Scotus Academicus, Tomus tertius: De adorando divinae Trinitatis mysterio

Note 1. The Catholic truth concerning the mystery of the Trinity is contained chiefly in three heads, namely in the unity of Essence, the distinction of the Persons, and their complete equality. The pagan Philosophers assailed the unity of Essence, for the reason that it seemed to be opposed to all the principles of natural discourse, and even to the very dictate of reason; the Jews for that reason rejected the diversity and real distinction of the persons, because it seemed to introduce a multiplication of the Godhead and to bring in several gods. Finally, various heretics time and again attacked the equality of the Persons, because they could not reconcile it with the procession of one from another. We shall attack the Philosophers and the heretics in what follows; now we must fight with the Jews.

Note 2. Three lights are wont to shine forth by which some truth can be discovered and established, namely Demonstration, Authority, and Persuasion. Demonstration generates knowledge, authority faith, and persuasion opinion and even credulity. Demonstration rests and is strengthened on principles evidently known; authority, on the dignity and probity of the speaker; and finally persuasion, on conjectures, arguments, and likenesses. Demonstration is wholly natural; authority is supernatural, especially in manifesting preternatural truths; and finally persuasion is partly natural: for convincing the Philosophers, persuasion for attracting and inducing them, by proving the mystery of the divine Trinity, is to be determined in what follows. In this Question, however, we must fight chiefly against the Jews and the heretics with the divine authority of the Scriptures.

Note 3. Divine truths are to be drawn chiefly from a twofold source, namely from Sacred Scripture and from the constant and firm tradition; for Scripture is the storehouse and museum in which divine truths are contained and even defended: whence St. Paul, 2. ad Timotheum 3.: all Scripture, divinely inspired, is useful for teaching, for reproving, for correcting, for instructing in justice, that the man of God may be perfect, equipped for every good work: this, however, is distributed into two Testaments, the Old and the New. From this twofold storehouse of divine truth, therefore, as well as from the constant tradition of the Doctors of the Synagogue and of the Church, the faith of the Trinity of persons in the unity of essence is to be established.

First conclusion. — The mystery of the divine Trinity is gathered and proved against the Jews, not obscurely, from the Old Testament. This is common among Catholic Doctors.

It is urged first from that celebrated oracle of Genesis, chap. 1, where God, the creator of all things, speaks thus: let us make man to our image and likeness: and a little after: therefore the Lord God formed man: and again: God created man to his own image and likeness; moreover: let us make him a helper like unto himself: where the verb "let us make" and the pronoun "our" introduce a multitude of Persons; while the words "Lord" and "God" designate the unity of essence.

They reply 1. The modern Doctors of the Jews reply that God spoke thus in the plural number, after the manner namely of Princes and Kings, to show his authority and power. — But that this is openly false is gathered from Scripture itself, which almost always, as Theodoret rightly notes, q. 19 on Genesis, uses the singular number, and scarcely ever speaks in the plural; whence it generally doubles and repeats the singular number in order to express the plural. There must therefore be some mystery in this unusual distinction: surely none other than the very signification of the three divine Persons, in whose invocation man, who was then being formed, was one day to be regenerated through Baptism.

They reply 2. That God addressed the Angels in the aforesaid words, so that they might lend their work to the creating of man, forming namely his body, while he himself created the soul and infused the spirit of life. — On the contrary: Sacred Scripture, in these earlier chapters of Genesis in which the formation of man is contained and explained, attributes it to God alone, constantly affirming that he himself formed, created, and made man: therefore the aforesaid speech is not directed to the Angels. Next, that plural speech "let us make" is directed to those to whose likeness man was formed: but man was not created to the image and likeness of the Angels, but to the image and likeness of God alone, as is evident both from chap. 1.: God created man to his own image and likeness; to the image of God he created him: and from chap. 5.: In the day on which God created man, to the likeness of God he made him. Therefore the aforesaid speech was not directed to the Angels, but only to the three divine Persons, whose likeness man's soul expresses and bears, as will appear below.

Finally they reply: That God, speaking with himself and stirring himself to act, said, "let us make." — But the reply is wholly inept:

For who, says St. Basil, Homil. 9. Hexaemeron, is there — a smith, or a copper-worker, or a carpenter, or certainly a leather-worker and cobbler — who, alone by himself, attended by no one else cooperating with him, and sitting among the instruments of his craft: who, I say, mutters to himself alone, saying: let us make a sword, or let us put together a plow, or let us make a shoe? and does he not rather, in silence, when it pleases him, perform the operation suited to his art? It is surely a remarkable thing that nowhere is anyone found who gives orders to himself.

Secondly, the plurality of the divine persons is gathered from that passage of Genesis 11.: Come, let us go down and there confound their language: from which the holy Fathers — Nyssenus, lib. De Trin., Basil, lib. 5. Contra Eunomium — infer the Trinity of Persons; but especially Chrysostom, Serm. De Trinit., where he weighs the aforesaid words thus:

by saying, "come," he calls them, exhorting them as equals in honor; for if he had commanded Angels, he ought not to have said, "come," but, commanding, "go." See, I beg you, how the voice of the Father calls the Son and the Holy Spirit; for if this had been said to one alone, he ought to have said, "come," and "let us go down"; but because he said, "come," it is the voice of one, and of two equal men.

Thirdly, the holy Fathers urge the same from that passage of Genesis 18., where it is said that the Lord appeared to Abraham; it is then added: three men appeared to him standing near him; whom when he had seen, he ran to meet them from the door of the tent, and adored prostrate on the ground, and said: Lord, if I have found grace in your eyes, do not pass by your servant, etc. By which words it is established that Abraham understood that God had appeared to him in those three; and in the singular number he directed his prayers to one only, as to God: whence St. Augustine, lib. 2. De Trin., cap. 12., says: That three men were seen, and no one among them is said to be greater than the rest in form, or age, or power: why should we not here accept the equality of the Trinity as visibly intimated through a visible creature, and in three Persons one and the same substance? The same is weighed by St. Cyril of Alexandria, lib. 1. Contra Iulianum, about the middle: They were three, he says, who appeared, subsisting in their own subsistences, each one comprehended into one by the word of consubstantiality, and thus deliberately mingling conversations among themselves.

Fourthly, it is proved from that passage of Deuteronomy 6.: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, one God is; in Hebrew, however, in place of that word "Lord" is placed the name Tetragrammaton, by which the unity of the divine Essence is designated; while the threefold repetition designates the Trinity of Persons. The same is confirmed from that Ps. 67.: May God bless us, by which the Father is signified: our God, by which the Son is denoted, who through the incarnation was given to us and made ours; May God bless us, by which the Holy Spirit is intimated: for the threefold repetition would seem vain if it did not involve some mystery, and surely none other than the adorable Trinity of Persons in the unity of essence.

Fifthly, it is proved from that Psalmi 32.: By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the spirit of his mouth all their power: for by the name of the Lord the Father is designated, who operates through the Word: the second Person, namely the Son, is signified by the name of the Word, through whom all things were made: finally the third Person is called the Spirit of the mouth of God, or the Holy Spirit, to whom the power and perfection of the divine works is peculiarly appropriated; and since to the divine Persons themselves the same operation of the whole universe is assigned, the identity of power and of the divine nature is manifested, as not only nearly all the holy Fathers interpret, whom Ruiz recounts at length, Disp. 36. sessione 5., but also the wiser among the Rabbis, as our Galatinus proves, lib. 2. De Arcanis c. 4.

Sixthly, the Trinity of the divine Persons is proved from that Trisagion of the Seraphim, who, as Isaias reports, c. 6., cried out one to another: Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of hosts: for, as St. Ambrose elegantly weighs, lib. 2. De Fide ad Gratianum cap. 4.:

What does the threefold repetition under the one name of holiness mean? If there is a threefold repetition, why one single praise? If there is one single praise, why a threefold repetition? Why the threefold repetition, unless because the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one in holiness? He did not say it once, lest he should exclude the Son: not twice, lest he should pass over the Holy Spirit: not four times, lest he should join creatures; and to show that the Deity of the Trinity is one, when he had said, Holy, holy, holy, he added in the singular, Lord God of hosts.

The Jewish Doctors likewise interpreted this same text in the same way, but especially Rabbi Simeon, saying: Holy, this is the Father; Holy, this is the Son; Holy, this is the Holy Spirit, as our Galatinus reports in the cited place; and he adds that for this reason the ancient Talmudists decreed that the aforesaid Trisagion, thus explained, should be said by every one of the Jews at least twice a day, namely morning and evening: whence it also came about that both Churches, the Greek as well as the Latin, adopted it among the solemn prayers, as Antheon, Bishop of Assino, testifies, Epistola ad Petrum Antiochenum, which is placed in the Council of Constantinople under Felix III. in the cause of Peter Fullo, who on that account refutes the heresy of the same Peter, because he subjoined to the aforesaid Trisagion the name of the Crucified, saying: Holy God, Holy strong, Holy and immortal, the crucified one, by which he signified that the crucified one was the Holy Spirit, or some other fourth divine Person.

Finally, this same truth is deduced from that passage of Isaias 18.: From the time, before it came to be, I was there, and now the Lord has sent me, and his Spirit, which St. Jerome expounds thus:

when all things were being made by the Father, he himself, namely the Son, was with him, in whom he rejoiced, who even now said: I, who was always with the Father and in the Father and was never without the Father, even now I speak, and according to the weakness of the assumed flesh I say that the Lord God has sent me and his Spirit.

And in a brief verse the Sacrament of the Trinity is shown to us.

Hence it is evident how most truly Christ the Lord, addressing the Jews, Ioannis 5., said: search the Scriptures, for they bear testimony of me; by which he not only designates that he is the true Messiah, but also shows that he is the true Son of God. All these things could be confirmed from the ineffable name Tetragrammaton, which Scripture uses everywhere: for, as our Galatinus observes, l. 2. cap. 10., Rabbi Haccados, writing the mysteries of this name to Antonius, Consul of the city of Rome, affirms that it signifies God generating; and because there cannot be a generator without one generated, nor both without a proceeding love, for this reason the divine Trinity is comprehended in this name. Whence it is commonly called among the Hebrews the "explicit name," and is explained through twelve Hebrew letters, which joined together signify and produce in Latin, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: or it is called the name of forty-two letters, which the same Rabbi Haccados interprets thus: the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God; Trinity in unity and unity in Trinity. From which it is established what the opinion of the ancient Rabbis concerning the divine Trinity was, and how far the more recent Doctors of the Jews wander from their fathers, while they so greatly resist this most constant truth.

Second conclusion. — The same Trinity and distinction of the divine Persons, subsisting with the unity of nature, is gathered from the New Testament.

First, indeed, from that passage of Matthew, last chapter, where Christ, delegating his Apostles, says: go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: which Oracle so manifestly indicates the Trinity of Persons in the unity of Essence that the Arians could scarcely find anything to reply; for not only are the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit named as distinct Persons, but also to them is attributed the unique name of Divinity, and a single power and authority is assigned, while baptism is commanded to be conferred in their name. Hence the followers of Arius, pressed by this Oracle, kept silence about "in the name" while baptizing, as St. Athanasius reports, lib. 7. Ad Theophilum, and said only: I baptize you in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, so as to signify three natures.

The second testimony is that of Ioannis 5., where it is said, there are three who give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one: in which words too the distinction of Persons with the unity of essence is manifestly expressed. This text we shall weigh more fully in q. 7.

The third is that which is related of the baptism of Christ the Lord, Matth. 3., Luc. 3. and Marc. 1.: the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and behold a voice from heaven saying: this is my beloved Son. Where the Fathers of the Church commonly recognize three Persons of the same authority, namely the Father speaking, the Son to whom he speaks, and the Holy Spirit descending upon Christ; for he would not descend upon him unless he were of the same authority as the Father and the Son.

The fourth is brought forward from Ioannis c. 10., where Christ speaks of himself, chiefly St. Augustine serm. 5. De verb. Dom.: What he says, "one," let the Arians hear; what he says, "we are," let the Sabellians hear; and let not the former be vain by denying the equal, nor the latter by denying the other. Whence in Tractate 36. in Ioannem he reasons so beautifully:

he does not say, "Father, I am," or "I and the Father is one"; but when he says, "I and the Father are one," hear both, both "one" and "we are," and from both Charybdis and Scylla you will be freed in these two words; what he said, "one," frees you from Arius; what he said, "we are," frees you from Sabellius. If one, therefore not diverse: if we are, therefore both the Father and the Son; for he would not say "we are" of one: but he would not say "one" of diverse things.

The fifth that can be brought forward is that of Ioannis 14., where likewise the three divine Persons are noted when it is said: I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you forever; and below, verse 26.: but the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name; and cap. 15. near the end: when the Paraclete comes, whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father. For it is necessary that the Persons be really distinguished: the one who asks and the one who is asked, the one who sends and the one who is sent, the one who proceeds and the one from whom he proceeds. The equal authority, however, and consequently the same substance, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is noted, since each is said to be the Paraclete, and the Holy Spirit to succeed in the place of the Son, so as to teach all truth and abide with the Disciples forever. Likewise the same authority of the Son with the Father is designated, since each is said to send the Holy Spirit: likewise, that the Father sends the Spirit in the name of the Son.

Finally, that can be brought forward from 1. Ioannis 1.: of his Spirit he has given us, and we have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son, the Savior of the world: and also that ad Titum 3.: the kindness and humanity of our Savior God appeared, not from works of justice which we did, but according to his mercy he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out upon us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. By which the Trinity of the divine Persons is established and designated: one who poured out the Holy Spirit, another through whom he poured him out, and another, the Holy Spirit himself, who was poured out.

Here I do not relate the things which the heretics were wont to object against this truth; for in a more fitting order we shall satisfy them, when, unfolding this same truth, we shall prove one by one the Trinity of these Persons, as well as their Divinity and equality. These things, however, from the very threshold, suffice to intimate and to establish by the divine Oracles the august mystery of the Trinity. Whether natural reason can also establish it against the pagan Philosophers, the following Question will disclose.

Corollary. — From these things it is evident how most truly St. Augustine wrote, Serm. 38. De Tempore: all Scripture of the Old and New Testament, if understood catholicly, intimates this, that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit is one God, of the same substance and of one essence, and an inseparable unity in the Divinity; this distinction, however, intervenes between the two Testaments, that the Old proposed the Trinity of Persons in the unity of the Divinity, wrapped in certain shadows, more obscurely: but the New, with the Sun of justice shining upon it and the light of the Gospel gleaming, drove away all these shadows, and brought this great mystery into the open light: whence Christ, Ioannis 16., addressing the Disciples, said: the hour comes when I will no longer speak to you in proverbs, but will announce to you plainly of my Father. Hence St. Cyprian, lib. De Cardinalibus operibus Christi in the Prologue De mysterio Trinitatis says: for this search into things so profound, unless the teaching of the incarnate Word had come to our aid, human intellects would have failed, and I know not whether even some would dare to rise to attempts at attempting these things. St. Gregory concurs, lib. 2. In Ezech. hom. 16.

The Hebrew people, he says, strove to keep the commandments of the Decalogue: but still was not instructed in the knowledge of the holy Trinity: and although the spiritual Fathers had known it perfectly, nevertheless the multitude of the Synagogue could neither find the mystery of the Trinity, nor knew how to seek it. But with grace supervening, every faithful people has known that one God is a Trinity.

The reason for this distinction is brought forward by Theodor. lib. 2. Ad Graecos, where he says of the Hebrews:

since they had remained in Egypt for a sufficiently long time, and had learned there the cult of many gods according to the Egyptian rite; the most wise God by no means delivered to them the mysteries of the Trinity in a manifest and wholly open manner; lest, thinking that a multitude of gods was set before them, they should have this occasion for declining into Egyptian impiety; the dogmas of the Trinity, however, he did not even then entirely conceal from those who would be secure in the future; for in the ancient Scriptures he scattered, as it were, certain seeds, the material of a more perfect Theology.