# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1851 04 15_S130
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

130

Paul, Phil. 2, v. 7, speaks, in the form of a servant, in fashion as another man. And this form or humanity is not the image or revelation of the Father or of the Holy Ghost, although it is, as to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost alike, one and the same creature; but is distinct, a form and revelation of the Son alone. For thus it has pleased God, that is, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, that the Son should be revealed and known among men through this form or shape of humanity as a distinct Person from the Father and the Holy Ghost, in one eternal, single essence of divine nature. In like manner one shall speak of the Father, that He is revealed to us in the voice. This form or shape is not the form or revelation of the Son or of the Holy Ghost, but of the Father alone, who in such a distinct form has willed to become known to us as a distinct Person from the Son and the Holy Ghost, in one undivided divine essence.

Take also from the Grammatica a crude example. When the priest baptizes, or absolves, and says: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. These words, all together, are God's creature and work in our mouth, (as well as we ourselves, and whatever we have,) and none of them is distinctly of the Father alone, or of the Son alone, or of the Holy Ghost alone; but of all three Persons, of the one God, one and the same creature. But according to the meaning or revelation you must not say that this word "Father" signifies all three Persons; but distinctly, the Father alone. The word "Son" distinctly the Son alone. The word "Holy Ghost" distinctly the Holy Ghost alone, in one single Godhead, which is revealed to us by such words or meaning, that there are three distinct Persons in the one Godhead. For He does not say: In the names, as of many, or as though each Person had a particular name and essence; but in the name, (says He,) as in one name of one essence, and yet three distinct Persons.

So you see that the creature is to be regarded in two ways, ut Res et Signum, in that it is something in itself, created by God, and is also used to show or to teach something else, which it is not itself. Smoke is a Res, a thing in itself, and yet also a sign of another thing, which it is not, but shows and reveals that same thing, namely, the fire. Of this St. Augustine writes much: de doctrina christiana; but here, in this high matter, it is something more. For the humanity of Christ is not a mere sign or empty shape, just as the dove also is not an empty shape, and the voice not an empty shape or image; but the humanity, in which God's Son is distinctly revealed, is full, and united with God in one Person, who shall sit forever at the right hand of God in His kingdom, as David was promised above, 1 Chron. 18, 12. The dove is a shape, assumed for a time by the Holy Ghost in order to reveal Himself; not united with Him in one Person forever, but to be left again: as the angels assume the form of men, appear therein, and leave it again. So it is also with the voice of the Father. For there is no promise that it should remain forever, but it is a temporal revelation.

When we now say in the Creed of children: I believe in God the Father, Almighty Maker of heaven and earth, it is not the meaning that the Person of the Father alone should be almighty, Maker and Father; but the Son is just as much almighty, Maker and Father; the Holy Ghost also just as much almighty, Maker and Father; and yet not three Almighties, Makers, Fathers, but one only Almighty, Maker, Father of heaven and earth, and of us all. Just as the Father is our Saviour and Redeemer, the Son our Saviour and Redeemer, the Holy Ghost our Saviour and Redeemer, and yet there are not three Saviours nor Redeemers, but there is one only Saviour and Redeemer. Just as the Father is our God, the Son our God, the Holy Ghost our God, yet not three Gods, but there is one only God: so the Holy Ghost sanctifies Christendom, the Father also, the Son also, and yet there are not three Sanctifiers or Sanctificators, but one only Sanctificator, etc. Opera Trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa.

But all this is said in order that we may believe and confess distinctly three Persons in the one Godhead, and by no means confound the Persons, nor divide the essence. The distinction of the Father (as heard above) is that He has the Godhead from no one, but has given it from eternity, through the eternal generation, to the Son. Therefore the Son is God and Creator, equal to the Father; but He has all that from the Father, not the Father in turn from the Son. For that the Father is God and Creator, He has not from the Son; but that the Son is God and Creator, He has from the Father. So the Father or the Son has it not from the Holy Ghost that He is God and Creator; but that the Holy Ghost is God and Creator, He has from the Father and the Son. So now the word "God Almighty, Maker," stands with the Father, and not with the Son and the Holy Ghost, to mark the distinction of the Father from the Son and the Holy Ghost in the Godhead. Again, the distinction of the Son from the Father and the Holy Ghost, of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son, namely, that the Father is the origin or fountain (if one may so call it, as the Fathers do,) of the Godhead, from whom the Son has it, and the Holy Ghost from the Son and the Father, in eternity, and not the reverse. Besides such inward distinction of the Persons there is now the outward distinction, in that the Son and the Holy Ghost are revealed inwardly. The Son in the humanity; for the Son alone became man, conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of Mary the Virgin, suffered for us, died, etc., as the Creed further teaches. Yet it is rightly said: God has died for us. For the Son is God, and there is no other God besides, but more Persons in the same Godhead. The Holy Ghost alone is distinctly revealed in the fiery tongues, gifts, divers languages and miracles, etc., although the humanity was made by all three Persons, and the fiery tongues and the gifts of the Holy Ghost are the creature and work of all three Persons; as is now sufficiently said for this time. One has precious books on this, St. Augustine, Hilary, Cyril, and this article has remained pure in the Papacy and among the scholastic theologians, so that we have no dispute with them about it.

Here some are troubled whether they name the Person of the Father when they pray "Our Father," or the divine essence? It is no wonder that in this article, wonderful over and over, and incomprehensible, strange thoughts occur to a man, of which one now and then fails, or a word goes amiss. But where the ground of faith remains firm, such splinters, chips, or straws will not harm us. But the ground of faith (as heard above) is that you believe there are three Persons in the one Godhead, and each Person is the same one perfect God; so that the Persons are not confounded, the essence not divided, but the distinction of the Persons, and the unity of the essence, remain. For this is it, that the angels cannot in eternity see and wonder enough (as St. Peter says, 1 Epist. 1, 12), and are eternally blessed thereby, and if they could look it through to the end, their blessedness would also be at an end, and have an end; as we also shall see it, and be eternally blessed thereby, as the Lord says, John 17, 3: "This is life eternal, that they know thee, and him whom thou hast sent, Jesus Christ." Meanwhile faith must hold to the Word. Reason can do nothing here but say: it is impossible and contrary to itself, that three Persons, each one a perfect God, and yet not more than one only God, should be, and that the Son alone should be man; but whoever has the Father and the Son, to him the Holy Ghost will be made well known by the Father and the Son.

So you have heard above that the Father is the God and Father of us all, the Son is the God and Father of us all, the Holy Ghost is the God and Father of us all; and yet there is no more than one only God, our Father. For the essence is undivided; therefore, whichever Person you name, you have named the right, single God in three Persons, because each Person is the same one perfect God, and you cannot err herein, nor fail