John Chrysostom on the Trinity
One substance, three persons, co-equal and co-eternal
For it cannot but be that where the Spirit is, there Christ is also. For wheresoever one Person of the Trinity is, there the whole Trinity is present. For It is undivided in Itself, and hath a most entire Oneness.
THE POSITION
Post-Nicene and unambiguous. The three are one undivided essence, so completely that where one Person is present the whole Trinity is present. Against the Macedonians he presses the Spirit's deity from the grammar of 1 Corinthians 12: the Spirit "worketh, not is worked," and distributes "as He will," not as He is bidden.
9 You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.
17 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Archbishop of Constantinople and the most prolific preacher of the patristic era — the largest surviving body of Greek expository preaching is his. This entry rests on the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers translations of his homilies on Romans, 1 Corinthians, John, Hebrews and 2 Thessalonians, together with the Instructions to Catechumens.
Cite this page
"John Chrysostom on the Trinity", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/chrysostom/trinity (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/chrysostom/trinity).