God Understanding, God Understood, God Beloved: The Trinity in Light of the Psychological Analogy
“Let no man think to reach the sacred mystery of generation by his own mind.”¹
The doctrine of the Trinity is the chief mystery of the Christian faith, that without knowledge of, no man can expect to be saved.² A mystery, in this sense, is defined as a doctrine that is revealed by God that is above the attainment of reason alone, yet not contrary to it.³ This means that the mystery ought to be believed not on the grounds of bare rational necessity but on the grounds of the authority of God testifying in His Word.⁴ To attempt to prove the mystery of the Trinity, then, by rational necessity derogates from faith as faith deals with things that are invisible and above the powers of reason⁵ and it would risk turning faith (which is supernatural) into philosophy (which is natural).⁶ The result of this is that the mystery of the Trinity is reliant upon and revealed solely in Holy Scripture. Reason, however, while not the formal principle of the mysteries of the faith, is useful as an instrument⁷ in explaining and expounding truths that are found in Scripture, because mysteries are not contrary to reason.
Central to the mystery of the Trinity revealed in Scripture are the generation of the Son and the procession of the Holy Spirit. Maintaining the twin truths that (1) there are eternal processions in God and (2) these processions do not produce a multiplication of the one divine essence has been the fundamental challenge of Nicene Trinitarian orthodoxy. Rooted in the language of Scripture, the Church came to articulate the processions of the Son and the Spirit as immanent processions within the divine essence that produced real relations between the persons without dividing the divine essence.⁸ In order to more effectively combat the heresies of Arianism and Sabellianism, the Church turned to a divinely approved analogy in order to explain the mystery of the processions in more depth: the psychological analogy.⁹ The Church fathers, most famously, Augustine, sought to explain the processions of the Son and the Spirit through reference to the mode by which the intellect and will proceed within a spiritual nature.¹⁰ This paper examines the biblical data underlying the psychological analogy, with special attention to the Son as Word and the Spirit as Love; it then offers a theological articulation of that analogy.
Biblical Presentation
The processions of God are chiefly revealed in the pages of the New Testament.¹¹ The reason for this is that the temporal missions of God reveal the eternal processions of God.¹² As a result, in the examination of the biblical data, focusing on the temporal missions will yield clarity when turning to discuss the biblical data for the eternal processions.
The Temporal Mission of the Son
A mission (missio) is a certain sending forth by which and through which the Father and the Son act in the world, both in general and in the special economy of salvation.¹³ The temporal visible mission of the Son is made known through the Incarnation. The Son is revealed to have come into the world upon the initiative of the Father, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16) The Father sent the Son into the world so that the world might be saved through the Son. This was the mission that the Father had given the Son and it was always in the mind of the Son that he had been sent by the Father, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.” (John 6:38) The chief aspect of the mission of the Son is to make the Father known,¹⁴
“Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.” (John 17:1-4)
Jesus testifies to this very reality when he tells his disciples that to know him, is to know the Father, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9). As Scripture everywhere testifies, then, the Son has a mission from the Father to make the Father known. Scripture does not testify that the Son is sent by the Holy Spirit or that the Son sends the Father. The particular revelation that Scripture gives regarding the mission of the incarnate Son is that he is from the Father and makes the Father known. Following the principle, then, that the missions reveal something about the processions, we can examine Scripture and see that the revelation about the mission of the Son corresponds to the procession of the Son from the Father from eternity.
The Eternal Generation of the Son
A procession is the same thing as a true production or the origin of one from another.¹⁵ When the word procession is used relative to the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son, it denotes the eternal and changeless activity in the Godhead by which the Father produces the Son without division of essence and by which the Second Person of the Trinity is identified as an individual subsistence of the divine essence.¹⁶ Reflecting upon the mission of the Son yields insight on the procession of the Son. Since the Son is seen to have been sent from the Father according to his temporal mission, we can conclude that the Son is from the Father according to his eternal procession.
Scripture reveals that this procession is properly termed as a generation (generatio), which is defined as,
“the propagation of a living being from proper and univocal principles, or the vital production by which a living being is produced by another living being of the same nature by the communication of the substance of the producer, and it is usually defined as the origin of a living being from a living being, from a connected principle, in a likeness of nature”.¹⁷
The Scriptures teach on this ‘production’ of the Son from the Father when they state, “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.” (John 5:26) In fine, the life of the Father is essentially divine, the Father granted life to the Son, therefore the Son was generated from the Father as essentially divine.¹⁸ This generation from a common principle of nature is also made known in John 10:30, which states, “I and the Father are one.” Thus, Scripture teaches that the Son is generated from the Father in such a way that he possesses the same univocal divine essence as the Father. The Epistle of Hebrews makes this idea explicit when it says that the Son is the ‘exact imprint of his [God’s] nature’ (Heb. 1:3).¹⁹
Yet, the Scriptures do not only reveal that the Son proceeds from the Father eternally, they go on to give us insight into the nature of this divine procession. John 1:1-3, for instance, identifies the Son of God as the ‘Word’ of God, who was in the beginning with the Father. The gospel’s identification of the Son as the ‘Word’ is not metaphor but reveals to us a proper name²⁰ of the Son and thus reveals to us the character of the relation between the Father and the Son. The Son as the Word of the Father indicates something as pertaining to the order of the intellect.²¹ This is further confirmed when Scripture refers to the Son as the ‘image of the invisible God’ (Col. 1:15)²² or as the ‘wisdom of God’ (1 Cor. 1:24).²³ Taken together, Scripture reveals that the Son is eternally begotten from the Father and that in an intellective manner as the Word, Image, and Wisdom of God.
The Temporal Mission of the Spirit
The visible temporal mission of the Holy Spirit is revealed primarily at Pentecost and in the sayings of Jesus in the gospel of John. These sources are helpful in detailing the relationship of the Holy Spirit to the Father and the Son in the visible mission of the Holy Spirit. There are three texts in particular that elucidate the mission of the Holy Spirit, two in the Gospel of John; John 14:25-26, John 16:7, and one in the book of Acts; Acts 2:32-33.
In John 14:25-26, the Holy Spirit is said to be sent by the Father in the name of the Son. The particular task that the Spirit will accomplish is that ‘he will bring to remembrance all that [Christ] has said to [them]’. While the text explicitly mentions that the Father sends the Spirit, it is only in the name of the Son and not ‘by’ the Son.²⁴ Some have argued that this fact shows that the Spirit is only sent by and thus proceeds only from the Father and not the Son. John 16:7 rejects this conclusion when Jesus states that ‘…it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.’ This is not just seen in the speech of Christ but also in the action of sending the Spirit at Pentecost in Acts 2:32-33, ‘This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing’. The Son receives from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit and he sends the Spirit upon the people. Thus, Scripture testifies that both the Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit's mission is marked by the fact that the Holy Spirit is a gift to the Church (Acts 2:38) and that he, like the name suggests, makes the Church holy. He does this by taking all that is the Son’s and declares it to the Church. (John 16:14) The chief fruit of this declaration is that the Church would receive ‘God's love [which] has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.’ (Rom. 5:5) Thus, as the end of the mission of the Spirit can be known through its effects, the mission of the Holy Spirit is properly denoted in a volitional manner as the gift of the Spirit produces holiness and love in the Church. Like with the Son, then, we can examine Scripture and see that the revelation about the mission of the Spirit, from the Father and the Son, corresponds to the procession of the Spirit from the Father and the Son from eternity.
The Procession of the Spirit
The spiration (spiratio) of the Spirit is the personal property of the Spirit and his personal relation to the Father and the Son, strictly defined as the inward act by which the Father and the Son simultaneously and eternally produce the Spirit from their own substance, without division of substance, and entirely within the one divine essence.²⁵ Reflecting upon the mission of the Spirit yields insight on the procession of the Spirit. Since the Spirit is seen to have been sent from the Father and the Son according to his temporal mission, we can conclude that the Spirit is from the Father and the Son according to his eternal procession.
Scripture testifies that the Holy Spirit does in fact proceed eternally within God. The chief place where this is made explicit is from John 15:26, which states, “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.” The Holy Spirit is said to proceed from the Father here in particular. This text does not deny the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Son, but elucidates the principle that a temporal mission denotes an eternal procession as the Son is said to send the Helper from the Father. Thus, the Scriptures reveal that the Spirit proceeds both from the Father and the Son.
Not only does the Scripture reveal the fact that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son but it also reveals to us something of the nature of the procession of the Holy Spirit through the different names that Scripture predicates of the Holy Spirit. First, the name Holy Spirit or spirit of Holiness itself says something about the nature of the procession of the Holy Spirit. The word ‘spirit’ denotes a certain inclination or movement that is expressed. Inclinations and movements are properties of volitional actions. Thus, the description of the Holy Spirit as ‘spirit’ reveals to us that the relation of the Spirit to Father and Son takes upon a volitional character. This is also seen in the effects that the Holy Spirit produces in his mission towards the Church. The mission of the Spirit in the Church produces holiness and love within the lives of believers, another way to say it is that the Spirit produces moral or volitional renovation. Thus reflecting upon the way that the Scriptures reveal the mission and procession of the Spirit we can say that Scripture teaches that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son and that in a volitional manner as the Gift, Love, and Spirit of God.
Theological Articulation
In discussing the procession of the Son and the Spirit it is important to discuss the particular modes of predication that one can use when speaking about God. The two categories²⁶ of predication that are properly denoted of God are substance and relation.²⁷ Substance is a being subsisting of itself and subject to accidents.²⁸ This definition is adequate for finite subjects, as they are composite subjects, but is inadequate for God because he is simple²⁹ or not composite of substance and accident.³⁰ Substance is then predicated of God absolutely. Relation, which is traditionally defined as an accidental category of predication, is predicated of “those things… which, being either said to be of something else or related to something else, are explained by reference to that other thing.”³¹ Relation can be properly predicated of God because, though it is classified as an accidental category, the category does not say anything about the substance of the subject itself but only with reference to another.³² These two modes of predication yield the language of the one essence of God (substantial prediction) and the three persons of God (relational predication).
Affirming relational predication within God without introducing proper accidents into the substance of God is one of the challenges of Trinitaian theology. As it has already been shown, Scripture teaches that there is one God, that the Son is begotten of the Father in an intellective manner as the Word, and that the Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Son in a volitional manner, as Gift or Love. Reflecting upon this, we are able to theologically articulate how the Son and the Spirit can proceed as the one God without dividing the essence (Sabellianism) or subordinating the persons (Arianism). This can be done by reflecting on the ‘psychology’ or spiritual nature of God, as the principles of action in God produce real relations of opposition, which we call persons. Thus, beginning with the origin of the processions as intellective and volitional acts and then proceeding to the relations that follow from those processions, we finally arrive at the persons.
Every relation is founded on quantity or on action.³³ As there is no quality in God³⁴ real relations in God must be founded upon action in God.³⁵ Action implies both an acting subject and some reality that issues from the agent or something that proceeds from it.³⁶ A procession or production always involves a real distinction between the proceeding term and the principle from which it proceeds.³⁷ When we are discussing processions within God, we are not discussing a transient procession, which is one whose term goes outside of the producing principle, as the world proceeds from the creating God.³⁸ When discussing processions within God, we are rather discussing immanent processions whose term remains within its principle, as intellection remains within the one knowing.³⁹
The only principle⁴⁰ by which an immanent procession could occur in God is God’s own essence. In man, the principles of rational action are intellect and will. As these are perfections in man from God, and every perfection in an effect is preceded in its cause in an eminent manner,⁴¹ God is rightly said to possess the perfections of intellect and will⁴² as virtually distinct from but really identical with the divine essence. Thus, in God, immanent processions do occur by virtue of the action of His intellect and His will. In an immanent action, the agent and the patient are principally the same.⁴³ These immanent processions from God’s intellect and will are also univocal actions by which the agent provides an effect of its own species or according to its own nature.⁴⁴ In these actions, God is not producing something outside of Himself, but there is a relation produced within God’s own nature. The actions of the intellect and will (not the intellect and will absolutely) become the foundation by which a real relation is produced within the essence of God. As God knows himself (action of intellect) and as God loves himself (action of the will) a real relation of knower, known, and loved finds inherence in God.⁴⁵
The Son Proceeds by Intellecion
With these preliminaries in place, examining the nature of the procession and relation of the Son to the Father becomes clear. The Son proceeds, in an intellectual mode, from the Father, as God understood (deus intellectus).⁴⁶ The Father, as God understanding (deus intelligens), through the action of intellect, which remains in the knowing subject, produces the Son. The act of understanding produces something within the one who understands, which is a concept of the object that is understood, this is a ‘word of the mind’.⁴⁷
The intellect produces an object by way of ‘similitude’ and is properly called a ‘generation’ because every generator begets a ‘likeness’ to himself.⁴⁸ In man, the production of a concept through intellection produces a concept that is accidental to the one producing the concept. Thus the concept that is produced has an imperfect likeness to the object that is known. In God, on the other hand, no accidents inhere within His essence. Thus, when God knows Himself through the act of His own intellect, He produces a ‘mental concept’ of Himself that is Himself.⁴⁹ In order for the concept that is produced by the Father to be a perfect concept of the Father, he must share the same principles as the Father or the Father would not have a conception of Himself. Thus, through the intellective action of the Father in knowing Himself, he generates a concept or ‘mental word’ of Himself that shares the same essence as the Father.
Through this generation then, there is posited in God a distinct mode of subsistence that is characterized as an image of God or Son of God.⁵⁰ In generating this mode of subsistence, there is also a relation between that which is generated and that which is ungenerated or that which is Father and that which is Son because every Son by force of relation implies a Father.⁵¹ Within the one essence of God, then, through the immanent action of intellection, there is produced a real relation between God and the Word of God, between unbegotten and begotten, between the Father and the Son.⁵²
The Spirit Proceeds by Volition
As the Son immanently proceeds from the Father in an intellectual mode, as God knows Himself, so the Holy Spirit immanently proceeds from the Father and the Son in a volitional mode, as God loves that which He knows, as the beloved God (deus dilectus).⁵³ Just as the operation of the intellect gives rise to a procession in God, so does the operation of the will give rise to a different procession in God.⁵⁴ The operation of the will, through the inclination of love, produces the object loved in the lover.⁵⁵ As the Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father through the common principle of the will, they produce the Holy Spirit.
Love in the will can be described as the gravitation of one being toward another which is its good.⁵⁶ Different types of beings have different types of goods which produce different forms of appetite towards their goods. Natural appetite is the tendency every being has by virtue of its natural form, as fire is inclined to rise.⁵⁷ Animal appetite is the tendency of beings which know through their senses towards the things which they know through their senses, as a dog is inclined to a bone which it chews. Intellectual appetite is the inclination of beings that know intellectually towards that which they grasp through their intellectual understanding, as humans are inclined to the truth as their good. This intellectual appetite is what is classified as volition.⁵⁸
In each of these appetites, the name love is given to the principle of movement toward the beloved end.⁵⁹ God in knowing Himself, which generates the Son, loves the Son as the beloved end, as the Son does the Father as His beloved end, and the mutual gift of self is the bond of unity, which is the person of the Holy Spirit.⁶⁰ In fine, the procession by mode of the intellect presents itself as a generation by way of a similitude but the procession by mode of the will is achieved under the aspect of what impels and moves toward something.⁶¹ In other words, that which proceeds in God by way of love does not proceed as an object that is generated, but rather as a ‘spirit’.⁶² The object loved, then, is present in the will as the inclination or movement of love toward the beloved end. Thus, in the mutual volitional act of love between the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit is produced as the bond of love by which the Father and the Son mutually love one another. It is necessary then that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son as the Father and the Son share a mutual love for one another.⁶³
The immanent volitional procession in God produces a real relation of opposition between the Holy Spirit and the other persons, as He proceeds from the Father and the Son in a mode of love. The love by which the Father loves the Son, and the Son loves the Father, is not the bestowal of an external good, but rather is the communication of the one divine essence, which each already fully possesses. Thus, as God is the highest good, the good willed in this love is God Himself. Thus, the mutual love of the Father and the Son produces a distinct mode of subsistence, and this subsisting love is the Holy Spirit, who is God as beloved, the highest good Himself.⁶⁴ Within the one essence of God, then, through the immanent action of volition, there is produced a real relation between the lover, the one loved, and the love that proceeds, as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Conclusion
God has revealed Himself to us as one God who subsists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In order to know this great mystery, the Church is dependent upon God’s testimony in His Word. Scripture gives us the language to speak about God’s intratrinitarian life. Through reflecting upon the missions of the Son and and Spirit that are revealed in Scripture, the Church is able to know the eternal processions of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. The language that Scripture uses of the Son and the Spirit also reveals to us something of the nature of the processions of the Son and the Spirit. The Son is the Word of God and the Spirit is the Love or Gift of God. These realities are further elucidated by the aid of the ‘psychological analogy’ as God, by virtue of eminence, possesses a divine psychology. Through the imminent processions of God, found in the actions of the intellect and will, there are real relations of opposition between the three persons of the Trinity. The Father is unbegotten as God understanding, the Son is begotten as God understood, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son as God beloved.
The mystery of the Trinity is a mystery that ought to lead to worship. It is the doctrine that as we conform to its reality, we become who we were made to be. As creatures who are made in God’s image, we are to reflect God’s life. The best way that we can express the image of God in us is through our actions of intellect and will. Through our intellect we are to begin to know the Holy Trinity and through our will we are to love the Holy Trinity.⁶⁵ It is through these actions that we come to the fulfillment of the image that God has placed within us. May this reality be so in the life of the Church.
¹ Hilary of Poitiers, De Trinitate 2.1.
² “Thus the question comes to this: whether the mystery of the Trinity is a fundamental article, necessary to the faith of all believers, so that not only the denial, but even the ignorance of it cannot consist with salvation. This the adversaries deny; we affirm.” Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, vol. 1, trans. George Musgrave Giger, ed. James T. Dennison Jr. (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1992), 261. “Whoever desires to be saved should above all hold to the catholic faith. “Anyone who does not keep it whole and unbroken will doubtless perish eternally. Now this is the catholic faith: That we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity..” Christian Reformed Church in North America, “Athanasian Creed,” accessed April 20, 2026, https://www.crcna.org/welcome/beliefs/creeds/athanasian-creed. Petrus van Mastricht, Theoretical-Practical Theology, vol. 2, trans. Todd M. Rester, ed. Joel R. Beeke, et al. (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2019), 554.
³ “Those are called the mysteries of faith which no man was ever able to find out by his own reasoning powers, but are known by the revelation of God alone, and are opposed to that which may be known of God by the light of nature. Rom. 1:19. 1 Cor. 2:7. Eph. 3:3” Herman Witsius, An Essay on the Use and Abuse of Reason in Matters of Religion, trans. John Carter (Norwich: Crouse, Stevenson and Matchett, 1795), 31.
⁴ “Political dogma rests on the authority of the civil government, while philosophical dogmas derive their power from self-evidence or argumentation. By contrast, religious or theological dogmas owe their authority solely to a divine testimony,” Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 1, Prolegomena, trans. John Vriend, ed. John Bolt (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003), 37.
⁵ Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I, q. 32, a. 1. “Thomas was vigorously opposed to this apologetic project in Trinitarian theology. Neither the goodness nor the happiness of God, nor his intelligence, are arguments capable of proving that the existence of a plurality of divine persons imposes itself by rational necessity…Bonaventure’s reasons could be probable arguments, but they do not have the force of necessity. And, in Thomas’ judgement, the attempt to give necessary reasons in Trinitarian theology jeopardizes the faith: ‘this undermines the faith’.” Gilles Emery, The Trinitarian Theology of Thomas Aquinas, trans. Francesca Aran Murphy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 25.
⁶ “The dogma of the Trinity is the basis of the entire Christian faith, and thus if that may be resolved into natural reason, nothing will hinder the whole Christian religion from being resolved into reason, and thus it would degenerate from faith into philosophy.” Petrus van Mastricht, Theoretical-Practical Theology, vol. 2, trans. Todd M. Rester, ed. Joel R. Beeke, et al. (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2019), 557.
⁷ “Reason is the instrument which the believer uses, but it is not the foundation and principle upon which faith rests.” Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, vol. 1, trans. George Musgrave Giger, ed. James T. Dennison Jr. (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1992), 25.
⁸ Gilles Emery, The Trinitarian Theology of Thomas Aquinas, trans. Francesca Aran Murphy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 41.
⁹ Hector A. Bustamante, “Our Minds as a Model,” Credo Magazine, accessed April 20, 2026, https://credomag.com/article/our-minds-as-a-model/#_ftnref2.
¹⁰ Augustine, The Trinity, 8.5.14. Paul Helm, Human Nature from Calvin to Edwards (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2016), 18. Thomas Joseph White, The Trinity: On the Nature and Mystery of the One God (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2021), 41.
¹¹ The Old Testament does contain elements of the doctrine of the Trinity as the invisible missions of the Trinity were present under the Old Testament. The visible missions of the Son and the Spirit in the New Testament serve to further reveal the doctrine of the Trinity.
¹² “These eternal processions are revealed by what later theologians will call temporal missions: the Son and the Spirit are “sent” into the world to reveal the Father.” Thomas Joseph White, The Trinity: On the Nature and Mystery of the One God (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2021), 103. Gilles Emery, The Trinitarian Theology of Thomas Aquinas, trans. Francesca Aran Murphy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 17.
¹³ Richard A. Muller, Dictionary of Latin and Greek Theological Terms : Drawn Principally from Protestant Scholastic Theology (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1985), 194.
¹⁴ Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Gospel of John, trans. Fabian R. Larcher and James A. Weisheipl, accessed April 21, 2026, https://isidore.co/aquinas/english/John5.htm.
¹⁵ Joseph M. Dalmau, Sacrae Theologiae Summa IIA: On the One and Triune God, trans. Kenneth Baker (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 2013), 324.
¹⁶ Richard A. Muller, Dictionary of Latin and Greek Theological Terms : Drawn Principally from Protestant Scholastic Theology (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1985), 127.
¹⁷ Ibid., 334.
¹⁸ Petrus van Mastricht, Theoretical-Practical Theology, vol. 2, trans. Todd M. Rester, ed. Joel R. Beeke, et al. (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2019), 270. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Gospel of John, trans. Fabian R. Larcher and James A. Weisheipl, accessed April 21, 2026, https://isidore.co/aquinas/english/John5.htm.
¹⁹ John Calvin, Commentary on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews, Calvin’s Commentaries, vol. 22 (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2003), on Heb. 1:3, accessed April 21, 2026, https://ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom44/calcom44.vii.ii.html.
²⁰ “Word is the proper name of the Son of God.” Joseph M. Dalmau, Sacrae Theologiae Summa IIA: On the One and Triune God, trans. Kenneth Baker (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 2013), 363.
²¹ Ibid.
²² Lawrence Feingold, “The Word Breathes Forth Love: The Psychological Analogy for the Trinity and the Complementarity of Intellect and Will,” Nova et Vetera 17, no. 4 (2019): 1071–1104.
²³ “For, as St. Augustine explains, since all the persons are wise, and wisdom itself is substantial, the one reason why the Son is specially called Wisdom is because by this name is signified the mode of his origin; but the principle of wisdom is the intellect.” Joseph M. Dalmau, Sacrae Theologiae Summa IIA: On the One and Triune God, trans. Kenneth Baker (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 2013), 366.
²⁴ Thomas Joseph White, The Trinity: On the Nature and Mystery of the One God (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2021), 103.
²⁵ Richard A. Muller, Dictionary of Latin and Greek Theological Terms : Drawn Principally from Protestant Scholastic Theology (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1985), 286.
²⁶ These categories are drawn from the classical logic text of Aristotle. [Aristotle, Categories, 1a1–1a10.]
²⁷ “To make a longer story short, Augustine and Boethius claimed that only two categories can be said about God: substance and relation.” Russell L. Friedman, Medieval Trinitarian Thought from Aquinas to Ockham (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 7.
²⁸ Franco Burgersdijk, An Abstract & Translation of Burgersdijk’s Logic (Grand Rapids: Berith Press, [n.d.]), 28.
²⁹ Petrus van Mastricht, Theoretical-Practical Theology, vol. 2, trans. Todd M. Rester, ed. Joel R. Beeke, et al. (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2019), 183.
³⁰ Ibid.
³¹ Aristotle, The Basic Works of Aristotle, ed. Richard McKeon (New York: Modern Library, 2001), 25. Thomas Aquinas, Scriptum super Sententiis, I, d. 2, q. 1, a. 5.
³² “But relation is different from the other categories of accident. Boethius sums up the difference: "Some of the categories point to the thing itself, others point to the circumstances of the thing. " Relation says nothing about the thing itself, but only about a particular disposition that the thing is in with respect to other things.” Russell L. Friedman, Medieval Trinitarian Thought from Aquinas to Ockham (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 8.
³³ Aristotle, Metaphysics, V, 1012a1–1012b5.
³⁴ “God is great without quantity.” Augustine, On the Trinity, V.1.2.
³⁵ Gilles Emery, The Trinitarian Theology of Thomas Aquinas, trans. Francesca Aran Murphy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 54.
³⁶ Ibid., 55
³⁷ Joseph M. Dalmau, Sacrae Theologiae Summa IIA: On the One and Triune God, trans. Kenneth Baker (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 2013), 324.
³⁸ Ibid.
³⁹ Franco Burgersdijk, An Abstract & Translation of Burgersdijk’s Logic (Grand Rapids: Berith Press, [n.d.]), 28.
⁴⁰ “Principle, element and cause, are words that are allied in signification. Principle is either taken largely [loosely] or strictly. Largely, it is defined in Metaphysics Book 4 Chapter 1 to be the first from whence anything is, or exists, or is known. More strictly, it is defined in The Physics Book 4 Chapter 5, where principles are defined to be those things which are neither from one another, nor others, and of and from which are all things. In this sense, there are only reckoned three, namely: matter, form, and privation.” Ibid., 55
⁴¹ “Any perfection of an effect is also a perfection of the cause of that effect.” Thomas M. Ward, Ordered by Love: An Introduction to John Duns Scotus (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2023), 29.
⁴² “God has the most excellent intellect; indeed, He is intellect itself in the highest degree.” Bartholomäus Keckermann, Systema S. S. Theologiae: Tribus Libris Adornatum, trans. Claude Sonet 4.6 (AI translation), 20–21.
⁴³ “In immanent action, the agent and the patient are the same.” Franco Burgersdijk, An Abstract & Translation of Burgersdijk’s Logic (Grand Rapids: Berith Press, [n.d.]), 50.
⁴⁴ Franco Burgersdijk, An Abstract & Translation of Burgersdijk’s Logic (Grand Rapids: Berith Press, [n.d.]), 28.
⁴⁵ Bartholomäus Keckermann, Systema S. S. Theologiae: Tribus Libris Adornatum, trans. Claude Sonet 4.6 (AI translation), 32-33.
⁴⁶ William Ames, The Marrow of Theology, trans. John D. Eusden (Durham, NC: Labyrinth Press, 1983), 36-37.
⁴⁷ Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I, q. 27, a. 1.
⁴⁸ Lawrence Feingold, “The Word Breathes Forth Love: The Psychological Analogy for the Trinity and the Complementarity of Intellect and Will,” Nova et Vetera 17, no. 4 (2019): 1071–1104.
⁴⁹ “God has the most excellent intellect; indeed, He is intellect itself in the highest degree.” Bartholomäus Keckermann, Systema S. S. Theologiae: Tribus Libris Adornatum, trans. Claude Sonet 4.6 (AI translation), 22.
⁵⁰ Ibid., 25-26.
⁵¹ Ibid.
⁵² Joseph M. Dalmau, Sacrae Theologiae Summa IIA: On the One and Triune God, trans. Kenneth Baker (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 2013), 324.
⁵³ “The Holy Spirit, flowing and breathed from the Father by the Son, is as it were Deus dilectus, God beloved.” William Ames, The Marrow of Theology, trans. John D. Eusden (Durham, NC: Labyrinth Press, 1983), 36-37.
⁵⁴ Gilles Emery, The Trinitarian Theology of Thomas Aquinas, trans. Francesca Aran Murphy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 63.
⁵⁵ Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I, q. 27, a. 3.
⁵⁶ “Love is the gravitation of one being toward another which is its good, by dint of connaturality, or a relationship of conformity between oneself and the other.” Gilles Emery, The Trinitarian Theology of Thomas Aquinas, trans. Francesca Aran Murphy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 64-65.
⁵⁷ Ibid.
⁵⁸ Ibid.
⁵⁹ Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I–II, q. 26, a. 1; idem, Summa Contra Gentiles, IV, ch. 19.
⁶⁰ Lawrence Feingold, “The Word Breathes Forth Love: The Psychological Analogy for the Trinity and the Complementarity of Intellect and Will,” Nova et Vetera 17, no. 4 (2019): 1071–1104.
⁶¹ Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I, q. 27, a. 4.
⁶² Lawrence Feingold, “The Word Breathes Forth Love: The Psychological Analogy for the Trinity and the Complementarity of Intellect and Will,” Nova et Vetera 17, no. 4 (2019): 1071–1104.
⁶³ Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I, q. 37, a. 1, ad 3.
⁶⁴ “So God, in knowing himself, which generates the Son, loves the Son, as the Son does the Father, and a mutual total gift of self is the bond of unity, which is another divine person, the Holy Spirit.” Lawrence Feingold, “The Word Breathes Forth Love: The Psychological Analogy for the Trinity and the Complementarity of Intellect and Will,” Nova et Vetera 17, no. 4 (2019): 1071–1104.
⁶⁵ Thomas Joseph White, The Trinity: On the Nature and Mystery of the One God (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2021), 168.