Oneness & Threeness

The church has historically used a variety of words to speak of the oneness & the threeness of God, each term requires a bit of background in order to help our understanding of them. I do not intend to give a full treatment of terms like Trinity, essence, persons, and so on. However, I will try to get to the heart of the matter.

Thus far I have stated that the undivided church saw one God in whom there is no internal difference, who has one mind, one plan, one set of affections, one intention, and in whom there is no division at all. Yet, in a mystery, the church also saw that God exists in threeness. The main point that we should draw from this is that the three persons in the one Godhead have one will, and are at all times working (ergos) in perfect unity.

God the Father does not do anything that is not done though His Word, who is His eternal Son, and the eternal Word or Son does nothing apart from the Holy Spirit that eternally proceeds from the Father. In short, the three persons may be distinct, but never separated. There is one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and nothing that any of the persons in the godhead plan, think, love, or pursue occurs in isolation from the others. In the Godhead we have perfect communion. Only when we understand this oneness and threeness can we begin to look at the energies, or works, of God as they pertain to each person in the Godhead. For it is by the energies of God that mankind knows the Godhead and the persons.