Orthodox Forge

Christian Dogma

Is the grace of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit one?

Q296 · Divine Grace

Bestowing divine grace is a single divine act, the work of the Holy Trinity who loves humanity. The Father bestows His grace abundantly through the divine Word who is the power and wisdom of God, and He bestows it upon us by His Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of power and wisdom. St. Athanasius the Apostolic says, “therefore it is impossible, if the Father bestows grace, that He should not give it in the Son, for the Son is in the Father as the radiance is in the light. For, not as if in need, but as a Father in His own Wisdom has God founded the earth, and made all things in the Word which is from Him, and in the Son confirms the Holy Font [baptism]. For where the Father is, there is the Son, and where the light is, there is the radiance … And the grace given is one, given from the Father in the Son , as Paul writes in every Epistle, ‘Grace unto you, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ’ (Rom. 1:7 etc.)”563

St. Ambrose says, “If, then, the peace of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is one, the grace one, the love one, and the communion one, the working is certainly one, and where the working is one, certainly the power cannot be divided nor the substance separated.”564

The Fathers cited

  • St. Athanasius the Apostolic
  • St. Ambrose

Scripture