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"Beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought
thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of
bondage. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve Him,
and shalt swear by His name. Ye shall not go after other
gods, of the gods of the people which are round about
you; (For the Lord thy God is a jealous God among
you)..." -Deut. 6:12-15.
In this chapter we will be looking at the history of
the Trinity, and how various contemporary Trinitarians
view the Godhead.
To begin this next set of questions, we need to bring
out some historical facts (all of which can be verified
at any public library). Namely: when, how, and by whom
the doctrine of the trinity made it's entrance into
portions of today's "Christianity".
Quote # 10.1 Colliers Encyclopedia, 1982, pg. 480-
- TRINITY. ...The Christian doctrine that God
exists in three persons... The doctrine of the
Trinity is generally held to be a mystery
above reason...
- HISTORY OF THE DOGMA. It is generally agreed that
the doctrine was formulated with progressively
increasing clarity as its terminology developed*...*(See
later in this chapter for a list of some of these
terms)
- TRADITION. The tradition concerning the doctrine
of the Trinity falls into three chronological
periods, spanning respectively the time before,
during, and after the Arian controversy of the
fourth century... In brief, the
ante-Nicene Fathers taught the real distinction
and divinity of the three persons and the
perfect unity of the Godhead... But in their attempts
at a philosophical interpretation of the
dogma, the ante-Nicene Fathers used certain
expressions which favor subordinationism...
Theologians commonly defend the orthodoxy
of these early Fathers, while admitting that
certain of their expressions were inaccurate
and eventually dangerous...
- THEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION. ...The Latins
followed the lead of St. Augustine
(d.430), (see 2 below) who founded the
psychological theory of the Trinity...
Developed, completed in detail, and perfected
in terminology by the Scholastics (see 3
below), the theory received it's classic form
from St.Thomas Aquinas (see 4 below)..."
Quote # 10.2. Encyclopedia Americana, 1983, pgs.
685 thru 687-
- "AUGUSTINE, ST. (354-430), Christian
bishop... theologian, and philosopher...
- AUGUSTINIANISM. ...Platonic and Neo-Platonic
influences united with Augustine's religious
beliefs, qualities of mind, and cast of
character...
- Characteristically, his principal argument is
Platonic in nature and is based upon the
mind's possession of immutable truths... In
Augustine faith and reason are most closely
allied. Hence it is wrong to departmentalize
his mind and to think that he offers an
exclusively rational and purely philosophical
approach to God..."
Quote # 10.3. World Book, 1987, pg. 349-
- "MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY. During the Middle
Ages, Western philosophy developed more as
a part of Christian theology than as an
independent branch of inquiry. The philosophy
of Greece and Rome survived only in it's
influence on religious thought.
- St. Augustine was the greatest philosopher
of the early Middle Ages...
- A system of thought called
"scholasticism" dominated medieval
philosophy from about the 1100's to the 1400's.
The term scholasticism refers to the method of
philosophic investigation used by teachers of
philosophy and theology in the newly developing
universities of western Europe. The teachers were
called scholastics...
- Scholasticism was basically generated by the
translation of Aristotle's works into Latin, the
language of the medieval Christian church. These
works presented medieval thinkers with the
problem of reconciling Aristotle's great body
of philosophical thought with the Bible
and Christian doctrine. His philosophy
combined Aristotle's thought with theology,
and it eventually became the official philosophy
of the Roman Catholic Church..."
Quote # 10.4. Colliers Encyclopedia, 1982, pgs. 373
thru 376-
- "AQUINAS, ST. THOMAS (1226-1274), ...From
the earliest days of his teaching it became
apparent to his contemporaries that he was laying
the foundations of a revolution in theology
and philosophy...
- His meeting at Orvieto with his fellow Dominican,
William of Moerbeke, led to... Thomas' series of
commentaries, in which there is a careful
effort to arrive at Aristotle's essential
teachings..."
Quote # 10.5. Encyclopedia Americana, 1983-
- TRINITY. The term Trinity" (Greek troas) was
first used by Theophilus of Antioch (fl.c. 180
A.D.)... Judaism emerged...as the purest form of
monotheism in the ancient world...
- The full development of Trinitarianism took
place in the West, in the Scholasticism of the
Middle Ages, when an explanation was undertaken
in terms of philosophy and psychology,
especially of the recovered Aristotlianism of the
13th century. The classical exposition is found
in the works of St. Thomas Aquinas, whose views
on this subject have dominated most of later
Christian theology, both Roman Catholic and
Protestant.
Quote # 10.6. World Book, 1984, vol. 19-
- "TRINITY... was first defined by the
earliest council of churches. This was the first
council of Nicea in 325...
Question # 10.1 - Does the
Bible teach that it is acceptable, or warn against, using
the philosophies of man to help formulate the doctrines
and commandments given in the Bible?
"...The wisdom of this world is foolishness with
God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own
craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts
of the wise, that they are vain. Therefore let no man
glory in men..." -1 Corinthians 3:19-21.
"...I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and
prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes... and no
man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father: and who
the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son
will reveal Him" -Luke 10:21-22.
"...Whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter
answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed
art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not
revealed it unto thee..." -Matthew 16:15-17.
"Beware lest any man spoil you through
philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of
men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after
Christ. For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him..."
-Colossians 2:8-10.
"...In vain do they worship me, teaching for
doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the
commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men... Full
well ye reject the commandment of God that ye may keep
your own tradition" -Mark 7:6-9.
"...The first of all commandments is, Hear, O
Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord" -Mark
12:29.
Question # 10.2 - Does the Bible state, or imply
that a fuller revelation of the Godhead would be
forthcoming, or does the Bible rather warn against coming
false prophets who would bring in heretical doctrines?
"...Teach no other doctrine, neither give heed to
fables..." -1 Timothy 1:3-4.
"Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine;
continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save
thyself, and them that hear thee" -1 Timothy 4:16.
"Be not carried away with diverse and strange
doctrines..." -Hebrews 13:9.
"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the
latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving
heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of
devils..." -1 Timothy 4:1.
"...There shall be false teachers among you, who
privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying
the Lord that bought them... And many shall follow
their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of
truth shall be evil spoken of" -2 Peter 2:1-2.
"Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the
doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in
the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the
Father and the Son" -2 John 9.
Question # 10.3 - If the Trinity doctrine was not
even defined until the beginning of the 4th century,
which doctrine was current with numerous adherents up
until that time (according to history)?
Quote # 10.7. Webster's Dictionary (1959)-
- "MONARCHIANISM... An anti-trinitarian
doctrine or theory current in the church
of the 2nd & 3rd centuries in several forms,
the common principle of which was that
God is a single being... The adherents of
this latter type (called also modalists) were
numerous..."
Question # 10.4 - Are the teachings of contemporary
Trinitarians compatible with, or contradictory of, the
scriptures?
Quote # 10.8.
- What we mean by Divine Trinity is that there are
three separate and distinct persons in the
Godhead, each one having His own personal spirit
body, personal soul, and personal spirit in the
same sense each human being... has his own body,
soul, and spirit... Thus there are three
separate persons in divine individuality and
divine plurality... The word God is used either
as a singular or a plural word, like sheep".
The Scriptures-
COMPARE-
The buck our sheep is one buck. "The Lord our God
is one Lord" -Mark 12:29.
For there is one sheep. "For there is one
God..." -1 Timothy 2:5.
But sheep is one. "...But God is one"
-Galatians 3:20.
Have we not all one buck? Hath not one sheep sired all
our lambs? "Have we not all one Father? Hath not one
God created us?" -Malachi 2:10.
To us there is but one sheep, the buck. "To us
there is but one God, the Father..." -1 Corinthians
8:6.
One sheep and buck of all. "One God and Father of
all..." -Ephesians 4:6.
If we say that sheep is one, that there is one sheep,
and that we have one sheep, then we have disqualified
that we could possibly have three separate individual
sheep.
What number of God has the Bible declared the Lord to
be? "The Lord our God is one Lord" -Mark
12:29.
Quote # 10.9-
- "We teach there is one God manifest in three
persons; God the Father, God the Son, and God the
Holy Ghost... Individually each is called God;
collectively they can be spoken of as one God
because of their perfect unity... However, there
are some particulars which relate to each
individual person of the deity as to position,
office, and work that could not be attributed
to either of the other members of the
Godhead".
The Scriptures-
Question # 10.5 - WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT THE
SON?
"...There is but...one Lord Jesus Christ..."
-1 Cor.8:6, & Eph.4:5.
"...I will be a Father unto you...saith the
Lord..." -2 Cor.6:18.
"Now the Lord is that Spirit..." -2 Cor.
3:17.
Question # 10.6 - WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT THE
FATHER?
"...There is but one God, the Father..." -1
Corinthians 8:6.
"God is a Spirit..." -John 4:24.
"...God was manifest in the flesh..." -1
Tim. 3:16, with "...The Father...was manifested to
take away our sins..." 1 John 3:1,5.
Question # 10.7 - WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT THE
SPIRIT?
"Now there are diversities of gifts, but the
same Spirit. And there are differences of
administrations, but the same Lord. And there
are diversities of operations, but it is the
same God which worketh all in all... All these
worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit..."
-1 Corinthians 12:4-6,11.
"God is a Spirit..." -John 4:24.
Quote # 10.10.-
- "Jesus had said, 'If I go not away, the
Helper (Holy Spirit) shall not come to you; but
if I go, I will send Him to you' (John 16:7)...
From heaven Jesus still exercises lordship over
us, but, not being physically with us
now, He transmits His directions by means of
the Holy Spirit who makes Christ real to
us."
The Scriptures-
"Jesus saith unto him... I will not leave you
comfortless: I will come to you... At that day ye
shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I
in you" -John 14:9,18,20.
"...Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of
the world" -Matthew 28:20.
"...The mystery which...now is made manifest
to his saints... is Christ in you..."
-Colossians 1:26-27.
"...There is but...one Lord Jesus Christ..."
-1 Corinthians 8:6, Eph. 4:5.
"Now the Lord is that Spirit..." -2
Corinthians 3:17.
"...Christ is all, and in all"
-Colossians 3:11.
Quote #10.11.-
- "The doctrine of the Trinity itself,
however, is not a Biblical doctrine... It
is the product of theological reflection upon the
problem... The ecclesiastical doctrine of the
Trinity is not only the product of genuine
Biblical thought, it is also the product of
philosophical speculation, which is remote from
the Bible".
Quote #10.12.-
- "When one does speak of an unqualified
Trinitarianism, one has moved from the
period of Christian origins to, say, the last
quadrant of the 4th century... From what has
been seen thus far, the impression could arise
that the Trinitarian dogma is in the last
analysis a late 4th century invention. In a sense
this is true... The formulation 'one God in
three persons' was not established,
certainly not fully assimilated into
Christian life and its profession of
faith, prior to the end of the 4th century.
But it is precisely this formulation that has
first claim to the title "the Trinitarian
dogma"
End of Chapter Ten, Part One. To
Be Continued in Chapter Ten - Part Two
Bibliography for The
Commandments of God, and the Traditions of Men Bible
Study
Tom Raddatz
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