[Collegii S.S. Trinitatis Disputatio II De: De Unitate Dei Qoad Essentiam & Voluntatem; Volume 2; (Helwig, 1618)]

Friedrich Balduin (17 November 1575, Dresden – 1 May 1627, Wittenberg) was a leading Lutheran theologian and professor at Wittenberg whose career spanned the critical decades of post-Reformation Saxony. Educated at the Fürstenschule Meißen and the University of Wittenberg, he earned his M.A. in 1597, a poet-laureate crown in 1599, and the doctorate in theology in 1605 under mentors such as Polykarp Leyser and Ägidius Hunnius. Ordained in 1602, he rapidly advanced from diaconus at Freiberg and superintendent in Oelsnitz to fourth (later first) professor of theology at Wittenberg, while also serving as city pastor of the Marienkirche, assessor of the consistory, and Generalsuperintendent of the electoral Kurkreis, positions that made him the acknowledged head of the faculty until his death. A prolific exegete and polemicist against Roman Catholic doctrines, Balduin is chiefly remembered as the father of Protestant casuistry: his post-humous Tractatus de casibus conscientiae (1628) systematised cases of conscience for Lutherans and influenced moral reasoning across confessional lines.

Friedrich Balduin (17 November 1575, Dresden – 1 May 1627, Wittenberg) was a leading Lutheran theologian and professor at Wittenberg whose career spanned the critical decades of post-Reformation Saxony. Educated at the Fürstenschule Meißen and the University of Wittenberg, he earned his M.A. in 1597, a poet-laureate crown in 1599, and the doctorate in theology in 1605 under mentors such as Polykarp Leyser and Ägidius Hunnius. Ordained in 1602, he rapidly advanced from diaconus at Freiberg and superintendent in Oelsnitz to fourth (later first) professor of theology at Wittenberg, while also serving as city pastor of the Marienkirche, assessor of the consistory, and Generalsuperintendent of the electoral Kurkreis, positions that made him the acknowledged head of the faculty until his death. A prolific exegete and polemicist against Roman Catholic doctrines, Balduin is chiefly remembered as the father of Protestant casuistry: his post-humous Tractatus de casibus conscientiae (1628) systematised cases of conscience for Lutherans and influenced moral reasoning across confessional lines.

Table of Contents:

<aside>

Chapter the Second: Of the Names of God

</aside>

We are wont to be careful concerning the name of a thing found. Wherefore now we rightly say somewhat of the names of God.

In the holy tongue, God claimeth unto Himself alone these two proper names, as characteristic and individual: Ehyeh and Yahweh with Kametz, which the Jews read instead of the Tetragrammaton, for that it signifieth equally the true God. From that Ehyeh is contracted that Yah, which whether it pertain only unto the second person, and betoken His marvellous emptying of Himself, which He sustained in the mediation of mankind, we permit to be inquired.

The word Theos hath a triple etymology, according to Damascene in his first book of Orthodox Faith, chapter 1: It is said either from theo, for His everlasting course, for He is everywhere present unto all; or from aithein, for God is a consuming fire, Deuteronomy 4:24, 9:3, Hebrews 12:29, and in the bush He showed a form of brightness, Exodus 3:2; or from thea, for that He alone beholdeth all things.

Deus is said by some to come from di, as a thing to be greatly feared, which certes was not the least argument among the Gentiles in their conscience for knowing God; by others from hebos, which seemeth not to be hindered by the frequent change of letters in derivations, especially since the letters be of kindred power; by others from the Hebrew Shaddai, which signifieth most abundantly, without all measure self-sufficient in Himself and by Himself. Whence also the Hebrews deduce their Shaddai from Asher with a prefixed letter, for that God, saith Rambam, needeth not the essence of any being, nor needeth aught without Himself for the steadfastness of His essence, but His essence sufficeth unto Himself. But perchance these be not so much notations as allusions.

Gott is derived from good, for He alone is singularly good: First, for the eminence and excellence of goodness, for He is good not by participation of any good, but the good whereby He is good is from Himself; Second, according to essence, for no goodness of any kind pertaineth unto Him which is distinct from His essence; Third, by order unto the will, for God is such a thing wherein the divine will is pleased with itself.

Decision of Controversies for this Second Chapter:

So cruelly this day (alas!) doth the Photinian spirit rage against all articles of the Christian faith, that not even God Himself can be safe from its savagery, as is seen in the name Jehovah, from whose participation God willeth all things save Himself to be excluded, Psalm 83:9; yet the Photinian spirit feareth not to say that it is an appellative name.

But that hereafter it may unlearn to cast God down from the height of His majesty into the number of creatures, we say that in those places which they bring against God Himself, there is a grammatical ellipsis of the name of that thing whereof it is spoken, and in those places the name Jehovah is given, not unto the signs, but unto the thing signified, to wit, unto God Himself working there in a peculiar manner.

We add, that from whole phrases and sentences a peculiar name is not to be gathered. And such naming is not uncommon. For example: Jehovah Peace (Gottfried), Judges 6:24; Obadiah (servant of God); Ishmael (God heareth); Elimelech (my God is king); Theodatus, Nathanael, Gottlieb, and such like. If thou divide these so violently as to conclude that they are called by the name of God, shalt thou not truly be convicted of sophistry?

The same spirit hath begun to stir strife concerning the word Deus, whether it hath the signification of an office or of nature. The latter it denieth wholly, and at the least affirmeth the former, for that Deus is said to be of gods, that is, a lord ruling even over other lords, Psalm 84:8, which compounding of substantives it thinketh cannot stand if the name be imposed not from office but from nature.

But we answer truly, that we deny not that the word Deus is sometimes taken as a name of office, and that the essence of God can be circumscribed a posteriori by names of ruling and governing; nevertheless, this also is true, that by it, as by the name Jehovah, is signified such a being as hath an essence most eminent, in every wise independent, and so it is a name of nature. This is clear from this disjunction: For it is either a name essential, or personal, or official. It is not the last, for then Jehovah had not had this name Deus from eternity, for unto Him it pertaineth not from eternity to be a ruler and governor, for these be acts outward and imply respect unto creatures. Nor wilt thou say the second, saving thine own hypotheses whereby thou deniest many persons in the Godhead. Therefore it is the first.

And as touching that phrase Deus Deorum (God of gods), we say, by the common rule (which is: The genitive plural reflected upon its nominative singular importeth excellence; so it is said being of beings for the most subtle being, song of songs for the most excellent song), that in it no word is spoken relatively, for when Jehovah is called Deus Deorum, this is said, that He is the most excellent thing among all those which obtain the name of God. Whence Luther translateth Psalm 84, Deus Deorum, as the true God.