The Unity and Trinity of God
Dogmas concerning the Unity and Trinity of God
compiled from "Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma" by Dr Ludwig Ott
The Unity of God: His existence and Nature
The Existence of God
God, our Creator and
Lord, can be known with certainty, by the Natural
Light of Reason from Created Things.
The Existence of God can be proved by means of Causality.
God's Existence is not merely an Object of Natural
Rational Knowledge, but also an Object of
Supernatural Faith.
The Nature of God
Our Natural Knowledge of God in this World
is not an Immediate, Intuitive Cognition, but a Mediate, Abstractive Knowledge,
because it is attained through the Knowledge of Creatures.
Our Knowledge of God here below is not
Proper, but Analogical.
The Blessed in Heaven possess an Immediate
Intuitive Knowledge of the Divine Essence.
The Immediate Vision of God transcends the Natural Power of Cognition of the
Human Soul, and is therefore Supernatural.
The Soul, for the Immediate Vision of God
(i.e. Beatific Vision), requires the
Light of Glory.
God's Essence is also Incomprehensible to the
Blessed in Heaven.
The Attributes or Qualities of God
The Divine Attributes are really Identical among
Themselves and with the Divine Essence.
God is Absolutely Perfect.
God is actually Infinite
(∞) in every Perfection.
God is Absolutely Simple.
There is only One (1) God.
The One (1) God is, in the Ontological Sense,
The True God.
God is Absolute Veracity.
God is Absolutely Faithful.
God is Absolute Ontological Goodness
in Himself and in Relation to others.
God is Absolute Benignity.
God is Absolutely Immutable.
God is Eternal.
God is Immense or Absolutely Immeasurable.
God is everywhere-present in Created Space.
God's Knowledge is Infinite
(∞).
God knows all that is merely possible by the
Knowledge of Simple Intelligence.
God knows all Real Things in the Past, the Present and the Future.
By the Knowledge of Vision, God also foresees the Future
Free Acts of the Rational Creatures with Infallible Certainty.
God also knows the conditioned Future Free Actions with Infallible Certainty.
God's Divine Will is Infinite
(∞).
God Loves Himself of necessity, but Loves
and Wills the Creation of extra-Divine Things, on the other hand, with Freedom.
God is Almighty.
God is the Lord of the
Heavens and of the Earth.
God is Infinitely
(∞) Just.
God is Infinitely
(∞) Merciful.
The Doctrine of the Triune God
In God there are Three (3)
Persons, the Father, the Son
and the Holy Ghost. Each of the Three (3)
Persons possesses the One (1)
Divine Essence.
In God there are Two (2)
Internal Divine Processions.
The Divine Persons, not the Divine Nature,
are the Subject of the Internal Divine Processions (in the Active and the Passive
Sense).
The Second Divine Person Proceeds from the
First Divine Person by Generation, and is therefore
Related to Him as Son to a
Father.
The Holy Spirit Proceeds from the
Father and from the Son as from a
Single (1) Principle through a Single (1)
Spiration.
Origin of the Son and the Holy Spirit
|
God the Father
possesses Two (2) Internal Divine
Processions
|
| 1. Knowing
|
Act of Intellect
|
Generates
(not Made, not Created)
|
The Son of God,
Second Person of the Holy Trinity
|
| 2. Willing
|
Act of Will
|
Spirates
(not Made, not Created,
not Generated)
|
The Holy Spirit,
Third Person of the Holy Trinity
|
The Son Proceeds from the
Intellect of the Father by way of
Generation.
The Holy Spirit Proceeds from the
Will or from the Mutual Love of the
Father and the Son.
The Holy Spirit does not Proceed through
Generation, but through Spiration.
The Three (3) Divine Persons are
in One Another.
All the Ad Extra Activities of God
are Common to the Three (3) Persons.
The Father sends the Son; the
Father and the Son send the
Holy Spirit.
The Trinity of God can only be known
through Divine Revelation.
|
The Supernatural Order is the Ensemble of Effects exceeding the
Powers of the Created Universe, and Gratuitously produced directly by God for the
purpose of Raising the Rational Creature above its Natural Sphere to a God-like
Life and Destiny.