14. These things then, brethren, are declared by the Scriptures. And the blessed John, in the testimony of his Gospel, gives us an account of this economy (disposition) and acknowledges this Word as God, when he says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” If, then, the Word was with God, and was also God, what follows? Would one say that he speaks of two Gods?70    From this passage it is clear that Hippolytus taught the doctrine of one God alone and three Persons. A little before, in the eighth chapter, he said that there is one God, according to substance or divine essence, which one substance is in three Persons; and that, according to disposition or economy, there are three Persons manifested. By the term economy, therefore, he understands, with Tertullian, adversus Praxeam. ch. iii., the number and disposition of the Trinity (numerum et dispositionem Trinitatis). Here he also calls the grace of the Holy Spirit the third economy, but in the same way as Tertullian, who calls the Holy Spirit the third grade (tertium gradum). For the terms gradus, forma, species, dispositio, andœconimia mean the same in Tertullian. (Maranus.) [Another proof that the Nicene Creed was a compilation from Ante-Nicene theologians.] I shall not indeed speak of two Gods, but of one; of two Persons however, and of a third economy (disposition), viz., the grace of the Holy Ghost. For the Father indeed is One, but there are two Persons, because there is also the Son; and then there is the third, the Holy Spirit. The Father decrees, the Word executes, and the Son is manifested, through whom the Father is believed on. The economy71    οἰκονομία συμφωνίας συνάγεται εἰς ἕνα Θεόν, perhaps = "the" economy as being one of harmony, leads to one God. of harmony is led back to one God; for God is One. It is the Father who commands,72    This mode of speaking of the Father’s commanding, and the Son’s obeying, was used without any offence, not only by Irenæus, Hippolytus, Origen, and others before the Council of Nicæa, but also after that council by the keenest opponents of the Arian heresy—Athanasius, Basil, Marius Victorinus, Hilary, Prosper, and others. See Petavius, De Trin., i. 7, § 7; and Bull, Defens Fid. Nic., pp. 138, 164, 167, 170.  (Fabricius.) and the Son who obeys, and the Holy Spirit who gives understanding:73    συνέτιζον. the Father who is above all,74    Referring probably to Eph. iv. 6. and the Son who is through all, and the Holy Spirit who is in all.  And we cannot otherwise think of one God,75    The Christian doctrine, Maranus remarks, could not be set forth more accurately; for he contends not only that the number of Persons in no manner detracts from the unity of God, but that the unity of God itself can neither consist nor be adored without this number of Persons. but by believing in truth in Father and Son and Holy Spirit. For the Jews glorified (or gloried in) the Father, but gave Him not thanks, for they did not recognise the Son. The disciples recognised the Son, but not in the Holy Ghost; wherefore they also denied Him.76    This is said probably with reference to Peter’s denial. The Father’s Word, therefore, knowing the economy (disposition) and the will of the Father, to wit, that the Father seeks to be worshipped in none other way than this, gave this charge to the disciples after He rose from the dead: “Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”77    Matt. xxviii. 19. And by this He showed, that whosoever omitted any one of these, failed in glorifying God perfectly. For it is through this Trinity78    Τριαδος. [See Theophilus, vol. ii. p. 101, note.] that the Father is glorified. For the Father willed, the Son did, the Spirit manifested. The whole Scriptures, then, proclaim this truth.

[14] ταῦτα μὲν οὖν, ἀδελφοί, σημαίνουσιν ἡμῖν αἱ γραφαί. ταύτην τὴν οἰκονομίαν παραδίδωσιν ἡμῖν καὶ ὁ μακάριος Ἰωάννης ἐν εὐαγγελίῳ μαρτυρῶν, καὶ τοῦτον τὸν Λόγον Θεὸν ὁμολογεῖ οὕτως λέγων, Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος. εἰ δὲ οὖν ὁ Λόγος πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν Θεὸς ὤν, τί οὖν, φήσειεν ἄν τις, δύο λέγειν θεούς; δύο μὲν οὐκ ἐρῶ θεούς, ἀλλ' ἢ ἕνα: πρόσωπα δὲ δύο, οἰκονομίαν τε τρίτην τὴν χάριν τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος. Πατὴρ μὲν γὰρ εἷς, πρόσωπα δὲ δύο, ὅτι καὶ ὁ Υἱός: τὸ δὲ τρίτον καὶ ἅγιον πνεῦμα. Πατὴρ ἐντέλλεται, Λόγος ἀποτελεῖ, Υἱὸς δὲ δείκνυται δι' οὗ Πατὴρ πιστεύεται. οἰκονομίᾳ συμφωνίας συνάγεται εἰς ἕνα Θεόν. εἷς γάρ ἐστιν ὁ Θεός. ὁ γὰρ κελεύων Πατήρ, ὁ δὲ ὑπακούων Υἱός, τὸ δὲ συνετίζον ἅγιον πνεῦμα. ὁ ὢν Πατὴρ ἐπὶ πάντων, ὁ δὲ Υἱὸς διὰ πάντων, τὸ δὲ ἅγιον πνεῦμα ἐν πᾶσιν. ἄλλως τε ἕνα Θεὸν νοῆσαι οὐ δυνάμεθα, ἐὰν μὴ ὄντως Πατρὶ καὶ Υἱῷ καὶ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι πιστεύσωμεν. Ἰουδαῖοι μὲν γὰρ ἐδόξασαν Πατέρα, ἀλλ' οὐκ ηὐχαρίστησαν: Υἱὸν γὰρ οὐκ ἐπέγνωσαν. μαθηταὶ ἐπέγνωσαν Υἱόν, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ: διὸ καὶ ἠρνήσαντο. γινώσκων τοίνυν ὁ πατρῷος Λόγος τὴν οἰκονομίαν καὶ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Πατρὸς ὅτι οὐκ ἄλλως βούλεται δοξάζεσθαι ὁ Πατὴρ ἢ οὕτως, ἀναστὰς παρέδωκεν τοῖς μαθηταῖς λέγων, Πορευθέντες μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος, δεικνύων ὅτι πᾶς ὃς ἂν ἕν τι τούτων ἐλλίπῃ, τελείως Θεὸν οὐκ ἐδόξασεν. διὰ γὰρ τῆς τριάδος ταύτης Πατὴρ δοξάζεται. Πατὴρ γὰρ ἠθέλησεν, Υἱὸς ἐποίησεν, πνεῦμα ἐφανέρωσεν. πᾶσαι τοίνυν αἱ γραφαὶ περὶ τούτου κηρύσσουσιν.