Here’s a quote by Gregory of Nazianzus. He was a great theologian, one of the Cappadocian Fathers whose writing and work were so formative to the early church. When writing about the Trinity, he said, “No sooner do I conceive of the One than I am illumined by the splendor of the Three; no sooner do I distinguish Three than I am carried back into the One. When I think of any One of the Three, I think of Him as the Whole, and my eyes are filled, and the greater part of what I am thinking escapes me. I cannot grasp the greatness of that One so as to attribute a greater greatness to the rest. When I contemplate the Three together, I see but one torch, and cannot divide or measure out the undivided light.”1
On one level this is profound, beautiful – it feels true to me and totally relatable. On another level, it seems to say much and very little at the same time. The more we understand, the less we understand. It is the mystery of our God of many names and it is, in a very literal sense, stunning.
[1] https://interruptingthesilence.com/2012/06/03/gregory-of-nazianzus-on-the-three-and-the-one/