Trinity: Father-Son-Spirit

The Father-Son-Spirit is one God. The First Person of the Trinity does not proceed from the Second Person or the Third Person. The First Person of the Trinity is First and so cannot proceed from anyone.

The Second Person of the Trinity proceeds solely from the First Person of the Trinity. The Second Person is not primary, but secondary. The Father’s knowledge of Himself is the Son. 232 All that the Son is comes from the Father. The Son depends entirely upon the Father. Therefore, the Father is greater than the Son: “….for the Father is greater than I.” (Jn 14:28).

Christ could not have been referring merely to His human nature, when He said that the Father is greater than the Son. [As Aquinas claimed in the Summa Theologica, First Part, Question 42, Article 4, Reply to Objection 1.] The Human and Divine Natures of Christ are united in One Person, so Christ would not have spoken of His Human Nature as if it were separate, He would not have compared His Human Nature alone, which in itself is finite, to the infinite First Person of the Trinity.

The Son said that the Father is greater than the Son, not because the Son took on a Human Nature, but because the First Person of the Trinity is truly greater than the Second Person of the Trinity. The Father is greater than the Son, because the Son obtains everything He has from the Father. “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the Son does likewise.” (Jn 5:19). Here Christ is speaking metaphorically. Christ is saying, not merely that the Son does what the Father does, but that everything the Son is/does comes from the Father, because the Son proceeds solely and entirely from the Father. The Father is greater than the Son because the Son proceeds entirely from, and depends entirely upon, the Father. The Father is first and the Son is second.

Even though the Father is greater than the Son, the Father and the Son are One God. The Father and Son are the same Divine Nature. The Father and the Son are One: “I and the Father are one.” (Jn 10:30). Since the Father and Son are One God, they are in that sense equal. The Father-Son-Spirit is One God. They each and together are the One Divine Eternal Act. The Son is not a lesser God, nor is the Spirit. Yet truly and without doubt, the Father is greater than the Son, and the Father and Son are each greater than the Spirit, because the Son entirely proceeds from and depends upon the Father, and the Spirit primarily proceeds from and depends upon the Father and secondarily proceeds from and depends upon the Son.

The Third Person of the Trinity proceeds primarily from the First Person of the Trinity and secondarily from the Second Person of the Trinity. It cannot be otherwise. All that the Spirit is depends first upon the Father and second upon the Son. The Spirit proceeds secondarily from the Son because the Son depends upon the Father. All that the Spirit is proceeds first from the Father and second from the Son. The Spirit is the Love between the Father and the Son. [Aquinas, Summa Theologica, First Part, Question 37, Articles 1 and 2.]

The Spirit cannot proceed only from the Father, because Father and Son are One. Neither can the Spirit proceed equally from the Father and the Son, for the Father is greater than the Son. The Third Person cannot proceed primarily from the Second Person, because the Second Person is not primary, but secondary. The Third Person cannot proceed primarily from both Father and Son, because Father and Son are primary and secondary in their relationship with one another.

The Spirit cannot proceed only from the Father, because the Spirit is the Love between the Father and the Son, not the Love of the Father alone. [Aquinas, Summa Theologica, First Part, Question 37, Articles 1 and 2.] The Spirit proceeds primarily from the Father and secondarily from the Son. The Spirit depends primarily upon the Father and secondarily upon the Son. The Father, Son, Spirit is One God. The Three are one and the same Divine Nature. The Father-Son-Spirit is One.

The statement that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son is correct, but incomplete. This statement cannot be interpreted to mean that the Spirit proceeds equally from Father and Son, for Father and Son are not equal. The statement that the Spirit proceeds from the Father is correct, but incomplete. The Spirit also proceeds from the Son, but secondarily. Those two incomplete statements become complete when joined together. The first correctly states that the Spirit proceeds from both Father and Son; the second correctly places procession from the Father above procession from the Son. No other explanation suffices.

God is One

God is Three Divine Persons as One Divine Being. The Three Persons are One Divine Eternal Act. Trinity is the One Act of Existence, Love, Mercy, Justice, and so on. Trinity is the One Act of everything God is/does throughout all Time and all Place and all Creation and beyond.

How can God be Three, since is God is so thoroughly One? The One Divine Eternal Act is the Act of Being the Father and of Being the Son and of Being the Spirit. The Father-Son-Spirit is One Divine Eternal Act. When a human person does one thing, only one thing is done. But the One Divine Eternal Act accomplishes All in One Act. The Act of the Father Existing and the Act of the Son proceeding from the Father and the Act of the Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son is One Divine Eternal Act.

The Son proceeds from the Father; the Father does not proceed from the Son. The Son is dependent upon the Father; the Father is not dependent upon the Son. The Spirit proceeds primarily from the Father and secondarily from the Son. The Spirit is primarily dependent upon the Father and secondarily dependent upon the Son.

The First Person of the Trinity does not proceed from the Second Person of the Trinity or the Third Person of the Trinity. The Second Person of the Trinity proceeds from the First Person of the Trinity. The Third Person of the Trinity proceeds primarily from the First Person of the Trinity and secondarily from the Second Person of the Trinity. The Second Person of the Trinity is dependent upon the First Person of the Trinity. The Third Person of the Trinity is primarily dependent upon the First Person of the Trinity and secondarily dependent upon the Second Person of the Trinity. The First Person of the Trinity is not dependent upon the Second Person of the Trinity or the Third Person of the Trinity.

Although the Son proceeds only from the Father, the procession of the Son from the Father is not isolated from the procession of the Spirit from Father and Son. All procession within the Trinity is part of the One Eternal Divine Act that is God. Father, Son, and Spirit are never apart from one another, nor does any One of the Three ever act in isolation.

Infallibility of the Trinity

God is infallible. All other infallibility proceeds from God. There is no infallibility apart from God. The Most Holy Trinity is entirely infallible without exception. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each and all entirely perfect and entirely infallible. The Father-Son-Spirit is one infallible being.

The Trinity is without flaw, omission, or imperfection. To have a flaw is to have something that one ought not to have. An omission is something lacking that ought to be present. An imperfection is when something that ought to be present is present, but in a lesser form and not entirely as it ought to be. The Most Holy Trinity is three times perfect and entirely perfect, without flaw, omission, or imperfection.

Obedience within the Trinity

Obedience to God is a reflection of the First Person of the Trinity, because even the Son and the Spirit are obedient to the Father. There is Obedience even within the Trinity itself. Obedience and Love are identical within the Trinity. God is Love, therefore, there is obedience within the Trinity. Love is first in all things good, just as the Father is first in all things good.

Eternity and Procession

Procession within the Trinity is not a past event. It is not an event within Time at all. It is not an event at all. God is Eternal. Procession within the Trinity is Eternal. Everything that God is/does is One. God is One Divine Eternal Act. God is Mercy is Love is Peace is God. Procession within the Trinity is God. The One Divine Eternal Act—by which the Father gives rise to the Son, and the Father and Son give rise to the Spirit, and the Son proceeds from the Father, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son—is God and is One with all that God is/does. Procession within the Trinity is Eternity is Mercy is Love is Knowledge is Peace is Everything that God is.


by Ronald L. Conte Jr.
[Reprinted from Conte, New Insights into the Deposit of Faith, chapter 7.]