Cornerstone Curriculum, Official Certification Edition

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4. Father, Son, and Spirit are the same person acting in three different modes (one person with three different names, activities, or roles).

5. This view cannot explain fully what the Bible actually teaches about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

D. The Orthodox Formulation (The Council of Constantinople [381] and the view of Athanasius [293-373] and the “Cappadocian fathers” [Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa])

1. God has one essence or substance (ousia) which exists in three persons (hypostases) .

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2. God has a common essence, but exists in three separate persons .

T heology and E th i c s

3. The Cappadocian focus

a. Individual hypostases is the ousia of the one God.

b. Each member has characteristics or properties unique to him (e.g., individual people within universal humanity).

4. The orthodox view is monotheistic , not tri-theistic (i.e., belief that the Trinity teaches three separate Gods).

III. We believe in God: The Threefold Affirmation of Nicea (325)

A. The Nicene Creed confesses each member of the one Godhead.