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Inverse View
It is not the case that The three Persons of the Trinity must be three distinct particular divine substances for the concept of consubstantiality to be coherent
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Reasons For
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Reason for 1 of 2
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1.
Consubstantiality (homoousios) in Nicene theology denotes numerical identity of substance, not merely qualitative similarity between distinct substances.
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2.
If the three Persons each possessed their own particular divine substance, the Trinity would constitute three gods, which Nicene orthodoxy explicitly condemns as tritheism.
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3.
Coherent consubstantiality requires that 'substance' be predicated of the Trinity as a whole, with distinctions belonging only to relational properties, not to individuating substances.
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Reason for 2 of 2
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1.
Aquinas and the Augustinian tradition ground personal distinction in the immanent relations of origin (paternity, filiation, spiration), not in distinct particular substances.
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2.
If relations of origin suffice to individuate Persons within one numerically identical substance, the claim that distinct particular substances are required for coherent consubstantiality is defeated.
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Reasons Against
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Reason against
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1.
The Nicene formula affirms consubstantiality among the three Persons of the Trinity
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2.
If there were only one divine substance shared by all three Persons, speaking of consubstantiality among those Persons would be meaningless
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