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All Members of the Trinity Are Coequal, Coeternal, and Consubstantial

(Derived from https://ichthys.com/1Theo.htm)

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Summary

This lesson's main focus is examining the point that God is three in person, but that does not mean that there is any inferiority or disparity of status, activity, or substance between the members of the Trinity.

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Outline

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Key point: God is three in person, but that does not mean that there is any inferiority or disparity of status, activity, or substance between the members of the Trinity

In any human association, there is always inherent inferiority and disparity present---in practice, if not perhaps on paper. People are separate beings, and these are the simple consequences of that. However, this is not the case for God; the Trinity shares completely perfect unity and equality.

God is one in essence and all three members of the Trinity (the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit) are coequal, coeternal, and con-substantial partners in one and the same essence. Heresies of the past which have challenged the coequality of members of the Trinity include subordinationism (which alternatively asserts that either Christ or the Spirit is by nature inferior to the Father) and Arianism (which teaches a Christ not entirely equal in divinity to the Father). But the Bible teaches that all three members of the Trinity are coequal partakers of the same essence.

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They all possess a full and equal share of the status of deity

As seen from the equal rank accorded to each in the formula for profession of faith at the point of spiritual (not physical) baptism into the body of Christ:

Matthew 28:19-20

Then Jesus came over and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, so go and make all nations my followers by baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and by teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you."

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They all possess a full and equal share of the eternal function of deity

As seen from their joint participation in creation:

Genesis 1:26

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our pattern.

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They all possess a full and equal share of the substance of deity

As seen from the attribution of goodness to all three members in the apostolic benediction of 2 Corinthians, where grace (the policy of the goodness of God), love (the natural consequence---or "emanation"---of the goodness of God), and fellowship (the ultimate result of the goodness of God) are respectively attributed to the Son, the Father, and the Holy Spirit:

2 Corinthians 13:14

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God [the Father], and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

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Outline

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Summary

This lesson's main focus is examining the point that God is three in person, but that does not mean that there is any inferiority or disparity of status, activity, or substance between the members of the Trinity.

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