governing and his power. Sitting at the right hand means the omnipo-
tence God has through his human manifestation. And the things said
about the Holy Spirit refer to the actions of the divine omnipresence.
“Please, my lord, give consideration to the idea of one God, and use
your reason to ponder the idea appropriately. In time you will come to
see clearly that it is true.
[ 3 ] “Now, all of you do indeed say there is one God, because you give
the three persons one essence, as well as giving each person an individual
essence; but you do not allow anyone to say that that one God is one per-
son. You maintain that there are three persons, because you do not want
to lose your idea of three gods. You give each person different characteris-
tics from the others. Yet doesn’t that divide this divine essence of yours?
“Given all that, how could you think and say that there is one
God? I would understand if you had said there is one divineness; but
when someone hears that ‘The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy
Spirit is God, and each person is individually God,’ how can that per-
son think there is one God? It is a contradiction to which faith could
never adhere.
“Therefore you cannot say ‘one God,’ though you could have said
‘the same divineness.’ For example, many people go together to make
one senate, one committee, or one council. You cannot call them one
person; but when each and every one of them has the same opinion, you
can say that they share one point of view. Three diamonds are made of
the same substance; you cannot call them one diamond, but you can say
they are of one substance. Yet you can also say that the diamonds differ
in value according to each one’s weight, which you couldn’t say if there
was one diamond rather than three.
[ 4 ] “I gather, however, that you call three divine persons, each of
whom is God by himself or individually, one God. You order each person
in the church to speak in this way, because sound and enlightened reason
across the globe recognizes that there is one God; so you would blush
with shame if you did not do the same. And yet, while you are pro-
nouncing ‘one God,’ even though you are thinking ‘three,’ somehow that
sense of shame does not keep the two sets of words stuck in your throat,
but instead you utter them both.”
After this exchange the bishop and his ministers left. While he was
walking away, he turned back and wanted to shout, “There is one God,”
but he could not do it, since his thought stopped his tongue. Instead he
opened his mouth wide and thundered, “There are three gods!” When
singke
(singke)
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