THE
DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY AND 3.4 Three Persons but Same Essence or Nature (al-Dzat) 3.5 Relationship Between God The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit 3.6 The Essence (al-Dzat) of God the Father is in the Son and the Holy Spirit 3.7 God Is Not Splitting Into Three Parts 3.8 The Three Divine Persons Do Not Exist Side By Side In The Divine World 3.9 In the Trinity No One is Greater, Less, Separate Nor Subordinate One to the Other 3.10 Jesus Could Not Be Separated From the Father and the Holy Spirit 3.12 Jesus: God That Became Man (al-Hulul wa al-Ittihad) 3.14 As A Perfect Sin Offering For Mankind: God Became Man |
3.7 God Is Not Splitting Into Three Parts
In his letter “To Alabius: That There Are Not Three Gods”, Gregory of Nyssa (335 –395 C.E), the outstanding Cappadocia theologian outlined his important doctrine of the inseparability or coinherence of the three divine persons by saying that: “One should not think of God splitting himself into three parts; that was a grotesque and indeed blasphemous idea. God himself expressed himself wholly and totally in each one of these three manifestations when he wished to reveal himself to the world.” [1] In his tract “Against Praxeas” Tertullian (145-220 C.E), the greatest Western Theologian of the Patristic period developed his concept of the Trinity: “… The three persons (Father, Son and the Holy Spirit) are simply three roles or functions of the One God. In each function or role the full God acts, just as the full person acts in his different role as father, husband and magistrate. Christ was not less than God.”[2] Alexander (d. 328 C.E) the bishop of Alexandria at a gathering of his presbyters and clergymen in 319 C.E asserts that: “God was always, and the Son was always; “at the same time the Father”, at the same time the Son; the Son coexists with God…neither by thought nor by any moment of time does God precede the Son…”[3]
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