The Trinity, Book One, Chapter Three

This chapter revolves around the problem of how to understand Jesus' comment, "the father is greater than I" (Jn 14:28) in light of the unity of the Trinity.

Augustine first critiques those who do not consider the whole scripture focusing on only one part or taking a piece out of context. Augustine attempts to resist this kind of Biblical "cherry-picking" himself by practicing an exegesis in this chapter that invokes the letters of Paul (Corinthians, Timothy), the Gospels (Matthew, John), as well as OT texts (Exodus, Psalms, Isaiah).

He further untangles this passage by invoking a distinction between "nature" and "condition": "the Son of God is God the Father's equal by nature, by condition his inferior" (74). So, the consequence of this is that God and Jesus (and the Holy Spirit, though not addressed here) share a unified nature, again repeating the discussion of Book 2. However, by taking on flesh, Jesus' condition has been rendered inferior--so by "condition," Augustine is invoking accidental or secondary qualia rather than inner essence. In this way, the accidental or secondary qualities differentiate the three, but do not make one lesser, except in those very qualities, which, in Augustine's logic, are incidental, not essential.

This involve a discussion of faith; Faith cannot rely on the senses. Thus, the servant quality of the Trinity--in the form of Christ--leaves the earth. Because of the emphasis on seeing Jesus (and, thus, seeing is believing) then the emphasis is on the accidental quality and not the shared essence of Christ and God.

Augustine concludes this chapter with a discussion of love. Again, he wants to emphasize the univocity of love, and, thus, when it is said God loves you, the underlying meaning is that all three "aspects" share in that love. This love is about our future being, not how we are now--and here is where faith reenters the conversation. For Augustine our faith is something aimed at the future, it cannot be seen since the future is unknowable within the constraints of our own comprehension of time. Thus, God's love for us is a promise to be fulfilled in the future. We believe before we see and in the act of faith, God loves. God does not love us for what we are now (fleshly beings, perhaps?). Augustine wants to emphasize our future capability, rather than the present being.