Line 6 of the Athanasian Creed affirms that there is no hierarchy within the Persons of the Trinity.

Lesson from the Creed

But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal.

Athanasian Creed, Line 6

Exposition from Scripture

The Athanasian Creed was written to combat two heresies. The first is Arianism. Arianism taught that “there was a time when the Son was not.” In other words, that the Son was the first and greatest of God’s creations, but He is just that—a creature. According to Arianism, then, Christ is less than God. But according to the Bible, Christ is truly God. For example, Colossians 1:16 declares of Christ, the Son: For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. Now, compare that to Genesis 1:1: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. If God created the heavens and the earth; and if all things in heaven and on earth were created by, through, and for the Son; then the Son is God.

Arianism is a way of dividing the essence of God, which line 4 of the Creed has warned against. It carves the Son out of God, giving Him a lesser essence which is like God’s, but is not the same essence.

The second heresy the Athanasian Creed confronts is called Modalism. Instead of seeing one God in three Persons, Modalism proposes that God has three “modes” of being, which are capable of “changing into” one another. Modalism might conceive of God putting on the identities of Father, Son, and Spirit like “masks.” An analogy people often use for the Trinity—water can appear as liquid, solid, or gas, so God can appear as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is actually the heresy of Modalism.

Modalism confuses the Persons of the Trinity, also warned against in line 4 of the Creed. Father, Son, and Spirit cannot simply be three “masks” worn by one Person. Christ the Son on multiple occasions prays to the Father, for example: And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed (John‬ ‭17‬:‭5‬). Likewise, Christ says: And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth (John‬ ‭14‬:‭16‬-‭17‬). The Holy Spirit is a Person, He is sent from the Father at the Son’s request—so He is distinct from both the Father and the Son.

Another common error when speaking of the Trinity is Partialism. The old “three leaf clover” analogy for the Trinity (popularly ascribed to St. Patrick, though he had nothing to do with it) is an example of Partialism. This way of conceiving of the Trinity says that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are “parts of” God—as if each Person were one-third of God. This is another way of dividing the essence of the Trinity. Because if any Person of the Trinity is simply “part of God,” then He is also only partially God. Again, this is out of step with what Scripture proclaims. Father, Son, and Spirit all share the same divine Name (Matthew 28:19). Colossians 2:9 says of Christ, the Son: For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. Not a part of God, but the whole fullness of God (cf. Colossians 1:19). And Father, Son, and Spirit all share the same divine title of Lord (Matthew 11:25; John 20:28, cf. Philippians 2:9-11; 1 Corinthians 8:6; 2 Corinthians 3:16-18). So, all are fully and equally God, simultaneously.

Thus, the Creed declares that the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are distinct Persons; yet they are one God, and each equally God—not parts of God. The Father is not more God than the Son or the Spirit, nor are they less God than the Father.

Which brings us to the second clause of line 6 of the Creed: their glory equal, their majesty coeternal. There is no hierarchy in God. There’s not a “pecking order” or “chain of command” in the Trinity. The Trinity is not defined, as some recent errant theologians have claimed, by “eternal relationships of authority and submission.” No! For if there were submission within the Trinity, that would mean separate wills in God! And that would not be one God; but three. For what is submission but one will yielding to another? Yet, how could the Son, as God, will a different will than the Father, as God? That would indeed rend the very essence of God!

We are only told that the Son submits to the Father as Man, in His Incarnation. There, it is not one divine will bending to another; but the human will of the man, Jesus Christ. So Hebrews 5:7-8: In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. It is only in the Incarnation, in the days of his flesh, that Christ yields to the Father. Notice that He had to learn obedience through what He suffered. Authority and submission is thus not an eternal relationship within the Trinity—since the Son only learned it in His Incarnation; that is, having taken a human nature to Himself. Although he was a son indicates that obedience and submission do not define the relationship between the Father and Son in the Trinity the way they do earthly fathers and sons.

Rather, the glory of the Father, Son, and Spirit is equal and coeternal—eternally equal, for each is eternally, equally God. For again, Christ prayed: And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed (John 17:5). So we see that the Son shares an equal and eternal glory with the Father. Likewise, Hebrews 9:14 calls the Holy Spirit the eternal Spirit. So the Spirit also shares this equal and eternal glory with the Father and the Son.

This is all crucial for knowing God as He has revealed Himself to us in Scripture. It is not fussy speculation. Would you love the Lord your God … with all your mind (Matthew 22:37)? Loving Him requires knowing Him. It means knowing that it was the Son who became Human and grew in Mary’s womb—not the Father or the Spirit. And He is fully God, and as God is able to save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21); for, Salvation belongs to the Lord (Psalm 3:8). If Christ is not God, He cannot save. Likewise, it is the Spirit who is poured out on believers, and through Him, God’s love is poured into our hearts: God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭5‬‬‬). The Spirit, then, intercedes for us on earth (Romans 8:26), while the Son intercedes for us in heaven (Hebrews 7:25).

Knowing God as the Trinity, then, is most relevant. Because we see the Father, the Son, and the Spirit working for our salvation; each with a distinct work, but none ever working alone, and come to understand more and more not only the greatness of our salvation, but its sureness.