"All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."
The word "trinity" itself is not in Scripture but was first coined by the Latin theologian Tertullian, sometime around 190 AD. Christians accept trinitarian doctrine as divinely revealed and implicit in the Scriptures. The Trinity is an example of the term "developed doctrine." Meaning, the early church may have started to recognize the mystery of the Trinity, but didn't fully "flesh it out" and annunciate the doctrine until centuries after the ascension of Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit.
There were some in the early church who were teaching and spreading heresy regarding the divine nature of Jesus. Bishop Arius believed and taught that Christ was somehow less than God, a "demi-god" so to speak. This erroneous teaching caught on and spread like wildfire, particularly in the eastern churches. The Church needed to declare, espouse, annuciate, and settle "once and for all" the truth that Christians believe in one God, in whom there are three distinct persons. This resulted in the creed that the Catholic Church Council of Nicea in 325 AD wrote and promulgated. All Christians were bound by this creed if they desired to remain in the Catholic Church. The proclamation of the Council doesn't infer that the Trinity doctrine was new at that time, but it was officially stated and promulgated to put all dissent to rest.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:
"From the beginning, the revealed truth of the Holy Trinity has been at the very root of the Church's living faith, principally by means of Baptism. It finds its expression in the rule of baptismal faith, formulated in the preaching, catechesis, and prayer of the Church. Such formulations are already found in the apostolic writings, such as this salutation taken up in the Eucharistic liturgy: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."
During the first centuries the Church sought to clarify its Trinitarian faith, both to deepen its own understanding of the faith and to defend it against the errors that were deforming it. This clarification was the work of the early councils, aided by the theological work of the Church Fathers and sustained by the Christian people's sense of the faith."
Nicean Creed
We believe in one God the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; He suffered death and was buried. On the third day He rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. We believe in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.
This creed and the belief in the Holy Trinity was being proclaimed even before the books of the New Testament had been canonized in the end of the fourth century at the Councils of Hippo, then later at Carthage. This simple chronology points out the reality that the Bible alone cannot possibly be the source of all truth and doctrine, particularly when such doctrines were being taught and defended by the Universal Church before the New Testament Scriptures were ever canonized or readily available to the average believer.
Actually, in preparing today's blog I happened upon a website that listed 100 Scripture "proof texts" from the Bible to defend and bolster their heretical notion that the doctrine of the Trinity isn't Scriptural. http://www.heaven.net.nz/writings/trinity-11.htm
Wow! The heresy of Arius never really ended in the fourth century with the Creed of Nicea and it's sad to see folks twisting Scripture in the third millenium to defend heresy.
I thank God that the Church is the pillar and foundation of all truth (1 Tim 3:15). Otherwise, we too perhaps could choose error if left to our own devices and just our own interpretation of the Bible. But by the grace of God.....
