GRADUATE SCHOOL

SSSSSSS SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY MISSION AND LEADERSHIP

STUDENT NAME:

KOJO ANOMAH

STUDENT ID:

PUGPS200021

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The Background to the Development of the Doctrine of Trinity and its Importance to
21st Century Christianity
One of the most difficult concepts, yet perplexing among the Christendom is the doctrine of

the Trinity. This requires a careful recourse in tackling the subject matter. In this

presentation, the evolution of the doctrine shall be dealt with. The biblical foundations and its

importance to the 21st Christian shall also be considered.

The Biblical Foundation of the Doctrine of the Trinity

A casual glance at the Bible gives only two scriptures which have an interpretation to the

doctrine of the trinity. The accounts in Matthew 28:19 and 2 Corinthians 13:13 are not

exhaustive in defining the trinity in the biblical contest.

According to the McGrath (2001), there are other scriptures that highlight the interpretation

of the doctrine of trinity from even the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the old

testament, the trinity is personified on three major themes. According to McGrath (2001),

God is personified in the display of wisdom in books like Proverbs and Ecclesiastics and

treaty as a person. The word of God also personified in the old testament. The speech and

discourse of God is also treated as an entity. The word of God directed men and women as if

it was a person. The Spirit of God also treated as an entity which portrays God’s power and

presence in the bible. This power presented the Messiah (Isaiah 42:1-3 and Ezekiel 37:1-14)

as the one who was on transformation mission to rescue the world.

Likewise, the New Testament scriptures like the account in Matthew 3:16-17 portrays the

trinity when at the baptism of Jesus, the Father and the Spirit were present. "He saw the Spirit

of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is

my Son, whom I love and with him I am well pleased’". The commissioning of the disciples

unto the Great Commission by Jesus Christ can also explain the trinity in the Bible (Matthew

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28:19). There are supporting scriptures which portray the Father as revealed in the Son

through the working of the Holy Spirit by conceiving the Virgin Mary. The salvation has

been closely linked with the very nature and essence of God. Examples include but not

limited to, John 1:1-4, 14:26, 15:26, 16:13-14, 20:25-27; Acts 10:38 in connection with

Romans 9:5, 15:13; 1 Corinthians 12:4-6; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:3, 1:8, 1:10; Titus 2:13;

2 Peter 1:1; Jude 20-21 all throw light on the trichotomy of God revealed in salvation of man.

The doctrine of the trinity can be regarded as the outcome of a process of sustained and

critical refection on the pattern of divine activity revealed in scripture, and continued in

Christian experience. This is not to say that the Scripture contains a doctrine of trinity rather

the Scripture bears witness to a God who demands to be understood in a Trinitarian manner.

The evolution of trinity

There are not many extant documents from the Post-Apostolic. Such were epistle from

Clement of Rome, seven epistles of Ignatius of Antioch, one epistle by Polycarp of Smyrna,

The Shepherd by Hermas, The Didache, and some pseudonymous writings. The early writers

did not recognise a distinction between the Father and Son (Clement of Rome). Polycarp was

in possession of Ignatius’ writings, and endorsed his theology (Bernard 1991). He merely

asserted that which the Scriptures assert, i.e. a distinction between the Father and Son. His

statement was quite Scriptural, and did not reflect later theological developments. The Post-

Apostolic Fathers maintained that there was one God, and that Jesus Christ was God. They

did distinguish between the Father and Son, using language much like that of the NT. The

Spirit did not receive much attention, but when He did, He was spoken of as being God’s

Spirit, revealed to humanity through the person of Jesus Christ. There is no distinctively

trinitarian language or concepts conveyed in the writings at this point in time. In fact, some

teachings, such as equating the Holy Spirit with the Son, are not consistent with the doctrine

of the trinity.

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The Greek apologist period was characterized by Greek teachers/philosophers who wrote

literary works to be read by pagans, in order to defend and explain the Christian faith to

unbelievers. It was an attempt to demonstrate that Christianity was good philosophy, so that it

would be accepted by the pagan contemporaries.

The primary author of this time period was Justin Martyr, Marcianus Aristides, the

anonymous author to the Epistle to Diognetus, Tatian, and Melito. This period began the

doctrine on Logos being developed and propagated. The idea of the Logos was already

popular in the Hellenistic culture and philosophy. The apologists adopted this philosophy,

tailoring it where necessary, in order to make the gospel acceptable to the general population,

who saw Christianity as foolishness. To the Greeks, the Logos was reason as the controlling

principle of the universe. It was impersonal, existing in the realm of ideas. It was this realm

that was an intermediary between the Ineffable One and physical reality. Edward Hardy

explained how the apologists, and Justin in particular, took the Hellenistic Logos doctrine and

incorporated it into Christian theology (Cyril Richardson et al., 1970).

The old Catholic enjoyed a considerable amount of the theological growth. Much of the

terminology and theological concepts of this period were adopted at the Nicene and

Constantinoplian Councils, being used to define orthodox trinitarianism. This growth was

spawned on by theologians such as Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and

Cyprian.

Irenaeus, in Against Heresies (182-188), seemed to affirm a pre-existent Son when he said

the faith of the church was belief "in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, and

earth, … and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation;

and in the Holy Spirit’ The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are seen as having three separate

activities, or aspects to accomplishing one goal, but each aspect is carried out by a different

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member of the triune God: "the Father planning everything well and giving His commands,

the Son carrying these into execution and performing the work of creating, and the Spirit

nourishing and increasing (what is made)."

David Barnes (1971) argues, Tertullian was the first to speak of God as a trinity, and as three

persons in one substance. Arguably the term trinity is believed to have been coined by the

one of the greatest philosophers’ name Tertullian. The word trinity (trinitas) was coined by

Tertullian among other 509 nouns, 284 adjectives and 161 verbs in the Latin language (Frend,

1984). This was later accepted by the early church since his time, although other possibilities

had been explored, Tertullian influence was such that this term became normative within the

western church. Tertullian can be said to have formed the distinctive vocabulary and shape of

the term trinity. He emphasised that God is one yet cannot be regarded as something or

someone. He postulates that the three personalities of the trinity are distinct yet not divided,

different yet not separated or independent of each other.

Origen was the greatest contributor to the development of the trinitarian doctrine in the

Eastern church, as Tertullian was in the Western Church. He was the first to teach "an eternal

trinity of persons." The Son was not only eternal, but was eternally begotten by the Father.

Although He spoke of equality in the trinity saying, "Nothing in the Trinity can be called

greater or less," He also said that God the Word is a separate being and has an essence of His

own." Only the Father is (the God), while the Son is only (God).

The major contributions to the theology of the trinity from this time were the ideas of one

God in three persons, the coinage of the word "trinity," and the idea of personalities in the

Godhead, coming from Tertullian; the eternal generation of the Son, coming from Origen.

Both men saw the Logos and the Spirit as being subordinate to the Father ontologically, and

not functionally as it pertained to the incarnation. The doctrine of coequality, although

spoken of by Origen, was limited to the Son and the Father. The Spirit was the first creation

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of the Father through the Son. Up to this point, we still do not have a definitive doctrine of

the coequality, or coeternal nature of the three Persons. Instead we have very tritheistic

language being used to explain the relationship between the one God and the three Persons of

which He consists. What was agreed upon was that the Persons of the trinity were

consubstantial.

In AD 318 in Alexandria, Egypt, a conflict broke out between a certain presbyter named

Arius, and the bishop of Alexandria, Alexander. Arius taught that the Logos was created out

of nothing before the beginning of the world, and therefore was not of the same substance as

the Father. In fact, He was the first creation of God. Jesus was a demigod of the Father. Both

groups agreed that the Son pre-existed the incarnation. The central issue was the eternality of

the Son of God. Alexander claimed that the Son was coeternal with the Father, but the

rallying cry of the Arians was that "there was a time when He was not." These dissenting

opinions caught the attention of Constantine who set up a council to decide on the matter at

Nicea. Convinced that they needed to definitively reject Arianism, the council sought the

terms to define its faith. The Scripture alone was not adequate, because both Arians and those

who confessed that Jesus was coeternal with the Father, used various proof-texts to no avail.

A statement of faith was deemed necessary. The council’s contribution to the development of

the trinitarian doctrine is very important. It firmly rejected the idea that the Logos was created

and non-eternal with the Father, and established that the Logos was of the same substance

with the Father. This latter affirmation, however, caused division once again in the ensuing

years. Even at the council many bishops were hesitant about the inclusion of homoousios

because it lent itself to modalism. The council’s decision cannot be referred to astrinitarian,

however, since it did not deal with the Holy Spirit.

The council of Constantinople, rather than Nicea, is where the first definitive, orthodox,

universal creedal statement was made which discussed the relationship of the Father, Son,

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and Spirit. Nicea’s primary concern was the relationship of Jesus to the Father, but

Constantinople added to its creed the full, coequal, coeternal, consubstantial deity of the Holy

Spirit. For this reason, it is regarded as the first, truly trinitarian creed (Novatian, 1994). The

council is important for two other reasons. First, it was the final theological blow to

Arianism, although it would not be until the sixth century that it would finally be stamped

out. Secondly, Apollinarianism was defeated, which taught that Jesus had an incomplete

human nature (Bethune-Baker, 1997)

Importance of the Doctrine of trinity

First, the doctrine of the Trinity cannot be given up without irreparable damage to Christ’s atonement;

and second salvation or how we get into heaven becomes unclear, which is life’s ultimate question.

First, the doctrine of the atonement is jeopardized. This doctrine says that Christ died on the cross for

our sins and propitiated divine wrath that was directed at us because our sins. The inspired Apostle

Paul says in Romans 8:18-21 that creation itself waits for ultimate redemption. If Christ were a mere

creature like us and part of this creation as we are, then he could not have redeemed all of creation. A

creature cannot redeem all of creation, of which he is a part. He himself would need redemption.

Hence, the eternal Son of God must not be a created being.

Second, justification by grace through faith in Christ is jeopardized, and our salvation goes down the

drain. If Christ is not fully God, then how can we trust him to save us in his redemptive act on the

cross? It urges us to do all kinds of good work, hoping against hope that it will usher us into heaven

when one dies, but not knowing for sure that God will let us in. Rather, since Jesus Christ was fully

divine in human flesh, his salvation is divinely secure for us. It guides Christians to trust in the Son of

God’s good work on the cross and receive his sanctifying Holy Spirit; therefore, our place in heaven

is secure. This directs Christians in doing good works first, and then hoping that we might get into

heaven. No, Christ comes first and our trust in him comes second, so now heaven has been promised

to us. Only after this sequence do we perform good works, but not to re-earn our place in heaven;

rather good works are done out of gratitude to him, in obedience to the Holy Spirit, and out of God’s

call on our life. This passage from the Epistle to the Ephesians is one of the clearest on responding to

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him with good works, after he has saved us: 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith

—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For

we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance

for us to do.

Salvation is by grace through faith, and even this faith is a gift of God so that we do not boast in

ourselves. After we are saved, we do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do.

Without the full deity of Jesus Christ, God the Son, our salvation or guarantee to get into heaven

becomes shaky. Therefore, the doctrine of the Trinity is a matter of eternal life and death. We

Christians must hold on to the Trinity.

Reference

Alister E. McGrath, The Christain Theology reader 2nd edition( Oxford/Cambridge MA:

Blackwell Publishers, 2001) Chapter 2

W. H. C. Frend, The Rise of Christianity (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984), pp. 285-293;

398-403.

James Franklin Bethune-Baker, An Introduction to the Early History of Christian Doctrine to

the Time of the Council of Chalcedon (London: Methuen & Co., Ltd, 1933). Eric Osborn,

Tertullian the First Theologian of the West (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997).

Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity. In Ante-Nicene Fathers, Edited by Alexander

Roberts and James Donaldson. Revised by Alexander Coxe (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson

Publishers, 1994). Vol. VI, pp. 611-634.

Timothy David Barnes, Tertullian. Historical and Literary Study (Oxford: Clarendon Press,

1971), p. 55.

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‘A brief explanation of the trinity.’ http://www.americanthinker.com/2005/05/ a brief

explanation of the trinity.html, March 2021