Dist. 19
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/1/d/19/q/bon-sent-I-d19-littera
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### DISTINCTION XIX.

#### *On the equality of the three Persons.*

#### Cap. I. *On the equality of the three Persons.*

Now, after we have set forth the coeternity of the three Persons according to the small measure of our ability, it remains to say something about their equality. For the catholic faith asserts that the three Persons are not only coeternal but also coequal. For the Son is in all things equal to the Father, and the Holy Spirit to the Father and the Son; since, as Augustine in his book *On Faith to Peter*, briefly opening up how equality is to be understood, teaches: "None of these either precedes another in eternity or exceeds another in greatness or surpasses another in power; since neither to the Son nor to the Holy Spirit,

as far as the unity of the divine nature is concerned, is the Father prior or greater, nor is the Son so to the Holy Spirit. For it is eternal and without beginning that the Son exists from the Father's nature; and it is eternal and without beginning that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the nature of the Father and of the Son. For this reason, therefore, we rightly believe and call the three one God, since there is altogether one eternity, one immensity, one divinity by nature of the three Persons." Behold, Augustine has briefly summed up that in which the equality of the three Persons consists — namely, that one does not exceed another in eternity, in greatness[?], or in power.

#### Cap. II. *That eternity and greatness and power in God are one, even though they may seem to be diverse.*

And although these are enumerated as if diverse, in God they are nevertheless one and the same — namely, the simple and unchangeable divine essence. Whence Augustine in the seventh book *On the Trinity*: "He is not great by one thing and God by another, but He is great by that whereby He is God; for it is not one thing for Him to be great, another to be God. For His greatness is the same as His power, and the same essence as His greatness." Therefore the Father and the Son together are one essence and one greatness. So also the power of God is the divine essence. Whence Augustine in the seventh book of the *Confessions*: "The will and the power of God are God Himself." The eternity of God is also the divine essence. Which Augustine shows on that place of the Psalm *Through generation and generation are Your years*, saying: "There is a generation of generations, which has now passed, gathered out of all generations — that is, of the saints. In that generation will be the years of God, which do not pass — that is, the eternity of God. For the years of God are not one thing and He Himself another, but the years of God are the eternity of God. And the eternity itself is the substance of God, having nothing changeable." Let us therefore hold unshaken that one and the same is the divine essence, the eternity of God, His power, His greatness; and yet Scripture is accustomed to set down these and similar things as if distinct. Therefore in these words Augustine has briefly comprised the equality of the three Persons. For one does not exceed another in eternity, in greatness, or in power. That, however, none of the three Persons exceeds another in eternity has been shown above, where the coeternity of the three Persons was set forth.

#### Cap. III. *Now it remains to show that one does not exceed another in greatness or in power; and let us first see about greatness.*

It must be known, therefore, that the Father is not greater than the Son, nor is the Father or the Son greater than the Holy Spirit, nor are two Persons together anything greater than one, nor are three together anything greater than two, nor is the essence greater in three than in two, nor in two than in one, since it is whole in each. Whence John of Damascus says: "We confess the entire nature of the Deity to be perfectly in each of His hypostases — that is, of the Persons: the whole in the Father, the whole in the Son, the whole in the Holy Spirit. Therefore the Father is perfect God, the Son is perfect God, the Holy Spirit is perfect God."

#### Cap. IV. *How the Father is said to be in the Son and the Son in the Father and the Holy Spirit in both.*

And from this it is that the Father is said to be in the Son and the Son in the Father and the Holy Spirit in both, and each in each. Whence Augustine in his book *On Faith to Peter*: "On account of the natural unity, the whole Father is in the Son and in the Holy Spirit, and likewise the whole Holy Spirit is in the Father and in the Son. None of these is outside any of them, on account of the unity of the divine nature." This he opens up here in some measure — for the mystery cannot be fully unsealed by man alone — from what understanding it is said that each of the Persons is wholly in the others. Whence also Hilary, searching into these matters more inwardly, in the third book *On the Trinity* says: "The word of the Lord brings obscurity to many when He says: *I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me*; and not without reason. For the nature of human understanding does not grasp the reasoning of this saying, nor will any human comparison furnish an example for divine things; but what is unintelligible to man is possible to God. It must therefore be known and understood, what that is: *I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me*; if, however, we will be able to comprehend it as it is — so that what

the nature of things is judged not to be able to bear, may yet follow the reasoning of divine truth." "Therefore that the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father, the perfect plenitude of divinity in both is"; "since the plenitude of the deity is in the Son. What is in the Father, this also is in the Son; what is in the Unbegotten, this is in the Begotten; one from the other, and each is one": "He, namely, who is, having nothing that is not also in Him from whom He is"; "not one [being] two, but one in another, since not anything other in either"; "so that in our faith both are one, not one [person]: nor do we confess each as the same, nor as something other; since the fact that God was born of God neither lets nativity be the same, nor anything else." "Therefore in both we confess the same likeness of power and the same plenitude of deity, since Truth says: *I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me*. For the Son has received all things from the Father." "For if He has received a part of the same one who begot Him, then neither is perfect: for there is lacking from Him who is decreased, nor will there be plenitude in Him who has come to subsist out of a portion. Neither, therefore, is perfect, if He who begot loses His own plenitude, nor does He who is born attain to it." "Let us therefore confess, that the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father, God in God," as the same Hilary says in the seventh book *On the Trinity*, "not by the twofold conjunction of agreeing genera, nor by the implanted nature of a more capacious substance, but by the unity of likeness of nature, by the nativity of a living nature from a living nature; while the thing does not differ, while the nativity does not degenerate the nature of God, while nothing other than God is born from God, while there is nothing new, nothing alien, nothing separable in these." Behold, by these words, insofar as human weakness permits, it can be understood in what sense Christ said that He is in the Father and the Father in Him. From the same sense too it is understood that the Holy Spirit is in both, and each of the Persons in each; namely because in each there is the same plenitude of divinity and the united likeness of nature; for the divine nature is not greater in any one of these Persons, but these three Persons are of one and undifferentiated nature. And therefore one is said to be in another, as has been said before. Whence Ambrose, opening to us the meaning of the aforesaid words on the second Letter to the Corinthians, chapter five, says: "Through this it is understood that the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father, since their substance is one. For there is unity, where there is no diversity." Behold, by the testimonies of three illustrious men coming together to the same — namely, of Augustine, Hilary, and Ambrose — by the revelation of the Holy Spirit speaking in them, it is shown to those who wish to believe piously — though as if through a glass and in an enigma — how it is to be received when it is said that the Father is in the Son or the Son in the Father or the Holy Spirit in both.

### Part II.

But now let us return to our purpose, and pressing on with what we have begun, let us show that none of the three Persons surpasses another in greatness, since none is greater than the others, nor are two anything greater than one, nor three than two, nor God greater than each of them; for each of them is perfect, nor is there anything by which that perfection might grow.

#### Cap. V. *That no Person is a part in the Trinity.*

Nor is any of the three Persons a part of God or of the divine essence, since each of them is true and full God, and is the whole and full divine essence; and therefore none of them is a part in the Trinity. Whence Augustine in the second book *Against Maximinus* the heretic thus says: "You think that God the Father with the Son and the Holy Spirit cannot be one God; for you fear lest the Father be a part of the one God, who consists of three. Do not fear this, for there is no division of parts in the unity of the deity. The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit is one God — that is, the Trinity itself is one God. Therefore, you say, God the Father is a part of God; God forbid."

#### Cap. VI. *Why the three Persons are said to be supremely one.*

"For the three Persons are the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and these three, since they are of one substance,

are one and are supremely one, where there is no diversity of natures, no diversity of wills. For if they were one in nature, and were not so in will, they would not be supremely one: but if they were unlike in nature, they would not be one. Therefore these three, since they are one on account of the ineffable conjunction of the Deity, by which they are ineffably bound together, is one God." "Therefore no one of the three can be a part of the Trinity. In the Trinity, therefore, which is God, both the Father is God, and the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and at the same time these three are one God; nor is any one of them a third part of this Trinity, nor is anything greater two there than one, nor are all anything greater than each, since the greatness is spiritual, not bodily. *He who is able to grasp it, let him grasp it*; but he who is not able, let him believe and pray that what he believes he may understand. For it is true what is said by the Prophet: *Unless you believe, you will not understand*." By these words he openly shows the undifferentiated greatness of the three Persons. Likewise in the same place: "You yourself indeed have said that one God is not composed of parts; and you wish this to be understood of the Father alone. He, you say, is unbegotten, simple power. And yet in this simple power you seem to commemorate many things, when you say: God begot God, the good begot the good, the wise the wise, the merciful the merciful, the powerful the powerful. Are then goodness and wisdom and mercy and power parts of the one power, which you have said is simple? If you say they are parts: then the simple power consists of parts. And this simple power, by your own definition, is one God; therefore you say that God is composed of parts. I do not say so, you reply; therefore they are not parts. If, then, in the one Person of the Father you find both those things which seem to be many, and you do not find parts, since the one power is simple: how much more are the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit one God on account of the undivided deity, and three Persons on account of the property of each, and not parts of one God on account of the perfection of each! The Father is power, the Son is power, the Holy Spirit is power. This you say truly; but that you do not wish power begotten of power and power proceeding from power to have the same nature — this you say falsely, this you say against the right and catholic faith." By these words it is openly taught, that those three Persons are not parts of God or of the divine essence, and none of them is to be called a part of the Trinity, nor is one greater than the others.

#### Cap. VII. *That when we say three Persons are one essence, we predicate neither as a genus of species nor as a species of individuals, since the essence is not a genus and a Person a species, nor the essence a species and the Persons individuals.*

Here it must be added that there is so great an equality of the three Persons and an undifferentiated greatness, that when we say the three Persons to be one essence or substance, we predicate neither as a genus of species nor as a species of individuals. For the divine essence is not a genus and the three Persons species, nor the divine essence a species and the three Persons individuals. Which Augustine, by probable and irrefragable reasonings, openly demonstrates in the seventh book *On the Trinity* saying thus: "If essence is a genus, and Person a species, as some think, three substances must be called, just as three Persons are called; just as, since *animal* is a genus and *horse* is a species, three horses are called, and the same three animals. For the species there is not said in the plural and the genus in the singular, as if it were said, three horses are one animal; but as the three horses are called by the specific name, so the three animals by the generic name." Since therefore we confess the three Persons to be one essence, not three essences, while three horses are called three animals, not one: it is clear that by the name *essence* a genus is not signified, nor by the name *Person* a species.

"But if they say that by the name *Person* not a species is signified, but something singular and individual, and that by the name *essence* a species is to be understood, so that *Person* may not be said as *man*, but as *this man* is said — like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or any other who can be pointed out present with the finger — the same reasoning will refute them as well. For just as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are called three individuals, so they are called three men and three animals. Why then are the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, if these are distinguished[?] according to genus and species and individual, not so called three essences, as three Persons[?]?"

In another way also Augustine proves the same — namely, that the divine essence is not a genus, nor the Persons species, or that the essence is not a species nor the Persons

individuals. "One essence," he says, "does not have species, just as one animal does not have species of one essence. Therefore the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are not three species of one essence: therefore the divine essence is not a genus. But neither is the divine essence a species and the Persons individuals, just as *man* is a species, and the individuals are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For if the essence is a species, like *man*, just as one man is not said to be Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, so it will not be said that one essence is three Persons. Therefore we do not say these things according to genus and species."

#### Cap. VIII. *That neither according to material cause are the three Persons called one essence.*

It must be noted also that the divine essence is not the matter of the three Persons, as Augustine in the same book teaches, "as if according to a common and the same matter the three Persons were said to be one essence — just as if from the same gold three statues were made, we should say that the three statues are one gold. But we do not so call the Trinity — that is, the three Persons — one essence and one God, as if from one matter three things subsist. For in equal statues there is more gold three together than one, and there is less gold in one than in two. But in that essence of the Trinity it is in no way so." Therefore we do not call the three Persons to be one essence according to material cause, as three statues are called one gold.

#### Cap. IX. *Nor are the three Persons so called one essence, as three men are one nature or of one nature.*

To these things also it must be added, that we do not so say the three Persons to be one essence, as Augustine in the same place says, or of one essence, "as we say that three men of the same sex and the same temperament of body and of the same soul are one nature, or of one nature. For in these things one man is not as much as three men together, and two men are something more than one man, as we said also in the case of statues; but in God it is not so. For the Father and the Son together are not a greater essence than the Father alone or the Son alone, but the three Persons together are equal to each." From the foregoing it is clear that the three Persons are called the divine essence neither according to material cause, as three statues are one gold, nor according to the likeness of complexion, as three men of one nature, nor as a genus is predicated of species, nor as a species of individuals — that is, the container of the contained, the greater of the lesser.

But to these things there seem to be opposed certain things which some catholic treatise-writers of sacred Scripture have handed down in their writings, in which they seem to signify that the divine essence is something common and universal, as a species; but that the three Persons are three particulars, three individuals differing in number. Whence John of Damascus, the great one among the Doctors of the Greeks, in the book which he wrote *On the Trinity*, which Pope Eugenius caused to be translated, says: "The common and universal things are predicated of the particulars subject to themselves. The common, therefore, is the substance, and the particular is the *hypostasis*, that is, the Person. And it is called *particular*, not because it has part of the nature, but particular by number, as an *atom*, that is, an individual. For the *hypostases* are said to differ in number, and not in nature." Likewise in the same place: "Substance signifies the common and surrounding species *homoideon* — that is, of *hypostases* alike in species, that is, of Persons; as for example *God*, *man*; but *hypostasis* points to an individual — that is, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Peter, Paul, and the like." Behold, he openly says that the substance is the universal, the *hypostasis* the particular, and that *God* is a species like *man*, and that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are individuals, like Peter and Paul, in that they differ by number; which seem entirely to contradict the foregoing opinions of Augustine. What, then, shall we say to these things? This indeed we can and ought to say: that those things which Augustine has handed down above are to be held without any hesitation.

But these things which are said here, although on the surface of the discourse they seem to ring out something foreign to the faith, can yet be soundly understood, and earnestly demand a pious reader and

an understanding interpreter. In whose explanation I would rather, being silent, listen to others than, by speaking, give occasion to the malicious for detraction. Yet it seems to me that they may be received thus. When he says: *substance is the common, and hypostasis is the particular*; he did not so receive these things, since they are said of God, as they are received in philosophical discipline, but he spoke by likeness of those things which are said by the philosophers; so that just as there *common* or *universal* is called what is predicated of many, and *particular* or *individual* what is of one alone: so here the divine essence has been called *universal*, since it is said of all the Persons together and of each separately, and *individual* in turn each one of the Persons, since it is predicated neither in common of the others, nor singularly of any of the others. By the likeness of predication, therefore, he called the substance of God *universal*, and the Persons *particulars* or *individuals*. For this same reason also he called the divine essence "the common species and surrounding [species] of Persons alike in species," since just as this species *man* is predicated of its individuals, as of Peter, Paul, and others, and these do not differ in species, but agree, so God is predicated of the three Persons, who do not differ in divinity, but agree in all things. Pondering this likeness, therefore, between eternal things and temporal things, John transferred the names of universality and particularity, which properly belong to temporal things, to eternal things; but Augustine, seeing greater dissimilarity than likeness between the said things, removed the said names from the excellence of the Trinity.

#### Cap. X. *Whether the three Persons differ in number, who are distinct by properties.*

But that John says the *hypostases* differ in number, not in nature — in that he says they do not differ in nature, he speaks most truly and without scruple; but in that he says they differ in number, one must beware how it is to be understood; for in different ways some things are said to differ in number. For some things are said to differ in number, when they so differ that one is not the other, nor anything that the other is, or is in the other: in which way Socrates and Plato and the like differ — those which are called by the philosophers individuals or particulars: by which mode the three Persons cannot be said to differ in number. Some things are also said to differ in number, which in enumeration or computation are not joined to each other, but are distinguished from each other, as when, speaking of certain things, we say *one, two, three*; and according to this mode perhaps John said that the *hypostases* — that is, the Persons — differ in number. For we can say: the Father is one, and the Father and the Son are two, and the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are three; and likewise: this Person is one, and this and that are two, and this and that and another are three. Yet more fittingly the three Persons are said to be distinguished only by properties, of whose distinction according to properties it will be treated in what follows. Now, however, let us return to what we began, going over the things that have been said, so that, by being often turned over, they may become more familiar.

#### Cap. XI. *Why the three Persons together are not anything greater than one.*

It must therefore be known that "such is the equality in the Trinity, as Augustine says in the eighth book *On the Trinity*, that not only is the Father not greater than the Son, but neither are the Father and the Son together anything greater than the Holy Spirit, nor is any Person anything less than the Trinity itself." That this is so must, in some way, if it can be done, be demonstrated. "As far, then, as the Creator Himself helps, let us attend, says Augustine in the same place, how in this Trinity two or three Persons are not anything greater than one of them."

"What is there called *great* is great from no other source than from that whereby it truly is; since there greatness itself is truth, and truth is essence; therefore there is not anything greater there which is not more true. But the Father and the Son together are not more truly than the Father alone or the Son. Therefore neither is anything greater both together than one of them. And since the Holy Spirit too is equally truly, therefore the Father and the Son together are not anything greater than He, since they are not more truly. Likewise in the essence of truth, this *to be true* is what *to be* is, and this *to be* is what *to be great* is: this therefore is *to be great* which is *to be true*. What therefore there is equally true, is also equally great. What therefore there does not have more truth, does not have more greatness. But that does not have more truth which is not more truly. But one Person is not more truly than another, nor two than one, nor three together than each. Therefore one does not have more truth than another, nor two than one, nor three together than each. Thus therefore the Trinity itself also is not anything greater than each Person there, but as great as each. For there is not greater what is not more true, where truth itself is greatness." Behold, in a fitting way and by catholic reasoning it has been shown

how the greatness of the three Persons is undifferentiated, since neither is one greater than another, nor two anything greater than one, nor three together anything greater than each.

#### Cap. XII. *That God is not to be called threefold, but triune.*

Furthermore, although God is called triune, He must nevertheless not be called threefold. For there is no triplicity, where there is supreme unity and undifferentiated equality. Whence Augustine in the sixth book *On the Trinity* says: "Not because God is Trinity is He therefore to be thought threefold: otherwise the Father alone, or the Son alone, would be less than the Father and the Son together." "Therefore, since the Father alone, or the Son alone, or the Holy Spirit alone, is as much as the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit together, in no way is God to be called threefold. For the Father with the Son and the Holy Spirit is not a greater God than each of them, since there is nothing by which that perfection might grow. But both the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are perfect, and each of them is called perfect God. And therefore Trinity rather than threefold ought He to be called."

"In bodily things one is not as much as three together, and two are more than one thing; but in the supreme Trinity one Person is as much as three together, and two are as much as one, and they are infinite in themselves"; since there is no end of their greatness. And by this is opened up what we said above — namely, how each is in each, and all are in each, and each is in all, and all are in all, and one is in all, and one is all. Behold, we have now shown sufficiently how in the Trinity any Person does not surpass another in greatness.

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