Reasoning with Mormons out of the scriptures (Acts 17:2) (Home)
Table of Contents:
Introduction 3. Adam
6. The Priesthood 9. The Gospel
12. Eternal Life
1. His Image 4. God
7. Apostasy
10. Baptism Summary
2. Creation 5. Trinity
8. Prophets
11. Marriage
Scripture Reference
5. Trinity
In Christ dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (LDS | Bible | Catholic | Early Church)
Reason with a Mormon by asking - Why does the LDS church teach that Christ is one of “three Gods” in the Godhead when the Bible reveals the Godhead dwelt bodily in Christ?
LDS Bible Dictionary Godhead "... the Godhead: ... God the Father: ... Elohim . . . God the Son: The God known as Jehovah is the Son . . God the Holy Ghost: The Holy Ghost is also a God."
Col.2 ([9] For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.)
The Godhead is not made up of "three Gods" like Mormonism teaches, the Bible reveals the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in Christ who "was God" (Col 2:9; John 1:1,14). The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are three distinct persons but they are not three Gods, there is one God in three persons (Luke 3:22; Col 2:9; 2Cor 5:19; 1Cor 8:4-6). Three Gods do not form the Godhead, there is none other God but one (1Cor 8:4). The only begotten Son of God was not "a God", he "was God", "God" was manifest in the flesh, "the Word" was made flesh (John 1:114; 1Tim 3:16). The Father and the Son are one in works (John 10:30,38) and "are one" in being, the Father dwelt in the Son and did the works (John 14:10,11,23; John 17:21).
The Father and the Son are distinct persons, the Son prayed to the Father (Matt 26:39). Jesus taught "one God" (Mark 12:29,32). The apostle Paul taught "one" (1Cor 8:4,6). The apostle Paul taught "there be that are called gods" (1Cor 8:5). Satan is called "god" (2Cor 4:4). A man can be called "god" if the word of God comes to him (John 10:35). A man can partake of the divine nature through grace (2Pet 1:3-4), but having part is different than have the fullness of the divine nature like Jesus (Col 2:9).
The fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in Christ (Col 2:9). The Son is God, God was manifest in the flesh (John 1:1,14; 1Tim 3:16). Jesus is not "a God", Jesus is "God" or divine nature, (John 1:1,14; John 20:28). The only begotten of the Father is not God the Father, the Son of God is God or divine nature (John 1:1,14,34). Jesus Christ, our God, is both the Son of man and the Son of God (John 20:17-31). We are the offspring of God, he made the world and all things therein, he is Lord of heaven and earth, He is worshipped, He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things, the Godhead (Acts.17:24,25).
God is God from everlasting to everlasting (Catholic | Bible | LDS | Early Church)
Reason with a Mormon by asking - Why does the LDS church teach God the Father became God when the Bible reveals God is God from everlasting to everlasting?
LDS Gospel Principles Chapter 47 " The Prophet Joseph Smith taught: "When you climb up a ladder, you must begin at the bottom, and ascend step by step, until you arrive at the top; and so it is with the principles of the Gospel--you must begin with the first, and go on until you learn all the principles of exaltation. ... This is the way our Heavenly Father became God. Joseph Smith taught: "It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the character of God. . . . He was once a man like us; . . . God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did ... I will make thee ruler over many things"
Pss.90 ([2] Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.)
God the Father did not become God like Mormonism teaches, God is God from everlasting to everlasting (Psalm 90:2).The Son of God did not become God, he was God from the beginning (John 1:1). The HG did not become God, he is God (Acts 5:3, 4). In the Father there is no variableness (James 1:17). Jesus is God and man, God was manifest in the flesh, the man Christ Jesus is one mediator between God and men, God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself (1Tim 3:16; John 1:1,14; 2Cor 5:19; 1Tim 2:15). The Father and the Son are distinct persons but they are not different Gods, there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1Tim 2:15).
In Christ dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily
Gospel Principles Chapter 7 "Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are called the Godhead. They are unified in purpose."
Joseph Smith Teachings “I have always declared God to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from God the Father, and that the Holy Ghost was a distinct personage and a Spirit: and these three constitute three distinct personages and three Gods” ["Plain and Precious Truths,” Ensign, Mar 2008, 68–73]
Bible Dictionary Godhead "... the Godhead: ... God the Father: ... Elohim . . . God the Son: The God known as Jehovah is the Son . . God the Holy Ghost: The Holy Ghost is also a God."
Gospel Principles Chapter 21 "... the Holy Ghost is a member of the Godhead. He is a spirit in the form of a man."
LDS Bible Dictionary (God) "God ... the Father ... the Son, known as Jesus Christ, and who is also a God.... The Holy Ghost is also a God ...."
Joseph Smith Teachings (Ensign, Mar 2008) "I have always declared God to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from God the Father, and that the Holy Ghost was a distinct personage and a Spirit: and these three constitute three distinct personages and three Gods”
Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, (2007),36–44 "I have always declared God to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from God the Father, and that the Holy Ghost was a distinct personage and a Spirit: and these three constitute three distinct personages and three Gods”
History of the Church, 6:474; from a discourse given by Joseph Smith on June 16, 1844 "I have always declared God to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from God the Father, and that the Holy Ghost was a distinct personage and a Spirit: and these three constitute three distinct personages and three Gods”
Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith
“A Basis for Faith in the Living God,” Ensign, Nov 1978, 46 "This council brought forth what is known as the Nicene Creed, followed some time later by the Athanasian Creed which reads in part: " ... So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God, and yet there are not three Gods but one God.”"
“Is the LDS View of God Consistent with the Bible?,” Ensign, Jul 1987, 56
“The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom He Hath Sent,” Ensign, Nov 2007, 40–42
“‘Mom, Are We Christians?’,” Ensign, May 2007, 92–94 "Confusion and false doctrines about the Godhead were fashioned out of the Nicene Creed and Constantinople councils, where men declared that instead of three separate beings, the Godhead was three persons in one God, or the Trinity."
God is God from everlasting to everlasting .
Gospel Principles Chapter 47 "When we lived with our Heavenly Father, he explained a plan for our progression. We could become like him, an exalted being. ... Exaltation is eternal life, the kind of life God lives. ... He is a creator. We can become like our Heavenly Father. ... have--all power, glory, dominion, and knowledge."
Gospel Principles Chapter 47 " The Prophet Joseph Smith taught: "When you climb up a ladder, you must begin at the bottom, and ascend step by step, until you arrive at the top; and so it is with the principles of the Gospel--you must begin with the first, and go on until you learn all the principles of exaltation. ... This is the way our Heavenly Father became God. Joseph Smith taught: "It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the character of God. . . . He was once a man like us; . . . God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did ... I will make thee ruler over many things"
Joseph Smith's King Follett Sermon "If I show, verily, that I have the truth of God, and show that ninety-nine out of every hundred professing religious ministers are false teachers, having no authority, while they pretend to hold the keys of God’s kingdom on earth, and was to kill them because they are false teachers, it would deluge the whole world with blood. I will prove that the world is wrong, by showing what God is ... God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man ... if you were to see him today, you would see him like a man in form ... God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see ... you have got to learn how to be gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another ...What did Jesus do? Why, I do the things I saw my Father do when worlds came rolling into existence. My Father worked out His kingdom with fear and trembling, and I must do the same; and when I get my kingdom, I shall present it to My Father, so that He may obtain kingdom upon kingdom, and it will exalt Him in glory. He will then take a higher exaltation, and I will take His place, and thereby become exalted myself."
Joseph Smith's King Follett Sermon (Ensign, Apr 1971) "I will prove that the world is wrong, by showing what God is ... God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man ... if you were to see him today, you would see him like a man in form ... God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see ... you have got to learn how to be gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another ..."
Bible verses from King James
In Christ dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily .
Lexicon for Godhead for Col 2:9 " 1) deity a) the state of being God, Godhead"
Lexicon for Godhead for Acts 17:29 "1) a general name of deities or divinities as used by the Greeks 2) spoken of the only and true God, trinity a) of Christ b) Holy Spirit c) the Father
Lexicon for Godhead for Rom 1:20 "1) divinity, divine nature"
Col.2 ([9] For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.)
Col 2:9 Footnotes in the NAB [9] Fullness of the deity: the divine nature, not just attributes
1Cor.8 ([4] As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. [5] For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) [6] 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.)
1 Cor 8 Footnotes in the NAB " [6] This verse rephrases the monotheistic confession of v 4 in such a way as to contrast it with polytheism (1 Cor 8:5) and to express our relationship with the one God in concrete, i.e., in personal and Christian terms. And for whom we exist: since the Greek contains no verb here and the action intended must be inferred from the preposition eis, another translation is equally possible: "toward whom we return." Through whom all things: the earliest reference in the New Testament to Jesus' role in creation."
Mark.12 ([29] And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: [32] And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: [36] For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.)
1Cor 8 ([4] As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. )
Luke.3 ([22] And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.)
John 1 ([1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [14] And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. [34] And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God. [36] And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!)
John1:1 Footnotes in NAB [1] In the beginning: also the first words of the Old Testament (Genesis 1:1). Was: this verb is used three times with different meanings in this verse: existence, relationship, and predication. The Word (Greek logos): this term combines God's dynamic, creative word (Genesis), personified preexistent Wisdom as the instrument of God's creative activity (Proverbs), and the ultimate intelligibility of reality (Hellenistic philosophy). With God: the Greek preposition here connotes communication with another. Was God: lack of a definite article with "God" in Greek signifies predication rather than identification.
Phil 2 ([6] Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: [7] But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: [8] And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. [9] Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: [10] That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; [11] And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.)
John.13 ([16] Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.)
1Tim.2 ( [5] For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;)
John.20 ([17] Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. [28] And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. [31] But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.)
Eph.1 ([3] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: [17] That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:)
John.17 ([5] And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.)
Heb.1 ([3] Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;)
Matt.16 ([27] For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.)
Matt.28 ([19] Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:)
God is God from everlasting to everlasting .
Pss.90 ([2] Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.)
James 1 ([17] Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.)
Mal.2 ([10] Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?)
1Cor 8 ([6] 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.)
John 1 ([1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [14] And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. [34] And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.)
Acts.5 ([3] But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? [4] Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.)
2Cor.5 ([17] Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.)
1John.3 ([2] Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.)
Rom.8 ([14] For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. [15] For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. [16] The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: [17] And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. )
Matt.5 ([44] But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; [45] That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. [48] Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.)
John 1 ([12] But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:)
Eph.4 ([24] And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.)
Rev.3 ([21] To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne
Rev.21 ([7] He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. )
Rev.20 ([6] Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.)
Rev.22 ([5] And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. )
1Cor.15 ([24] Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. [25] For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. [26] The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. [27] For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith, all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. [28] And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.)
Catholic Church Teachings
In Christ dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily .
The confession of God's oneness, which has its roots in the divine revelation of the Old Covenant. God is unique; there is only one God:
The Christian faith confesses that God is one in nature, substance and essence. From the beginning, the revealed truth of the Holy Trinity has been at the very root of the Church's living faith, principally by means of Baptism. We do not confess three Gods, but one God in three persons. The divine persons do not share the one divinity among themselves but each of them is God whole and entire. Each of the persons is that supreme reality, viz., the divine substance, essence or nature.
The Father is God (divine nature), the Son is God (divine nature), the
HG is God (divine nature) which equals three persons who are God (divine
nature). By
nature one God.
The Godhead of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal. Christ "reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his
nature, in whom "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily." The divine persons are really distinct from one another.
God is one but not solitary. "Father", "Son", "Holy Spirit" are not simply names designating modalities of the divine being, for they are really distinct from one
another.
Jesus himself affirms that God is "the one Lord" whom you must love "with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength". At the same time Jesus gives us to understand that he himself is "the Lord". To confess that Jesus is Lord is distinctive of Christian faith. This is not contrary to belief in the One God. There is only one true God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; three persons indeed, but one essence, substance or nature entirely simple. They are called three persons in view of their relations, we believe in one nature or substance.
The divine Unity is Triune. Everything (in them) is one where there is no opposition of
relationship. Because of that unity the Father is wholly in the Son and wholly in the Holy Spirit; the Son is wholly in the Father and wholly in the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is wholly in the Father and wholly in the
Son. The three divine persons act together as one, and manifest their own proper characteristics. Christ's Ascension into heaven signifies his participation, in his humanity, in God's power and authority. Jesus Christ is Lord: he possesses all power in heaven and on earth. Henceforth Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, he who exists as Son of God before all ages, indeed as God, of one being with the Father, is seated bodily after he became incarnate and his flesh was glorified.
Catholic Answers "Q: I've understood Mormonism is polytheistic because it teaches that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three separate gods. When I recently told a pair of Mormon missionaries they were polytheists, they heatedly denied it, claiming their church teaches the doctrine of the "Godhead" of the Trinity and worships only one God. What's up? A: The answer to your question is: Yes, Mormonism is essentially polytheistic. But let's make sure we're straight on our terms. In Catholic lingo, "Godhead" is another way of saying Trinity in that we understand the Godhead as one God comprised of three divine Persons--not three distinct gods. Polytheism means the worship of a plurality of gods. (Some Mormons, recognizing their theology is polytheistic, prefer to soften it by referring to their religion as "henotheistic," which means the belief in many gods but the worship of one chief god). For Mormons, "Godhead" means a spiritual partnership that exists among the three "gods" of this planet: God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost. (Mormons usually don't say "Holy Spirit.") Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon Church, declared: "I have always declared God to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from God the Father, and that the Holy Ghost was a distinct personage and a spirit; and these three constitute three distinct personages and three distinct Gods" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, page 370). In fact, Mormonism teaches that God the Father is essentially a "perfected man" and is limited by a body of flesh and bone and thus is limited to time and space. He happens to reside on a planet near an uncharted star called "Kolob" (Abraham 3:3-9). Since Mormons worship both God the Father (Doctrine and Covenants 18:40) and Jesus Christ (3 Nephi 11:17; 2 Nephi 25:29), and since they believe the Father and Jesus are two separate gods, they truly are polytheists."
Catholic Answers - "Christians are monotheists and believe in one God, not three. No matter how closely together three gods work, they remain three gods, not one."
Catholic Answers "The early Christians were quick to spot new heresies. In the third century, Sabellius, a Libyan priest who was staying at Rome, invented a new one. He claimed there is only one person in the Godhead, so that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all one person with different "offices," rather than three persons who are one being in the Godhead, as the orthodox position holds. ... Modalism asserts that there is only one person in the Godhead ... Modalism quickly died out; it was too contrary to the ancient Christian faith to survive for long. "
Catholic Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith "according to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are not the three persons in which subsists the one Godhead, but three gods who form one divinity., but three gods who form one divinity. ... The very word divinity has only a functional, not a substantial content, because the divinity originates when the three gods decided to unite and form the divinity to bring about human salvation (Encyclopaedia of Mormonism [EM], New York: Macmillan, 1992, cf. Vol. 2, p. 552). ... The words Father, Son and Holy Spirit, have for the Mormons a meaning totally different from the Christian meaning. The differences are so great that one cannot even consider that this doctrine is a heresy which emerged out of a false understanding of the Christian doctrine. The teaching of the Mormons has a completely different matrix. ... Mormons hold that there is no real Trinity, no original sin, that Christ did not institute baptism"
Catholic Encyclopedia for the Trinity "in the unity of the Godhead there are Three truly distinct Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit ... The texts in which St. Paul affirms that in Christ dwells the plenitude of the Godhead (Colossians 2:9), that before His Incarnation He possessed the essential nature of God (Philippians 2:6), that He "is over all things, God blessed for ever" (Romans 9:5) tell us nothing that is not implied in many other passages of his Epistles. ... "the baptismal formula, which all acknowledge to be primitive. It has already been shown that the words as prescribed by Christ (Matthew 28:19) clearly express the Godhead of the Three Persons as well as their distinction ... In the Godhead the essence, will, and action are but one. Hence we have not separate existence ...The whole perfection of the Godhead is contained in the one infinite Divine Essence. "
The Athanasian Creed we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity. Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is all One, the Glory Equal ... So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not Three Almighties but One Almighty ... the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not Three Gods, but One God ... The Son is of the Father alone; not made, nor created, but begotten, but proceeding... in this Trinity none is afore or after Other, None is greater or less than Another, but the whole Three Persons are Co-eternal together, and Co-equal. So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity is Trinity, and the Trinity is Unity is to be worshipped. ... we believe and confess, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man. ... God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man, of the substance of His mother, born into the world. ... Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His Manhood. ... At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies, and shall give account for their own works.”
266 "Now this is the Catholic faith: We worship one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity, without either confusing the persons or dividing the substance; for the person of the Father is one, the Son's is another, the Holy Spirit's another; but the Godhead of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal" (Athanasian Creed: DS 75; ND 16).
2789 When we pray to "our" Father, we personally address the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. By doing so we do not divide the Godhead, since the Father is its "source and origin," but rather confess that the Son is eternally begotten by him and the Holy Spirit proceeds from him. We are not confusing the persons, for we confess that our communion is with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, in their one Holy Spirit. The Holy Trinity is consubstantial and indivisible. When we pray to the Father, we adore and glorify him together with the Son and the Holy Spirit.
233 Christians are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: not in their names, for there is only one God, the almighty Father, his only Son and the Holy Spirit: the Most Holy Trinity.
Catholic Answers - "Three Distinct Persons ... The doctrine of the Trinity is encapsulated in Matthew 28:19, where Jesus instructs the apostles: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." ... the writings of the earliest Christians, who clearly understood these verses in the sense that we do today—that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three divine Persons who are one divine Being (God)."
Catholic Answers - "The earliest evidence of anyone referring to God as a "Trinity" is a letter by Theophilus of Antioch (Ad Autolycum [A.D. 181]). Before the Christian usage, a "trinity" (triad in Greek) was simply any group of three things. ... However, as Christians made theological use of the term, it quickly gained a new, technical sense, referring specifically to the three persons of the Godhead. When Christians professed that God is a "Triad," they did not mean a group of three gods, but one God in three persons."
Catholic Answers - "To those who accuse us of a doctrine of three gods, let it be stated that we confess one God, not in number but in nature. For all that is said to be one numerically is not one absolutely, nor is it simple in nature. It is universally confessed, however, that God is simple and not composite"
Catholic Answers - "Trinitarians say the Father is the only true God, the Son is the only true God, and the Holy Spirit is the only true God. All three Persons are the one, true God, as opposed to three Gods."
Catholic Answers - "Christ himself says: ‘I and the Father are one.’ ‘One,’ said he, that there be no separation of power and nature; but again, ‘We are,’ that you may recognize Father and Son, forasmuch as the perfect Father is believed to have begotten the perfect Son, and the Father and the Son are one, not by confusion of person, but by unity of nature. We say, then, that there is one God, not two or three gods"
Catholic Answers - ""[T]here is no other God, nor has there been heretofore, nor will there be hereafter, except God the Father unbegotten, without beginning, from whom is all beginning, upholding all things, as we say, and his Son Jesus Christ, whom we likewise to confess to have always been with the Father—before the world’s beginning. . . . Jesus Christ is the Lord and God in whom we believe . . . and who has poured out on us abundantly the Holy Spirit . . . whom we confess and adore as one God in the Trinity of the sacred Name"
Ignatius of Antioch ""Jesus Christ . . . was with the Father before the beginning of time, and in the end was revealed. . . . Jesus Christ . . . came forth from one Father and is with and has gone to one [Father]. . . . [T]here is one God, who has manifested himself by Jesus Christ his Son, who is his eternal Word, not proceeding forth from silence, and who in all things pleased him that sent him" (Letter to the Magnesians 6–8 [A.D. 110] emphasis added)."
Irenaeus ""It was not angels, therefore, who made us nor who formed us, neither had angels power to make an image of God, nor anyone else. . . . For God did not stand in need of these in order to accomplish what he had himself determined with himself beforehand should be done, as if he did not possess his own hands. For with him [the Father] were always present the Word and Wisdom, the Son and the Spirit, by whom and in whom, freely and spontaneously, he made all things, to whom also he speaks, saying, ‘Let us make man in our image and likeness’ [Gen. 1:26]" (Against Heresies 4:20:1 [A.D. 189] emphasis added)."
Gregory the Wonderworker ""But some treat the Holy Trinity in an awful manner, when they confidently assert that there are not three persons, and introduce (the idea of) a person devoid of subsistence. Wherefore we clear ourselves of Sabellius, who says that the Father and the Son are the same [person]. . . . We forswear this, because we believe that three persons—namely, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—are declared to possess the one Godhead: for the one divinity showing itself forth according to nature in the Trinity establishes the oneness of the nature" (A Sectional Confession of Faith 8 [A.D. 262]). "But if they say, ‘How can there be three persons, and how but one divinity?’ we shall make this reply: That there are indeed three persons, inasmuch as there is one person of God the Father, and one of the Lord the Son, and one of the Holy Spirit; and yet that there is but one divinity, inasmuch as . . . there is one substance in the Trinity" (ibid., 14)."
Ignatius of Antioch "8. ... there is one God, who has manifested Himself by Jesus Christ His Son, who is His eternal Word," (Letter to the Magnesians)
Ignatius of Antioch "7. ... There is one Physician who is possessed both of flesh and spirit; both made and not made; God existing in flesh; true life in death; both of Mary and of God;" (Letter to the Ephesians)
Irenaeus "For the Church, although dispersed throughout the whole world even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and from their disciples the faith in one God, Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them; and in one Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (Against Heresies 1:10:1 [A.D. 189]).
Catholic Answers - "[Some heretics] proclaim that there are in some way three gods, when they divide the sacred unity into three substances foreign to each other and completely separate" (Pope Dionysius - Letter to Dionysius of Alexandria 1 [A.D. 262]).
Catholic Answers - "All persons are beings, but not all beings are persons. For example, you are one being and one person. But a dog is one being and zero persons. With regard to the Trinity, there is one being, which is God, yet there are there Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is not illogical. If one were to say that there is one God and three Gods, or one Person and three Persons—that would be illogical. But one Being and three Persons is not a contradiction. ... John 1:1 reads, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" ... When John says, "and the Word was with God" he refutes the heresy of Sabellius (Jesus was the Father). Lastly, when John says that the "Word was God," the Arian heresy (Jesus was not God) also collapses. ... Another compelling verse to consider is John 20:28, where the apostle Thomas says to Jesus, "My Lord and my God." In the Greek, this sentence reads literally, "The Lord of me and the God of me." It would be nothing short of blasphemy for Jesus not to rebuke Thomas if he were wrong. Jesus does nothing of the sort, but in fact he accepts Thomas’ profession of his identity as God in the next verse."
Catholic Answers - "Three Distinct Persons ... The doctrine of the Trinity is encapsulated in Matthew 28:19, where Jesus instructs the apostles: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." ... the writings of the earliest Christians, who clearly understood these verses in the sense that we do today—that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three divine Persons who are one divine Being (God)."
Catholic Answers - "The earliest evidence of anyone referring to God as a "Trinity" is a letter by Theophilus of Antioch (Ad Autolycum [A.D. 181]). Before the Christian usage, a "trinity" (triad in Greek) was simply any group of three things. ... However, as Christians made theological use of the term, it quickly gained a new, technical sense, referring specifically to the three persons of the Godhead. When Christians professed that God is a "Triad," they did not mean a group of three gods, but one God in three persons."
Catholic Answers - "Trinitarians say the Father is the only true God, the Son is the only true God, and the Holy Spirit is the only true God. All three Persons are the one, true God, as opposed to three Gods."
Catholic Answers - "Christ himself says: ‘I and the Father are one.’ ‘One,’ said he, that there be no separation of power and nature; but again, ‘We are,’ that you may recognize Father and Son, forasmuch as the perfect Father is believed to have begotten the perfect Son, and the Father and the Son are one, not by confusion of person, but by unity of nature. We say, then, that there is one God, not two or three gods"
Catholic Answers - "To those who accuse us of a doctrine of three gods, let it be stated that we confess one God, not in number but in nature. For all that is said to be one numerically is not one absolutely, nor is it simple in nature. It is universally confessed, however, that God is simple and not composite"
Catholic Answers - ""[T]here is no other God, nor has there been heretofore, nor will there be hereafter, except God the Father unbegotten, without beginning, from whom is all beginning, upholding all things, as we say, and his Son Jesus Christ, whom we likewise to confess to have always been with the Father—before the world’s beginning. . . . Jesus Christ is the Lord and God in whom we believe . . . and who has poured out on us abundantly the Holy Spirit . . . whom we confess and adore as one God in the Trinity of the sacred Name"
Catholic Answers - "There is no doubt that the New Testament declares Jesus to be God. ... in John 5:18 we are told that Jesus’ opponents sought to kill him because he "called God his Father, making himself equal with God." ... ...In John 8:58 ... Jesus ... invoking and applying to himself the personal name of God, "I AM" or "Yahweh." ... in John 20:28, Thomas falls at Jesus’ feet, exclaiming "My Lord and my God!" In Philippians 2:6, Paul writes of Christ Jesus "[w]ho, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped." ... the Church Fathers also recognized the divinity of Christ ..."
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith "according to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are not the three persons in which subsists the one Godhead, but three gods who form one divinity."
The Athanasian Creed “we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity. Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is all One, the Glory Equal ... So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not Three Almighties but One Almighty ... the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not Three Gods, but One God ... The Son is of the Father alone; not made, nor created, but begotten, but proceeding... in this Trinity none is afore or after Other, None is greater or less than Another, but the whole Three Persons are Co-eternal together, and Co-equal. So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity is Trinity, and the Trinity is Unity is to be worshipped. ... we believe and confess, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man. ... God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man, of the substance of His mother, born into the world. ... Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His Manhood. ... At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies, and shall give account for their own works.”
200 The confession of God's oneness, which has its roots in the divine revelation of the Old Covenant, is inseparable from the profession of God's existence and is equally fundamental. God is unique; there is only one God: "The Christian faith confesses that God is one in nature, substance and essence."
249 From the beginning, the revealed truth of the Holy Trinity has been at the very root of the Church's living faith, principally by means of Baptism. It finds its expression in the rule of baptismal faith, formulated in the preaching, catechesis and prayer of the Church. Such formulations are already found in the apostolic writings, such as this salutation taken up in the Eucharistic liturgy: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."
253 The Trinity is One. We do not confess three Gods, but one God in three persons, the "consubstantial Trinity". The divine persons do not share the one divinity among themselves but each of them is God whole and entire: "The Father is that which the Son is, the Son that which the Father is, the Father and the Son that which the Holy Spirit is, i.e. by nature one God." In the words of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), "Each of the persons is that supreme reality, viz., the divine substance, essence or nature."
266 "Now this is the Catholic faith: We worship one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity, without either confusing the persons or dividing the substance; for the person of the Father is one, the Son's is another, the Holy Spirit's another; but the Godhead of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal" (Athanasian Creed: DS 75; ND 16).
2502 Sacred art is true and beautiful when its form corresponds to its particular vocation: evoking and glorifying, in faith and adoration, the transcendent mystery of God - the surpassing invisible beauty of truth and love visible in Christ, who "reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature," in whom "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily." This spiritual beauty of God is reflected in the most holy Virgin Mother of God, the angels, and saints. Genuine sacred art draws man to adoration, to prayer, and to the love of God, Creator and Savior, the Holy One and Sanctifier.
254 The divine persons are really distinct from one another. "God is one but not solitary." "Father", "Son", "Holy Spirit" are not simply names designating modalities of the divine being, for they are really distinct from one another: "He is not the Father who is the Son, nor is the Son he who is the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit he who is the Father or the Son." They are distinct from one another in their relations of origin: "It is the Father who generates, the Son who is begotten, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds." The divine Unity is Triune.
202 Jesus himself affirms that God is "the one Lord" whom you must love "with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength". At the same time Jesus gives us to understand that he himself is "the Lord". To confess that Jesus is Lord is distinctive of Christian faith. This is not contrary to belief in the One God. Nor does believing in the Holy Spirit as "Lord and giver of life" introduce any division into the One God: We firmly believe and confess without reservation that there is only one true God, eternal infinite (immensus) and unchangeable, incomprehensible, almighty and ineffable, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; three persons indeed, but one essence, substance or nature entirely simple
255 The divine persons are relative to one another. Because it does not divide the divine unity, the real distinction of the persons from one another resides solely in the relationships which relate them to one another: "In the relational names of the persons the Father is related to the Son, the Son to the Father, and the Holy Spirit to both. While they are called three persons in view of their relations, we believe in one nature or substance." Indeed "everything (in them) is one where there is no opposition of relationship." "Because of that unity the Father is wholly in the Son and wholly in the Holy Spirit; the Son is wholly in the Father and wholly in the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is wholly in the Father and wholly in the Son."
648 Christ's Resurrection is an object of faith in that it is a transcendent intervention of God himself in creation and history. In it the three divine persons act together as one, and manifest their own proper characteristics. The Father's power "raised up" Christ his Son and by doing so perfectly introduced his Son's humanity, including his body, into the Trinity. Jesus is conclusively revealed as "Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his Resurrection from the dead". St. Paul insists on the manifestation of God's power through the working of the Spirit who gave life to Jesus' dead humanity and called it to the glorious state of Lordship.
668 "Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living." Christ's Ascension into heaven signifies his participation, in his humanity, in God's power and authority. Jesus Christ is Lord: he possesses all power in heaven and on earth. He is "far above all rule and authority and power and dominion", for the Father "has put all things under his feet." Christ is Lord of the cosmos and of history. In him human history and indeed all creation are "set forth" and transcendently fulfilled.
663 Henceforth Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father: "By 'the Father's right hand' we understand the glory and honor of divinity, where he who exists as Son of God before all ages, indeed as God, of one being with the Father, is seated bodily after he became incarnate and his flesh was glorified."
God is God from everlasting to everlasting .
God is unique; there are no other gods besides him. He made heaven and earth. In God "there is no variation or shadow due to change." God is "HE WHO IS", from everlasting to everlasting. There is only one true God, eternal infinite
(immensus) and unchangeable, incomprehensible. At the time appointed by God, the only Son of the Father, the eternal Word, that is, the Word and substantial Image of the Father, became incarnate; without losing his divine nature he has assumed human nature. The divine persons do not share the one divinity among themselves but each of them is God whole and entire. Each of the persons is that supreme reality, viz., the divine substance, essence or nature.
The Word became flesh to make us "partakers of the divine nature": For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God. For the Son of God became man so that we might become God. The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods. By the participation of the Spirit, we become communicants in the divine nature. . . . For this reason, those in whom the Spirit dwells are divinized. Constituted in a state of holiness, man was destined to be fully "divinized" by God in glory. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are members of his Body, branches grafted onto the vine which is himself.
Filial adoption, in making us partakers by grace in the divine nature. Grace makes us "co-heirs" with Christ and worthy of obtaining "the promised inheritance of eternal life." Grace makes the neophyte "a new creature," an adopted son of God, who has become a "partaker of the divine nature," member of Christ and co-heir with him, and a temple of the Holy Spirit. In his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life.
God created man to make him share in his own blessed life. Creation finds its goal in the new creation in Christ. God made us "to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace". The ultimate purpose of creation is that God "who is the creator of all things may at last become "all in all", thus simultaneously assuring his own glory and our beatitude." Men share in the creative power and fatherhood of God, we are cooperating with the love of God the Creator. God created everything for man, but man in turn was created to serve and love God and to offer all creation back to him.
The world was made for the glory of God. God created all things "not to increase his glory, but to show it forth and to communicate it", for God has no other reason for creating than his love and goodness:
Creatures came into existence when the key of love opened his hand. The First Vatican Council explains: This one, true God, of his own goodness and "almighty power", not for increasing his own beatitude, nor for attaining his perfection, but in order to manifest this perfection through the benefits which he bestows on creatures, with absolute freedom of counsel
and from the beginning of time, made out of nothing both orders of creatures, the spiritual and the corporeal. .
. To human beings God even gives the power of freely sharing in his providence by entrusting them with the responsibility of "subduing" the earth and having dominion over it. God enables men to be intelligent and free causes in order to complete the work of creation.
Adoration is the first attitude of man acknowledging that he is a creature before his Creator. It exalts the greatness of the Lord who made us and the almighty power of the Savior who sets us free from evil. To adore God is to acknowledge him as God, as the Creator and Savior, the Lord and Master of everything that exists. No creature has the infinite power necessary to "create" in the proper sense of the word, that is, to produce and give being to that which had in no way possessed it (to call into existence "out of nothing"). The power of Satan is, nonetheless, not infinite. He is only a creature. Satan's action is permitted by divine providence. It is a great mystery that providence should permit diabolical activity, but
we know that in everything God works for good with those who love him.
212 Over the centuries, Israel's faith was able to manifest and deepen realization of the riches contained in the revelation of the divine name. God is unique; there are no other gods besides him. He transcends the world and history. He made heaven and earth: "They will perish, but you endure; they will all wear out like a garment. . . . but you are the same, and your years have no end." In God "there is no variation or shadow due to change." God is "HE WHO IS", from everlasting to everlasting, and as such remains ever faithful to himself and to his promises.
202 Jesus himself affirms that God is "the one Lord" whom you must love "with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength". At the same time Jesus gives us to understand that he himself is "the Lord". To confess that Jesus is Lord is distinctive of Christian faith. This is not contrary to belief in the One God. Nor does believing in the Holy Spirit as "Lord and giver of life" introduce any division into the One God: We firmly believe and confess without reservation that there is only one true God, eternal infinite (immensus) and unchangeable, incomprehensible, almighty and ineffable, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; three persons indeed, but one essence, substance or nature entirely simple.
479 At the time appointed by God, the only Son of the Father, the eternal Word, that is, the Word and substantial Image of the Father, became incarnate; without losing his divine nature he has assumed human nature.
253 The Trinity is One. We do not confess three Gods, but one God in three persons, the "consubstantial Trinity". The divine persons do not share the one divinity among themselves but each of them is God whole and entire: "The Father is that which the Son is, the Son that which the Father is, the Father and the Son that which the Holy Spirit is, i.e. by nature one God." In the words of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), "Each of the persons is that supreme reality, viz., the divine substance, essence or nature."
460 "The Word became flesh to make us "partakers of the divine nature" [2 Pt 1:4]: For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God. For the Son of God became man so that we might become God. The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods."
1988 Through the power of the Holy Spirit we take part in Christ's Passion by dying to sin, and in his Resurrection by being born to a new life; we are members of his Body which is the Church, branches grafted onto the vine which is himself: [God] gave himself to us through his Spirit. By the participation of the Spirit, we become communicants in the divine nature. . . . For this reason, those in whom the Spirit dwells are divinized
398 In that sin man preferred himself to God and by that very act scorned him. He chose himself over and against God, against the requirements of his creaturely status and therefore against his own good. Constituted in a state of holiness, man was destined to be fully "divinized" by God in glory. Seduced by the devil, he wanted to "be like God", but "without God, before God, and not in accordance with God".
2009 Filial adoption, in making us partakers by grace in the divine nature, can bestow true merit on us as a result of God's gratuitous justice. This is our right by grace, the full right of love, making us "co-heirs" with Christ and worthy of obtaining "the promised inheritance of eternal life." The merits of our good works are gifts of the divine goodness. "Grace has gone before us; now we are given what is due. . . . Our merits are God's gifts."
1265 Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes the neophyte "a new creature," an adopted son of God, who has become a "partaker of the divine nature," member of Christ and co-heir with him, and a temple of the Holy Spirit
01 God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son as Redeemer and Savior. In his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life.
315 In the creation of the world and of man, God gave the first and universal witness to his almighty love and his wisdom, the first proclamation of the "plan of his loving goodness", which finds its goal in the new creation in Christ.
294 The glory of God consists in the realization of this manifestation and communication of his goodness, for which the world was created. God made us "to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace", for "the glory of God is man fully alive; moreover man's life is the vision of God: if God's revelation through creation has already obtained life for all the beings that dwell on earth, how much more will the Word's manifestation of the Father obtain life for those who see God." The ultimate purpose of creation is that God "who is the creator of all things may at last become "all in all", thus simultaneously assuring his own glory and our beatitude."
2367 Called to give life, spouses share in the creative power and fatherhood of God. "Married couples should regard it as their proper mission to transmit human life and to educate their children; they should realize that they are thereby cooperating with the love of God the Creator and are, in a certain sense, its interpreters. They will fulfill this duty with a sense of human and Christian responsibility."
358 God created everything for man, but man in turn was created to serve and love God and to offer all creation back to him: What is it that is about to be created, that enjoys such honor? It is man that great and wonderful living creature, more precious in the eyes of God than all other creatures! For him the heavens and the earth, the sea and all the rest of creation exist. God attached so much importance to his salvation that he did not spare his own Son for the sake of man. Nor does he ever cease to work, trying every possible means, until he has raised man up to himself and made him sit at his right hand.
293 Scripture and Tradition never cease to teach and celebrate this fundamental truth: "The world was made for the glory of God." St. Bonaventure explains that God created all things "not to increase his glory, but to show it forth and to communicate it", for God has no other reason for creating than his love and goodness: "Creatures came into existence when the key of love opened his hand." The First Vatican Council explains: This one, true God, of his own goodness and "almighty power", not for increasing his own beatitude, nor for attaining his perfection, but in order to manifest this perfection through the benefits which he bestows on creatures, with absolute freedom of counsel "and from the beginning of time, made out of nothing both orders of creatures, the spiritual and the corporeal. . ."
307 To human beings God even gives the power of freely sharing in his providence by entrusting them with the responsibility of "subduing" the earth and having dominion over it [Gen 1:26-28]. God thus enables men to be intelligent and free causes in order to complete the work of creation, to perfect its harmony for their own good and that of their neighbors
2628 Adoration is the first attitude of man acknowledging that he is a creature before his Creator. It exalts the greatness of the Lord who made us and the almighty power of the Savior who sets us free from evil. Adoration is homage of the spirit to the "King of Glory," respectful silence in the presence of the "ever greater" God. Adoration of the thrice-holy and sovereign God of love blends with humility and gives assurance to our supplications.
2096 Adoration is the first act of the virtue of religion. To adore God is to acknowledge him as God, as the Creator and Savior, the Lord and Master of everything that exists, as infinite and merciful Love. "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve," says Jesus, citing Deuteronomy.318 No creature has the infinite power necessary to "create" in the proper sense of the word, that is, to produce and give being to that which had in no way possessed it (to call into existence "out of nothing").
395 The power of Satan is, nonetheless, not infinite. He is only a creature, powerful from the fact that he is pure spirit, but still a creature. He cannot prevent the building up of God's reign. Although Satan may act in the world out of hatred for God and his kingdom in Christ Jesus, and although his action may cause grave injuries - of a spiritual nature and, indirectly, even of a physical nature- to each man and to society, the action is permitted by divine providence which with strength and gentleness guides human and cosmic history. It is a great mystery that providence should permit diabolical activity, but "we know that in everything God works for good with those who love him."
In Christ dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily .
Ignatius of Antioch "There is then one God and Father, and not two or three; one who is, and there is no other besides him, the only true [God]. For ‘the Lord your God,’ says [the Scripture], ‘is one Lord’ [Deut. 6:4]. . . . And there is also one Son, God the Word. . . . And there is also one Paraclete" (Letter to the Philadelphians 2 [A.D. 110]).
Ignatius of Antioch "The prophets, who were men of God, lived according to Jesus Christ. For that reason they were persecuted, inspired as they were by his grace to convince the disobedient that there is one God, who manifested himself through his Son, Jesus Christ, who is his Word proceeding from silence, and who was in all respects pleasing to him that sent him" (Letter to the Magnesians 8:1 [A.D. 110]).
Ignatius of Antioch "We have also as a Physician the Lord our God, Jesus the Christ, the only-begotten Son and Word, before time began, but who afterwards became also man, of Mary the virgin " (Ephesians,7(A.D. 110),in ANF,1:52)
Clement of Rome "13. Beloved brethren! that a man should build up and establish the brethren on the faith in one God, …. Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. "Two Epistles on Virginity
God is God from everlasting to everlasting .
Irenaeus "For the Church, although dispersed throughout the whole world even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and from their disciples the faith in one God, Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them; and in one Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (Against Heresies 1:10:1 [A.D. 189]). "Nor is he moved by anyone; rather, freely and by his Word he made all things. For he alone is God, he alone is Lord, he alone is Creator, he alone is Father, he alone contains all and commands all to exist" (ibid., 2:1:1). "Of his own accord and by his own power he made all things and arranged and perfected them; and his will is the substance of all things. He alone, then, is found to be God; he alone is omnipotent, who made all things; he alone is Father, who founded and formed all things, visible and invisible, sensible and insensate, heavenly and earthly, by the Word of his power. And he has fitted and arranged all things by his wisdom; and while he comprehends all, he can be comprehended by none. He is himself the designer, himself the builder, himself the inventor, himself the maker, himself the Lord of all" (ibid., 2:30:9).
Irenaeus "For, to attribute the substance of created things to the power and will of Him who is God of all, is worthy both of credit and acceptance. It is also agreeable [to reason], and there may be well said regarding such a belief, that 'the things which are impossible with men are possible with God.' While men, indeed, cannot make anything out of nothing, but only out of matter already existing, yet God is in this point proeminently superior to men, that He Himself called into being the substance of His creation, when previously it had no existence." Against Heresies,2,10:4(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:370
Ignatius of Antioch "There is one Physician who is possessed both of flesh and spirit; both made and not made; God existing in flesh; true life in death; both of Mary and of God; first possible and then impossible, even Jesus Christ our Lord." (Ephesians,7(A.D.110),in ANF,I:52)
Irenaeus "For as, in the New Testament, that faith of men [to be placed] in God has been increased, receiving in addition [to what was already revealed] the Son of God, that man too might be a partaker of God; so is also our walk in life required to be more circumspect, when we are directed not merely to abstain from evil actions, but even from evil thoughts, and from idle words, and empty talk, and scurrilous-language: thus also the punishment of those who do not believe the Word of God, and despise His advent, and are turned away backwards, is increased; being not merely temporal, but rendered also eternal. For to whomsoever the Lord shall say, 'Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,' these shall be damned for ever; and to whomsoever He shall say, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you for eternity,' these do receive the kingdom for ever, and make constant advance in it; since there is one and the same God the Father, and His Word, who has been always present with the human race, by means indeed of various dispensations, and has wrought out many things, and saved from the beginning those who are saved, (for these are they who love God, and follow the Word of God according to the class to which they belong,) and has judged those who are judged, that is, those who forget God, and are blasphemous, and transgressors of His word." (Against Heresies,4,28,2(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:501)