Personal Distinction of Divine Persons
The Father, Son, and Spirit are personally distinct.
This doctrine defines Christian orthodoxy. Denial places one outside the historic faith.
Who binds this (creedal)
Every affiliated congregation inherits its denomination's position. Follow a chip to see the confession's language.
Key scriptures
- 1John 5:7 — For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
- 2Cor 13:14 — The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.
- Gen 1:26 — And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
- Heb 1:1 — God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
- Heb 1:3 — Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
- Isa 48:16 — Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.
- John 1:1 — In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
- John 1:14 — And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
- John 14:16 — And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
- John 14:26 — But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
- John 15:26 — But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
- John 17:21 — That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
- Luke 3:22 — And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.
- Matt 28:19 — Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
- Matt 3:16 — And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
What the confessions say
Articles of the historic confessions that address this doctrine.
- Reformed Belgic Confession Art8 — The Trinity
- Reformed Westminster Larger Catechism Q10 — What are the personal properties of the three persons in the Godhead?
- Lutheran Augsburg Confession Article 1 — Of God
- Ecumenical Athanasian Creed text — Athanasian Creed
- Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion Article 5 — Of the Holy Ghost
- Roman Catholic Council of Trent (Canons) On Baptism · Canon 4 — On Baptism
The Church Fathers
The earliest Fathers who commented on the Scriptures above.
This is the way, dear friends, in which we found our salvation, Jesus Christ, the high priest of our offerings, the protector and helper of our weakness. Through him we fix our gaze on the heights of heaven. In him we see mirrored God's pure and transcendent face. Through him the eyes of our hearts have been opened. Through him our…
And concerning baptism, thus baptize ye: Having first said all these things, baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in living water. But if thou have not living water, baptize into other water; and if thou canst not in cold, in warm. But if thou have not either, pour out water thrice upon the head…
"Because," he answered, "God planted the vineyard, that is to say, He created the people, and gave them to His Son; and the Son appointed His angels over them to keep them; and He Himself purged away their sins, having suffered many trials and undergone many labours, for no one is able to dig without labour and toil. He Himself, then,…
John, the disciple of the Lord, preaches this faith, and seeks, by the proclamation of the Gospel, to remove that error which by Cerinthus had been disseminated among men, and a long time previously by those termed Nicolaitans, who are an offset of that "knowledge" falsely so called, that he might confound them, and persuade them that…
Now all men, having the same judgment, some, following the Word speaking, frame for themselves proofs; while others, giving themselves up to pleasures, wrest Scripture, in accordance with their lusts. And the lover of truth, as I think, needs force of soul. For those who make the greatest attempts must fail in things of the highest…
If the number of the Trinity also offends you, as if it were not connected in the simple Unity, I ask you how it is possible for a Being who is merely and absolutely One and Singular, to speak in plural phrase, saying, "Let us make man in our own image, and after our own likeness;" Genesis 1:26 whereas He ought to have said, "Let me…