Father as the Source

> God and the Trinity

Father as the Source

What does it mean to call the Father the source within the Trinity? It does not imply that the Son or the Spirit are created. Rather, the Fathers describe the Father as the 'Fountainhead,' because all divine existence and life eternally flow from Him. The Son and the Spirit come forth from the Father, yet neither the Son nor the Spirit causes anything within the Trinity; only the Father is the source.

This flowing forth, generation of the Son and procession of the Spirit, is eternal. It is not an event within time, which is why neither the Son nor the Spirit has a beginning. Their origin from the Father does not imply inferiority or change, but an eternal relational distinction within the one divine essence.

This is also why the Nicene Creed begins with, 'I believe in one God, the Father Almighty.' The confession starts with the Father because He is the 'Monarch', the one principle or head within the Trinity. All things follow from Him not with respect to power or essence, for the Trinity is one in nature, but with respect to eternal relation.