Schaff - History of the Christian Church Vol. 8 - Media Sabda Org

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In the first book he proceeds from the historical Jesus of Nazareth, and
proves, first, that this man is Jesus the Christ; secondly, that he is the Son
of God; and thirdly, that he is God. f1042 He begins with the humanity in
opposition to those who begin with the Logos and, in his opinion, lose the
true Christ. In this respect he anticipates the Socinian and modern
humanitarian Christology, but not in a rationalistic sense; for he asserts a
special indwelling of God in Christ (somewhat resembling Schleiermacher),
and a deification of Christ after his exaltation (like the Socinians). f1043 He
rejects the identity of the Logos with the Son of God and the doctrine of
the communication of attributes. He distinguishes between the Hebrew
names of God: Jehovah means exclusively the one and eternal God; Elohim
or El or Adonai are names of God and also of angels, prophets, and kings
(John 10:34–36). f1044 The prologue of John speaks of things that were, not
of things that are. Everywhere else the Bible speaks of the man Christ. The
Holy Spirit means, according to the Hebrew ruach and the Greek pneuma,
wind or breath, and denotes in the Bible now God himself, now an angel,
now the spirit of man, now a divine impulse.
He then explains away the proof texts for the doctrine of the Trinity, 1
John 5:7 (which he accepts as genuine, though Erasmus omitted it from his
first edition); John 10:30; 14:11; Rom. 11:36. The chief passages, the
baptismal formula (Matt. 28:19) and the apostolic benediction (2 Cor.
13:14) where the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are coordinated, he
understands not of three persons, but of three dispositions of God.
In the second book be treats of the Logos, the person of Christ, and the
Spirit of God, and chiefly explains the prologue to the fourth Gospel. The
Logos is not a metaphysical being, but an oracle; the voice of God and the
light of the world. f1045 The Logos is a disposition or dispensation in God,
so understood by Tertullian and Irenaeus. f1046 Before the incarnation the
Logos was God himself speaking; after the incarnation the Logos is Jesus
Christ, who makes God known to us. f1047 All that God before did through
the Word, Christ does in the flesh. To him God has given the kingdom and
the power to atone and to gather all things in him.
The third book is an exposition of the relation of Christ to the divine
Logos.
The fourth book discusses the divine dispositions or manifestations. God
appeared in the Son and in the Spirit. Two divine manifestations are
substituted for the orthodox tripersonality. The position of the Father is not