55. The Athanasian Statement of Faith Agrees with the Truth, Provided That We Understand It to Be Referring Not to “a Trinity of Persons” but to “a Trinity within One Person, ” Who Is the Lord

The reason Christians have acknowledged three divine persons and therefore something like three gods is that there is a trinity within the Lord; one element is called the Father, the second the Son, and the third the Holy Spirit. Further, these three are distinguished from each other in the Word, just as the soul and the body and what comes forth from them are distinguished from each other, even though they are one.

It is the nature of the Word in its literal meaning to distinguish things that are one as though they were not one. That is why Jehovah, who is the Lord from eternity, is now called Jehovah, now Jehovah Sabaoth, now God, now the Lord, as well as Creator, Savior, Redeemer, and Maker, and even Shaddai. Then too, the human nature that he took on in the world is called Jesus, Christ, Messiah, Son of God, Son of Humanity; and in the Word of the Old Testament it is called God, the Holy One of Israel, Jehovah’s Anointed, King, Prince, Counselor, Angel, and David.

[2] Now, since it is typical of the Word in its literal meaning to name many when in fact they are one, Christians-the first of whom were simple individuals who took everything that was said literally-divided Divinity into three persons. This was tolerated because they were simple people. However, they took this in such a way that they also believed the Son to be infinite, uncreate, almighty, God, and Lord, completely equal to the Father; and they also believed that in essence, majesty, and glory, and therefore in divinity they were not two or three but one.

[3] If people believe this in a simple way, because this is what they were taught, and do not convince themselves of three gods but make the three into one, after death they are taught by the Lord through angels that he is that very One and that Trinity, a belief accepted by everyone who comes into heaven. This is because no one can be allowed into heaven who thinks in terms of three gods, no matter how much she or he verbally professes one God. The life of all heaven and the wisdom of all angels is based on the acknowledgment and consequent confession of one God, on a faith that this one God is also human, and on a belief that he is himself the Lord, who is at once God and a human being.

[4] We can see, then, that God allowed the first Christians to accept a teaching regarding three persons provided they also accepted at the same time a belief that the Lord is the infinite, almighty God and Jehovah. This was because if they had not accepted this as well, it would have been all over with the church, since the church is the church because of the Lord, and the eternal life of all comes from the Lord and from no one else.

[5] We can be quite sure that the church is the church because of the Lord simply from the fact that the whole Word, from beginning to end, is about the Lord alone (as already explained), that we are to believe in him, and that those who do not believe in him do not have eternal life; instead, the wrath of God abides on them (John 3:36).

[6] Now, since we can all see within ourselves that if God is one, he is one both in person and in essence (really, no one thinks anything else or can think anything else when thinking that God is one), I should like at this point to bring in the whole doctrinal statement named for Athanasius and then show that everything it says is true, provided that we understand it to be referring to “a trinity within one person” rather than “a trinity of persons.”