In his The Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity, Samuel Clarke (1675-1729) noted that:
the Words, One and Only, are used,
by way of Eminence, to signifie Him who is absolutely supreme, Self-existent,
and Independent; which Attributes are Personal, and evidently impossible to be
communicated from one Person to another. . . . Wherefore, not only the Scripture,
but also the Ecclesiastical Writers in all Antiquity, do thus speak. (Samuel
Clarke, The Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity [4th ed.;
London: John and Paul Knapton, 1738], 124)
One example Clarke provides is that of Ignatius of Antioch’s Epistle
to the Magnesians:
ὅτι εἷς θεός ἐστιν, ὁ φανερώσας ἑαυτὸν
διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ ὅς ἐστιν αὐτοῦ λόγος ἀπὸ σιγῆς προελθών
(Epistle to the Magnesians, 8:2)
. . . there is one God who
manifested Himself through Jesus Christ His Son, who is His Word that proceeded
from silence, who in all things was well-pleasing unto HIm that sent Him.
(Kirsopp Lake)
. . . there is one God who
revealed himself through Jesus Christ his Son, who is his Word which proceeded
from silence (William R. Schoedel)
Here, the “one God” (εἷς
θεός) is the person of the Father singularly,
not the ‘being’ of God or “One God” composed of a plurality of numerically
distinct persons.
Further Reading
