Gregory of Nazianzus’ theological genius is in part advantageous in reaction to Arianism, or special revelation which was boasted of by one’s like Appollinarius.[1] Appollinarius’ attempt to understand the Trinity and more so, Christology, devised a scheme of which the divinity of Christ could not bear a divine mind in human flesh. Therefore, it was essential for him to subordinate the Trinity by subdividing their roles into a hierarchy of divinity. Meaning, God the Father was the one true God, leaving the Son and the Holy Spirit to be reckoned with as lessor beings than the Father. In their minds, the miracle of Jesus had to be represented as two persons to explain how divinity and humanity operate. The human flesh and mind were totally corrupt. In this view, the idea that God could inhabit human flesh meant Christ could not be divine in the sense which the Father is divine. As we will explore in this essay, for Appollinarius, the Father begetting the Son and the Spirit’s proceeding from Christ suggested to him a cause for the Son and the Spirit’s exclusion from the preeminent Godhead status. Gregory of Nazianzus supplies his readers with substantial proof of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three-in-one, all co-equally divine and worthy of Godhead status. My intent lies in outlining briefly Gregory’s theological defense, concluding with a short word about the relevance of On God and Christ for our contemporary context.
A Brief Outline of Gregory of Nazianzus’ On God and Christ
On God and Christ is constructed with a brief biography, a short introduction, then theological arguments on the doctrine of God, two addresses on the Son, on the Holy Spirit, concluding with two short letters to Cledonius. We will engage each section briefly, in chronological order. Together, we will see Gregory’s theological progression, moving toward a robust orthodox Trinitarianism.
An Introductory Sermon Against the Eunomians
Up front, it is clear Gregory is moved to action against the Eunomians who are not only causing division with their “revelation,” furthermore, they have disturbed Gregory by their incessant character degradation of their opponents. Throughout the work we will see Gregory as a holy reactionary, rather than a merciless attacker, though he too, at times, will fail similarly in his argument against them. It appears the fundamental lesson in approaching theology, for Gregory, is one marked by a pious tongue.[2] In this light, he begins by challenging human intellect by the measure of the spiritual disciplines; i.e., prayer, fasting and meditation.[3] His first observation of the theologian is of one who daily mortifies sinful flesh through such disciplines. This is to lay an appropriate spiritual foundation required for continual illumination of God’s Word and of Christian character. To mortify the sinful temptations of an evil tongue is to produce purity of speech, and this is to make conversation a thing of beauty. And it is by the goodness of God by which all good and pure things of God emerge. Therefore, put away all evil and deceit of a worldly tongue and conform to the heavenly speech with spiritual determination for humility. To be a theological ambassador of God is to begin with a fearful humility for piety of speech. If one is to meditate and learn of the endless incomprehensibility of God and His Gospel in Christ, how can we begin with such corrupt disposition of heart. Mind, and tongue? With piety and humility in Christ as the foundation, we move on to the incomprehensibility of God.
On the Doctrine of God
All things in the created order, under God, are but “shadowy reflections of the sun in water.”[4] Piety and humility are but gifts of grace indicative of God’s sanctificational work of redemption in humankind. Gregory makes no mistake to assume piety and humility in the Spirit as a cheat-code for human perfection in this fallen age. Meaning, the most pious man you know is still caught up in the mystery of God’s divine incomprehensibility. He is too lofty, and we are to abased by the effect of original sin, even with help from the Holy Spirit, sinful creatures are incapable of knowing God fully or wholly. Therefore, what is knowable of God is from God, and is by conviction of the Holy Spirit, rather than mere intellectual education. God’s incomprehensibility should affect the pious soul a motivation of humility in light God’s goodness to invite fallen humans into His revelation of Christ. Likewise, those in Christ, by the wonder of our incomprehensible God, should strive to handle such lofty knowledge of God with care and humility towards others. Notwithstanding the Spirit’s role, the human frame finds stability in God’s Word through the wonder of His holiness. God is lofty beyond the measure of human understanding. This is the basis of theological study. And lest we fear in the human inability to understand God in full clarity, the one committed to growing in the wisdom of God is founded and based on His goodness alone. Gregory then argues of the greatness of God. In the Triune God there is no division; being the source of all power, God is the immovable-mover; God is eternal from eternity past and present; God is unoriginated, He is the First Cause; God is all knowing; God is omnipresent, everywhere at once; God is perfect and He never changes; God is the creator and sustainer of all things. Thereby, amidst human incomprehensibility of our incomprehensible God, theologians must vigorously affirm the perfections of God’s character and nature. Heretics and false teachers find glory in humanizing what the Gospel affords as wonder and mystery. They are not satisfied with the incomprehensibility of God, and thus, they make for themselves limitations upon the wonder of His goodness toward creation in hopes of explaining the deep mysteries of God on a human level. Furthermore, Gregory begins to develop his theological thought considering the divinity each member of the Trinity by connecting us to terms Scripturally tied to all three. For example: “’Spirit,’ “fire,” and “light,” “love,” “wisdom,” and “righteousness,” “mind,” and ‘reason.’”[5] Moving forward, we will see Gregory connect attributes of God as being rightfully attributed to each member of the Trinity. Which of course he does so to tie in Scriptural proof of the divine for each members correct title; Godhead. In the mystery and wonder of the incomprehensible God, three-in-one, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, humankind finds rest in worshipping them each as Godhead. If the incomprehensible God is to be grasped, even upon the surface, a certain wonder and humility is required. Gregory’s opponents seek to bypass the wonder of God for a more simplistic knowledge of God, and in turn, they rob the wonder of Trinitarian Godhead in three-persons, which according to Gregory is to leave the foundational truth the doctrine of God teaches humanity. On this foundation we press forward in examining the Son.
On the Son I
Gregory rightly confronts human imagination by exposing atheism and polytheism as disorderly religions.[6]Monotheism is the goal and correct interpretation of God’s Word. Nevertheless, it is easy to see how enticing deception directs unfortunate minds toward a monotheism which abrogates the mystery of the Trinitarian doctrine. Which we have found peace through God’s Word and Spirit as an incomprehensible mystery. Gregory’s opponents want to harmonize the mystery by making the begotten Christ and the procession of the Spirit distinct from the Godhead. However, the Son and the Spirit are not merely an involuntary overflow of the Father. Each member of the Trinity is from the beginning, equally sharing in the Godhead status. Let not mystery be bound by human incomprehension. Orthodox Christianity stands and rest within the mystery. There has never been a time when the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit did not exist.[7]Conforming the Trinitarian mystery into the construct of time and human experience of that time will not satisfy the mystery of Scripture. There is no construct of time held over or against the eternality of the Godhead. To this end Gregory admits we have no rational reason to give an answer.[8] Nevertheless, we know God’s incompressibility attributes human wonder and worship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Therefore, though we cannot fully grasp the mystery, we know the begotten Christ is not like the begetting of human flesh; speaking of the human experience of birth. Gregory labors here to preserve the majesty of the mystery. With God’s incomprehensibility in mind, he insists that maybe the only thing we may grasp about will and process of the Father begetting the Son is just that; and maybe the only answer which will satisfy is reverent silence before an omnipotent and incomprehensible God.[9] What must be known of the begotten Christ is that Scripture entitles Him with the same substance, same glory, and this is “what belongs to him [God] particularly and uniquely.”[10] Each member of the Trinity is from the uncaused because they are from the uncaused, thereby, whatever explanation we have of “unbegotten” must not be translated through the human inference.[11] Again, faced with the mystery, Jesus Christ’ begotten of the Father is not to assume a human-like experience of offspring. Here, Gregory submits begotten of the Father as relationship between the Father and Son.[12] Scriptural satisfaction held within the mystery ascribes with great extent equality of attributes and Godhead titles when appropriating Christ. This is no violation of monotheism. Rather, bound within incomprehensible mystery, the One Lord and God is three-persons in One mysterious union of equal nature, and therefore sharers of the status, Godhead. Beautifully written, Gregory then helps us see how Christ’ humanity, encompassed within Christ divinity makes it possible for Him to live a sinless life. Furthermore, we see from Christ’ human experience a counter perfection of the sinless state, meaning, even in crucifixion His death upon the tree provides those in Christ with the tree of eternal life.[13] Once one beholds by revelation the Gospel of God’s Word, faith is the fruit. And it is a Gospel founded by faith in Christ, not mere human intellect or human reason-though this is no abrogation of God’s purpose for human intellect and reason. Nevertheless, it is by faith alone.
On the Son II
Continuing where Gregory left off, we now move on two the mystery of Christ, two natures, one person. Gregory asks the question: “’What reality has no cause?’”[14] Christ, therefore, has two natures in one person. We may then explain the hypostatic union, which is the mystery of two natures, human and divine, in the one person of Christ. Gregory conveys, writing, “free of complication…Whatever we come across with a causal implication we will attribute to the humanity; what is absolute and free of cause we will reckon to the Godhead.”[15] This is remarkable! In the God-man Jesus Christ lies a capacity to experience the human condition while simultaneously possessing divinity. What is divine is Jesus Christ. What is truly perfect about the human experience is in Christ also. We see this clearly at the temptation of Christ in the wilderness. Satan tempts, Christ stands firm. This is not to diminish the divinity, rather, it is the divine mysteriously dwelling in human flesh for the sake of all human flesh. Meaning, Christ’ experience of the human nature, His victory over temptation, this is the goodness of God to become like us in our humanity so that those in Christ may too overcome temptation. His human nature lived the life we were unable to live to free humanity from its perpetual sinful nature. He is not brought down, as though His human nature partakes in sin, rather, to be the One flesh who has overcome sin and death. Christ is a slave to the human condition to conquer its sinful nature. This is only possible because of His divinity, the source of all goodness. The Son does not merely strain to accomplish His task, His victory over sin and death are a result of the divine goodness. The wisdom of God in Christ’ two natures is for our sake. The Son partakes of the human nature to free human nature from sin nature, calling many Sons to the glory of His divine nature.
The Son’s submission to the Father is one of relational goodness. And if we are found in Christ, we are partakers of His divine glory. Nevertheless, human participation in the divine glory is not like Christ’ relationship to the Father. Humanity will always be of God’s creative goodness, secure in Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the Godhead in the same sense that the Father is the Godhead. Gregory now appeals to the Son’s kingly role, arguing that such a title is not to be laid down in the age to come.[16] The Son is our one Lord and God, He is king of kings and Lord of lord’s. The Son’s kingship is to be determined as a gift for humanity, not an imposing rule over and against the Trinity’s Godhead equality. Likewise, the Son’s submission to the Father, relational by will and goodness, is intrinsic of God’s design for purity of worship. This is imitational language. The Son submits willfully to the Father not by subordination to the Father, rather, in the design of God’s relational will, the Son submits to the Father to provide humanity with an example of imitation.[17] We are called to imitate the Son, and the Son has shown us the imitational way by His divine and human example. Humanity is subordinate, the Son is not. The Son, by His divine nature is neither obedient nor disobedient.[18] What is to be known of the Son’s obedience is an example of the goodness of the divine nature, which He is the source. We are not the source of the divine goodness; we are but participators of His divine goodness.[19] The Son suffered and was tempted “to help those who are tempted”[20] In no way does His human flesh diminish the Son as unoriginated, as He is of the unoriginated One.[21] Elaborating, Gregory writes concerning Their divine equality, writing, “It is not a question of similarity between their creatures, but of having equal authority over their creation.”[22] While mystery abounds, Gregory encourages us to consider the hypostatic union as means of the Godhead’s goodness. Christ’ goodness stems from Himself, providing humanity with an identifiable source for His “Consummate goodness.”[23] By the hypostatic union humanity is provided participation with the divine good in Christ our Lord and king.
On the Holy Spirit
As if Gregory’s opponents did not have enough on their plate, configuring the Holy Spirit, as with the Son, eternally unoriginated, and co-equal with the Father as the divine Godhead, well, must have infuriated their senses. Given that so much of what has been shown above with the Father and the Son, I will only briefly touch on the Spirit’s role, rather than reemphasize Trinitarian commonality. In the first, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit aids the church in this fallen age with supernatural help and connection to God the Father and God the Son. And yet further, because He is also the Godhead, the Spirit is equal with the Father and the Son as worthy of human worship. The Son entered the world in a present physical manner, and while the Spirit is often unseen or physically present, in the sense that Jesus owns a material body which real humans could touch and interact with, the Spirit is ever present, indwelling those which are Christ. Gregory explains this, conveying, “We receive the Son’s light from the Father’s light in the light of the Spirit: that is what we ourselves have seen and what we now proclaim-it is the plain and simple explanation of the Trinity.”[24] The Father sent the Son to accomplish eternal life for humanity; the Spirit proceeds from the Son to reveal and illuminate the God-Word as a gift to the blind and helpless state of sin nature. Christ accomplished what is necessary for salvation, the Holy Spirit reveals the finished work of the Son. Yet another mystery! Gregory insists, the mystery lies with the incomprehensibility of a monotheistic God, in three-persons, sharing in the divine nature of equal Godhead status. Yet one might contend that three-persons cannot be monotheistic. Gregory pens wonderfully, the mystery of the Holy Spirit is this: “The Son is not Father; there is one Father, yet he is whatever the Father is, The Spirit is not Son because he is from God; there is only one begotten. Yet whatever the Son is, he is. The three are a single whole in their Godhead and the single whole is three personalities.”[25] Therefore, the Spirit, in His personality serves His role as the Godhead by transferring and persevering the truth of God’s Gospel in Christ in the hearts and minds of His church. The Triune Godhead is undivided, They are One, sharing equally in divinity. The mystery continues. Three-personalities, yet One without division.[26] Each person of the Trinity plays a Vitol role in the economy of relationship and redemption of humanity.
God’s Holy Spirit is essential for salvation. In the work of the Spirit we experience, though fragmented in our comprehension, all the divine goodness of God’s attributes. It is to the Spirit God has proved relational conversation and petition through prayer. It is by the Spirit we live and move and breath. It is by the Spirit we are led, in partnership with the Word. It is by the Spirit we experience the real presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper. It is by the Spirit we are kept and moved to growth in Christ through discipleship. It is by the Spirit we experience and share in divine love and goodness in this life. The Son may have physically ascended to the right hand of God, yet, by the mystery of the indwelling Holy Spirit, humanity participates, in a scratch the surface manner, all the goodness of the Trinitarian Godhead. In the Spirit we are not forsaken. In the Spirit we have comfort from the suffering of this world. In the Spirit the church prevails amidst dark times. The Spirit teaches and guides us into knowing what can be known of God. All this and more! And maybe most baffling, held within the mystery of the Spirit lies His omnipresence; the Spirit is everywhere all at once. What a magnificent gift! Furthermore, Scripture testifies, in the same way that no human can come to God without Christ; no human can know Christ, or do anything eternally lasting in Christ, if the Spirit is absent. Such a lofty role and personality requires the Spirit to likewise be of the same nature, unoriginated, eternal, and Godhead. The Spirit is not a strange force supplied by the Son to merely aid the Father and Son in their endeavors; He is God and is worthy of the same human worship. The Holy Spirit, too, “is cause of all and owns no prior cause.”[27]
The Two Letters to Cledonius and Concluding Relevance for Modern Application
The Two Letters to Cledonius provide a basis for our modern application, therefore, I thought it wise to conclude alongside Gregory’s more concise wording found in the letters. The letters are written later in Gregory’s life and serve as a defense against accusations that he has veered from the theological path. Gregory rejects such accusations and gives defense.[28] In the first letter Gregory takes up issue with those who deny Christ a mind in the sense of human flesh. His opponents seek to prove that the Son could not have a mind in the flesh because the human mind is corrupt, and God cannot be corrupt. As seen earlier, Gregory defends Christ’ human mind by expounding upon His role of redemption concerning the sinful human condition. The Word is made flesh is “equivalent to speaking of his being made “sin” and ‘curse.’”[29] Did not Christ assume the human nature as means to redeem its broken faculties? The Son, with human mind is not succumb to sinful nature; temptation yes, sin no. Therefore, Christ’ mind is not corrupt. Facing selective truth claims, he challenges his opponent’s acceptance in allowing the Son to have a human flesh, arguing that they face the same dilemma as with the mind. If Christ bears human flesh, which is as corrupt as the mind, they must also do away with the flesh. Yet, this is not the case, the Father sent the Son to save and purify the human mind and flesh. To accept Christ has a human flesh is to likewise accept the human accept of His mind. Through the finished work of the cross, and by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, He has power of the mind. And again, Christ did not come to cancel out the mind, he came to redeem it with His own blood.[30] He was made flesh so that we might participate in the Divine. He experienced the human mind for our sake, that our minds might be made anew.[31]
In the second letter, with some force, Gregory indicates “we must acknowledge Father, Son and Holy Spirit as of one Godhead…Whoever does not agree with this, whether now or later, will account to God on the day of judgment.”[32]This is not a matter of triviality. Furthermore, the Son’s imitation of the goodness of God represented in His flesh is a call for imitation of the divine. Meaning, those in Christ have the mind of Christ; to be in Christ means to be free from the despair of the fallen human mind.[33] Having the mind of Christ is only possible through the mystery of the indwelling Spirit-of which are both Godhead with the Father. The so-called “secret knowledge” offered by Gnosticism and other errors position themselves over and against nearly four-hundred years of orthodoxy, and Gregory, for one, is baffled by so many persons who have ran off with its deception, on this fact alone.[34] Was it all for nothing? No. He proves their teaching inept of the true Gospel and urges them to repent and believe in what has been presented by Scripture as the true testimony of God in the Trinity. The so-called reimagining of the Trinity into separate parts and/or the subordination of the Son to the Father misrepresents the incomprehensibility of Triunity. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, though they represent roles in salvation history, are not divided, but are in fact, mysterious as it seems, three-personalities possessing co-equality of the Godhead. The Son is not begotten in such a way as to limit His equality with God. The Holy Spirit’s procession from the Son does not make the Holy Spirit a lesser divine than the Father or the Son. They are one together by nature. Three-persons, one God.
As for our contemporary setting, Gregory’s On God and Christ is a feast of the choicest foods. Today’s Evangelical culture knows little of Arian heresy. It knows even less of the Trinitarian mystery which is so central to our understanding of the Gospel. Some years ago the Emergent Church Movement subtly prepared the foundation of Exvangelicalism, in my opinion. As books sold in the millions, they spread false doctrine such as the denial of penal substitution, they denied the realities of eternal damnation and made Christ into a being of love. Only His love was isolated from other key attributes of God. They eliminated God’s justice and wrath. They claim there is a revelation of Christ distinct from orthodox Christianity. They resurrected certain heretical father’s to cite their deception. One could get lost in their postmodern and post-postmodern interpretations of the Trinity. Nevertheless, their inventions are not new. In order to make God more like comprehensible human nature, they divided up the attributes of God which are more appealing. In doing so, they similarly subdued the incomprehensible Godhead into something seemingly more palatable. They were motivated by the impulse that love and wrath cannot coincide. The insistence of their revelation is used to openly mock orthodox Christianity. Whether the deviation is progressive or liberal in content, or even genuine Christian’s supporting variations of Tritheism or eternal subordination, we must stand on Scripture alone.
The mystery is a mystery for our sake. We are but to wonder at the incomprehensibility of the Godhead-Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They are distinct in personalities and of their roles in salvation history. They are all unoriginated, from the beginning, not hindered by the human construct of time. They share equally as the source for all goodness. They possess equally all the attributes of the Godhead. Let the wonder of God propel our souls into worship-based obedience and imitation. Come to the banqueting table and feast upon the goodness of God, the one Lord and God in three persons. Let not Christ begetting cause you to stumble into Christological error. Let not the procession of the Spirit from the Son detour from worshipping Him equally as Godhead. As Exvangelicalism continues to rise, let us not overlook real abuses and real pain. Nevertheless, our eternal peace is with the Godhead. Let us lament our pains to the God who supplies true eternal goodness. By faith, let us cling to the Holy Spirit for the preservation of our faith. Amidst true pain and perplexity, be beholden to faith in Christ above reasoning and rationalizing our human experiences. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are the source of the goodness we long for. Like Jacob, let us wrestle with God in the holy places of prayer and piety. The Son perfected the human experience so that we might through salvation and sanctification reach our eternal destination to share in the eternal glory of God as co-heirs with Christ. Let us seek His presence by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Let us live in and by the Word of God. Let us demonstrate love and inclusion by honoring God above the intellect of human reason apart from God. Let God’s incomprehensible nature fan the flames of wonder that we might worship Him rightly. It is okay to not have all the answers. In the words of Gregory of Nazianzus himself, “It is better to have a meager idea of the union than to venture on total blasphemy.”[35] The only way sinful humanity perseveres in faith is by Christ, let the wonder of His hypostatic union guide your faith as you travail through the valleys of this broken world. Amen.
[1]St Gregory of Nazianzus. On God and Christ: The Five Theological Orations and Two Letters to Cledonius. Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2002. P. 163. Print.
[2]Ibid., Gregory. P. 30.
[3]Ibid., Gregory. P. 30. “Do we mortify the body with fasting? Do we through prayer, take up our abode with God? Do we subordinate the inferior element in us to do better-I mean, the dust to the Spirit, as we should if we have returned the right verdict on the alloy of the two which is our nature?”
[4]Ibid., Gregory. P. 39.
[5]Ibid., Gregory. P. 46.
[6]Ibid., Gregory. P. 70.
[7]Ibid., Gregory. P. 71.
[8]Ibid., Gregory. P. 71.
[9]Ibid., Gregory. P. 76.
[10]Ibid., Gregory. P. 78.
[11]Ibid., Gregory. P. 79.
[12]Ibid., Gregory. P. 84.
[13]Ibid., Gregory. P. 88.
[14]Ibid., Gregory. P. 94.
[15]Ibid., Gregory. P. 94.
[16]Ibid., Gregory. P. 96.
[17]Ibid., Gregory. P. 96.
[18]Ibid., Gregory. P. 97.
[19]Ibid., Gregory. P. 97.
[20]Ibid., Gregory. P. 98.
[21]Ibid., Gregory. P. 99.
[22]Ibid., Gregory. P. 102.
[23]Ibid., Gregory. P. 104.
[24]Ibid., Gregory. P. 118.
[25]Ibid., Gregory. P. 123.
[26]Ibid., Gregory. P. 127.
[27]Ibid., Gregory. P. 142.
[28]Ibid., Gregory. P. 149.
[29]Ibid., Gregory. P. 162.
[30]Ibid., Gregory. P. 161.
[31]Ibid., Gregory. P. 156.
[32]Ibid., Gregory. P. 167.
[33]Ibid., Gregory. P. 168.
[34]Ibid., Gregory. P. 170.
[35]Ibid., Gregory. P. 126.
Image: American Religion, 2022. 12 Nov. 2022. Web. https://www.american-religion.org/dabruemet/brill (Disclaimer: Not advocating the author’s (Alan Brill) article. Just giving credit to the image).