What is partialism in relation to the Trinity?

Answer

Partialism is a flawed view of God that suggests the three members of the Trinity are each “100 percent God” but not “100 percent of God.” To illustrate, partialism compares the Atlantic Ocean being 100 percent water and the Pacific Ocean being 100 percent water, yet the Atlantic Ocean alone is not 100 percent of all water that exists. According to partialism, every Person of the Trinity is 100 percent divine in nature, but God is truly God only when all three Persons are unified. Some partialists—though not all—might further suggest that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each “1/3 of God.”

Complicating matters are the various interpretations of partialism’s core concept. A partialist could argue that God is God only when all three Persons of the Trinity are “together,” while also asserting that these three Persons can never be separated, rendering the idea practically irrelevant. Conversely, a partialist might claim that when Jesus cried out to God during the crucifixion «And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? », (Matthew 27:46), the Trinity was fractured, a notion that contradicts scriptural concepts entirely.

Therefore, a specific interpretation of partialism may align with Scripture, while another could clash with and contradict it. Due to partialism’s obscurity and broad interpretive scope, it is seldom categorized among the primary false views of the Trinity. Nevertheless, certain forms of partialism, if not the concept itself, oppose most Christian understandings of the Trinity. For example, the church father Athanasius, in his writings on the Council of Nicaea, correctly stressed the unity of God and indicated that.

God is “without parts,” but partialism opposes Athanasius’ view. The more insistently a person pursues the idea of partialism, the more likely he is to drift into something theologically incorrect.

Partialism is subject to widely varied applications, making it impossible to declare that all forms of partialism are false or that all forms are true. Still, generally speaking, most interpretations of partialism conflict with well-established interpretations of the Trinity. Any supposed value or insight gained through partialism is minimal, if not trivial. Potential misunderstandings or misapplications, however, could be quite consequential. As a result, partialism is not a concept that should be considered part of Christian orthodoxy.