Ye that are strong with all might in the inner man ought by
rights to carry on the struggle against the enemies of the truth, and not
to shrink from the task, that we fathers may be gladdened by the noble
toil of our sons; for this is the prompting of the law of nature: but as
you turn your ranks, and send against us the assaults of those darts which
are hurled by the opponents of the truth, and demand that their "hot burning
coals"1 and their shafts sharpened by knowledge falsely so called should
be quenched with the shield of faith by us old men, we accept your command,
and make ourselves an example of obedience2 , in order that you may yourself
give us the just requital on like commands, Ablabius, noble soldier of
Christ, if we should ever summon you to such a contest.
In truth, the question you propound to us is no small one, nor such
that but small harm will follow if it meets with insufficient treatment.
For by the force of the question, we are at first sight compelled to accept
one or other of two erroneous opinions, and either to say "there are three
Gods," which is unlawful, or not to acknowledge the Godhead of the Son
and the Holy Spirit, which is impious and absurd.
The argument which you state is something like this:-Peter, James, and
John, being in one human nature, are called three men: and there is no
absurdity in describing those who are united in nature, if they are more
than one, by the plural number of the name derived from their nature. If,
then, in the above case, custom admits this, and no one forbids us to speak
of those who are two as two, or those who are more than two as three, how
is it that in the case of our statements of the mysteries of the Faith,
though confessing the Three Persons, and acknowledging no difference of
nature between them, we are in some sense at variance with our confession,
when we say that the Godhead of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Ghost is one, and yet forbid men to say "there are three Gods"? The question
is, as I said, very difficult to deal with: yet, if we should be able to
find anything that may give support to the uncertainty of our mind, so
that it may no longer totter and waver in this monstrous dilemma, it would
be well: on the other hand, even if our reasoning be found unequal to the
problem, we must keep for ever, firm and unmoved, the tradition which we
received by succession from the fathers, and seek from the Lord the reason
which is the advocate of our faith: and if this be found by any of those
endowed with grace, we must give thanks to Him who bestowed the grace;
but if not, we shall none the less, on those points which have been determined,
hold our faith unchangeably.
What, then, is the reason that when we count one by one those who are
exhibited to us in one nature, we ordinarily name them in the plural and
speak of "so many men," instead of calling them all one: while in the case
of the Divine nature our doctrinal definition rejects the plurality of
Gods, at once enumerating the Persons, and at the same time not admitting
the plural signification? Perhaps one might seem to touch the point if
he were to say (speaking offhand to straightforward people), that the definition
refused to reckon Gods in any number to avoid any resemblance to the polytheism
of the heathen, lest, if we too were to enumerate the Deity, not in the
singular, but in the plural, as they are accustomed to do, there might
be supposed to be also some community of doctrine. This answer, I say,
if made to people of a more guileless spirit, might seem to be of some
weight: but in the case of the others who require that one of the alternatives
they propose should be established (either that we should not acknowledge
the Godhead in Three Persons, or that, if we do, we should speak of those
who share in the same Godhead as three), this answer is not such as to
furnish any solution of the difficulty. And hence we must needs make our
reply at greater length, tracing out the truth as best we may; for the
question is no ordinary one.
We say, then, to begin with, that the practice of calling those who
are not divided3 in nature by the very name of their common nature in the
plural, and saying they are "many men," is a customary abuse of language,
and that it would be much the same thing to say they are "many human natures."
And the truth of this we may see from the following instance. When we address
any one, we do not call him by the name of his nature, in order that no
confusion may result from the community of the name, as would happen if
every one of those who hear it were to think that he himself was the person
addressed, because the call is made not by the proper appellation but by
the common name of their nature: but we separate him from the multitude
by using that name which belongs to him as his own;-that, I mean, which
signifies the particular subject. Thus there are many who have shared in
the nature-many disciples, say, or apostles, or martyrs-but the man in
them all is one; since, as has been said, the term "man" does not belong
to the nature of the individual as such, but to that which is common. For
Luke is a man, or Stephen is a man; but it does not follow that if any
one is a man he is therefore Luke or Stephen: but the idea of the persons
admits of that separation which is made by the peculiar attributes considered
in each severally, and when they are combined is presented to us by means
of number; yet their nature is one, at union in itself, and an absolutely
indivisible unit, not capable of increase by addition or of diminution
by subtraction, but in its essence being and continually remaining one,
inseparable even though it appear in plurality, continuous, complete, and
not divided with the individuals who participate in it. And as we speak
of a people, or a mob, or an army, or an assembly in the singular in every
case, while each of these is conceived as being in plurality, so according
to the more accurate expression, "man" would be said to be one, even though
those who are exhibited to us in the same nature make up a plurality. Thus
it would be much better to correct our erroneous habit, so as no longer
to extend to a plurality the name of the nature, than by our bondage to
habit to transfer4 to our statements concerning God the error which exists
in the above case. But since the correction of the habit is impracticable
(for how could you persuade any one not to speak of those who are exhibited
in the same nature as "many men"?-indeed, in every case habit is a thing
hard to change), we are not so far wrong in not going contrary to the prevailing
habit in the case of the lower nature, since no harm results from the mistaken
use of the name: but in the case of the statement concerning the Divine
nature the various use5 of terms is no longer so free from danger: for
that which is of small account is in these subjects no longer a small matter.
Therefore we must confess one God, according to the testimony of Scripture,
"Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord," even though the name of
Godhead extends through the Holy Trinity. This I say according to the account
we have given in the case of human nature, in which we have learnt that
it is improper to extend the name of the nature by the mark of plurality.
We must, however, more carefully examine the name of "Godhead," in order
to obtain, by means of the significance involved in the word, some help
towards clearing up the question before us.
Most men think that the word "Godhead" is used in a peculiar degree
in respect of nature: and just as the heaven, or the sun, or any other
of the constituent parts of the universe are denoted by proper names which
are significant of the subjects, so they say that in the case of the Supreme
and Divine nature, the word "Godhead" is fitly adapted to that which it
represents to us, as a kind of special name. We, on the other hand, following
the suggestions of Scripture, have learnt that that nature is unnameable
and unspeakable, and we say that every term either invented by the custom6
of men, or handed down to us by the Scriptures, is indeed explanatory of
our conceptions of the Divine Nature7 , but does not include the signification
of that nature itself. And it may be shown without much difficulty that
this is the case. For all other terms which are used of the creation may
be found, even without analysis of their origin, to be applied to the subjects
accidentally, because we are content to denote the things in any way by
the word applied to them so as to avoid confusion in our knowledge of the
things signified. But all the terms that are employed to lead us to the
knowledge of God have comprehended in them each its own meaning, and you
cannot find any word among the terms especially applied to God which is
without a distinct sense. Hence it is clear that by any of the terms we
use the Divine nature itself is not signified, but some one of its surroundings
is made known. For we say, it may be, that the Deity is incorruptible,
or powerful, or whatever else we are accustomed to say of Him. But in each
of these terms we find a peculiar sense, fit to be understood or asserted
of the Divine nature, yet not expressing that which that nature is in its
essence. For the subject, whatever it may be, is incorruptible: but our
conception of incorruptibility is this,-that that which is, is not resolved
into decay: so, when we say that He is incorruptible, we declare what His
nature does not suffer, but we do not express what that is which does not
suffer corruption. Thus, again, if we say that He is the Giver of life,
though we show by that appellation what He gives, we do not by that word
declare what that is which gives it. And by the same reasoning we find
that all else which results from the significance involved in the names
expressing the Divine attributes either forbids us to conceive what we
ought not to conceive of the Divine nature, or teaches us that which we
ought to conceive of it, but does not include an explanation of the nature
itself. Since, then, as we perceive the varied operations of the power
above us, we fashion our appellations from the several operations that
are known to us, and as we recognize as one of these that operation of
surveying and inspection, or, as one might call it, beholding, whereby
He surveys all things and overlooks them all, discerning our thoughts,
and even entering by His power of contemplation into those things which
are not visible, we suppose that Godhead, or qeo/thj, is so called from
qe/a, or beholding, and that He who is our qeath/j or beholder, by customary
use and by the instruction of the Scriptures, is called qeo/j, or God.
Now if any one admits that to behold and to discern are the same thing,
and that the God Who superintends all things, both is and is called the
superintender of the universe, let him consider this operation, and judge
whether it belongs to one of the Persons whom we believe in the Holy Trinity,
or whether the power extends8 throughout the Three Persons. For if our
interpretation of the term Godhead, or qeo/thj, is a true one, and the
things which are seen are said to be beheld, or qeata/, and that which
beholds them is called qeo/j, or God, no one of the Persons in the Trinity
could reasonably be excluded from such an appellation on the ground of
the sense involved in the word. For Scripture attributes the act of seeing
equally to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. David says, "See, O God our defender9
": and from this we learn that sight is a proper operation of the idea10
of God, so far as God is conceived, since he says, "See, O God." But Jesus
also sees the thoughts of those who condemn Him, and questions why by His
own power He pardons the sins of men? for it says, "Jesus, seeing their
thoughts11 ." And of the Holy Spirit also, Peter says to Ananias, "Why
hath Satan filled thine heart, to lie to the Holy Ghost?12 " showing that
the Holy Spirit was a true witness, aware of what Ananias had dared to
do in secret, and by Whom the manifestation of the secret was made to Peter.
For Ananias became a thief of his own goods, secretly, as he thought, from
all men, and concealing his sin: but the Holy Spirit at the same moment
was in Peter, and detected his intent, dragged down as it was to avarice,
and gave to Peter front Himself13 the power of seeing the secret, while
it is clear that He could not have done this had He not been able to behold
hidden things.
But some one will say that the proof of our argument does not yet regard
the question. For even if it were granted that the name of "Godhead" is
a common name of the nature, it would not be established that we should
not speak of "Gods": but by these arguments, on the contrary, we are compelled
to speak of "Gods": for we find in the custom of mankind that not only
those who are partakers14 in the same nature, but even any who may be of
the same business, are not, when they are many, spoken of in the singular;
as we speak of "many orators," or "surveyors," or "farmers," or "shoemakers,"
and so in all other cases. If, indeed, Godhead were an appellation of nature,
it would be more proper, according to the argument laid down, to include
the Three Persons in the singular number, and to speak of "One God," by
reason of the inseparability and indivisibility of the nature: but since
it has been established by what has been said, that the term "Godhead"
is significant of operation, and not of nature, the argument from what
has been advanced seems to turn to the contrary conclusion, that we ought
therefore all the more to call those "three Gods" who are contemplated
in the same operation, as they say that one would speak of "three philosophers"
or "orators," or any other name derived from a business when those who
take part in the same business are more than one.
I have taken some pains, in setting forth this view, to bring forward
the reasoning on behalf of the adversaries, that our decision may be the
more firmly fixed, being strengthened by the more elaborate contradictions.
Let us now resume our argument.
As we have to a certain extent shown by our statement that the word
"Godhead" is not significant of nature but of operation, perhaps one might
reasonably allege as a cause why, in the case of men, those who share with
one another in the same pursuits are enumerated and spoken of in the plural,
while on the other hand the Deity is spoken of in the singular as one God
and one Godhead, even though the Three Persons are not separated from the
significance expressed by the term "Godhead,"-one might allege, I say,
the fact that men, even if several are engaged in the same form of action,
work separately each by himself at the task he has undertaken, having no
participation in his individual action with others who are engaged in the
same occupation. For instance, supposing the case of several rhetoricians,
their pursuit, being one, has the same name in the numerous cases: but
each of those who follow it works by himself, this one pleading on his
own account, and that on his own account. Thus, since among men the action
of each in the same pursuits is discriminated, they are properly called
many, since each of them is separated from the others within his own environment,
according to the special character of his operation. But in the case of
the Divine nature we do not similarly learn that the Father does anything
by Himself in which the Son does not work conjointly, or again that the
Son has any special operation apart from the Holy Spirit; but every operation
which extends from God to the Creation, and is named according to our variable
conceptions of it, has its origin from the Father, and proceeds through
the Son, and is perfected in the Holy Spirit. For this reason the name
derived from the operation is not divided with regard to the number of
those who fulfil it, because the action of each concerning anything is
not separate and peculiar, but whatever comes to pass, in reference either
to the acts of His providence for us, or to the government and constitution
of the universe, comes to pass by the action of the Three, yet what does
come to pass is not three things. We may understand the meaning of this
from one single instance. From Him, I say, Who is the chief source of gifts,
all things which have shared in this grace have obtained their life. When
we inquire, then, whence this good gift came to us, we find by the guidance
of the Scriptures that it was from the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Yet
although we set forth Three Persons and three names, we do not consider
that we have had bestowed upon us three lives, one from each Person separately;
but the same life is wrought in us by the Father, and prepared by the Son,
and depends on the will of the Holy Spirit. Since then the Holy Trinity
fulfils every operation in a manner similar to that of which I have spoken,
not by separate action according to the number of the Persons, but so that
there is one motion and disposition of the good will which is communicated
from the Father through the Son to the Spirit (for as we do not call those
whose operation gives one life three Givers of life, neither do we call
those who are contemplated in one goodness three Good beings, nor speak
of them in the plural by any of their other attributes); so neither can
we call those who exercise this Divine and superintending power and operation
towards ourselves and all creation, conjointly and inseparably, by their
mutual action, three Gods. For as when we learn concerning the God of the
universe, from the words of Scripture, that He judges all the earth15 ,
we say that He is the Judge of all things through the Son: and again, when
we hear that the Father judgeth no man16 , we do not think that the Scripture
is at variance with itself,-(for He Who judges all the earth does this
by His Son to Whom He has committed all judgment; and everything which
is done by the Only-begotten has its reference to the Father, so that He
Himself is at once the Judge of all things and judges no man, by reason
of His having, as we said, committed all judgment to the Son, while all
the judgment of the Son is conformable to the will of the Father; and one
could not properly say either that They are two judges, or that one of
Them is excluded from the authority and power implied in judgment);-so
also in the case of the word "Godhead," Christ is the power of God and
the wisdom of God, and that very power of superintendence and beholding
which we call Godhead, the Father exercises through the Only-begotten,
while the Son perfects every power by the Holy Spirit, judging, as Isaiah
says, by the Spirit of judgment and the Spirit of burning17 , and acting
by Him also, according to the saying in the Gospel which was spoken to
the Jews. For He says, "If I by the Spirit of God cast out devils18 ";
where He includes every form of doing good in a partial description, by
reason of the unity of action: for the name derived from operation cannot
be divided among many where the result of their mutual operation is one.
Since, then, the character of the superintending and beholding power
is one, in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as has been said in our previous
argument, issuing from the Father as from a spring, brought into operation
by the Son, and perfecting its grace by the power of the Spirit; and since
no operation is separated in respect of the Persons, being fulfilled by
each individually apart from that which is joined with Him in our contemplation,
but all providence, care, and superintendence of all, alike of things in
the sensible creation and of those of supramundane nature, and that power
which preserves the things which are, and corrects those which are amiss,
and instructs those which are ordered aright, is one, and not three, being,
indeed, directed by the Holy Trinity, yet not severed by a threefold division
according to the number of the Persons contemplated in the Faith, so that
each of the acts, contemplated by itself, should be the work of the Father
alone, or of the Son peculiarly, or of the Holy Spirit19 separately, but
while, as the Apostle says, the one and the selfsame Spirit divides His
good gifts to every man severally20 , the motion of good proceeding from
the Spirit is not without beginning;-we find that the power which we conceive
as preceding this motion, which is the Only-begotten God, is the maker
of all things; without Him no existent thing attains to the beginning of
its being: and, again, this same source of good issues from the will of
the Father.
If, then, every good thing and every good name, depending on that power
and purpose which is without beginning, is brought to perfection in the
power of the Spirit through the Only-begotten God, without mark of time
or distinction (since there is no delay, existent or conceived, in the
motion of the Divine will from the Father, through the Son, to the Spirit):
and if Godhead also is one of the good names and concepts, it would not
be proper to divide the name into a plurality, since the unity existing
in the action prevents plural enumeration. And as the Saviour of all men,
specially of them that believe21 , is spoken of by the Apostle as one,
and no one from this phrase argues either that the Son does not save them
who believe, or that salvation is given to those who receive it without
the intervention of the Spirit; but God who is over all, is the Saviour
of all, while the Son works salvation by means of the grace of the Spirit,
and yet they are not on this account called in Scripture three Saviours
(although salvation is confessed to proceed from the Holy Trinity): so
neither are they called three Gods, according to the signification assigned
to the term "Godhead," even though the aforesaid appellation attaches to
the Holy Trinity.
It does not seem to me absolutely necessary, with a view to the present
proof of our argument, to contend against those who oppose us with the
assertion that we are not to conceive "Godhead" as an operation. For we,
believing the Divine nature to be unlimited and incomprehensible, conceive
no comprehension ofit, but declare that the nature is to be conceived in
all respects as infinite: and that which is absolutely infinite is not
limited in one respect while it is left unlimited in another, but infinity
is free from limitation altogether. That therefore which is without limit
is surely not limited even by name. In order then to mark the constancy
of our conception of infinity in the case of the Divine nature, we say
that the Deity is above every name: and "Godhead" is a name. Now it cannot
be that the same thing should at once be a name and be accounted as above
every name.
But if it pleases our adversaries to say that the significance of the
term is not operation, but nature, we shall fall back upon our original
argument, that custom applies the name of a nature to denote multitude
erroneously: since according to true reasoning neither diminution nor increase
attaches to any nature, when it is contemplated in a larger or smaller
number. For it is only those things which are contemplated in their individual
circumscription which are enumerated by way of addition. Now this circumscription
is noted by bodily appearance, and size, and place, and difference figure
and colour, and that which is contemplated apart from these conditions
is free from the circumscription which is formed by such categories. That
which is not thus circumscribed is not enumerated, and that which is not
enumerated cannot be contemplated in multitude. For we say that gold, even
though it be cut into many figures, is one, and is so spoken of, but we
speak of many coins or many staters, without finding any multiplication
of the nature of gold by the number of staters; and for this reason we
speak of gold, when it is contemplated in greater bulk, either in plate
or in coin, as "much," but we do not speak of it as "many golds" on account
of the multitude of the material,-except when one says there are "many
gold pieces" (Darics, for instance, or staters), in which case it is not
the material, but the pieces of money to which the significance of number
applies: indeed, properly, we should not call them "gold" but "golden."
As, then, the golden staters are many, but the gold is one, so too those
who are exhibited to us severally in the nature of man, as Peter, James,
and John, are many, yet the man in them is one. And although Scripture
extends the word according to the plural significance, where it says "men
swear by the greater22 ," and "sons of men," and in other phrases of the
like sort, we must recognize that in using the custom of the prevailing
form of speech, it does not lay down a law as to the propriety of using
the words in one way or another, nor does it say these things by way of
giving us instruction about phrases, but uses the word according to the
prevailing custom, with a view only to this, that the word may be profitable
to those who receive it, taking no minute care in its manner of speech
about points where no harm can result from the phrases in respect of the
way they are understood.
Indeed, it would be a lengthy task to set out in detail from the Scriptures
those constructions which are inexactly expressed, in order to prove the
statement I have made; where, however, there is a risk of injury to any
part of the truth, we no longer find in Scriptural phrases any indiscriminate
or indifferent use of words. For this reason Scripture admits the naming
of "men" in the plural, because no one is by such a figure of speech led
astray in his conceptions to imagine a multitude of humanities, or supposes
that many human natures are indicated by the fact that the name expressive
of that nature is used in the plural. But the word "God" it employs studiously
in the singular form only, guarding against introducing the idea of different
natures in the Divine essence by the plural signification of "Gods." This
is the cause why it says, "the Lord our God is one Lord23 ," and also proclaims
the Only-begotten God by the name of Godhead, without dividing the Unity
into a dual signification, so as to call the Father and the Son two Gods,
although each is proclaimed by the holy writers as God. The Father is God:
the Son is God: and yet by the same proclamation God is One, because no
difference either of nature or of operation is contemplated in the Godhead.
For if (according to the idea of those who have been led astray) the nature
of the Holy Trinity were diverse, the number would by consequence be extended
to a plurality of Gods, being divided according to the diversity of essence
in the subjects. But since the Divine, single, and unchanging nature, that
it may be one, rejects all diversity in essence, it does not admit in its
own case the signification of multitude; but as it is called one nature,
so it is called in the singular by all its other names, "God," "Good,"
"Holy," "Saviour," "Just," "Judge," and every other Divine name conceivable:
whether one says that the names refer to nature or to operation, we shall
not dispute the point.
If, however, any one cavils at our argument, on the ground that by not
admitting the difference of nature it leads to a mixture and confusion
of the Persons, we shall make to such a charge this answer;-that while
we confess the invariable character of the nature, we do not deny the difference
in respect of cause, and that which is caused, by which alone we apprehend
that one Person is distinguished from another;-by our belief, that is,
that one is the Cause, and another is of the Cause; and again in that which
is of the Cause we recognize another distinction. For one is directly from
the first Cause, and another by that which is directly from the first Cause;
so that the attribute of being Only-begotten abides without doubt in the
Son, and the interposition of the Son, while it guards His attribute of
being Only-begotten, does not shut out the Spirit from His relation by
way of nature to the Father.
But in speaking of "cause," and "of the cause," we do not by these words
denote nature (for no one would give the same definition of "cause" and
of "nature"), but we indicate the difference in manner of existence. For
when we say that one is "caused," and that the other is "without cause,"
we do not divide the nature by the word "cause24 ", but only indicate the
fact that the Son does not exist without generation, nor the Father by
generation: but we must needs in the first place believe that something
exists, and then scrutinize the manner of existence of the object of our
belief: thus the question of existence is one, and that of the mode of
existence is another. To say that anything exists without generation sets
forth the mode of its existence, but what exists is not indicated by this
phrase. If one were to ask a husbandman about a tree, whether it were planted
or had grown of itself, and he were to answer either that the tree had
not been planted or that it was the result of planting, would he by that
answer declare the nature of the tree? Surely not; but while saying how
it exists he would leave the question of its nature obscure and unexplained.
So, in the other case, when we learn that He is unbegotten, we are taught
in what mode He exists, and how it is fit that we should conceive Him as
existing, but what He is we do not hear in that phrase. When, therefore,
we acknowledge such a distinction in the case of the Holy Trinity, as to
believe that one Person is the Cause, and another is of the Cause, we can
no longer be accused of confounding the definition of the Persons by the
community of nature.
Thus, since on the one hand the idea of cause differentiates the Persons
of the Holy Trinity, declaring that one exists without a Cause, and another
is of the Cause; and since on the one hand the Divine nature is apprehended
by every conception as unchangeable and undivided, for these reasons we
properly declare the Godhead to be one, and God to be one, and employ in
the singular all other names which express Divine attributes.
1 Ps. cxx. 3; the phrase is rendered in A. V. by "coals
of juniper," in the Vulg. by "carbonibus desolatoriis."
2 Reading, with Oehler, eupeiqeiaj.
3 Reading touj mh dihrhmenouj, as Sifanus seems to have
read. The Paris Edit. of 1615 reads rouj dihrhmenouj, which Oehler leaves
uncorrected.
4 Reading with Oehler metabibazein, for the mh metabibazein
of the Paris Edit.
5 Sifanus seems to have read h adiaforoj xrhsij, as he
translates "promiscuus et indifferens nominum usus."
6 Reading with Oehler sunhqeiaj for the ousiaj of the
Paris Edit.
7 Reading with Oehler twn peri qeian fusin nooumenwn,
for twn ti peri thn q. f. nooumenwn in the Paris Edit.
8 Reading with Oehler dihkei for proshkei.
9 Ps. lxxxiv. 9.
10 Reading with Oehler ideaj for idean.
11 S. Matt. ix. 4.
12 Acts v. 3.
13 Reading with Oehler par' eautou for di' eautou.
14 Reading koinwnouj for koinwniaj, with Oehler.
15 Rom. iii. 6.
16 S John v. 22.
17 Is. iv. 4.
18 S Matt. xii. 28.
19 Reading with Oehler, h tou agiou Pneumatoj for h dia
t. ag. Pn.
20 1 Cor. xii. 11.
21 1 Tim. iv. 10.
22 Heb. vi. 16.
23 Deut. vi. 4.
24 The Paris Edit. omits aitiou.
