John Calvin on the Trinity
One substance, three persons, co-equal and co-eternal
Wherefore, since it must be held certain that there is one God, not more than one, we conclude that the Word and Spirit are of the very essence of God. Nothing could be more stupid than the trifling of the Arians, who, while acknowledging the divinity of the Son, denied his divine essence.
THE POSITION
One simple essence in three subsistences. Calvin defines a person as "a subsistence in the Divine essence,—a subsistence which, while related to the other two, is distinguished from them by incommunicable properties" (Institutes I.xiii.6), and concludes from the unity of God that "the Word and Spirit are of the very essence of God" (I.xiii.16), dismissing the Arians for granting the Son's divinity while denying his divine essence. He defends the Nicene term against the objection that it is unscriptural, noting that the ancient Church added "consubstantial" precisely to drag the evasive Arian out of hiding (I.xiii.4), and that the Arians' hatred of the word was itself the tell.
3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
17 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Reformer of Geneva and the most systematic of the first-generation Reformers. This entry rests on the 1559 Institutes of the Christian Religion in Henry Beveridge's translation, checked section by section, with Calvin's own commentaries on 1 John, John, the Harmony of the Evangelists, the Psalms and the Harmony of the Law used where the Institutes are thin.
Cite this page
"John Calvin on the Trinity", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/calvin/trinity (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/calvin/trinity).