Toward A Christian Worldview - Faith Presbyterian Church Reformed

Chapter 2: Christianity and the Basic Elements of Philosophy
one and the many” question. And the answer lies in the Biblical doctrine
of the Trinity. Says Schaeffer, “without the high order of personal
unity and diversity as given in the Trinity, there are no answers.” {12}
God is “one” in essence, yet three (“many”) distinct persons. He
is the eternal “One and Many.” As sovereign God, He created all of
the many things in the universe, and He gives them a unified structure.
The universe, then, is the temporal “one and many.” Thus, the particular
things of the universe act in accordance with the universal dictates
of the triune God (Psalm 147:15-18). There is order in the universe
because there is a sovereign God who created and providentially controls
it.
Augustine asserted that the one and the many problem finds its
solution in that the particulars of this world have their archetypes in
the mind of God. Augustine called these archetypes the “eternal reasons.”
God’s eternal reasons are the architectural plans from which He
created the world. The world is patterned after the divine propositions
of the triune God. Therefore, there is unity amongst diversity. {13}
Augustine went on to teach that Jesus Christ, the eternal Logos of
God, is the one who gives us a coherence between the infinite and the
finite, the Creator and the creation. In other words, it is Christ who
reveals the solution to the one and the many problem. Apart from a
proper understanding of Logos theology (i.e., Christ as the eternal
12. Francis A. Schaeffer, He is There and He is Not Silent (Wheaton: Tyndale
House, 1972), 31-67, 14.
13. See Richard E. Bacon, “Two Essays,” a review of Lord God of Truth, by Gordon
H. Clark, and Concerning the Teacher, by Aurelius Augustine (Trinity Foundation,
1994), in The Blue Banner (March & April, 1995), 13-15.
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