Is the One God the Trinity or the Father?

By CopticBot.ai (Coptic Space Inc.) · Last reviewed 2026-10-10

In Orthodox Christian theology, the One God is the Holy Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—one divine essence subsisting in three distinct divine Persons (hypostases).

To fully understand this truth, we must understand both the unity of the Trinity and the Monarchy of the Father:

1. The One God Is the Holy Trinity

God is not a solitary, mono-hypostatic (single-person) deity as conceived in Judaism or unitarian heresies, nor is He three separate gods (polytheism/tritheism).

The Godhead is undivided. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are:

• One in essence,
• Equal in power, eternity, and majesty,
• One in will, operation, and authority.

As St. Athanasius the Apostolic emphasized against the Arians, God was never without His Word (the Son) or His Spirit. The Father cannot be "God" in isolation without His Son and Spirit, because He is eternally Father only in relation to His co-eternal Son. Therefore, the fullness of the Godhead resides equally in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

2. Why the Creed Says: "One God, the Father Almighty"

The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed begins:

"Truly we believe in one God, God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth..."

This reflects the patristic doctrine known as the Monarchy of the Father (monarchia):

• The Father is the eternal Source and Fountainhead of the Godhead.
• The Son is eternally begotten of the Father (Jn 1:14, 18), not created.
• The Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father (Jn 15:26).

Because the Son and the Holy Spirit derive Their eternal divine hypostatic existence from the Father—sharing His exact identical nature without beginning or division—the unity of God is rooted in the Person of the Father. When the Scriptures speak of "the One God" primarily in reference to the Father (e.g., 1 Cor 8:6), they are pointing to the Father as the unoriginate Cause (aitia) from whom the Son and the Spirit originate from all eternity.

3. The Error of Subordinationism and Unitarianism

It is a grave error to conclude that because the Father is the eternal Fountainhead, He alone is the "One God" to the exclusion or diminution of the Son and the Holy Spirit:

• Heretical Subordinationism (Arianism): Taught that the Father alone constitutes the divine essence, reducing the Son and Spirit to created or lesser beings.
• Sabellianism (Modalism): Denied the eternal reality of three Persons, claiming God is one Person acting under three different masks or modes.
• Unitarianism: Strips God of His eternal, interpersonal communion of love. As Church Fathers teach, God is love from eternity precisely because the Father eternally loves the Son through the Holy Spirit.

Summary

The One God is the Holy Trinity.

The Father is the unoriginate Fountainhead of Deity, yet the Son and the Spirit are fully, equally, and eternally God with Him. The Godhead is undivided in Three Persons: one essence, one nature, one Lord, one God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.