The Same God Who Works All Things: Inseparable Operations in Trinitarian Theology by Adonis Vidu

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Same God Who Works All Things: Inseparable Operations in Trinitarian Theology by Adonis Vidu John Baptist Ku O.P. The Same God Who Works All Things: Inseparable Operations in Trinitarian Theology. By ADONIS VIDU. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2021. Pp. xix + 352. $50.00 (hardcover). ISBN: 978-0-8028-7443-6. Adonis Vidu’s The Same God Who Works All Things: Inseparable Operations in Trinitarian Theology defends the principle of the “hard inseparability” of the operations of the three divine persons (xv). That is, in any action performed by God in the created order by way of efficient causality, all three divine persons act together inseparably. If this were not the case, then not all three persons would be fully divine, because God would act in the world without one or two of the persons acting. Vidu develops this theme through nine chapters, building on or critiquing the Fathers of the Church, conciliar teachings, Thomas Aquinas, and modern authors. Since it is more recent authors who abandon the principle of hard inseparability, they in particular will be subject to critique. Vidu observes that the principle of hard inseparability is suggested by the Scriptures (xiv), and in his first chapter he pursues “a biblical theology of inseparable operations” (1) in five steps. After a word on Jewish monotheism (1-11), he shows that Scripture identifies Jesus and the Spirit with the God of Israel (11-23) and equates Jesus with the creator (23-31). He then considers the inseparability of Christ and the Spirit (31-36) and examines the works of the Trinity in the Gospel of John (36-49). Vidu argues, especially from the Pauline corpus, that Christ and the Holy Spirit are God, and that therefore they must have one same agency as God, with the Father and with each other. For instance, he notes that both Christ and the Holy Spirit are recognized as the YHWH of the OT who has returned to his people—a compelling insight (16). The fact that Christ and the Spirit do divine things, such as forgive sins, shows that they have divine being and must therefore act inseparably (19). For Vidu, the strongest possible biblical support for the principle of inseparability is the identification of Christ with the creator, since the act of creation cannot be delegated to a creature; Christ must then simply be YHWH (23). Regarding the inseparability of Christ and the Spirit, Christ works through the Spirit; he is empowered by the Spirit and then gives the Spirit to us (35). In the Gospel of John, Christ is not speaking of mere delegation when he says in 5:19 that he does whatever the Father does (37). In chapter 2, Vidu ponders the rise and decline of the idea of inseparable operations in four sections on the Fathers (53-63), Augustine and Aquinas (63-74), Christ’s two wills and two operations (74-82), and contemporary theology (82-89). Vidu documents the defense of the principle of inseparability by Athanasius and the Cappadocian Fathers in their responses to heresies. He then turns to Augustine’s and Aquinas’s accounts of appropriation and the divine missions for assistance in articulating the harmony between personal distinction and inseparable unity. In appropriation, we attribute something that is common to all three persons to just one distinct person, based on a real affinity between that common attribute and a property [End Page 162] of that person; for instance, we appropriate wisdom (which describes all three persons) to the Son, since he alone proceeds (from the Father) by way of knowledge (71). In the missions of the Son and the Spirit we have all three persons producing a created effect that signifies only one distinct person, because only one person is the exemplar of that effect. For instance, since the Son alone proceeds by way of knowledge, the gift of wisdom that comes with grace signifies the Son alone (72-73). With respect to Christ’s two wills and two operations, Vidu argues that the Trinitarian principle of inseparability helped resolve the question of the number of wills and operations in Christ, because the number of wills and operations is determined...