09/10/2026
๐๐๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐
๐จ๐ซ๐๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐๐ฉ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐๐ฅ๐
According to Sam Waldron (see his 18-part series, โWho's Tampering with the Trinity?โ), president of Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary and unashamed bastion of the notion of the eternal subordination of the Son to the Father, there is a reason why the Nicene Creed begins with the emphasis on "one God, the Father almighty," and uses derivative terminology for the Son: the so-called church fathers underscored the Father as "first place" in the Trinity, the Sole Arche or principle or source of the Godhead (The Monarchy of the Father), from whom the person of the Son derived in eternity (The Eternal Generation of the Son). To avoid confusion, Eternal Generation, as noted in the Nicene Creed, refers to eternal origins, not the incarnation. For Waldron, even though the person of the Son is generated from the Father "before all worlds," he still believes in the Sonโs eternality. Yet, his conundrum is like calling someone a married bachelor. It is a contradiction and stems from appealing to a creed at the expense of Christ!
To be specific, Waldron clarified his view, maintaining that the Trinity of persons possesses the same eternal, undivided nature (One God); however, he emphasized that the person of the Son and the person of the Spirit are not self-existent, but derive from the Father in eternity. This view, Waldron claims, is justified because of its use in the Nicene Creed. His assertions make no sense. On one hand, per Waldron, the Son is, from the standpoint of the undivided essence, self-existent. Then, he asserts that the person of the Son was "generated" or derives from the Father in eternity and is thus not self-existent. By this reasoning, Christ's person originated from the Father in eternity, but the self-existent divine nature is unoriginated. Admittedly or not, Waldron's view attempts to divorce Christ's personhood from His deity, but to no avail, as God's Word underscores these indissoluble truths: the person of Christ is in every way God, and the persons of the Trinity all share the incommunicable attributes, including self-existence, regardless of what Waldron and the Nicene Creed posit. It is a plain contradiction.
For clarity, since Waldron seems to have an a priori allegiance to the Nicene Creed at all costs, I am curious whether he holds the same view as an influential figure in the Creed's formation. This so-called church father, as many refer to him today, believed in a monad, then a dyad, and eventually a triad, as noted below:
"แผกฮผแฟฮฝ ฮดแฝฒ ฮผฮฟฮฝฮฑฯฯฮฏฮฑ ฯแฝธ ฯฮนฮผฯฮผฮตฮฝฮฟฮฝยท ฮผฮฟฮฝฮฑฯฯฮฏฮฑ ฮดฮญ, ฮฟแฝฯ แผฃฮฝ แผฮฝ ฯฮตฯฮนฮณฯฮฌฯฮตฮน ฯฯฯฯฯฯฮฟฮฝยท แผฯฯฮน ฮณแฝฐฯ ฮบฮฑแฝถ ฯแฝธ แผฮฝ ฯฯฮฑฯฮนฮฌฮถฮฟฮฝ ฯฯแฝธฯ แผฮฑฯ
ฯแฝธ ฯฮฟฮปฮปแฝฐ ฮบฮฑฮธฮฏฯฯฮฑฯฮธฮฑฮนยท แผฮปฮปแพฝ แผฃฮฝ ฯฯฯฮตฯฯ แฝฮผฮฟฯฮนฮผฮฏฮฑ ฯฯ
ฮฝฮฏฯฯฮทฯฮน, ฮบฮฑแฝถ ฮณฮฝฯฮผฮทฯ ฯฯฮผฯฮฝฮฟฮนฮฑ, ฮบฮฑแฝถ ฯฮฑแฝฯฯฯฮทฯ ฮบฮนฮฝฮฎฯฮตฯฯ, ฮบฮฑแฝถ ฯฯแฝธฯ ฯแฝธ แผฮฝ ฯแฟถฮฝ แผฮพ ฮฑแฝฯฮฟแฟฆ ฯฯฮฝฮฝฮตฯ
ฯฮนฯ, แฝ
ฯฮตฯ แผฮผฮฎฯฮฑฮฝฮฟฮฝ 5 แผฯแฝถ ฯแฟฯ ฮณฮตฮฝฮทฯแฟฯ ฯฯฯฮตฯฯ, แฝฅฯฯฮต ฮบแผฮฝ แผฯฮนฮธฮผแฟท ฮดฮนฮฑฯฮญฯแฟ, ฯแฟ ฮณฮต ฮฟแฝฯฮฏแพณ ฮผแฝด ฯฮญฮผฮฝฮตฯฮธฮฑฮน. ฮดฮนแฝฐ ฯฮฟแฟฆฯฮฟ ๐ป๐พ๐ผแฝฐ๐ แผ๐ฟ' แผ๐๐แฟ๐, ๐ดแผฐ๐ ๐ณ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฐ ๐น๐ธ๐ผ๐ถ๐ท๐ดแฟ๐๐ฐ, ๐ป๐ด๐๐๐ธ ๐๐๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐พ๐ แผ๐๐๐ถ. ฮบฮฑแฝถ ฯฮฟแฟฆฯฯ แผฯฯฮนฮฝ แผกฮผแฟฮฝ แฝ ฯฮฑฯฮฎฯ, ฮบฮฑแฝถ แฝ ฯ
แผฑฯฯ, ฮบฮฑแฝถ ฯแฝธ แผ
ฮณฮนฮฟฮฝ ฯฮฝฮตแฟฆฮผฮฑยท" (THE FIVE THEOLOGICAL ORATIONS OF GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS. EDITED FOR THE SYNDICS OF THE UNIVERSITY PRESS BY ARTHUR JAMES MASON, D.D London: Cambridge University Press, 1899. Cambridge Patristic Texts, p. 75, bold emphasis added).
For an English translation, the excerpt is as follows:
"It is Monarchy that we hold in honour โ but not a Monarchy that is contained in one single person.4 For it is possible for this one person, if at variance with itself, to become a plurality of persons. But it is a plurality which consists of an equality of nature, a unanimity of will, and an identity of action, and which converges back into the One from which they come โ a thing unheard of among created natures. In this case, though the sovereignty is distinct with respect to number, yet it is not divided with respect to substance. Thus from the beginning 5 ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ง๐, ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฐ๐จ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐, ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ก๐ซ๐๐๐๐จ๐ฅ๐. This is what we mean by Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." (Gregory of Nazianzus Five Theological Orations Translated with an introduction and notes by Stephen Reynolds. [Estate of Stephen Reynolds, 2011,] p. 45, bold emphasis added).
After reading the bold emphasis above, consider the following quote for an alternate English translation: "For this reason, a one eternally changes to a two and stops at three-meaning the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." (Faith Gives Fullness to Reasoning: The Five Theological Orations of Gregory Nazianzus. Introduction and commentary by Frederick W. Norris: translation by Lionel Wickham and Frederick Williams. SUPPLEMENTS TO VIGILIAE CHRISTIANAE Formerly Philosophia Patrum TEXTS AND STUDIES OF EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE AND LANGUAGE EDITORS, J. DEN BOEFT- A.F.J. KLIJN- G. QUISPEL J.H. WASZINKt-J.C.M. VAN WINDEN VOLUME XIII. [Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1991], p. 246).
Whether Waldron affirms the unbiblical notion of changes from monad to dyad and ultimately to triad, Gregory here did not share Samโs belief in a Monarchy of a single person. Instead, in this passage, Gregory affirms that the "Monarchia is of the entire Trinity" (see Zachariades, The Trinity Without Eternal Generation [TheosBooks, 2025], pg. 168, fn. 198).
Rather than appealing to unbiblical creedal concepts and forcing them into the Bibleโa practice found in Waldron's work as well as in Eastern Orthodox and Catholic religionsโGod's people must appeal to Scripture alone. God's Word reveals one God existing in three distinct, coequal, coeternal, and co-glorious persons, entirely without hierarchical derivations.
Waldron's Articles:Whoโs Tampering with the Trinity? (Part 5) The...
