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  "description": "The quotations from St. Augustine are taken from On the Trinity, Book 1. The blessed saint will cite texts such as 1 Timothy 6:13-16 and apply that to the Trinity. In so doing, he identifies the only God of the passage as the Trinity. Augustine also applies 1 John 5:20 to the Son, which describes Christ as the true God and eternal life. He will even cite 1 Cor. 8:6 to prove that the Father and Son together brought all creation into existence. All emphasis will be mine.\n\nChapter 6.— That the Son ",
  "path": "/st-augustine-on-the-divine-monarch-blessed-trinity/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-16T07:27:45.000Z",
  "site": "https://answeringislam.blog",
  "tags": [
    "On the Trinity",
    "Book 1",
    "our Lord Jesus Christ",
    "God",
    "truly",
    "immortal",
    "proved",
    "Word of God",
    "Son of God",
    "Word",
    "made flesh",
    "incarnation",
    "Virgin",
    "Father",
    "know",
    "true",
    "Jesus Christ",
    "eternal",
    "Apostle Paul",
    "immortality",
    "eternally",
    "honor",
    "Amen",
    "Son",
    "Holy Spirit",
    "Jews",
    "human",
    "wonderful works",
    "Lord Jesus Christ",
    "doubt",
    "glory",
    "one God",
    "knowledge",
    "known",
    "Gospel of John",
    "robbery",
    "love",
    "saints",
    "circumcision",
    "Spirit of God",
    "Spirit",
    "err",
    "Holy Ghost",
    "Christ",
    "Ambrosiaster: Trinity, Jesus the Great Angel & Hypostatic Union",
    "Hilary: Trinity in the OT & Jesus as the Angel",
    "Hilary: God is the Trinity"
  ],
  "textContent": "The quotations from St. Augustine are taken from On the Trinity, Book 1. The blessed saint will cite texts such as 1 Timothy 6:13-16 and apply that to the Trinity. In so doing, he identifies the only God of the passage as the Trinity. Augustine also applies 1 John 5:20 to the Son, which describes Christ as the true God and eternal life. He will even cite 1 Cor. 8:6 to prove that the Father and Son together brought all creation into existence. All emphasis will be mine.\n\n**Chapter 6.— That the Son is Very God, of the Same Substance with the Father. Not Only the Father, But the Trinity, is Affirmed to Be Immortal. All Things are Not from the Father Alone, But Also from the Son. That the Holy Spirit is Very God, Equal with the Father and the Son.**\n\n9. They who have said that our Lord Jesus Christ is not God, or not very God, **or not with the Father the One and only** God, or not truly immortal because changeable, are proved wrong by the most plain and unanimous voice of divine testimonies; as, for instance,  _In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with_ God_, and the Word was God_. For it is plain that we are to take the Word of God to be the only Son of God, of whom it is afterwards said,  _And the_ Word_was_ made flesh_, and dwelt among us_ , on account of that birth of His incarnation, which was wrought in time of the Virgin. But herein is declared, not only that He is God, but also that He is of the same substance with the Father; because, after saying,  _And the Word was_ God, it is said also,  _The same was in the beginning with God: all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made_. Not simply all things; but only all things that were  _made_ , **that is; the whole creature**. From which it appears clearly, that He Himself was not made, by whom all things were made. **And if He was not made, then He is not a creature** ; but if He is not a creature, **then He is of the same substance with the Father**. For all substance that is not God is creature; and all that is not creature is God. And if the Son is not of the same substance with the Father, then He is a substance that was made: **and if He is a substance that was made, then all things were not made by Him** ; but all things were made by Him, therefore He is of one and the same substance with the Father. **And so He is not only** God**, but also very God**. And the same John most expressly affirms this in his epistle:  _For we_ know_that the_ Son of God_has come, and has given us an understanding, that we may_ know_the_ true__ God_, and that we may be in His_ true_Son_ Jesus Christ_. This is the_ true__ God_, and_ eternal_life_.\n\n10. Hence also it follows by consequence, that the Apostle Paul did not say,  _Who alone has_ immortality, of the Father merely; **_but of the One and only_** God**_, which is the Trinity itself_**. For that which is itself eternal life is not mortal according to any changeableness; **and hence the** Son of God**, because He is Eternal Life, is also Himself understood with the** Father**, where it is said, Who only has** immortality. For we, too, are made partakers of this eternal life, and become, in our own measure, immortal. But the eternal life itself, of which we are made partakers, is one thing; we ourselves, who, by partaking of it, shall live eternally, are another. For if He had said, W _hom in His own time the Father will show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only has_ immortality; **not even so would it be necessarily understood that the Son is excluded. For neither has the Son separated the Father from Himself** , because He Himself, speaking elsewhere with the voice of wisdom (for He Himself is the Wisdom of God), says,  _I alone compassed the circuit of heaven_. And therefore so much the more is it not necessary that the words,  _Who has_ immortality, should be understood of the Father alone, omitting the Son; when they are said thus:  _That you keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of_ our Lord Jesus Christ_: whom in His own time He will show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only has_ immortality_, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be_ honor_and power everlasting._ Amen. In which words neither is the Father specially named, nor the Son, nor the Holy Spirit; **_but the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; that is, the One and only and_** true**__** God**_, the Trinity itself_**.\n\n11. But perhaps what follows may interfere with this meaning; because it is said,  _Whom no man has seen, nor can see_ : ** _although this may also be taken as belonging to Christ according to His divinity, which the_** Jews**_did not see_ , who yet saw and crucified Him in the flesh; _whereas His divinity can in no way be seen by_** human**_sight_ , but is seen with that sight with which they who see are no longer men, but beyond men. _Rightly, therefore, is God Himself, the Trinity_ , understood to be the blessed and only Potentate, who shows the coming of **our Lord Jesus Christ**in His own time**. For the words,  _Who only has_ immortality, are said in the same way as it is said,  _Who only does wondrous things_. And I should be glad to know of whom they take these words to be said. If only of the Father, how then is that true which the Son Himself says,  _For whatever things the Father does, these also does the Son likewise?_ Is there any, among wonderful works, more wonderful than to raise up and quicken the dead? Yet the same Son says,  _As the Father raises up the dead, and quickens them, even so the Son quickens whom He will_. How, then, does the Father alone do wondrous things, ** _when these words allow us to understand neither the Father only, nor the Son only, but assuredly the one only_** true**__** God**_, that is, the_** Father**_, and the_** Son**_, and the_** Holy Spirit?\n\n12. Also, when the same apostle says,  _But to us there is but one_ God_, 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_ , ** _who can_** doubt**_that he speaks of all things which are created_** ; as does John, when he says,  _All things were made by Him_? I ask, therefore, of whom he speaks in another place:  _For of Him, and through Him, and in Him, are all things: to whom be_ glory_forever._ Amen. For if of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, so as to assign each clause severally to each person: of Him, that is to say, of the Father; through Him, that is to say, through the Son; in Him, that is to say, in the Holy Spirit — **it is manifest that the** Father**, and the** Son**, and the** Holy Spirit**is** one God, inasmuch as the words continue in the singular number,  _To whom be_ glory_forever_. For at the beginning of the passage he does not say,  _O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and_ knowledge_of the_ Father_, or of the_ Son_, or of the_ Holy Spirit, but  _of the wisdom and_ knowledge_of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who has_ known_the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counsellor? Or who has first given to Him and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and in Him, are all things: to whom be_ glory_forever._ Amen. But if they will have this to be understood only of the Father, then in what way are all things by the Father, as is said here; **and all things by the** Son**, as where it is said to the Corinthians,_And one_** Lord Jesus Christ**_, by whom are all things_ , and as in the **Gospel of John**,_All things were made by Him_?** For if some things were made by the Father, and some by the Son, then all things were not made by the Father, nor all things by the Son; **but if all things were made by the** Father**, and all things by the** Son**, then the same things were made by the Father and by the Son. The Son, therefore, is equal with the** Father, and the working of the Father and the Son is indivisible. Because if the Father made even the Son, whom certainly the Son Himself did not make, then all things were not made by the Son; but all things were made by the Son: **_therefore He Himself was not made_** , that with the Father He might make all things that were made. And the apostle has not refrained from using the very word itself, but has said most expressly,  _Who, being in the form of_ God_, thought it not_ robbery_to be equal with_ God; using here the name of God specially of the Father; as elsewhere,  _But the head of Christ is_ God.\n\n13. Similar evidence has been collected also concerning the Holy Spirit, of which those who have discussed the subject before ourselves have most fully availed themselves, **that He too is** God**, and not a creature**. But if not a creature, then not only God (for men likewise are called gods ), **but also very** God**; and therefore absolutely equal with the Father and the** Son**, and in the unity of the Trinity consubstantial and co-eternal**. But that the Holy Spirit is not a creature is made quite plain by that passage above all others, where we are commanded not to serve the creature, but the Creator; **_not in the sense in which we are commanded to serve one another by_** love**_, which is in Greek δουλεύειν, but in that in which_** God**_alone is served, which is in Greek λατρεύειν_** . From whence they are called idolaters who tender that service to images which is due to God. For it is this service concerning which it is said,  _You shall worship the Lord your_ God_, and Him only shall you serve_. **For this is found also more distinctly in the Greek Scriptures, which have λατρεύσεις**. Now if we are forbidden to serve the creature with such a service, seeing that it is written,  _You shall worship the Lord your_ God_, and Him only shall you serve_ (and hence, too, the apostle repudiates those who worship and serve the creature more than the Creator), then assuredly the Holy Spirit is not a creature, to whom such a service is paid by all the saints; as says the apostle, For we are the circumcision, which serve the Spirit of God, which is in the Greek λατρεύοντες . For even most Latin copies also have it thus, We who serve the Spirit of God; but all Greek ones, or almost all, have it so. Although in some Latin copies we find, not We worship the Spirit of God, but, We worship God in the Spirit. But let those who err in this case, and refuse to give up to the more weighty authority, tell us whether they find this text also varied in the mss.: Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God? Yet what can be more senseless or more profane, than that any one should dare to say that the members of Christ are the temple of one who, in their opinion, is a creature inferior to Christ? For the apostle says in another place, Your bodies are members of Christ. But if the members of Christ are also the temple of the Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit is not a creature; because we must needs owe to Him, of whom our body is the temple, that service wherewith God only is to be served, which in Greek is called λατρεία . And accordingly the apostle says, Therefore glorify God in your body.\n\n**Further Reading**\n\nAmbrosiaster: Trinity, Jesus the Great Angel & Hypostatic Union\n\nHilary: Trinity in the OT & Jesus as the Angel\n\nHilary: God is the Trinity",
  "title": "St. Augustine on the Divine Monarchy & Blessed Trinity",
  "updatedAt": "2026-04-16T08:00:26.006Z"
}