Are The Father, Son, And Holy Spirit The Same Essence?

Today we will look at the Trinity, often defined as "one in ‘essence,’ three in person." What does that mean exactly? God is three Persons, and the name 'God' implies one ‘essence.’ If God is "three Persons," how can there be "one" ‘essence’? The meaning of the term ‘essence’" is very foreign in the Bible and seems more about "what" and not "who." It indicates that the distinction between the Divine ‘essence’ and the Persons of the Trinity is purely conceptual.

The English word '‘essence’' is not found anywhere in the Bible, yet it is used to describe the God of the Bible and sounds very metaphysical. The Greek word 'ousia' is often used to justify the use of the word ‘essence.’ The term is used in the New Testament only in relation to 'the substance' in the sense of goods or property and is never used in reference to God (Luke 15:12-13). Yet it is often used by preachers to explain the ‘essence' of God. The word is defined in most dictionaries as 'the intrinsic nature or indispensable quality of something, especially something abstract, that determines its character; the individual, real, or ultimate nature of a thing especially opposed to its existence: the properties or attributes by means of which something can be placed in its proper class or identified as being what it is: the most significant element, quality, or aspect of a thing or person; the most important part of something, usually the part that gives it its general character.'

It is said in Theology that the names Father, Son, and Holy Spirit signify the ‘essence’ as nouns, and the names are adjectives predicated of the Persons in the singular only, yet adjectives can also be predicated in the plural. God the One ‘essence’ means a very abstract "being" which can't be one person. That definition seems pretty confusing, to say the least.

The Nicene Creed identifies the Son as "God from God." Does the term "God" signify the divine ‘essence’ existing in the one with that ‘essence’, and God is from God? The word 'God' seems concrete, yet the term 'essence’ seems abstractly paradoxical and, therefore, cannot logically signify a person.

Is God a thing or just one being? Is His ‘essence’ the most important part that gives His general nature? That definition sounds like Modalism which teaches that God has eternally existed, yet He has revealed Himself in three forms – one in the Old Testament as the Father, one in the New Testament as the Son, and one after the Ascension as the Holy Spirit.

The Bible teaches that God is unique in existence and nature and does not exist in parts (divine simplicity) but is one unified entity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) with no distinct or separate attributes.

So, how can we understand God as being three persons in one ‘essence’? It doesn't sound very sensical. If they are three persons distinct from each other, that implies distinction in ‘essence’, which contradicts the unity of God's ‘essence’ as each person would have their own nature. That seems a confusing paradox. How do you distinguish between 'person' (hypostasis) and ‘essence’?

Is the ‘essence’ and 'person' the same reality while simultaneously holding a fundamental distinction among the Person(s) in their nature and divine ‘essence’? That doesn't sound like a real distinction but more like a conceptual one that affirms something of the ‘essence’ while denying it of the Persons. Can we simultaneously affirm the unity of the ‘essence’ and the distinction of the Persons?

In Theology, the claim is made that the ‘essence’ of God is the same as a 'person' and that He is three Persons who are one ‘essence’ which means we are not using the name "God" in the same way as when we use the term "man." Does that mean the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are each God, and therefore each are God(s)?

Throughout history, the chief dogmatic work of the church Fathers was directed towards affirming the truth of the Oneness of ‘essence’, the fullness of Divinity, and the equality of honor of the Second and Third Person of the Holy Trinity that has the same ‘essence’; each of the Persons has the fullness of Divinity unharmed and immeasurable and are equal in honor and worship.

The vast majority of Born-Again Christians adhere to the doctrine that God is three persons (Trihypostatic) revealed as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is one God. The Father is God. Jesus is God who the Father sent. The Holy Spirit is God. The Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is not the Father.

It is no wonder that people in and out of the church are confused about who God is. God is often called the Father of Jesus, which infers that Jesus is the Father's offspring, and therefore they are separate individuals just as any human father and son/daughter. In addition, the Person - Holy Spirit, is often explained as if He was the Father's effluence or phantasm. Yet the Bible says, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord" (Deuteronomy 6:4 KJV).