6/19/25
Kelly, J.N.D. (1978). "Chapter 10: The Doctrine of the Trinity." (pp. 252-279). Harper San Francisco. (Personal Library)
As the fourth century progressed, the Nicene formulation regarding the full deity of the Son led to further evaluation of the nature of the Trinity (Kelly 1978, p. 252). The growing acceptance of the Nicene point of view that the Father and the Son were of the same substance led to a recognition of the Holy Spirit as equally divine. Kelly notes a further element in the discussion of doctrine in the reign of Julian the Apostate (361), who allowed extensive interaction among different factions, possibly hoping that the conflict would put an end to Christianity. In the long run, the debate was not so much about the terms used, but about the concepts underlying the terms (Kelly 1978, p. 254).
With this matter more or less resolved, the nature of the Holy Spirit became a more central element for consideration (Kelly 1978, p. 256). He was easily recognized as a member of the Trinity. Yet the problem of discussing substance in the case of a spirit was significant. Athanasius, responding to some Egyptian Christians who understood the Holy Spirit as inferior and part of creation, described the Holy Spirit as "fully divine, consubstantial with the Father and the Son" (Kelly 1978, p. 257, Kelly's summary). The Holy Spirit is a person of the Godhead and not a part of the created order.
The Cappadocian Fathers, though exercising caution, developed Athanasius' view of the Holy Spirit, describing his being given "from the Father through the Son" (Kelly 1978, p. 259). Their view was not universally embraced, as there remained those who would deny consubstantiality of the persons of the Godhead regardless. yet the Cappadocian Fathers' point of view did gradually become more broadly accepted (Kelly 1978, p. 260). Kelly observes that the remaining Arians complained of the Cappadocians that they held to the Father having two sons. This required articulating the different origin of the Son and the Spirit. The statement which proved definitive was that of Gregory of Nyssa, who taught that the Spirit "is out of God and is of Christ' He proceeds out of the Father and receives from the Son; He cannot be separated from the Word" (Kelly 1978, p. 262).
Kelly observes that this discussion of the Holy Spirit formed the backdrop for the council of Constantinople in 381 (Kelly 1978, p. 263). There the Holy Spirit was formally described in an ecumenically endorsed statement as consubstantial with the Father and the Son. The three persons of the Godhead are seen as undivided, though existing in three persons (Kelly 1978, p. 264). The terms "Father," "Son," and "Holy Spirit" may essentially be understood to describe relation, while "God" describes essence (Kelly 1978, p. 266). The issue of divisibility persisted, as there is debate (as early as Aristotle) as to whether anything non-material is divisible. The solution reached by the Cappadocians was that though each Person of the Godhead is one, they cannot be added together, as there is only one unique nature involved (Kelly 1978, p. 268).
The consideration of the nature of the Trinity in the East was paralleled in the West. By the time of Ambrose, theologians were articulating one God in three persons (Kelly 1978, p. 269). Kelly notes in particular the work of Victorinus. He considered that the living nature of God is, in effect, always moving, and thus capable of eternal generation without change, as the unchanging nature of a moving God is to do things (Kelly 1978, p. 270). The different persons of the Trinity are all equally God but typically perform different roles.
Augustine was, in Kelly's opinion, the one who provided the definitive articulations of the Trinity in the West (Kelly 1978, p. 271). Kelly references Augustine's work De Trinitate, assembled at various times from 399 and 419. Augustine takes the fact of one God in three persons as a Scriptural given, then creates exposition based on that idea (Kelly 1978, p. 272). God is one, and each member of the Trinity is fully divine and of the same nature. Kelly sees Augustine's view as well described in the Athanasian Creed, which he dates later than Augustine (Kelly 1978, p. 273). Augustine was not satisfied with the term "persons," yet he accepted it as a matter of common use (Kelly 1978, p. 274). Yet, as opposed to the Arians, he rejected the idea that a "person" might imply a distinction of substance. As to the procession of the Spirit, Augustine took Him to be the Spirit of both the Father and the Son. he would therefore teach that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son (Kelly 1978, p. 275). Yet he definitively rejected the idea that the Father begot the Son and the Spirit, using the language of procession instead (Kelly 1978, p. 276).