Bear always in mind that this is the rule of faith which I profess; by it I testify that the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit are inseparable from each other, and so will you know in what sense this is said. Now, observe, my assertion is that the Father is one, and the Son one, and the Spirit one, and that They are distinct from Each Other.
Tertullian, 160-220 AD, Against Praxeas, Chapter 9, (translated by Dr. Holmes, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Rev. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, T & T Clark and Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1997, Vol. III, p. 603)
Why is it important that God is three in one? What practical differences would it make if God were not?
Seems like most religions acknowledge the Father so the issue is why Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Jesus shows us what God is actually like. The Holy Spirit indwells us. Not sure what the practicalities are though.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the key practicalities is that God is love. That God is three persons puts love in the every essence of God and not an added extra.
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