ut in Patre sit principium et origo : quoties mentio sit Patris et Filii siniul, vel Spiritus, nomen Dei peculiariter Patri tribuitur. Hoc modo retinetur unitas essentias et habetur ratio ordinis, qusB tarnen ex Filii et Spiritus deitate nihil minuit : et certe quum ante visum fuerit Apostolos asserere Filiurn Dei ilium esse, quern Moses et Prophetae testati sunt esse Jehovam, semper ad unitatem essentiae venire necesse est." We have here the three essential facts involved in the doctrine of the Trinity, namely, unitj of essence, distinction of persons, and subordination without any attempt at explanation.
Calvin was accused by some of his contemporaries of teaching the incompatible doctrines of Sabellianism and Arianism. In a letter to his friend Simon Gryn^e, rector of the Academy of Basle, dated May, 1537, he says the ground on which the charge of Sabellianism rested, was his having said that Chxnst was " that Jehovah, who of Himself alone was always self-existent, which charge," he says, " I was quite ready to meet." His answer is : " If the distinction between the Father and the Word be atten- tively considered, we shall say that the one is from the other. If, however, the essential quality of the Word be considered, in so far as He is one God with the Father, whatever can be said con- cerning God may also be applied to Him the Second Person in the glorious Trinity. Now, what is the meaning of the name Jeho- vah ? What did that answer imply which was spoken to Moses ? I AM THAT I AM. Paul makes Christ the author of this saying." i This argument is conclusive. If Christ be Jehovah, and if the name Jehovah implies self-existence, then Christ is self-existent. In other words, self-existence and necessary existence, as well as omnipotence and all other divine attributes, belong to the divine essence common to all the persons of the Trinity, and therefore it is the Triune God who is self-existent, and not one person in distinction from the other persons. That is, self-existence is not to be predicated of the divine essence only, nor of the Father only, but of the Trinity, or of the Godhead as subsisting in three persons, j' / And, therefore, as Calvin says, when the word God is used in- I I detinitely it means the Triune God, and not the Father in dis- I tinction from the Son and Spirit.
1 Calvin'8 Letters, vol. i. pp. 55, 56, edit. Presbyterian Board, Piiiladelphia
468 PART I. — THEOLOGY. [Ch. VI. —The Trinitt.
B. Eternal G-eneration.
As in reference to the subordination of the Son and Spirit to the Father, as asserted in the ancient creeds, it is not to the fact that exception is taken, but to the explanation of that fact, as given by the Nicene fathers, the same is true with regard to the doctrine of Eternal Generation. It is no doubt a Scriptural fact that the relation between the First and Second persons of the Trinity is expressed by the relative terms Father and Son. It is also said that the Son is begotten of the Father ; He is declared to be the only begotten Son of God. The I'elation, therefore, of the Second Person to the First is that of filiation or sonship. But what is meant by the term, neither the Bible nor the ancient creeds explain. It' may be sameness of nature ; as a son is of the same nature as his father. It may be hkeness, and the term Son be equivalent to eiKwi/, airavycLa-fxa, -^apaKTrip, ov Aoyos, or revealer. It may be deriva- tion of essence, as a son, in one sense, is derived from his father. Or, it may be something altogether inscrutable and to us incom- prehensible.
The Nicene fathers, instead of leaving the matter where the Scriptui^es leave it, undertake to explain what is meant by sonship, and teach that it means derivation of essence. The First Person of the Trinity is Father, because He communicates the essence of the Godhead to tiie Second Person ; and the Second Person is Son, because He derives that essence from the First Person. This is what they mean by Eternal Generation. Concerning which it was taught, —
1. That it was the person not the essence of the Son that was generated. The essence is self-existent and eternal, but the person of the Son is generated (i. e., He becomes a person) by the commu- nication to Him of the divine essence. This point continued to be insisted upon through the later periods of the Church. Thus Tur- rettin ^ says, " Licet Filius sit a Patre, non minus tamen auro6'eos dicitur, non ratione Personae, sed ratione Essentiae ; non relate qua Filius, sic enim est a Patre, sed absolute qua Dens, quatenus habet Essentiam divinam a se existentem, et non divisam A^el productara ab alia essentia, non vero qua habens essentiam illam a seipso. Sic Filius est Deus a seipso, licet non sit a seipso Filius."
Again,2 "Persona bene dicitur generare Personam, quia actiones sunt suppositorum ; sed non Essentia Essentiam, quia quod gignit et gignitur necessario multiplicatur, et sic via sterneretur ad Tri-
1 Locus HI. xxviii. 40, edit. Edinburgh, 1847, vol. i. p. 260. a Ibid. xxix. G, p. 262.