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transcendent divine nature. Thus in the Gospel the Lord Jesus Christ says,
'God 1 is a spirit,' that is to say absolute spirit: 2 and
elsewhere it is written that 'God 3 is love,' that is to say absolute
love. The title of Son of God is applied to the Word of God, that is to say to
the eternal wisdom and reason by means of which God reveals His invisible and
mysterious nature. Accordingly in the New Testament by the inspiration of God it
is written that the Son is the effulgence of His glory and the very image of His
substance.4 Hence He may be fitly styled the revelation
(تجلي), of the
divine nature, the divine manifestation
(مظهر), the Revealer of the Father. The
Holy Spirit is not the angel Gabriel, as our Muhammadan friends fancy, nor is He
any created being. The name is applied in the New Testament to the Divine Spirit
who is the enlightener and strengthener of the consciences and the spirits of
men, through whose holy instrumentality God Most High influences men for good,
and illumines and cleanses the hearts and lives of His true and faithful
servants. Therefore Christians regard God the Father as the author of all
created things and the bestower of all good gifts and of every blessing. They
worship Him accordingly, believing that the Father bestows upon us all grace and
all things good solely through the
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DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY TRINITY |
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instrumentality of His only Son
(ابن وحيد), as we learn from the holy Scriptures.
Thus the Father not only created the universe through the Son, and through the
Son preserves and guards it, but through Him also does He deliver His servants
from sin and eternal destruction and bestow upon them everlasting salvation and
true happiness hereafter. Through the Holy Spirit God enlightens and purifies
them, guides them to the true knowledge of Himself, leads them to belief in the
Lord Jesus Christ, and enables them to do good.
The name by which Christians entitle this teaching is the doctrine of the
Trinity. It is true that the word Trinity does not occur in the holy Scriptures,
but the doctrine which is expressed thereby most assuredly does. It should be
understood that, although we Christians have learnt, through the revelation of
God given unto all men in the holy Scriptures, that between Father, Son and Holy
Spirit there is some distinction, because of which they are three Hypostases
(اقانيم),
and not merely one Hypostasis
(اقنوم), yet we have also learnt that they are not
three distinct natures. There is but one divine nature, and only one God, as we
have already proved from both the Old and the New Testament; hence to say that
there are three Gods would be blasphemy. Such a doctrine is contrary to the holy
Scriptures and is abhorred by all Christians.
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