Interpretation of the Gospel

Even the devils believe that there is one God and tremble. James 2.

The three divine persons exist not only in name, but also in essence Essence (German: Wesen): the fundamental nature or "stuff" of God that is shared by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit..

and divine kingdom and essence, but rather that three persons in such divine unity, nature, and essence should be upheld and preserved through faith, knowledge, and reverence. That is to say, Christians should not only believe and know that there is one single God—which even the Heathens In this context, "Heathens" refers to non-Christian polytheists, likely referring to classical Greco-Roman traditions. and Jews believe and confess—but they should also believe and know that this same single God is also three-fold. Three persons, yet one God and essence; such that the single divine essence and nature belongs entirely to each person, and yet there are three persons in the divine essence. Each holy person is a true God, and yet no person is the other; that is, the Father is not the Son, nor conversely is the Son the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit the person of the Father or the Son. Instead, each of the three persons is God in Himself, possessing one common power, essence, and activity.

Athanasius Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 296–373 AD) was a theologian famous for defending the doctrine of the Trinity..

And as Athanasius confesses with the Christian Church: "Now the universal Christian faith is this: that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity" original Latin: "Fides autem Catholica haec est, vt unum Deum in Trinitate, & Trinitatem in vnitate veneremur"; this is the common Christian faith, that we should confess and honor one God in the Three-foldness, and the Three-foldness in the Unity.

God is essence; Father, Son, [and] person [of the] Holy Spirit.

For just as the single divine essence unites the three persons in God—namely the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—so each person has their own particular attribute, distinction, office, and state.