With no further restrictions on our concept of God, the paradox might be taken to have the trivial polytheistic solution that there are in fact three gods, not one. The conjunction of propositions 12 and 4 is a direct contradiction. Which implies what we might call the Trinitarian Paradox: (for example) by propositions 1 and 9 it immediately follows thatīy propositions 11, 2, and 10 it immediately follows that This logic of identity is given by the following two axioms:įor any x and y, if x = y, then x and y share all propertiesįrom which we can trivially prove the following two theorems:įor any x, y, and z, if x = y and y = z, then x = z So that in all things, as aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.Īccording to one interpretation then, Christian orthodoxy asks us to believe in the following set of propositions Footnote 3:īut this set is inconsistent in the sense that it leads to paradox in virtue of the classical logic of identity. But the whole three persons are coeternal, and coequal. … And in this Trinity none is afore or after another none is greater or less than another. ![]() For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every person by himself to be God and Lord so are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say there are three Gods or three Lords. And yet there are not three Lords, but one Lord. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, and the Holy Spirit is Lord. And yet they are not three Gods, but one God. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. And yet they are not three almighties, but one almighty. So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty. As also there are not three uncreated nor three incomprehensible, but one uncreated and one incomprehensible. And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal. The Father eternal, the Son, eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible. The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit. The Catholic faith is this: that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in unity neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance. I end by responding to some anticipated objections. I argue that this is compatible with Christian Orthodoxy as given by the Athanasian Creed. According to the way I develop this proposal, no traditional laws of identity are violated, but merely generalized in an intuitive way. ![]() I argue that the problem of the Trinity should be understood accordingly: God is identical with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit collectively, but not with each one of them distributively. The pair of shoes is not identical with each one of the two shoes, nor is my body identical with each one of its six limbs, but rather identical with all of them taken together, or collectively. For example, one pair of shoes is identical with two shoes and my one body is identical with its six limbs of arms, legs, head, and torso. I propose a solution to this problem according to which it is just an ordinary claim of one-many identity. That one thing is identical with three distinct things seems to violate traditional laws of identity. ![]() Roughly, the problem of the Trinity is the problem of how God can be one and yet be the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, which are three, not one.
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