Trinity, Simplicity and the Status of God's Personal Relations

It is commonly argued by C hristian philosophers and theologians that the traditional doctrine of divine simplicity is incompatible with the orthodox doctrine of the T rinity. First, it would seem that the presence of relations in G od suggests a composition of substance and accidents in him. Second, if all that is in G od is G od, as simplicity claims, then it would seem that one could not maintain the real distinctions between the divine persons, as the Trinity requires. In answer to these challenges this article seeks to recover T homas A quinas' and the R eformed scholastics' emphasis upon the subsistence and pure actuality of the personal relations in G od. The article concludes that while G od's personal relations are really distinct from each other, there is no real distinction between the personal relations and the divine substance and that the Trinity and the doctrine of divine simplicity are thus agreeable.