Concerning the Persons of the Godhead
The persons are they which, subsisting in one Godhead, are distinguished by incommunicable properties.
1 John 5:7
There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.
Genesis 19:24
Then Jehovah rained upon Sodom, and upon Gomorrah, brimstone, and fire from Jehovah in heaven.
John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and that Word was God.
They therefore are coequal, and are distinguished not by degree, but by order.
The constitution of a person is, when as a personal property, or the proper manner of subsisting is adjoined to the Deity, or the one divine nature.
Distinction of persons is that by which, albeit every person is one and the same perfect God, yet the Father is not the Son or the Holy Ghost, but the Father alone; and the Son is not the Father or the Holy Ghost, but the Son alone; and the Holy Ghost is not the Father or the Son, but the Holy Ghost alone: neither can they be divided, by reason of the infinite greatness of that most simple essence, which one and the same is wholly in the Father, wholly in the Son, and wholly in the Holy Ghost: so that in these there is diversity of persons, but unity in essence.
The communion of the persons, or rather union, is that by which each one is in the rest, and with the rest, by reason of the unity of the Godhead: and therefore every each one doth possess, love, and glorify another, and work the same thing.
John 14:10
Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? the word that I speak unto you I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doth the works.
Proverbs 8:22-30
The Lord hath possessed me in the beginning of his way: I was before the works of old... Then was I with him as a nourisher, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing alway before him.
John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and that Word was God.
John 5:19
The Son can do nothing of himself, save that he seeth the Father do: for whatsoever things he doth, the same doth the Son also.
There be three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Matthew 3:16,17
And Jesus, when he was baptized, came straight out of the water, and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and John saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: and lo, a voice came from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
The Father is a person without beginning, from all eternity begetting the Son.
Hebrews 1:3
Who being the brightness of the glory, and the engraved form of his person.
Psalm 2:7
Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
In the generation of the Son, these properties must be noted:
- He that begetteth, and he that is begotten are together, and not one before another in time.
- He that begetteth, doth communicate with him that is begotten, not some one part, but his whole essence.
- The Father begot the Son, not out of himself, but within himself.
The incommunicable property of the Father is to be unbegotten, to be a Father, and to beget. He is the beginning of actions, because he beginneth every action of himself, effecting it by the Son and the Holy Ghost.
1 Corinthians 8:6
Yet unto us, there is but one God, which is the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
Romans 11:36
For of him, and through him, and for him, are all things.
The other two persons have the Godhead, or the whole divine essence, of the Father by communication: namely, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
The Son is the second person, begotten of the Father from all eternity.
Hebrews 1:5
For unto which of the Angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day begat I thee?
Colossians 1:15
Who is the image of the invisible God, the first borne of every creature.
John 1:14
And we saw the glory thereof, as the glory of the only begotten Son of the Father...
Romans 8:32
He who spared not his own Son...
Although the Son be begotten of his Father, yet nevertheless he is of and by himself very God: for he must be considered either according to his essence, or according to his filiation or Sonship. In regard of his essence, he is ɑυτοθɛος, that is, of and by himself very God: for the Deity which is common to all the three persons is not begotten. But as he is a person, and the Son of the Father, he is not of himself, but from another: for he is the eternal Son of his Father. And thus he is truly said to be "very God of very God."
For this cause he is said to be sent from the Father.
John 8:42
I proceeded forth, and came from God, neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
This sending taketh not away the equality of essence, and power, but declareth the order of the persons.
John 5:18
Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, not only because he had broken the Sabbath: but said also that God was his Father, and made himself equal with God.
Philippians 2:6
Who being in the form of God, thought it no robbery to be equal with God.
For this cause also he is "the Word of the Father," not a vanishing, but essential word, because as a word is, as it were, begotten of the mind, so is the Son begotten of the Father; and also, because he bringeth glad tidings from the bosom of his Father. See Nazianzen in his Oration of the Son, and Basil in his preface before John's Gospel.
The property of the Son is to be begotten.
His proper manner of working is to execute actions from the Father, by the Holy Ghost.
1 Corinthians 8:6
Our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
John 5:19
Whatsoever things he doth, the same doth the Son also.
The Holy Ghost is the third person, proceeding from the Father and the Son.
John 15:26
But when the Comforter shall come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the spirit of truth, which proceedeth of the Father, he shall testify of me.
Romans 8:9
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, seeing the spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if there be any that hath not the spirit of Christ he is not his.
John 16:13,14
But when the Spirit of truth shall come: he shall conduct you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he heareth, he shall speak, and shall declare unto you such things as are to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shew it unto you.
And albeit the Father and the Son are two distinct persons, yet are they both but one beginning of the Holy Ghost.
What may be the essential difference betwixt "proceeding" and "begetting," neither the Scriptures determine, nor the Church knoweth.
The incommunicable property of the Holy Ghost is to proceed.
His proper manner of working is to finish an action, effecting it, as from the Father and the Son.