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How can the Father, Son, and Spirit all be omnipotent?

3 votes
4 answers
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I apologize if this question has been asked before. I haven’t been able to find something that deals specifically with what I need the answer to. To start, I do believe in the Trinity and I believe a Unitarian God is lacking, especially in Christianity, and scripture does teach the Trinity, so my question isn’t about if or can the Trinity exist/s. ——— My question is how can three persons (I know not separate gods) all be omnipotent? I know the three are all one in will, mind, and essence, but the fact that they are three distinct persons makes it difficult for me to understand this. Wouldn’t one be more powerful than the other two? When I try to find solutions I can only come up with two ways and they can’t fully satisfy my question: 1. The first is that the Son and Spirit derive the nature of God from the Father since eternity. The problem with that for me is that the Son and Spirit don’t seem like God if they depend on the Father to be God. I can see someone saying that God is ontologically dependent on Himself, and the Son and Spirit are God because they proceed from the Father, so they are dependent on their own nature which is God. Since they are uncreated that could make sense. 2. The second is that all three persons are able to “use” the omnipotent attribute within the essence of God. In my head it’s like them picking an apple from a tree. And this one seems so wrong. It makes it seem like the essence of God is a circle and the three persons live/exist within that circle and get their power from that essence, the circle. It’s like the essence is inanimate and the three persons live in it and are able to use the omni attributes because of it. I know it’s wrong but I’m just trying to give my thought process. I keep trying to understand it by saying they share omnipotence, but I can’t wrap my head around it. If the Father is the source, then He alone is omnipotent. But since the Son and Spirit are uncreated, they would also be omnipotent by definition? Maybe it’s as simple as saying “All three are one God and they all are of one essence, so they are just omnipotent.” Maybe I’m just overthinking it, I’m not sure. It kind of sounds like I’m talking about polytheism the way I’m describing it and that maybe the problem.
Asked by BKN (31 rep)
Dec 2, 2023, 07:29 PM
Last activity: Sep 11, 2024, 11:46 AM