Table of Contents
- Is the Trinity the One God
- Scriptural Use
- Patristic Use
- Essence is Not an Entity
Is the Trinity the One God?
The scriptural use of the term “One God” has traditionally referred specifically to the Father. When speaking of God as a personal entity, it is the Father who is identified as that one God. However, because the Father is intrinsically united to and dependent upon His Word and His Spirit, there are occasions where the entire Trinity—the Father, the Word, and the Spirit—is described as that one God. That said, such instances where the Trinity as a whole is called “one God” are less frequent than is often assumed.
Scriptural Use
- Malachi 3:1: God speaks about Himself.
- Unpacked in the New Testament by Matthew 11:10 and Mark 1:2, where the Father speaks to His Son — indicating God is two persons.
- Zechariah 2:8-9: YHWH is sent by YHWH.
- Genesis 19:24: YHWH comes from YHWH.
- Deuteronomy 6:4: Affirms there is One God, YHWH.
- Further explained in 1 Corinthians 8:6, which references two persons within this one God.
Patristic Use
Irenaues of Lyons
“…which distributes the Unity into a Trinity, placing in their order the three Persons— the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost: three, however, not in condition, but in degree; not in substance, but in form; not in power, but in aspect; YET OF ONE SUBSTANCE, and of one condition, and of one power, inasmuch as He is one God, from whom these degrees and forms and aspects are reckoned, under the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
Tertullian of Carthage
47. So then the Father is Lord and the Son is Lord,177 and the Father is God and the Son is God; for that which is begotten of God is God.178 And so in the substance and power of His being there is shown forth one God; but there is also according to the economy of our redemption both Son and Father.
Even an Orthodox Saint, Gregory Palamas:
- But, O God of all, Thou who alone art the Bestower and Preserver of genuine theology and of the dogmas and expressions related to it; Thou who art the Most Monarchial Trinity,19 not only because Thou alone reignest over all, but also because Thou hast one single origin in Thine own self, the origin prior to all origination, the only uncaused Monad, from whom originate and back to whom refer, timelessly and causelessly, the Son and the Spirit. (pp. 59-60)
- from the only God, from the Most High Trinity?…It is principally for this reason that we boldly say that the one Cause, with those who are caused by Him, are one God.”60 (p. 68)
- For if He was also from the Son, then each would not be from one person immediately, nor would we have the boldness to say that we revere one origin of divinity and affirm that the three persons are one God. (p. 211)
(St. Gregory Palamas, Apodictic Treatises on the Procession of the Holy Spirit)
Gregory of Nazianzus:
When I speak of God, let yourselves be surrounded with a lightening flash of light that is both one and three: three in properties, or indeed in hypostases, if one wants to call them that, or persons—for we will not become involved in a battle over names, as long as the syllables point towards the same notions—and one with regard to the concept of substance, or indeed divinity. It is divided without division, if I may speak in this way, and is joined together in the midst of distinction. The divinity is one in three, and the three are one—in whom the divinity exists, or, to speak more accurately, who are the divinity.
But WHEN I SAY GOD, I MEAN FATHER, SON AND HOLY GHOST. For Godhead is neither diffused beyond these, so as to bring in a mob of gods; nor yet is it bounded by a smaller compass than these, so as to condemn us for a poverty-stricken conception of Deity; either Judaizing to save the Monarchia, or falling into heathenism by the multitude of our gods. For the evil on either side is the same, though found in contrary directions. This then is the Holy of Holies, which is hidden even from the Seraphim, and is glorified with a thrice repeated Holy, meeting in one ascription of the Title Lord and God, as one of our predecessors has most beautifully and loftily pointed out…
And now we have both seen and proclaim concisely and simply the doctrine of God the Trinity, comprehending out of Light (the Father), Light (the Son), in Light (the Holy Ghost).
“This is my position on these matters, and I would that it were also that of my friends: to worship God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit—three hypostases, one Godhead (σέβειν Θεὸν τὸν Πατέρα, Θεὸν τὸν Υἱὸν, Θεὸν τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ Ἅγιον, τρεῖς ἰδιότητας, θεότητα μίαν).”
(Oration 31, section 28) (Patrologiae Cursus Completus – Series Graeca – Volume 36 – Gregory of Nazianzus 2)
Unlike In Oration 25, where Gregory is arguing against modalism and defending the Monarchy of the Father (thus he’s cautious about how divine titles are applied when the Persons are mentioned together, especially with reference to worship and divine identity), here in Oration 31, Gregory is combating Eunomianism (aka radical arianism) , which denied the full divinity of the Son (Arianism) and the Spirit (Pneumatomachianism). So his rhetorical priority here is affirming the full consubstantial divinity of each hypostasis — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — not just the Father.
John of Damascus also:
For God, Who alone is without beginning, is Himself the Creator of all things, whether age or any other existing thing. And when I say God, it is evident that I mean the Father and His Only begotten Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ, and His all-holy Spirit, our one God.
An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book 2, Ch. 1
Therefore, he’s using the repeated title “God” (Θεός) in this context to:
- Assert the full deity of each person;
- Refute subordinationism or any lesser status in essence;
- Emphasize that each person is truly God.
This is common in the patristic strategy: they modulate language based on the heresy being refuted.
Essence is not an entity
The essence (οὐσία) and the hypostases (persons) are distinct in concept, but inseparable in reality which is why we can speak of/to the essence as a personal entity.
So, the rule (that the noun “God” is not applied to multiple Persons nominally in the same clause without distinction) is not violated in a doctrinal sense — because Gregory immediately qualifies his usage by insisting that the Godhead is one, despite the three hypostases.