The 60-Second Aquinas
Lesson
The Holy Trinity: Three But One
Aquinas Lesson for August 8, 1998
Having discussed the three persons of God, it is important to remember that the mystery of the Trinity is that God is three persons, but still one God.
The idea of the Trinity would contradict God’s own law if God were three gods. God called us to worship only Him in the first commandment. Further, we cannot say that God created two lesser gods in the Son and the Spirit. First, yesterday’s lesson focused on how these are not products of God because they are infinite. Second, we are taught to worship the Son and the Holy Spirit, which would again be a violation of the first commandment if God had created these as lesser gods.
The answer to this dilemma can again be found in determining the difference between the nature of man, which we can comprehend, and the nature of God, which is beyond our understanding.
Look at three aspects of man: being, knowing, and loving. Of these three, only being is a subsisting thing. Knowing and loving are characteristics of man, but they are not subsisting things.
"In God, on the contrary, to be, to know, and to love are identical" (Compendium Ch. 50).
Explanation of The 60-Second Aquinas Lesson
