Principles and parts

Meaning

Three parts or principles describe the division of matter before its reunion in the comparison introducing theological recognition. The passage then speaks of knowing God through his Son and, as it were, dividing and reuniting him through divine wisdom and love. Its explicit result is recognition of one God, not belief in two or three gods. “Parts” therefore cannot be transferred literally into a doctrine that divinity is a decomposable compound. The phrase names a material structure and an analogy of understanding whose qualification must remain visible.