The Trinity

In lecture four, we learn Thomas Aquinas’s understanding of God’s will and love, showing that God’s will flows from His perfect knowledge of goodness, leading to His self-love and love for creation. We then examine Aquinas's treatment of the Trinity, exploring how he reconciles the unity of God with the revelation of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit through the idea that higher beings can perfectly “replicate” themselves internally. The lecture concludes by presenting the Trinity as three subsistent relations within one divine essence—the Father as mind, the Son as self-knowledge, and the Holy Spirit as shared love—revealing God as love itself.