The Enigma of Faith

[The following is a distillation of a book called "The Enigma of Faith", by William of St. Thierry. The book is William's seminal work on the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. I have tried to "trim the fat" off the book, so to speak, so that the modern reader can easily follow the flow of William's thought from beginning to end. These excerpts are intended to be preached as a sermon (approx. 30 minutes). William expresses so well the great conundrum of the Trinity and how that, when it comes to seeing God, humility is so much more important than knowledge. The book is published by Cistercian Publications and is available at www.cistercianpublications.org]


It is a conscientious admission of weak human nature that it knows only this about God: God exists. Still, it is not disrespectful to investigate the essence of the nature of God and the hidden decrees of his inscrutable judgment; even, indeed, to examine them closely. However, since the mind of man cannot penetrate these matters, he must admit that they are inscrutable and cannot be investigated. While some of them are proper to the religious desire of man, others are rooted in the inscrutable nature of God. For this reason the Apostle was astounded in his scrutiny and examination of these matters and declared, “O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God; how incomprehensible are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways.” When a man looks at the bright sun his power of sight is so dazzled by the brilliance of the light that, if ever curiosity induces him to search more closely for the source of the shining light, his vision is reduced to blindness; his efforts to see more result in his not seeing at all. Now if this is true, what can we expect in the things of God, who is the sun of justice? Will not folly befall anyone who tries to be excessively wise? Will not the senseless languor of stupidity overwhelm the light of even a keen intellect? A lower cause does not understand the cause of a higher nature, nor does the divine plan lie within the range of human comprehension. Indeed, whatever is to be encompassed by the knowledge of a mere man must be within the reach of his weak condition. Yet, to the extent that the divine plan allows itself to be understood, we must eagerly pursue it, so that we do not lose what has been given to us through our dissatisfaction with the limitation of our gift. Is there, then, something in God which can be perceived? Indeed, there is, if you desire only that which you are capable of attaining. For the rest, if you aspire beyond that which you can attain, you will forfeit even what you could have attained. To see “face to face” and to understand completely is granted to no one in this life, but is promised as a reward in the next. In the meantime, we have in faith the light of promised blessings. And through this faith, as if “dimly in a mirror,” we gaze upon the image of future blessings and happiness.

But in this question of seeing God, it seems to me that there is more value in one’s manner of living than in his manner of speaking. For, whoever has learned from the Lord Jesus Christ to be meek and humble of heart will make more progress in thinking about this and in praying than in reading or listening, although sometimes it is profitable both to read and to listen. However, no one should say he wants to see God if he is unwilling to expend the care worthy of so great an undertaking to purify his heart. No one can see God and live. Truly, that vision belongs to another life which is greater and is promised in the world to come, but which has already begun here on earth in all the children of grace.

Whoever has in Christ been awakened to God is stirred by the warmth of the Holy Spirit, and in his love for God has become small in his own eyes. He wishes to approach God, but cannot. And through the illumination God has given him, he fixes his gaze upon himself and finds that he and his sickness cannot be united with the purity of God. He finds it sweet to weep and pray to God to have mercy on him again and again until he casts off all his affliction, to pray with confidence since he has already received, through no merit of his own, the pledge of salvation through his only Savior, the Illuminator of man. Assuredly, knowledge does not puff up this man, needy and sorrowing, because love builds him up. He has preferred one knowledge to another; he has preferred to know his own weakness more than to know the ramparts of the world, the foundations of the earth and the heights of the heavens. And by increasing this knowledge he has increased sorrow, the sorrow of his earthly pilgrimage, because of his desire for his homeland and for his God, the blessed Creator.

If we consider the manner in which the world came to believe we see that this too is truly divine and most wonderful. Christ sent a very small number of fishermen with nets of faith to the sea of the world; they were uninstructed in the liberal arts and were completely untrained in what pertains to the world’s teachings. They were not skilled in grammar nor armed with dialectic. There were twelve of them and one of these turned back. Yet through these men he so filled the churches with every kind of fish that very many were signed with the cross on their foreheads even from among the wise men of the world to whom the cross of Christ seemed ignominious. What they considered an object of shame they placed on the pinnacle of honor. Therefore, when the whole world was sick, the Word of God veiled by the flesh came to men in this way to heal the world from its own destruction. He prepared medication with his own hands and spread it over the sicknesses of the world; this was the Gospel of the Kingdom, which was to be preached in the whole world, and the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, which are concerned with him. When men humbly trust themselves to the Scriptures, they become subject to them. This is the faith through which those who are blessed with a pure heart are made clean. To them is promised this vision which cannot be seen except by the pure of heart and which can be seen only if those who are to see it are purified through faith. Faith in things in time whether visible or invisible, has greater strength through belief than through understanding. For, unless a man believes what is said he can in no way be convinced of it. When these facts are believed the soul will be purged by a way of life reconciled to God’s teachings and in conformity with the examples he has given us. Also such a manner of living will make the soul suitable to grasp spiritual truths which have neither past nor future but always remain the same and are not susceptible to change; that is, the one God himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

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Since words of this kind are instruments of common reason concerning common realities, they are nothing but scandals when they are used in the cause of the faith, unless they are adapted faithfully to the reasoning of faith. The great Lord and his Wisdom which is without number have not refused a name implying number, “Trinity,” in that it is simply stated that God is Father, God is Son, and God is Holy Spirit. But what is this number? What sort of thing is it? It is not increasing, nor diminishing; not separating, nor joining together; not dividing, nor confounding. It is not true that, as in a trinity of three men there are three men, so in the Trinity three gods must be considered or reckoned. For, there those who are three are one; those who are one are three. One does not make up a third part of this Trinity; nor are two a greater part than one; nor are three together something greater than each one individually, for the magnitude is spiritual, not corporeal. The three in the Trinity, therefore, as if because of the perfection of each, are not parts of the one God; likewise, we must not conclude or consider that there are three gods whether perfect or imperfect. Then, where is number? The number which is there is number and is not number. There is something there which is ineffable and which cannot be explained with words. For when you say, “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” three seem to be enumerated; but there is no number there. If you ask what the three are, number fails. When you begin to think about the Trinity, you begin to count; when you have enumerated you cannot answer what you have enumerated; for, each individually is God in the Trinity. Are there three gods? Heaven forbid! Each individually is omnipotent. Are there three who are omnipotent? By no means. There are not three gods, not three who are omnipotent, nor three wisdoms, nor three who are wise, not three who are great, nor three who have grandeur. All these things are said of God substantially. And so great is the power of that supreme substance in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, that whatever is said about each one individually is not to be taken in the plural collectively, but is to be taken in the singular. For, we speak of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, but we do not say that collectively there are three gods, but one.

Nevertheless, since Catholic devotion did not dare speak of three essences, it asked what it could say without the least offense, and spoke of three persons. It did not wish diversity to be understood by these names, but it did not wish singularity lest God be understood as being single. Three persons are so spoken of, that unity alone will not be understood in the Trinity, and in order that some kind of response may be made in an ordinary way of speaking. Even if the Trinity, as it really is, cannot be spoken about, still it is not altogether passed over when one says what the three entities or three beings are. In addition, through these names for the three persons there are provided for all the faithful, facilities for speaking about the Ineffable which are more expressive and more succinct both for responding more carefully to adversaries, for making more precise inquiries about God, and for conferring with friends. Also, the confession of faith now has a form of sound terminology and a verbal instrument fit for exposition or disputation.

Therefore, I believe in and confess that there is one God in three persons. And the Father never excludes the person of the Son or of the Holy Spirit; nor, conversely do the Son or the Holy Spirit receive the name and person of the Father. The Father is always Father; the Son always Son; and the Holy Spirit always Holy Spirit. Thus, they are one in substance, but distinct in person and name. And this is my faith because it is the Catholic faith concerning the Lord our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Through the understanding of these things, such as is possible with things of this kind, man proceeds to a knowledge of the Divinity such as is possible.

Indeed, there is a form of the faith and a form of words sound in faith. The form of the faith concerning the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit, just as already has often been said, is that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet there are not three Gods, but one God. However, the form of the words sound in faith is a special way of speaking about God according to the very things we have previously set forth. It is a way of speaking based on the authority of Christ the Lord and of the Apostles and apostolic teachers, and which in time past the usage of pious Christians developed concerning the Divine Names. What we said a little earlier – that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, but that there are not three gods but one God – is understood to some extent according to the reasoning of faith, but not at all according to the reasoning of human understanding. For, in human matters human reason acquires faith for itself, but in divine affairs faith comes first and then forms its own unique reasoning. The most correct way of reasoning is to conform faith to the object exactly as it is and to adapt the form of speaking to that faith. However, discourse or inquiry about God loves the humble and the simple who seek God in poverty of spirit and who are not driven to this inquiry by curiosity but are drawn on by piety. It loves to speak not with rash words or strange words, but with the very words with which the Word of God manifested himself and the Father and the Holy Spirit to the world, and with that style of speech with which men of God have spread faith in the Trinity through the world. It hates contentions, anger, novelty, arguments and the torments of inane questions. Rather, it is by experience itself that it instructs those who believe, and teaches to attain the reward of contemplation through the meritorious practice of faith.

Now, sometimes the Father is called Power, the Son Wisdom, and Holy Spirit Goodness; but, when this is said the Catholic mind ought to observe carefully and vigilantly that in this way some of those attributes which are common to the three persons, are sometimes ascribed to a single person. This is done in order to draw together and to prepare for the human intelligence an explanation of the harmony of divine cooperation. But although the Divine Names of this kind suit the three persons in the Trinity equally because of their unity of nature, as was said above, certain of them seem to be ascribed more commonly and more frequently to certain persons in the Trinity. This is just as we said before: namely, power is ascribed to the Father, Wisdom to the Son, and goodness to the Holy Spirit. This is done for distinction of persons that they may be distinguished, not that they may be separated. Except for relative names by which the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are spoken of in relation to one another and which are individual and proper to a single person, by whatever name one of the persons is designated, they are all like designated, because they are all one in that by which they are named.

When Holy Scripture speaks of this cooperation in such a way that it assigns something to the individual persons, do not let the Catholic faith be troubled, but let it be taught that through the individuality of either the word or the deed, the truth of the Trinity is made known to us. And do not let the understanding divide what the ear distinguishes. In this way, certain things are expressed under the name of the Father or of the Son or of the Holy Spirit, so that the confession of those who believe in the Trinity might not be in error. Although the Trinity is indivisible, the Trinity could never be understood if it were always spoken of indivisibly. Fortunately, therefore, the difficulty of speaking draws our hearts to understanding and through our weakness the heavenly teaching helps us so that true unity and trinity can to some extent be understood by our minds even if it cannot likewise be expressed by our mouths. Indeed, neither singularity nor diversity is to be thought of in the Deity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This might be said of the essential names of God about which all we are saying is nothing, for whatever can be said of God is nothing really, because that which is ineffable cannot be explained with words. Words fail; the understanding is in darkness. Still, since we are commanded always to seek the face of the Lord, and since what is ordered by God contains a promise we must not despair; the understanding must be set free and the attempt to verbalize encouraged to the utmost. And when human ability fails, the nature of God must be honored in silence.

In respect to the relative names, it is necessary to know that while the names of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are names which are proper to the persons, with one name for each of them, there are also certain operations proper to each of them; namely, to the Father in that he has begotten; to the Son in that he has been begotten; to the Holy Spirit in that he proceeds from both; and there are other things similar to these. However, in these proper operations there is no separation of that nature, but a recognition of persons. For, the three persons are spoken of singly so that they can be known, not so that they can be separated. Just as there is no separation in the persons, so no confusion of persons can be present among them. Nor, I say, should anyone dare say that they are separable in any way, since neither can he find nor should he imagine any of the persons existing or operating before the other, after the other, or without the other. Where there can thus be no separation of operation, an unchangeable unity of nature remains. For example, the whole Trinity made that form which the Only-begotten assumed. Although it was made by the whole Trinity, it is certain that it belongs only to the person of the Son. Although the operation belongs to the whole Trinity, the reception of the form does not. Indeed, the propriety of persons shows that something has been done by the Father and the Son, which, however, has been received only by the Son. In a similar way must be understood the voice of the Father at the baptism saying, “This is my beloved Son”; likewise, the dove and the fire in the appearance of which the Holy Spirit was seen to appear over the Lord and over the Apostles. No example of this reality can be found in creation, since with the exception of the Trinity which is the Lord God by nature, there is no nature which can possess in itself three inseparable persons.

Thus, those two predications, essential and relative, concerning God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit seem to be self-contradictory since the one involves those things which are absolute, and preserves unity everywhere; the other concerns that by which they are related to one another, and preaches the Trinity. Nevertheless, they are more in agreement about this and with love embrace one another as friends in the unity of peace which surpasses all understanding, since essential predication says there is one God and does not deny there are three persons; and relative predication says the three persons possess a relationship to one another, but completely denies that three gods are being spoken of. And so, continually each one without injury to the other predicates what belongs to it nor disturbs in any way what belongs to the other. And from both of these is established what is proper to the Catholic faith; namely, the reasoning of the faith predicating that unity which is the Trinity, that Trinity which is unity: one God.

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We have now undertaken to investigate the exterior reasoning of the faith concerning the Trinity and its external expression, which, after it has been formed in our interior man, will exist after the manner of that life about which we read: God first of all formed man in his image and likeness and then breathed into his face the breath of life and he was made a living soul. To the degree that it has been permitted and to the extent that the Lord has granted it, we have tried to treat briefly what we could touch upon concerning the Divine Names, relying not on our own understanding, but that of the holy Fathers. We proceed even now with fear and trembling to fall prostrate and cry out, Holy Trinity, in your presence, O Lord our God, you who have made us. You cause us to pray and entreat that you not permit us to err in any way in the contemplation of, or belief in, that form to which we seek to be conformed. Also, you instruct in all the Scriptures which are about you that, just as you are three in one, so also we are to be made one in you through the power of the faith by which we believe this.

Thus, indeed, it is said, “because God loved us first”; and we, therefore, love him because he loved us first. Now God loved us first, not with an affective love but an effective love, since before the ages he predestined us to be adopted sons and in time of his good pleasure he poured out his love in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord fills the earth with the goodness of his omnipotence, and bathes all things in the great richness of his superabundant grace according to the capacity and measure of each, so that each might take its proper place and willingly remain there. He bestows goods, disposes what is beneficial, and distributes to the pious and the faithful different kinds of gifts. And the impious and the unfaithful he often gives peaceful times, bodily health, material prosperity, the abundance which comes from the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth, and things similar to these. And the Spirit sometimes takes these same things away from the holy to test their holiness, and gives them to wicked sinners to challenge and build up their charity. For the sons of grace and the poor in spirit he is the advocate and consoler in the exile of the present life; he is strength against adversities, help in tribulations. He himself, teaching man to pray as he ought and drawing man to God and rendering him pleasing and able to be heard, illumines his intellect and shapes his disposition. The Spirit creates and brings to perfection and is sufficient alone, if he can exist alone or ought to be spoken of as alone. But he is sufficient alone because he cannot be separated form the Father and the Son inseparably together with whom he does all that he does.