David will be a prince in their midst” (Ezekiel 34 : 23 , 24 , 25 ; there are
other such references as well). They did not realize that “David” there
means the Lord.
4. At a conceptual level, the idea of a trinity of divine persons from eter- 172
nity (meaning before the world was created) is a trinity of gods. This idea is
impossible to wipe out just by orally confessing one God.The following
words in the Athanasian Creed make it very obvious that a trinity of
divine persons from eternity is a trinity of gods: “The Father is one per-
son, the Son another, and the Holy Spirit another. The Father is God
and Lord, the Son is God and Lord, and the Holy Spirit is God and
Lord. Nevertheless there are not three gods and lords; there is one God
and Lord. Just as Christian truth compels us to confess each person indi-
vidually as God and Lord, so the catholic religion forbids us to say three
gods or three lords.”
This creed has been accepted by the entire Christian church as ecu-
menical or universal. Today everything known and acknowledged about
God comes from it. Those who took part in the Council of Nicaea that
gave birth to this posthumous child called the Athanasian Creed had no
other concept of the Trinity except a trinity of gods, as any can see who
merely keep their eyes open as they read it. Since then they have not been
the only people thinking in terms of a trinity of gods; the Christian
world thinks in terms of no other Trinity because its whole concept of
God comes from that creed and everyone now lives in a faith based on
those words.
[ 2 ] I submit it as a challenge to everyone—both laity and clergy, lau-
reled professors and doctors as well as consecrated bishops and archbish-
ops, even cardinals robed in scarlet and in fact the Roman pope
himself—that the Christian world nowadays thinks of no other Trinity
except a trinity of gods. You should all examine yourselves and then
speak on the basis of the images in your mind.
The words of this creed—the universally accepted teaching about
God—make it as clear and obvious as water in a crystal bowl. For exam-
ple, the creed says that there are three persons, each of whom is God and
Lord. It also says that because of Christian truth,people ought to confess
or acknowledge that each person is individually God and Lord, but that
the catholic or Christian religionor faithforbids us to say three gods or
lords. This would mean that truth and religion, or truth and faith, are
not the same thing; they are at odds with each other.
§172 the holy spirit & divine action 243