On Not Three Gods, to Ablabius
A short treatise in which Gregory of Nyssa answers the objection that to confess Father, Son and Holy Spirit each as God is to confess three gods. It is one of the clearest statements of the Cappadocian doctrine of the Trinity.
Ablabius had put the question in this form: Peter, James and John share one human nature and are called three men, so why are Father, Son and Spirit, who share one divine nature, not three gods? Gregory of Nyssa replies in two ways. Strictly, he says, even “three men” is a loose way of speaking, since the nature is one. More importantly, the three do not act separately: every operation of God toward creation begins from the Father, proceeds through the Son and is completed in the Holy Spirit, so that there is one action and one God. The persons differ only in that one is the cause and the others are from the cause.
The work is undated. It is evidence for Gregory’s own teaching.
Cited in
- about AD 370 to AD 381, estimated date