Thursday, 7 October 2010

Hillary on knowing God

"The Lord did not come to enable you to recognize the omnipotence of God as creator but to enable you to know him as the Father of that Son who addresses you."


- Hillary of Poitiers from "On the Trinity" 3.22

4 comments:

John said...

Yes, you'd think that if one meets the God of Scripture he/she'd hardly be extolling something extrinsic such as God's ability to create, but rather those ontological attributes of God.

Michael J. Pailthorpe said...

Yes, thanks John. The God of the Gospel is Triune!

Martin M. Davis said...

Great quote, Michael. As Torrance notes, God has always been Father but God has not always been Creator. Fatherhood is intrinsic to the nature of God; it is who God is. Creation, rather, is what God does.

Michael J. Pailthorpe said...

Thanks Martin, yes, too many systematic theologies begin with philosophical theism rather then the Trinity.

Mike