for this reason, were condemned, while Christians, having believed, have become higher than they, then the Son is not less than his own Father in anything.

16. If being praised as “great God” is a prerogative of the only God, and Paul proclaims, “of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,” and David, “Who is like you among the gods, O Lord?” then [the Father] is not more exalted than the Son, nor incomparable with him.

17. If the same Paul does not number him with the created gods, but ranks him with the Father, writing to the Corinthians, “For although there are many so-called gods and many lords, in heaven and on earth, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things,” then he will not be ranked among things made, but will be glorified together with the Father.

18. If the Son is the maker of all things, and of the ages themselves, as has been written, he is before every activity; and one who is before every activity was not made. For nothing created is thought of as before the ages or before activity, but only the uncreated Trinity in unity. And in another way: if he is the author of the coming-into-being of all that exists, he is not created as these things are. For in no respect can the Creator be, or ought he to be, similar to creatures. Nor does a creature give being by making, or bring a rational being to completion.

19. If he was in the beginning, God with God, he himself has no other beginning, being older than every beginning; otherwise one must necessarily assign a beginning to the Father too. For “he was,” it says, “in the beginning, God with God.” But there is no beginning of the one Godhead which is in the beginning.

20. If it is beyond the reach of every mind how the Virgin bore without flux and remained a virgin again, much more unattainable is how God the Father, self-existent, has without beginning and without passion begotten the Son, whole from his whole self, in equal measure.

21. If, having formed us, he made us free, appointing judgment on good and evil action, how does he who gave this to us, who according to the prophecy is God, mighty, holder of authority, not himself have it?

22. If Peter is to be believed when he says in the Acts that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name, then the name “God” and “only-begotten Son of God” is a true name for him; for a false name profits nothing.

23. If the God who does not lie speaks truly — he who destroys those who speak lies, as the sacred psalmist says — when he says in the Theologian’s Gospel, “All that the Father has is mine,” and, “Mine are yours, and yours are mine,” then he is God, Lord without beginning, whose kingdom is without end, and all that the Father is, having received nothing from him according to the divine nature, but according to the form of the servant taken later. As for what concerns the truth that ever reigns above and that below ….

[24.] … not a [stranger], but a genuine Son. And if not a servant, but a Son, he is God without beginning. For a son is begotten, not created; and of the created things that are under time it is written, “All things are your servants.”

25. If Paul said of the Father, as of something great (and it truly is great and belongs to God alone), “Who is over all and through all and in all,” and he himself has written the same of the Son, “From them, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed for ever. Amen”; and the evangelist says, “He who comes from above is above all,” then he does not stand apart in anything, nor fall short of the Father. And it is worth observing how reverently the theologians of the Greeks, who heard much, read not a little, and saw a great deal, regard these things. For they say: “All things are full of God; he is the end and the beginning of all, bearing all, and dissolving, and from them increasing again.”

26. If creation is written to be the Son’s own (for it says, “He came to his own”; and again, “My sheep hear my voice”; and to Peter, “I will give you the keys of heaven”), and it does not belong to a creature that the whole divine creation is its own, or to give authority to open heaven, or rather to say this without danger, [then] he shares the lordship with the Almighty ….

27. If the immortal is not superior to God the Word, and if neither God nor soulless flesh ever needs food or sleep, then the ineffable incarnation was not without a soul; nor indeed should agony, the desire for food, sleep, and such things be ascribed to the Godhead.

28. If, as it is written, he sits at the right hand of the Father as true God, equal in honor, and his only-begotten Son, then he shares the throne, possessing the kingdom undivided and boundless, and he and the Spirit of God share it with the Father. For how could the one God be worshiped before the one eternal throne, while the Trinity is present on one throne, the worship being made toward the east and the glory being sent up? For that where the Father is, there his Spirit is too, found seated with him and worshiped together with him, as belonging to the royal nature that rules all, has been proclaimed from many texts, and from the Scripture that says, “For by this we know that God is in us, from his Spirit, whom the Son has given us.” For our own spirit is not meant; for having that already, we received the Holy Spirit of God.

29. If it is the Father’s will that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father, he exists in equal glory and in one property with the Father; and they do not act piously who either alter his glory or suppose that he differs from him in anything.

30. If he is worshiped by angels, how is he not worthy to be worshiped by men too? And if he is worshiped, he is not a creature.

31. If God the Father is in him, and he equally in the Father, and the Spirit of God abides with him, as has been shown, then the Trinity is equal and alike; and no one can have, or worship, or glorify the Father who does not equally have his Son and his Spirit, and equally worship and glorify them.

32. If the Son and the Holy Spirit give law and set free from sins and from death (“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,” it says, “has set me free from the law of sin and death,” Paul cries), then these hypostases belong to the first and one almighty and life-giving nature. For a creature cannot do these things of itself.

33. If it is rightly written that the Son is Savior and that the Holy Spirit supplies salvation, [the Spirit] is unchangeable and uncreated, as the Son and the Spirit are both unchangeable. For what is changeable cannot save those who have fallen, being created and not sinless.

34. If we who are created are made sons by the Son, as those who initiate us into the mysteries say (Paul: “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father”; John: “But to all who received him he gave power to become children of God”), then these hypostases in no way fall short of true Godhead. For how will the Son be made a son in himself, or through himself, or in his own Spirit?

35. If Paul says that the Holy Spirit is “the Spirit of God,” as ours is ours, and if God likewise calls it “his Spirit,” he is impious who does not call it God, co-eternal and consubstantial with the Father. For there was not a time when he was without his Spirit, nor is it fitting to think that it came to him later or from outside, or that the Spirit of the uncreated is a created spirit; rather, it has ridden with him upon the cherubic throne, and is worshiped and glorified together with him, as has been said, since it is his inseparable Spirit.

36. If creation is receptive of holiness, wisdom, goodness, and every perfect virtue (for it is changeable), but the Holy Spirit is not receptive but bestowing (for it is unchangeable), then it is Creator, and not itself a thing created in its existence, according to what was said before.

[37.] … has knowledge [that can be lost], but the Spirit neither had it from outside nor is its nature to cast knowledge away, but rather to reveal the things of the wisdom and knowledge of God, and it belongs to the Father in substance; therefore the Spirit is not a creature. And let us listen also to the Greek wise sayings on this, which run thus: ….

38. If the servant does not know what his lord is doing, but the Spirit knows the things of God, according to the Apostle, then it is not separated from him in nature and in concord, but is confessedly God and Master, having knowledge equal to God’s, which is impossible and out of the question for any created being.

39. If the Scriptures know this [Spirit] as one and only, as they know the Son too as only-begotten, it is not created like the multitude of spirits, but belongs to the unique divine substance. Therefore it alone is properly and strictly, and is called, the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit of the Father, and the Spirit of God, and the Spirit that is from God, and the Spirit who proceeds from the Father; and from its being in all, as God is, we know that God is in us.

40. If the Trinity has been equally attested to be truth, goodness, and holy, it is in one Godhead, having nothing divided. For the unchangeable divine truth, goodness, and holiness is one. For creation has these by participation, and changes in them by its own choice, now speaking truth and now lying, now becoming good and now becoming evil. On this too the choicest of those outside appear to have said: “For such is the mind of earthly men, as [the father of men and gods brings upon them each day].”

41. If, as it is written, the Holy Spirit renews us in baptism and sets us free from sin and death, and we are its temple just as we are God the Father’s, then as Creator and fellow-worker with the Creator it creates anew, as Master it sets free, and as God it dwells within. And one who is these things cannot be a thing made like things made; nor is it right to say this, or in silence to endure hearing it.

42. If, together with God the Father and his Son, the Holy Spirit through baptism re-forms us to the first image, and through participation is the cause for us of adoption and of becoming gods, of making sons or making gods, how is it not itself true God?

[43.] … with God the Father, and the Spirit is mentioned; therefore, as equal in honor and equal in power with the Father and the Only-begotten, it is God.

44. If it is attested [that the Spirit sent] the prophets and apostles [as do the] Father and the Son, it has done these things as God, in agreement in all things with the Father, and as one who foreknows and is Master of creation.

45. If what is now said of the Father or of the Son is at another time recorded of the Holy Spirit, it is impossible, out of the question, that it should not belong, with no difference, to the one self-complete Godhead and will and glory of the Father and the Son. For things equal to the same thing, they say, are also equal to one another.

46. If none of the heavenly powers can bestow heavenly gifts, but the Spirit of God grants by its own authority what only the divine nature can give, then it is all-sufficient God, and holds authority even over the things in heaven, and is consubstantial with the Father and the Son.

47. If nothing invisible or visible is called divine and truth in the sacred writings except the Father, and his Holy Spirit, and the Only-begotten, … is of the substance.

[48.] … of all things in things made, the powers of the heavens are in the Spirit of God, it cannot be a thing made, but a fellow-worker and equal worker with the Creator.

49. If it fills the world and contains all things, according to the Wisdom that says this, [it is] Creator, of the one supreme, venerable, incomprehensible, unapproachable, untouchable, and formless substance; and it is not circumscribed by place, but it has encompassed this universe.

50. If Scripture does not divide the Trinity in nature, nor define in it a first, second, and third nature, what argument do they have against those who believe that it is united in substance but distinguished in the properties of the hypostases?

51. If the devil was shown in Job to be the first creature, [then] the Spirit is not a creature, but of the substance of the Monad. For they would not say that the devil was created before it, and that he once obtained the higher rank and the divine Spirit the lower.

52. If, just as the Passover was from the beginning [celebrated] even by the Jews for the glory and worship of God, so also Pentecost for that of the Holy Spirit, how is it not co-eternal with him, God ever to be remembered?

53. If the oracles mention to us the seal of the Holy Spirit just as the seal from the Father and the Son, it is not among things made, but in equal honor and thanksgiving. For [no one would put] the seal of a thing made together with the seal of God …, as being by itself unable to save.

54. If every blasphemy is forgiven to men, but that against the Spirit of God is unforgivable, then it is not a lesser God. And it is blasphemy not to call it God. For the blasphemy is carried up also to the Almighty, whose breath it is.

55. If the heretics keep inviolate both the command of the Father, who says, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him,” and the Son’s tradition concerning baptism, why do they not confess the Trinity as inseparable in nature, equal in honor and equal in power, and [baptize] with equal honor? For he taught one name, that is, the name of the one Godhead, but three hypostases, keeping for each its equality of honor.