De Trinitate Et Unitate Dei [Incertus]

On the Trinity and the Unity of God, One Book. Chapter One. — The person of the begotten Son is clearly shown by the beginning of Genesis: for it says, "In the beginning God made heaven and earth" (Gen. 1:1). What other beginning are we to understand but the Son? For He Himself, when asked by the Jews who He was, replied, "The beginning, who also speaks to you" (John 8:25). Therefore the beginning is the Son. Through the Son God made heaven and earth, as the evangelist John relates: "All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made" (John 1:3). The Son of God is Son by nature, not by adoption, as it is written: "Before the morning star I begot you" (Ps. 109:3). God the Father does not have a womb as we do, nor is He to be believed to be corporeal; but by "womb" He wished to signify the substance from which the Son was born. What the Father is, that He begot: God from God, light from light; just as a man begets a man, and a dog begets a dog. It has never been seen that a man begets a dog. And therefore the Father begot the Son not from nothing, nor from any other substance, but from Himself.

Right faith declares that the Holy Spirit is neither unbegotten nor begotten: because if we say unbegotten, we will seem to affirm two fathers; but if begotten, we are blamed for believing in two sons. But what Catholic faith holds is that he is neither unbegotten nor begotten, but proceeding from both, that is, from the Father and the Son. And to confirm this with testimonies, hear our Lord Jesus Christ himself speaking to his disciples: "When the Paraclete comes," he says, "whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me" (John 15:26). And again, our Lord Jesus Christ himself after his resurrection, to show that the Holy Spirit proceeds from him as well as from the Father, breathing on his disciples, says: "Receive the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22). Therefore the Spirit of the Father and the Son is one, one Spirit of both. So that the Spirit belongs to the Father, our Lord and Savior himself says to his disciples: "For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father, who speaks in you" (Matthew 10:20). And that the same Spirit also belongs to the Son, the apostle Paul is witness: "But if anyone," he says, "does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his" (Romans 8:9).

CHAPTER II. — Without doubt, in the name of God, the Father is understood; in the name of the beginning, the Son is understood. Indeed, when it was said, "In the beginning God made heaven and earth," and he subsequently added, "And the Spirit of God was borne over the waters" (Gen. 1:1-2), this is the third person in the Trinity. Therefore, if there were not a threefold person, our Lord Jesus Christ would never have said to his disciples, "Go, baptize all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 28:19). Nor, when the Lord was baptized by John in the Jordan, would a voice from heaven have said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matt. 3:17). Nor would the Holy Spirit be said to have descended upon him in the form of a dove and remained. Therefore, we understand three persons according to the holy Scriptures, that is, that the Father is one, the Son, who was begotten by the Father, is another, and the Holy Spirit is another: not another thing, because they are one in substance. We distinguish persons, we do not separate the divinity. But that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are of one substance, the blessed apostle Paul demonstrates, writing to the Romans about the Son: "Whose fathers," he says, "and from whom Christ according to the flesh, who is above all God blessed forever" (Rom. 9:5). And again in the Gospel according to John: "That they may know you alone, the one true God, and whom you sent, Jesus Christ" (John 17:5): that is, you, and whom you sent, Jesus Christ, the one true God.

And again Scripture says, "That we may be in the true Son of Him, Jesus Christ, He Himself is true God and eternal life" (1 John 5:20). And to show His equality, the Lord Himself says, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30): namely, in nature, not in person. And again He says, "Therefore the Jews sought to kill Jesus, because not only did He break the Sabbath, but also He called His Father God, making Himself equal to God" (John 5:18). And again Paul says, "Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it a usurpation to be equal to God" (Philippians 2:6). It could not be a usurpation where the nature was equal; it was not usurped, but born; He did not seize it, because He truly possessed it. That the Holy Spirit is God, the Acts of the Apostles most openly teach: "Ananias," says Peter, "why did Satan tempt your heart, to lie to the Holy Spirit?" And below, "You have not lied to men, but to God" (Acts 5:3-4). And in the Gospel according to John it says: "The Lord is Spirit" (John 4:24). Paul, writing to the Corinthians, says: "Do you not know that your bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?" The same Paul says, "For you have been bought at a great price, glorify and carry God in your body" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). The Father, I say, is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God: not three gods, but one God, as Moses says: "Hear, O Israel; the Lord your God is one God" (Deuteronomy 6:4).

And so, just as we say not three gods, not three essences, so also not three wisdoms, not three spirits. For when asked about individual persons, whether the Father is wisdom, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit, we answer: the Father is wisdom, the Son is wisdom, the Holy Spirit is wisdom: not three wisdoms, nor three spirits; but one wisdom and one spirit; just as one substance and one essence: because for the Father to be is the same as for the Son of wisdom and the Holy Spirit to be. And although the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equal, the Son nevertheless says, "The Father is greater than I" (John 14:28); and, "I have not come to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me" (John 6:38, 40); and, "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me" (Matthew 26:39); and, "My teaching is not mine, but of him who sent me" (John 7:46). All these things, and others that the Son says, are to be understood and spoken according to the form of a servant which he assumed. Therefore, when the first man was created by God and endowed with free will, and a command was placed upon him, that if he kept what God had commanded him, he would not die the death of the body nor of the soul: but he, disobedient to God's command and puffed up with pride, obeying the persuasion of the serpent, despised the commands. And this was the reason that he incurred the danger of death; and from that one man, the whole human nature was corrupted, and being subject to sin, became mortal.

Hence the Apostle Paul says: Through one man sin entered the world, and through sin death; and death passed through to all men, in whom all men sinned. For just as through one man all men fell into condemnation, so also through the justice of one man all men rose into the justice of life (Rom. 5:12, 18); and again: The first man from the earth is earthly, the second man from heaven is heavenly (1 Cor. 15:47). I call him heavenly, therefore, because he was not conceived from human seed, but from the Virgin Mary, for our salvation, assumed by the Son of God, as John testifies: And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (John 1:14). The Word was made flesh, not changed into flesh, so that it ceased to be what it was, but it began to be what it was not: for it took on flesh, not turned into flesh. We understand this flesh as the whole man, that is, flesh and rational soul: so that just as the first man died in both flesh and soul, so also it was necessary that through the Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, both flesh and soul be given life. Therefore, as we said above, according to the form of the assumption of flesh it was said: The Father is greater than I (John 14:28). It is not to be believed that the Son of God and the Son of Man could be two sons; because they are not two sons, but one. For he who was the Son of God became the Son of Man in the unity of person. Just as soul and flesh are one man, so the Word and the man are one Christ.

We accept two substances in the one Son of God: one of divinity, the other of humanity, not two persons. And if we were to say two persons, we would also introduce two sons of God; and then there would not be a Trinity, but a Quaternity—which God forbid. For indeed, by that which He is God, He is equal to the Father, and is present everywhere, and is whole in heaven, and whole on earth, and is contained in no place; by that which He is man, He suffered and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father, and will come to judge the living and the dead, just as He was seen to ascend into heaven, in the same form of flesh and substance; to which indeed He gave immortality, but did not remove its nature. Although there is one substance, neither the person of the Father nor that of the Holy Spirit, but only that of the Son, assumed flesh. And to understand this, I will use comparisons. Certainly (so that you may understand the Creator from the creature), just as in the soul there is reason, and although they are one, the soul does one thing, reason another; we live by the soul, we are wise by reason: so the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, although they are one substance, the whole Trinity wrought the man, whom not the whole Trinity assumed, but only the person of the Son. The Father begot the Son neither by will nor by necessity. Not by necessity, because necessity is not in God; not by will, because will cannot precede wisdom, which is the Son. Therefore, it is more reasonable to be wise than to will reasonably.

Hence neither by will nor by necessity, but naturally by wisdom alone did the Father beget the Son. Just as the Father has life in himself, so he gave to the Son to have life in himself (John 5:26). We know that the Son of God is not from himself, but was begotten by the Father; the Father, however, was begotten by no one, received life from no one. The Father gave life to the Son by begetting the life which the Father had in himself. Not that the Son was first without life and afterwards received life, as we who through sin lost life and through the grace of the Savior received life. Therefore it is said of him that the Son received life from the Father, because he was not begotten from himself: he did not give to a non-existent being, but by begetting. CHAPTER III.—Since we have persuaded by both speech and testimonies concerning the subjection of the Son, that he is not lesser according to substance, but according to the form of a servant which he assumed, but so that he may be said to be sent, we wish to say something. We know that just as the Son is not said to be sent or lesser according to substance, so neither is the Holy Spirit said to be sent on account of the dove or fire: that is, not in that substance in which he is equal to the Father did he appear; but, as has been said, through a subject creature. For just as the Son assumed a man, to remain forever, so the Holy Spirit did not assume a dove or fire: but those visions were made from a lower creature to manifest the Spirit, and afterwards ceased to exist.

For that incomprehensible and immutable divinity, which is the Trinity God, can never be seen by carnal eyes except, as has been said, through a subject creature. Between the begotten Son and the procession of the Holy Spirit there is this difference: that the Son of God is from the Father as born, not as given; but the Holy Spirit is from the Father and the Son not as born, but as given. The Son, born, is of the Father alone, not of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is of both, that is, of the Father and the Son: because if the Spirit were called Son, he would be called the Son of both. But no son is of two unless of father and mother—which it is unthinkable that anyone should suspect between God the Father and the Son, because not even a human son proceeds simultaneously from both father and mother: for when he proceeds from the father, he does not then proceed from the mother; and when he proceeds from the mother into this light, he does not then proceed also from the father. But the Holy Spirit does not proceed from the Father into the Son, and from the Son proceed to sanctify the creature, but proceeds from both simultaneously. Concerning what is said by John, that the Holy Spirit does not speak from himself, but whatever he hears he will speak (John 16:13): he does not speak from himself, because he is not from himself. For the Father is born from no one, the Son is begotten from the Father, the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son: therefore he does not speak from himself, but whatever he hears he will speak.

To hear is for him to exist; he does not exist from himself, but from the Father: therefore whatever he hears, he will speak. What it is that the Holy Spirit is said to intercede for you, which Paul writes to the Romans: "For we do not know what we ought to pray for as we ought; but the Spirit himself pleads for us with inexpressible groans." But he who searches hearts knows what the Spirit desires, because he pleads for the saints according to God (Rom. 8:26). This manner of speaking, which is frequently found in the Holy Scriptures, is like God says to Abraham, "Now I know that you fear God" (Gen. 22:12), that is, I have made you know; as the Apostle says, "Now knowing God, rather known by God" (Gal. 4:9). Indeed, all things are in the presence of God; future things are present, as if they were already done: how does it say, "known by God," except by God making us know God; thus also here it is written that the Holy Spirit groans for us, that is, makes us groan, by infusing into us charity for God and neighbor: as it is read, "A joyful day," because it makes men joyful. The Father alone is nowhere read as having been sent, but the Apostle writes of the mission of the Son thus: "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, made subject to the law, to redeem those who were under the law" (Ibid. 4:5). That the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, came into the world, the Evangelist testifies, saying, "He was in the world, and the world was made through him" (John 1:10).

And he himself says, "I came forth from the Father, and entered into this world" (John 16:28). Likewise the Evangelist says, "And the world did not know him." Then he adds, "He came into his own" (John 1:10-11). He was certainly sent to that place to which he came: but he was sent into this world, where he already was; yet that this mission is the work of the holy Trinity is not to be doubted by any Catholic. Nowhere is it written that God the Father is greater than the Holy Spirit, or that the Holy Spirit is less than God the Father, because it is not so. For the person of his divinity was assumed by the Son of God from the Virgin Mary into the person of his humanity, and he joined unity and habit forever. Although the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove or of fire, we cannot, however, say that the Holy Spirit is God and a dove, or God and fire, as we say the Son is God and man. On account of these bodily forms, therefore, in which the Holy Spirit appeared, he is said to be sent: not on account of these can he be said to be less than the Father; just as the Son, on account of the form of a servant, which inhered in him to the unity of his person perpetually. But those bodily forms, such as that of a dove or fire, appeared for the time being to demonstrate what was necessary, and afterwards ceased to exist. Should they not have appeared to a creature as was fitting, serving the Creator at his nod, who remains unchangeably in himself, for the purpose of signifying and demonstrating him as it was necessary for mortals to be signified and demonstrated, changed and transformed?

CHAPTER IV.—It is sometimes doubted by some whether the Apostles had the Holy Spirit at the time when they were with Christ the Lord, according to what the Evangelist says, that the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified (John 7:39). And in another place he says, "If you love me, keep my commandments; and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete, to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth: whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see him, nor know him. But you see him, and know him; because he remains with you, and is with you" (John 14:15-17). And also after his resurrection it is read that he breathed on the disciples and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22). At Pentecost, however, it is read that the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles (Acts 2:4). To these things it must be said that the Spirit is one, but has many gifts. There is no doubt that the Holy Spirit was with them: because where Christ is, the Holy Spirit is. And because Christ had promised that the Holy Spirit would come from the Father, his indifferent divinity was not lacking in this. Three forms of the gift of the Holy Spirit in the Apostles are shown: the first of which is that which pertains to ecclesiastical law, in regenerating. Ecclesiastical power is understood to be in the offices of bishops and priests, who ought to do everything in the dominical tradition through the Holy Spirit.

Whence Jesus says to them, "Whose sins you have bound, they shall be bound; and whose you have loosed, they shall be loosed" (John 20:23). The second is that which was given at Pentecost, which is general: for the Holy Spirit descended not only upon the Apostles, but also upon all believers. The third form is that which was granted only to the Apostles or to those ordained at the beginning, in the performance of signs and miracles, until the seeds of faith should be cast for increase. For the seeds of faith are the miracles wrought by the Apostles: the Apostles themselves have been set as overseers of this kind of truth, who by signs and wonders testify that our faith is reasonable. Therefore the Holy Spirit is given to all believers in general, but if He remains in them: in signs and wonders, however, they are proven to be sons of God. Moreover, the Holy Spirit does not always remain in a man, but when called, He comes to suggest what is necessary, and departs. Similarly, in tradition or ordination, He bestows grace and protection from without upon the devout in faith, so that they may be held in greater esteem through His inspiration.

CHAPTER V.—The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one true God, according to what is written: "Hear, O Israel; the Lord your God is one" (Deut. 6:4). And in the Gospel it is written, "That they may know you alone as the true God, and whom you sent, Jesus Christ" (John 17:3). And concerning Christ it is said by the apostle John: "He is the true God, and eternal life" (1 John 5:20). Before all times the Son existed, as is to be understood in this: "In the beginning was the Word," and, "All things were made through him." For time cannot exist without some motions of creatures. And therefore we confess that times, through which all things were made, were made through the Son; hence without doubt the Son is equally born and coeternal with the Father. It is said that the Son of God, by the will and command of the Father, made the heavens, the earth, the visible and invisible, bodies and spirits, from nothing existing, that is, from nothing, so that they might be, by his own power; whereas he himself was not made from nothing existing, that is, from nothing, but is God from God the Father: which thing indicates one and the same nature of the Father and the Son. The Son could not, by himself, as if he did not exist before he was made, be himself the one through whom the same himself was made. Moreover, if the Son was made by someone other than the Father, who is that other, since all things were made through him, that is, through his Word? Before he made all things, he was God and Lord of all future things, king and.

creator was established, and having in his nature foreknowledge of all future things, and in acting, in all things awaiting the Father's command. He himself, by the Father's will, descended from heaven and came into the world, as he himself says: "For I did not come of myself, but he sent me." Indeed, that same Trinity is one, since from him, and through him, and in him are all things. We say that by the Father's command the Son created all things, that he is nothing other than the Word through which all things were made. But that the Father sent the Son, who came with him, he himself testifies who says, "I am not alone, because the Father is with me." Therefore, the nature is never different because the Father sends and the Son is sent. A human father can send a human son, not of one and the same substance, since a man sent by a sending man is separated; which God cannot do. But fire sends its radiance, nor can the radiance be separated from the sending fire. For when fire sends its radiance, the radiance reaches farther from there, where the fire does not reach. Hence the radiance sent from the fire which is in a lamp can truly be said to be on the wall, where without the lamp's fire the fire reaches. Concerning this, the Son says, "Who, however, sent by the Father," the Son says, "The Father is with me." The scribe shamefully disfigures the sentence; nor does he add anything further except excerpts from the same book of Augustine against the Sermon of the Arians, poorly assembled and with truncated or interpolated sentences, unworthy of reading.

which the Son could truly say: "The Father is with me." Therefore, since this sending of the Son by the Father is utterly ineffable and cannot be grasped by any thought, it can also be understood here that the Son is said to be sent by the Father because the Son appeared to men in the flesh, not the Father. For where is the Son sent, where he is not? And where is the Wisdom of God not present? etc. ADMONITION CONCERNING THE FOLLOWING BOOK. This work was falsely attributed not only to Augustine, but also to many other authors equally falsely: Ambrose, Jerome, Anselm, Bonaventure. However, in Jerome it does not exist in its entirety, but only as far as the words, "All these things which were foretold," etc., column 1208, chapter; and in him it is entitled, "Concerning Those Things Which Are Attributed to God in the Scriptures." In Anselm, "Concerning the Garments and Members and Acts Attributed to God." In Bonaventure, "Concerning the Essence and Invisibility and Immensity of God." In the Vatican and Victorine manuscripts under Augustine's name it has the title, "Concerning the Essence of the Divinity and Concerning the Invisibility and Incommutability of God." The first and greatest part of the book is taken from the work of Eucherius of Lyons, "On Spiritual Understanding," and contains the whole first chapter of that same work, which is "Concerning the Divine Names.