User:Gameking69/Trinity

Doctrine of Trinity

The doctrine reads that there is only is one God, and that this one God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, also called the "Triune God" or the "Three-in-One".[1] Christians say the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are each fully divine and share one undivided divine being (one Godhead).[2] The doctrine is often summarized as that there is exactly one God; the Father is God; the Son is God; the Holy Spirit is God; the Father is not the Son; the Son is not the Holy Spirit; the Father is not the Holy Spirit.[3] The Trinity is not three gods, not three parts that add up to God, and not one person acting in three roles.[4] Christians believe God is encountered as the Father as Creator and Lord, the Son as Jesus Christ in salvation, and the Holy Spirit as giving new life and power.[5]

The Ante-Nicene period saw the rise of a great number of Christian sects, cults and movements with strong unifying characteristics lacking in the apostolic period. They had different interpretations of Scripture, particularly different Christologies (questions about the divinity of Jesus and salvation from the consequences of sin), and different understandings of the Trinity.[6]

1st century

The New Testament does not use the word "Trinity."[7] The New Testament does not contain an explicit or developed doctrine of the Trinity.[8] The Bible lacks an express declaration that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are of equal essence.[9] The apostolic and sub-apostolic ages did not begin with Trinitarian theology in the later, formal sense.[10] Neither the Old Testament nor much of the New Testament presents the Holy Spirit as a distinct person within a divine Trinity, though biblical writers used personal terms for the Spirit.[11] See how writers characterize the Spirit as one who "searches all things"[12], can be "grieved"[13], "apportions them to each one as He determines"[14], "will teach you all things"[15], "said to Philip"[16], "said, 'Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul'"[17], and "Himself intercedes for us"[18].

It also suggests that the canon of Scripture provides certain norms that shaped the development of Trinitarian doctrine, such as the identity of the God of the Old Testament with the God of the New, the rule of faith as an interpretive key and the Christological reading of Scripture.[19] It shows that the fluidity of the canon in the first centuries does not appear to have affected Trinitarian doctrine but the development of the notion of canonicity itself speaks to the understanding of revelation at work in the development of Trinitarian doctrine.[19] The doctrine grew as Christians tried to hold together strict monotheism with devotion to Jesus and with an increasingly defined place for the Spirit in belief and practice.[20]

Hebrew Bible

In the background, the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament does not either contain a doctrine of the Trinity,[21][22] proving no explicit indication of distinctions in the Godhead.[23] It is an anachronism to find either the doctrine of the Incarnation or that of the Trinity in the Old Testament.[23] According to Fortman, interpreting the Old Testament as containing veiled references or foreshadowings of a Triune God misrepresents what the original authors intended to convey.[24] Genesis uses first-person plural speech in Genesis 1:26, 3:22, and 11:7.[25] A. B. Davidson explains the plural as God's consciousness of being surrounded by beings of a loftier order than humans.[25] Jewish commentators from Philo onward explained the plural as God addressing his heavenly court, that is, the angels.[26] However, Christians texts such as the Epistle of Barnabas read the plural as a reference to Christ.[26] Christians traditionally treated Genesis 1:26 as foreshadowing the Trinity.[26] This was not what the plural meant to the original author.[26] This is because Jesus stood within Jewish monotheism, as his Jewish parents trained Jesus in the Old Testament scriptures. Jesus' teaching remained Jewish "to the core." Jesus accepted the confession, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one God."[27]

New Testament

Jesus and God relationship

First-century Christians applied titles like Christ, Son of Man, Son of God, and Lord to affirm that he did God's work, not that he was God himself.[28] J. M. Creed treats these honorific titles as titles that express Jesus' role.[29] Howard Marshall views "Jesus as Lord" as a concept that develops progressively within the New Testament, especially eschatologically, rooted in early tradition and fully present by the canon.[30] But at the same time, Jesus appears in his heavenly ministry as separate from and subordinate to God (the Father), appearing as a heavenly being in God's court, yet ranking far above angels as God's unique Son.[28] The Greek text identifies Jesus as God in the fullest sense the language allows, while maintaining clear distinctions in role, relation, and function from the Father.[31] Writers call Jesus "God" directly, as in "the Word was God"[32] and "My Lord and my God,"[33] yet Jesus equates himself with God in divine nature and identity, not with God the Father as the same person.[28]

Jesus appears in his heavenly ministry as separate from and subordinate to God (the Father), appearing as a heavenly being in God's court, yet ranking far above angels as God's unique Son.[28] The texts record positional subordination ("My Father is greater than I"[34][35]), mission from the Father ("God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world"[36]; "As the Father has sent Me, so also I am sending you"[37]), authority structure ("the head of Christ is God"[38]), ultimate subjection ("the Son Himself will be subjected"[39]), dependent action ("the Son can do nothing by Himself"[40]), and direct address of the Father in prayer ("Father, the hour has come"[41]). The New Testament places Father, Son, and Spirit together in threefold formulas used for worship, baptism, or blessing, for example, "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matt 28:19)[42] and "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit" (2 Cor 13:14)[43]. Matthew 28:19 names Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together.[44][45] These formulas do not settle questions about shared essence or co-equality.[45] Names can stand together for more than one reason, for example it could be shared role in salvation can place names or a shared place in communal practice that can place names together.[45] The Holy Spirit is a "distinct personality".[46] God's spirit is God's power.[47] Most texts present God's spirit as something, not someone.[47]

Paul the Apostle's understanding

The oldest Christian sources are the writings of Paul.[48] According to most scholars, the central Christology of Paul conveys the notion of Christ's pre-existence,[49][50] and the identification of Christ as Kyrios.[51] The Pauline epistles use Kyrios to identify Jesus almost 230 times, and express the theme that the true mark of a Christian is the confession of Jesus as the true Lord.[52]

What exactly Paul believed about the nature of Jesus cannot be determined decisively. In Philippians 2, Paul possibly implies that Jesus was preexistent and came to Earth ("by taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness"[53]). This sounds like an incarnation Christology according to the view of most scholars.[54] In Romans 1:4, however, Paul states that Jesus "was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead"[55], which sounds like an adoptionistic Christology, where Jesus was a human being who was "adopted" after his death.

Cave, Cadoux, and Matthews say Paul never clearly or indisputably calls Jesus "God" in his undisputed letters.[56][57][58] The binitarian pattern in Romans 14:11 appears when Paul quotes Isaiah 45:23, a text affirming YHWH's sole sovereignty, and splits its application: ("says the Lord" and "every knee shall bow to me"[59]) refer to Jesus as risen Lord (Rom 14:9),[60] while ("every tongue shall confess to God"[59]) points to God the Father, thus showing Father and Son as distinct yet united in sharing YHWH's unique eschatological lordship and judgment, all within Jewish monotheism.[60]

Cosmic Christology is central to the Pauline concept of the Lord,[61] which was later developed in the Gospel of John.[62] In the Epistle to the Colossians, which purports to be written by Paul (though this is disputed), relevant claims are made: ("He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation"[63][51]) and ("Through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven"[64][65]). Paul viewed the superiority of the Christian revelation over all other divine manifestations as a consequence of the fact that Christ is the Son of God.[66][67]

For Paul, Christ's death and resurrection are the foundation of his teaching on the Spirit.[68] The Spirit is central to Paul's thought, shaping how believers experience the tension between the present and what is still to come.[69] The Spirit forms God's people and guides their common life and worship.[70] The First Epistle to the Thessalonians introduces a characterization of the Holy Spirit in 1 Thessalonians 1:6 and 1 Thessalonians 4:8 which is found throughout his epistles.[71] In 1 Thess 1:6 Paul states: ("And ye became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit"[72]), whose source is identified in 1 Thessalonians 4:8 as ("God, who giveth his Holy Spirit unto you"[73]).[71][74] These two themes of receiving the Spirit "like Christ" and God being the source of the Spirit persist in Pauline letters as the characterization of the relationship of Christians with God.[71]

John the Apostle's understanding

The Gospel of John and Revelation are late 1st-century writings that are commonly treated as reflecting a "high" Christology.[75] Even so, these writings keep devotion oriented consistently with reference to "the Father" as God.[75] Philippians 2:6–11 depicts God exalting Jesus and requiring universal confession of Jesus as "Lord," with that confession directed ("to the glory of God the Father"[76]).[77] Corporate worship used short confessions such as ("Jesus is Lord"[78]).[79] Prayer normally addressed God, and people often prayed to God through Jesus or in Jesus' name.[80] Baptism invoked Jesus' name.[81][82] Christians practiced a sacred communal meal centered on Jesus.[83] The Gospel of John provides a different perspective that focuses on his divinity. The first 14 verses of the Gospel of John are devoted to the divinity of Jesus as the Logos, usually translated as "Word", along with his pre-existence, and they emphasize the cosmic significance of Christ, e.g.: ("All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made."[84]) In the context of these verses, the Word made flesh[85] is identical with the Word who was in the beginning with God,[32] being exegetically equated with Jesus. Three separate terms, namely Holy Spirit, Spirit of Truth and Paraclete are used in the Johannine writings.[86] The "Spirit of Truth" is used in John 14:17,[87] 15:26,[88] and 16:13.[89][90] The First Epistle of John then contrasts this with the "spirit of error" in 1 John 4:6.[91][90] 1 John 4:1–6 provides the separation between spirits ("that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God"[92]) and those who in error refuse it – an indication of their being evil spirits.[93] In John 14:26, Jesus states: ("But the Comforter, [even] the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things"[15]). The identity of the "Comforter" has been the subject of debate among theologians, who have proposed multiple theories on the matter.[94]

First Epistle of Clement

In 1 Clement, Clement links church unity to shared confession of "one God and one Christ" and to "one Spirit of grace" poured out on believers, and he connects this triad to "one calling in Christ."[95] He also places "God," "the Lord Jesus Christ," and "the Holy Ghost" together in a solemn oath used to urge humility, gentleness, and obedience, while describing salvation as "through Jesus Christ" and directing glory to God "for ever and ever."[96] Lupi characterizes Clement as giving little direct treatment of the Christian mystery beyond these triadic references in 46:6 and 58:2, and he describes Clement as avoiding speculation while showing a Judaistic and Stoic tone.[97] In the extended prayer, Clement addresses God as "Creator of all" and repeatedly speaks of God acting "through" the beloved Son Jesus Christ, and he includes the line, "Thou art God alone and Jesus Christ Thy Son," while the prayer section does not name the Spirit.[98][99] Lupi describes Clement's picture of Christ as developing along Pauline and Hebrews themes, presenting the pre-existent Son as the "brightness of the Father" who came into the world in humility (16:2), as the High Priest and the way to blessedness (ch. 36), as above all creatures, King of the world, and giver of divine gifts such as light, knowledge, and immortality, and as receiving divine honour after exaltation in union with the Father in glory.[97] Clement continues the prayer by praising and petitioning God "through" Jesus Christ as "High Priest and Guardian" and "Protector," and he presents Jesus as the one "by whom" glory and majesty belong to God.[100][101]

The Didache and the baptismal instructions attested

The Didache gives a baptismal instruction that names Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.[102] One passage includes a triadic baptismal pronouncement that names the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.[103] Didache 7 directs the minister to pour water three times in that triadic name when the rite uses pouring rather than immersion.[103] Although the Didache lacks direct ascriptions of deity to Christ, its eucharistic prayers repeatedly call Jesus God's servant, using the term païs.[104] By the end of the first century, New Testament books, especially the gospels and Pauline epistles, were de facto used as authoritative Scripture in the life of the Church, as attested by such sources as the Didache, 1 and 2 Clement, and the epistles of Ignatius of Antioch.[105] There was a degree of variability in the acceptance of other NT books, principally in terms of hesitations in the West with respect to Hebrews and in the East about Revelation.[105]

2nd century

Second-century Christian writings grouped the Father, the Son, and the Spirit together in worship and teaching.[106] Early Christian worship resembled a binitarian or what Hurtado labels "dyadic" devotional pattern.[107] The second-century Christian community established the elements of the Trinity dogma as a brief summary of revealed religion.[108] No theologian in the first three centuries taught a Trinity as "one God" existing as three equally divine persons.[106] This development represents a mutation within the Jewish monotheistic tradition.[109] Powerful religious experiences of individuals prompted this innovation.[109] These experiences included visions of the exalted Jesus in heavenly glory.[110]

Christianity created a christological monotheism by including Jesus in the unique identity of the one God of Israel.[111] This high Christology confirms that Jesus Christ is himself no less than God.[112] The sharing of the same Divine Name between the Father and the Son provides a way of expressing their unity.[113] High Christology appears at least as early as the Christological hymn material which goes back to the earliest Jewish Christians.[114] The church maintained a strong continuity between Paul and Jewish Christians in their ascription of status to Jesus.[115] Early Christian scribes highlighted the names of God, Jesus, and the Spirit in manuscripts using abbreviations known as nomina sacra.[116] This convention borrowed the Hebrew principle of consonantal writing for the tetragrammaton.[117] The Rule of Faith serves as a hermeneutical tool that promotes theological unity.[118] Novenson (2022) notes that early very high Christology renders centuries of later theological development all but incomprehensible.[119]

The terms later translated as "Trinity," Latin "trinitas" and Greek "trias," appear only in the second half of the 2nd century.[106] Even then, these terms described a triad of God together with his Son or Word and Spirit.[106] Writers who used these terms did not treat the three as equally divine in the typical case.[106] Adolf von Harnack found two Christologies in the early church.[120] The first, Adoptian Christology, held that God picked a human Jesus, entered him, tested him, then gave him power to rule.[120] The second, Pneumatic Christology, held that Jesus was a heavenly being ranked just below God, who put on a human body and went back to heaven after finishing his work on earth.[121] The two views conflicted but touched at one point: when the Spirit inside Jesus was read as the pre-existent Son of God.[122] No writer in this period said Jesus had two natures (Hypostatic union). Views ranged from his divinity status given to him as a reward. Others views saw his human body was a costume worn for a time, or the Spirit reshaped into human form. Yet, calling Jesus a "mere man" was treated as an insult from the 1st century on-wards.[122]

Epistle of Barnabas

Epistle of Barnabas, dated between about AD 80 and 140.[123] The text presents the Father, Son, and Spirit as functionally distinct but coordinated within a single redemptive economy. The Father is sovereign source: "our maker, the Lord Almighty, who governs the whole universe",[124] who reveals "everything concerning his Son Jesus"[125] and "enjoins on him that he should redeem us from darkness and prepare a holy people for himself".[126] The Son is the agent of both creation and redemption—"the Lord of all the world",[127] addressed by the Father in "Let us make man in our image and likeness",[128] and the one who offered "the vessel of the spirit as a sacrifice for our sins".[129] The Spirit serves as the medium of revelation and sanctification: poured out upon believers from the Lord,[130] speaking to the heart of Moses,[131] and inscribing the tablets "by the finger of the hand of the Lord in the Spirit".[132]

Ignatius of Antioch

Ignatius uses a three-part prepositional series in Epistle to the Magnesians 13 when he urges believers to prosper "in the Son, and in the Father, and in the Spirit," as part of a broader call to be established in "the doctrines of the Lord and the apostles."[133] In the opening of Epistle to the Ephesians, Ignatius addresses the church as united "by the will of the Father and of Jesus Christ our God."[134] In the opening of Epistle to the Smyrnaeans, Ignatius addresses "the church of God the Father and of Jesus Christ the Beloved," and he says, "I give glory to Jesus Christ the God who bestowed such wisdom upon you."[135] Monroy characterizes this Father-Son language as a "binitarian confessional formula, which confesses the Father and the Son."[136] In Epistle to the Ephesians 9.1, Ignatius pictures believers as stones being hoisted into God's temple "by the crane of Jesus Christ, which is the cross, using for a rope the Holy Spirit," with faith as the means of ascent and love leading to God.[137] The rope is used for hoisting or towing,[138] and the theological point is that the Spirit places believers where they belong in God's temple, and they do not choose their place or determine it.[139]

Outsiders

Pliny the Younger writes that Christians "sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god,"[140] paralleling Philippians 2:9–11, where all creation confesses "Jesus Christ is Lord" yet "to the glory of God the Father,"[141] worship directed to Christ understood not as displacing the Father but as its fulfillment, with the Holy Spirit absent from both accounts.

Shepherd of Hermas

The Shepherd of Hermas reached its final form by the middle of the second century.[142] The Shepherd presents the Father operating in creation through the personal mediation of his Son.[142] Similitude 9.12.2 states that the Son of God is prior in existence than all of his creation.[143] Similitude 5.6.4 calls the Holy Spirit "preexisting" and says that he "created the whole creation".[143] The phrase "the son is the Holy Spirit" does not equate Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit in a personal sense.[144] The Shepherd never equates the Son of God with an angel.[145]

Justin Martyr

Justin Martyr described Christian worship with ordered language by saying Christians hold Christ "in the second place" and the prophetic Spirit "in the third" (1 Apol. 13).[146][147] Some scholars view Justin's ordered language as a rudimentary version of Trinitarian doctrine.[148][149] Justin also directed worship to the Maker of the universe and included Jesus as a recipient of reverence with God, and pagan criticism focused especially on that inclusion.[150] According to Hurtado, Justin used "proto-trinitarian" wording when he blessed the Maker of all things through the Son, Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Spirit (1 Apol. 67.2).[150]

Justin defended Christian devotional practice by using exegesis of biblical texts. In Dialogue 63.4-5, Justin presented Psalm 45:6-11 (LXX 44:6-11) as scriptural justification for worshipping Jesus, and he claimed the Psalm shows believers should worship Jesus "as God and as Christ."[151] In Dialogue 64, Justin treated scriptural praise of "the Lord God of Israel who alone does wonders" and of "his glorious Name" as support for worship of God and Jesus, and he identified Jesus with God's "Name."[152] In Dialogue 65, Isaiah 42:8 served as an objection to including a second figure in cultic devotion, and Justin answered by reading the text as naming an exclusive pairing of God and God's "Name" who share divine glory.[153] Justin used a prior Christian reading of Isaiah that spoke of an allied figure called God's "arm," "servant," "light," and "name," and that reading identified the allied figure as Jesus.[154] Justin's intensive exegesis responded to established Christian worship that included Jesus as a recipient of worship with God.[155]

Justin Martyr used these scriptural traditions to discuss Jesus while calling him another God distinct in number.[156] Justin identified the Logos with both the Sophia and the Spirit of God.[157] The Father remains the beginning of the whole deity as the begetter of the Son.[158]

In Dialogue 128, Justin explained Christ's relation to the Father with analogies that included light from the sun and fire kindled from fire.[159] Justin asserted that Christ is numerically distinct from the Father and denied any division of the Father's "ousia."[159] Justin also used "prosopon" language to describe prophets speaking as from the person of God the Father and as from the person of Christ.[160] Justin used "ousia" language to deny partition in his defense of worship practice.[160]

Irenaeus of Lyons

Irenaeus insisted that revelation, Scripture, tradition, and the Church together form the indispensable foundation for the Trinitarian rule of faith.[161] Gnostic movements sharpened this conviction, prompting him to articulate how divine revelation is received by the Church through Scripture and authoritatively proclaimed.[162]

He accepted the Hebrew Scriptures in the Septuagint as authentically Christian, described the gospel as "fourfold in perspective but bound together by one Spirit," and cited nearly the entire New Testament canon, omitting only Philemon, 2 Peter, 3 John, and Jude, while extending some scriptural authority also to the Shepherd of Hermas and 1 Clement.[162] This faith was not his invention: "one and the same life-giving faith," he held, had been "preserved and transmitted in truth from the apostles up till now in the Church."[163] That faith was irreducibly Trinitarian. Irenaeus named belief in the Father as maker of all as its "first and foremost article," while affirming the Spirit poured out "in a new way upon humanity throughout all the earth, renewing it to God."[162]

The Spirit and Word were mutually illuminating: "the Spirit manifests the Word," and "the Word articulates the Spirit."[163] He captured their relation to the Father in the image of the Son and Spirit as God's "two hands," the Word and Wisdom through whom God made all things, excluding any angelic intermediary from creation.[163][164]

On Christ he was equally firm. He rejected any "pretended Christ" descending on a merely human Jesus, insisting Jesus and Christ are one and the same, and tied the Spirit's descent at the Jordan directly to salvation, "so that, receiving from the plenitude of his unction, we might be saved."[165] The baptismal anointing equipped Jesus' human nature for messianic ministry "by a gift of divine attributes."[166] Christian truth, for Irenaeus, traced a single ascending path through Father, Son, and Spirit.[163]

Theophilus of Antioch

Theophilus of Antioch first used the term Triad (Τριάδος) to describe God, his Word, and his Wisdom, in To Autolycus (c. 180).[167] In To Autolycus II.15 he uses the term Τριάδος in this triadic sense.[168]

Theophilus, in the same work, writes about Scripture, God, his Word and his Wisdom, creation, the resurrection, and other matters, but is silent on Jesus, perhaps, opines Robert Grant, because of apologetic convention, perhaps because of his peculiar Christology.[169]

In that discussion, Father, Word, and Spirit can appear as predicates of God, as when he says: "If I call him Light, I speak of his creature; if I call him Logos, I speak of his beginning; if I call him Mind, I speak of his intelligence; if I call him Spirit, I speak of his breath; if I call him Sophia (Wisdom), I speak of his offspring; if I call him Strength, I speak of his might ... if I call him Father, I speak of him as all things; if I call him Fire, I speak of his wrath." (To Autolycus 1.3).[169]

Yet he also distinguishes the Word in relation to creation: God, "having his own Logos innate (endiathetos) in his own bowels, generated him together with his own Sophia, vomiting him forth before everything else" (To Autolycus 2.10).[169] He explains that "his Logos, through whom he made all things, who is his Power and Wisdom (1 Cor. 1:24), assuming the role of the Father and Lord of the universe, was present in paradise in the role of God and conversed with Adam" (To Autolycus 2.22), and adds that the Word "is also his Son."[169] With this distinction in place, the Word is eternal but his generation or expression is not, since "When God wished to make what he had planned to make, he generated this Logos, making him external (prophorikos), as the firstborn of all creation [Col. 1:15] without emptying himself of Reason" (To Autolycus 2.22).[169]

Polycarp

Polycarp opened his Philippians letter by invoking "God Almighty" and "the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour" as the sources of mercy and peace.[170] Christ is described as the one who "for our sins suffered even unto death," whom God raised from the dead, gave glory, and seated "at His right hand."[171][172] To him "all things in heaven and on earth are subject," "every spirit serves" him, and he "comes as the Judge of the living and the dead."[172] Believers must "appear at the judgment-seat of Christ,"[173] and God "will raise us up also" if they walk in his commandments.[172] Polycarp called Jesus Christ "the Son of God" and "our everlasting High Priest," and closed his blessing by naming "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" alongside Christ himself, describing faith as belief "in our Lord Jesus Christ, and in His Father."[174] The word "spirit" appears only in moral exhortation and in sayings quoted from the Lord: "every lust wars against the spirit,"[175] and "the spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak."[176] The Holy Spirit is not placed alongside the Father and the Son in either the greeting or the closing benediction.[170][174] Monroy describes Polycarp's Father-Son wording as a "binitarian confessional formula, which confesses the Father and the Son."[136]

3rd century

In the 3rd century, Christian writers used more explicit terms for the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and they rejected views that removed the distinctions or that divided the Godhead into multiple gods.[106]

Tertullian

Tertullian used the Latin term "Trinity" ("trinitas") for God and described one God as three "persons" ("personae") who share one "substance" ("substantia").[177][178] He defended the "rule of faith" ("regula fidei") against pagan polytheism, Christian monarchianism, and the Gnosticism of Marcion and Valentinus, and he coined terminology from the Bible, Judaism, Gnosticism, and Roman legal language.[179] He used "one rule" ("monarchia") to express that God has a Son, and he described the Father as the supreme ruler who hands the administration of the rule to the Son within an economic Trinity.[179] He said the inner unity in substance of Father, Son, and Spirit guarantees the one rule, and he described them as "one substance" ("una substantia").[180] He said the Father possesses the "fullness of substance" ("substantiae plenitudo"), and he said the Son and the Spirit have a "share" ("portio") in the one substance, distinguished by the order of their origin, and he stressed "distinction" ("distinctio") or "arrangement" ("dispositio") but not "separation" ("separatio").[180] He wrote that the Three are one reality, "one" ("unum"), not one Person, "one person" ("unus").[180] In Against Praxeas, he wrote that the "economy" (oikonomia) "distributes the unity into a Trinity," placing "in their order the three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost."[181] He wrote that "the simple, indeed, who always constitute the majority of believers" felt startled at his explanation.[182]

Origen

Origen, the first Christian systematic theologian, tied his doctrine of the Trinity to his teaching on the soul's ascent to God.[183] He set out this doctrine chiefly in On First Principles (Peri arkon) and also in Against Celsus (Contra Celsum), the Commentary on John, and On Prayer (De Oratione).[184] He described God as a "unity" ("monas") and as "one" ("hinas") and as "incomprehensible, beyond estimate, impassible" ("incomprehensibilis, inaestimabilis, impassibilis"), and he also described God as a "triad" ("trias"), Father, Son, and Spirit.[185] Origen distinguished the Father as "the God" (ὁ θεός) and the Son as "God" (θεός) in his exposition of John 1:1.[186] Starting from the Incarnation as expressed in the Creed, he stated that the Son is God, distinct from the Father, begotten from eternity, and consubstantial with the Father.[185] Wilken notes that Origen could call the Son "a second God" in his Commentary on John.[187] Origen opposed modalism and said the Son is "other in subsistence" ("hupokeimenon") than the Father, "two in respect of their Persons" ("duo te hupostasei"), and one in unanimity, harmony, and identity of will.[185] He used analogies and represented the unity of the Three as a moral union or as the union of man and wife in one flesh.[185] He grounded this teaching in the Son's begetting from eternity and denied that the Son came from "a part" ("pars") of the Father's substance or from an act with a beginning and an end.[185] He described the Son as God "in essence" ("kat' ousian"), not by participation, and as of the same substance as the Father.[188] He said the term homoousios may not have been used by Origen and gave a Latin citation that he said shows "communion of substance" ("communionem substantiae") between Son and Father.[189] Origen treated the Holy Spirit with reserve and said discussion had not yet fully studied the Spirit.[189] He did not doubt the Spirit's divinity and denied evidence that the Spirit was "a making or a creature" ("factura vel creatura").[189] He described the Spirit as eternal and as having the same dignity and holiness as the Father and the Son, and he said some held views of the Spirit's divinity "less than is fitting" ("minore quam dignum est").[189] He said the Father alone is "unbegotten" ("agennetos"), described the Spirit's origin as "through the Son" ("per Filium") and "from the Father through the Son" ("a Patre per Filium"), and denied that this origin is a "begetting" ("generatio").[189] He called the Son "Only-begotten" ("Unigenitus") and denied another Son in the Trinity.[189] He called the Father alone "God of himself" ("autotheos") and "the God" ("ho theos"), called the Son "God" ("theos"), not "the God" ("ho theos"), and described the Son as the Father's agent in creation.[189] He said Christians should not pray to Christ but to the Father only, and he limited the Father's actions to all reality, the Son's to rational beings, and the Spirit's to those being sanctified.[189]

Dionysius of Rome

Athanasius preserves a letter in which Dionysius of Rome speaks of the "Divine Trinity" and rejects division into "three Godheads" and confusion of Father and Son.[190] Dionysius reported the accusation that Sabellius taught that the Son is the Father and the Father is the Son.[191] Simultaneously, he criticized those who tear apart the divine unity, which is the most sacred proclamation of the Church of God, by splitting it into three separate powers, three distinct beings, and three different gods.[191] Dionysius insisted the Divine Word and Holy Spirit must remain united to God so the "Divine Trinity should be reduced and gathered into one... the omnipotent God of all."[191] He condemned the "great impiety" of claiming the Son was created, noting that divine declaration proves He was begotten, not made.[191] He concluded that the divine unity must not be split into three deities, nor Christ's dignity diminished by the "name of creation"; instead, one must believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, grounded in Christ's words: ("I and the Father are one"[192]) and ("I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me"[193]).[191]

Novatian

Novatian wrote a treatise commonly known as On the Trinity and argued for real distinction between the Father and the Son against monarchian interpretations associated with Sabellius.[194] He treated the Son as coming from the Father and as acting as mediator of divine works toward creation and salvation.[194] In his trinitarian teaching, Novatian also stressed the unity of God as God the Father and used subordinationist language for the Son and the Spirit.[195] He included the Holy Spirit in his account of divine action and Christian confession, and he associated the Spirit's role especially with bestowing blessings given in baptism.[196][194]

Gregory the Wonderworker

Gregory the Wonderworker wrote a Declaration of Faith that states: ("There is one God, the Father of the living Word, who is His subsistent Wisdom and Power and Eternal Image: perfect Begetter of the perfect Begotten, Father of the only-begotten Son."[197]) Of the Son he writes: ("There is one Lord, Only of the Only, God of God, Image and Likeness of Deity... true Son of true Father, Invisible of Invisible, and Incorruptible of Incorruptible, and Immortal of Immortal and Eternal of Eternal."[197]) Of the Spirit he states: ("There is One Holy Spirit, having His subsistence from God, and being made manifest by the Son... in whom is manifested God the Father, who is above all and in all, and God the Son, who is through all."[197]) The Declaration culminates in a coordinated confession of all three: ("There is a perfect Trinity, in glory and eternity and sovereignty, neither divided nor estranged. Wherefore there is nothing either created or in servitude in the Trinity... neither was the Son ever wanting to the Father, nor the Spirit to the Son; but without variation and without change, the same Trinity abideth ever."[197])

Cyprian of Carthage

Wallace links the earliest mention of the Johannine Comma to Cyprian of Carthage and explains it as a trinitarian interpretation of 1 John 5:8 rather than a quotation of the later gloss.[198] In his De Unitate Ecclesiae, Cyprian writes: ("The Lord says, 'I and the Father are one,' and again it is written of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 'And these three are one.'"[199]) Scrivener judged it "safer and more candid to admit that Cyprian read verse 7 in his copies", though he acknowledged that mystical interpretation of verse 8 was also attested in writers such as Eucherius and Augustine.[200] In a second reference, from Ad Jubaianum, Cyprian again invokes the unity of the three persons, asking: ("Since the Three are One, what pleasure could the Holy Spirit take in the enemy of the Father and the Son?"[201]) The United Bible Societies' Greek NT apparatus records Cyprian as a witness to the text.[202]

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1786

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus XV 1786 is a late third-century papyrus preserving a Christian Greek hymn with both lyrics and musical notation, often treated as the earliest surviving notated Christian hymn.[203][204][205] The manuscript was discovered at Oxyrhynchus in 1918 and published in 1922 in The Oxyrhynchus Papyri Part XV (21 to 25), where A. S. Hunt edited the fragment and H. Stuart Jones supplied a transcript of the music.[206][207] The music is written in ancient Greek vocal notation (Greek vocal notation).[208][209] The text as calling for cosmic stillness while Christians hymn the Trinity, and the surviving doxology explicitly names "Father and Son and Holy Spirit" (Πατέρα καὶ Υἱὸν καὶ Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα), followed by the congregational response "Amen, amen" (Ἀμήν, ἀμήν).[210][206] In Cosgrove's translation the line continues, "Let all the powers reply, 'Amen, amen, strength, praise, and glory forever to God, the sole giver of all good things'" (... πᾶσαι δυνάμεις ἐπιφωνούντων· Ἀμήν, ἀμήν· κράτος, αἶνος καὶ δόξα ... θεῷ δοτήρι μόνῳ πάντων ἀγαθῶν· ἀμήν, ἀμήν).[211][206] The fragment is frequently described as the only surviving notated Christian Greek music from the first four hundred years, and (alongside Phos Hilaron) as one of the earliest extant Christian Greek hymn texts reasonably certain to have been used in Christian worship.[212][213]

Scandals and Councils

The Synods of Antioch in 269 condemned Paul of Samosata and rejected "homoousios" in the modalist sense associated with him.[214]

Writers used the labels "modalistic" and "patripassian" for unity-focused views.[215] Latourette describes Sabellianism as a monarchian form associated with Sabellius and links it to Noetus and Praxeas.[216] Although, no writings from Sabellius survive and it is primarily sourced from opponents supply the evidence.[216] Berkhof stresses limits created by fragmentary survival and reliance on opponents.[217] Critics used "patripassianism" for teachings that identified Father and Son so closely that they implied the Father's participation in the Son's suffering.[215] Dionysius of Rome reports the charge that Sabellius taught "the Son himself is the Father and vice versa."[191]

Christian writers incorporated the synthesis of Christianity with Platonic philosophy (namely Platonist categories about divine reality) into Trinitarian formulas by the end of the 3rd century.[218]

4th century

The 4th century integrated unity and threefold distinction into a single orthodox formula of "one essence and three persons," and the Cappadocians helped stabilize this language within Nicene orthodoxy as wider assimilation proceeded by the end of the 4th century.[219] This consolidation of Trinitarian language in the 4th century and treated the conciliar definitions as decisive for later Christian teaching.[220] Confirming that the term did not enter formally into the theology of the church until the 4th century,[221] with the major phase of developed doctrinal elaboration occurred from the second throughout the fourth centuries.[222]

Arius controversy

Arius (c. 250 or 256-336) believed that the pre-existent Son of God came from the Father's direct act of creation before all ages, and he treated the Son as subordinate to God the Father.[223] Arius saw in Scripture, the Apologists, and Origen two interwoven ideas, that the Son is God and that the Son stands subordinate and inferior to the Father in divinity.[224] Arius asked a blunt question, "Is the Son God or creature?"[224] Arius answered that the Son is not God.[224] Arius answered that the Son is a perfect creature.[224] Arius answered that the Son is not eternal.[224] Arius answered that the Father made the Son out of nothing.[224] This answer brought the subordinationist tendency in the Apologists and Origen to full term.[224] Arianism became the dominant view in some regions of the Roman Empire, and remained prominent among the Visigoths until 589.[223] Arianism emerged as a strong pushback against Sabellianism.[225] Sabellianism was widespread in some eastern parts of the church.[225] Rufinus transmitted a version of the Apostles' Creed that clearly stated that the Father cannot suffer, as a direct response to the idea that the Father Himself suffered on the cross.[226]

First Council of Nicaea

The First Council of Nicaea adopted the Nicene Creed in 325.[227] The 325 creed described the Son as "begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father".[227] Arians willingly recited these affirmations while reading into them their own meaning.[224] Nicaea answered this by turning biblical affirmations into statements about what the Son is.[224] Nicaea gathered scriptural affirmations, titles, symbols, images, and predicates about the Son into one affirmation that the Son is "not made but born of the Father," that the Son is "true God from true God," and that the Son is consubstantial with the Father.[224] The 325 creed as functionally binitarian in focus,[228] while the creed concentrated on Father-Son relations and mentioned the Spirit only briefly.[229]

Defenders of Nicaea treated the Gospel of John as central in these disputes, and they cited John 5:23 against the Arians.[187] By the 360s the central debate increasingly concerned the status of the Holy Spirit.[230] This dispute arose in liturgical practice,[230] this resulted in the Holy Spirit being affirmed as the third Person, by the Council of Alexandria in 362.[231]

Athanasius

On the Father and Son, Athanasius argued that the Son was not created but consubstantial (homoousios) with the Father, insisting that ("the Word is ever in the Father and the Father in the Word, as the radiance stands towards the light"[232]) and that ("the whole being of the Son is proper to the Father's Being... the Form of the Godhead of the Father is in the being of the Son."[233])

Regarding the Holy Spirit, Athanasius defended the Spirit's full deity against those who claimed the Spirit was a created being, writing: ("If the Son is named, the Father is in the Son, and the Spirit is not outside the Word. For there is from the Father one grace which is fulfilled through the Son in the Holy Spirit; and there is one divine nature, and one God who is over all and through all and in all."[234])

He concluded that ("the Father is properly Father... the Son is properly the Son... and the Holy Spirit is always the Holy Spirit... given from the Father through the Son. Thus the Holy Trinity remains invariable."[235])

Phos Hilaron

Basil of Caesarea reports an "ancient form" of lamp-lighting thanksgiving with the wording: "We praise Father, Son, and God's Holy Spirit."[236] Phos Hilaron is first mentioned as the lamp-lighting hymn (epilychnios eucharistia) in the Apostolic Constitutions (Book 8, 34ff), written in the late third or early fourth century.[237] In the Apostolic Constitutions, the bishop assembles the church "when it is evening" and the service begins "after the repetition of the psalm at the lighting up the lights".[238] The text then gives an evening bidding prayer for peace, mercy, and a night "free from sin", followed by a set "Thanksgiving for the Evening" that thanks God for ordering day and night and asks preservation "by Your Christ".[239] The thanksgiving ends with a doxology that offers "glory, honour, and worship" to the Father "in the Holy Spirit", and the concluding blessing describes Christ as the one "through whom You have enlightened us with the light of knowledge", with "worthy adoration" offered to the Father and to the Spirit who is named "the Comforter".[240] This placement of psalmody and thanksgiving at the lighting of lamps provides a liturgical setting in which tradition locates the singing of Phos Hilaron as a lamp-lighting hymn, alongside other forms of evening praise.[237]

First Council of Constantinople

The First Council of Constantinople met in 381.[241] The creed from this council included the Holy Spirit in its confession.[241] The council clarified three hypostases sharing one ousia.[241] The Cappadocian Fathers helped define the settlement at Constantinople in 381.[230] Although, modern textual scholarship does not find 1 John 5:7, which reads "the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one," in the oldest Greek and Latin manuscripts.[219] This reading appears only in later textual traditions, where Latin authors such as Priscillian employed it in the 4th century.[219]

5th century and beyond

The Council of Chalcedon (451) declared that Jesus Christ is "one and the same" Son, and it said people acknowledge him "in two natures," "without confusion, without change, without division, without separation".[242] This formulation relied heavily on contemporary Greek philosophical categories.[242] This reliance went beyond what the New Testament data can directly support.[242]

In the Latin West, the Johannine Comma is a feature of the Latin textual and creedal tradition rather than the early Greek manuscript tradition.[243] Priscillian (c. 380) is the first author to cite the Comma unambiguously, in a credal context.[244] A later Latin anti-Arian work, Against Varimadus (often transmitted under other names), also cites the Comma.[245] McDonald places attribution places it with an uncertain author active in Africa around 445–480.[245] Clovis I led the Franks' conversion to Catholicism in 496.[246] Arianism faded in the Frankish realms.[246]

Western developments focused on the Spirit's procession in the Filioque clause.[241] The Filioque ("and from the Son") first appeared explicitly in Spain at the Third Council of Toledo (589).[241] A profession of faith described the Spirit as proceeding from the Father "and the Son".[241]

This development continued into the 7th century, where the Eleventh Council of Toledo (675) stated: "For, when we say: He who is the Father is not the Son, we refer to the distinction of persons; but when we say: the Father is that which the Son is, the Son that which the Father is, and the Holy Spirit that which the Father is and the Son is, this clearly refers to the nature or substance.[247]

In the 8th century, Latin texts such as the Donation of Constantine included the Johannine Comma in transmission. The Council of Frankfurt (794) condemned Adoptionism in the Latin West.[248] By the 9th century, Patriarch Photios I of Constantinople (c. 810/820-893) criticized the Filioque addition, condemned the Latins for this interpolation, and treated it as a major doctrinal rupture contributing to East-West division.[249]

Triadic Monotheism

A more precise New Testament-data formulation of the relationship between God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit can be stated as follows:

There is exactly one God, and the Father as this one God.[250] At the same time, Jesus Christ the Son within God's unique divine rule, name, honor, saving work, judgment, and final reign.[251] The Holy Spirit is God's own Spirit, sent and given in relation to the Father and the Son, and acting personally by teaching, speaking, guiding, interceding, sanctifying, distributing gifts, and being grieved or lied to.[15]

The Father is God as source, sender, and final authority.[252] The Son is distinct from the Father and ordered to him in mission, obedience, prayer, authority, and final subjection.[34] Yet he is not treated as a mere creature, since he is the preexistent Word, the unique Son, the one through whom all things came to be, the Lord to whom divine honor is given, and the Son through whom God saves and rules.[253] The Holy Spirit is distinct from both Father and Son, yet is not treated as a separate god; he is God's own indwelling presence and active agency among believers.[88]

One God, the Father, as source and final end; one Lord, Jesus Christ, as the Father's divine Son and mediator; and one Spirit as God's personal presence and power in the church.[254] This is not three gods, not three separate divine beings, and not one person merely appearing under three names.[42] God is known as Father in sovereign source and rule, as Son in revelation, salvation, lordship, and judgment, and as Spirit in indwelling life, sanctification, and divine agency.[255]

References

Citations

  1. ^ BBC 2011, Introduction to the Trinity.
  2. ^ Britannica 2026, Trinity.
  3. ^ BBC 2011, Unpacking the doctrine.
  4. ^ BBC 2011, Common mistakes.
  5. ^ BBC 2011, Encounters with God.
  6. ^ Siker 2000, pp. 233–235.
  7. ^ Britannica 2026.
  8. ^ The New Encyclopedia Britannica 1985, p. 928.
  9. ^ Brown 1976, p. 84.
  10. ^ Hastings 1922, p. 461.
  11. ^ Fortman 1972, p. 9.
  12. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & 1 Corinthians 2:10.
  13. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & Ephesians 4:30.
  14. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & 1 Corinthians 12:11.
  15. ^ a b c Bible (Berean Standard) & John 14:26.
  16. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & Acts 8:29.
  17. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & Acts 13:2.
  18. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & Romans 8:26.
  19. ^ a b Anatolios 2011, p. 1.
  20. ^ Ehrman 2021.
  21. ^ Eliade 1987, p. 54.
  22. ^ New Catholic Encyclopedia 1967, p. 306.
  23. ^ a b Hastings 1913, p. 254.
  24. ^ Fortman 1972, pp. xv, 8–9.
  25. ^ a b Davidson 1899, p. 205.
  26. ^ a b c d Wenham 1987, p. 27.
  27. ^ Paine 1900, p. 4.
  28. ^ a b c d Bulletin of the John Rylands Library & 1967-1968, pp. 250–259.
  29. ^ Creed 1938, pp. 122–123.
  30. ^ Marshall 1988, p. 144.
  31. ^ Wright 1998, pp. 42–56.
  32. ^ a b Bible (Berean Standard) & John 1:1.
  33. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & John 20:28.
  34. ^ a b Bible (Berean Standard) & John 14:28.
  35. ^ Jervell 1984, p. 21.
  36. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & John 3:17.
  37. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & John 20:21.
  38. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & 1 Corinthians 11:3.
  39. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & 1 Corinthians 15:28. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFBible_(Berean_Standard)1_Corinthians_15:28 (help)
  40. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & John 5:19.
  41. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & John 17:1.
  42. ^ a b Bible (Berean Standard) & Matthew 28:19.
  43. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & 2 Corinthians 13:14.
  44. ^ McClintock & Strong 1987, p. 552.
  45. ^ a b c Gaston 2007, p. 69.
  46. ^ The Catholic Encyclopedia 1912, p. 49.
  47. ^ a b New Catholic Encyclopedia 1967, pp. 574–575.
  48. ^ Ehrman 2014, p. 113.
  49. ^ Grillmeier & Bowden 1975, p. 15.
  50. ^ Witherington 2009, p. 106.
  51. ^ a b Grillmeier & Bowden 1975, pp. 15–19.
  52. ^ O'Collins 2009, p. 142.
  53. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & Philippians 2:7.
  54. ^ Fuller 1965, p. 235.
  55. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & Romans 1:4.
  56. ^ Cave 1925, p. 48.
  57. ^ Cadoux 1943, pp. 40–42.
  58. ^ Matthews 1949, p. 22.
  59. ^ a b Bible (Berean Standard) & Romans 14:11.
  60. ^ a b Kaiser 2014, p. 62.
  61. ^ Gibbs 1971, p. 466.
  62. ^ Enslin 1975, p. 4.
  63. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & Colossians 1:15.
  64. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & Colossians 1:20.
  65. ^ Zupez 2014, pp. 356–359.
  66. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & Romans 1:3-4.
  67. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & Colossians 1:19.
  68. ^ Pretorius 2006, p. 254.
  69. ^ Pretorius 2006, p. 255.
  70. ^ Pretorius 2006, p. 261.
  71. ^ a b c Dunn 2003, pp. 418–420.
  72. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & 1 Thessalonians 1:6.
  73. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & 1 Thessalonians 4:8.
  74. ^ O'Collins & Farrugia 2004, p. 115.
  75. ^ a b Hurtado 2003, pp. 52–53.
  76. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & Philippians 2:11.
  77. ^ Hurtado 2008, pp. 9–10.
  78. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & 1 Corinthians 12:3.
  79. ^ Hurtado 2008, p. 10.
  80. ^ Hurtado 2008, p. 12.
  81. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & Acts 2:38.
  82. ^ Hurtado 2008, p. 13.
  83. ^ Hurtado 2008, p. 14.
  84. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & John 1:3.
  85. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & John 1:14.
  86. ^ Beck 1990, pp. 1–5.
  87. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & John 14:17.
  88. ^ a b Bible (Berean Standard) & John 15:26.
  89. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & John 16:13.
  90. ^ a b Mills 1997.
  91. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & 1 John 4:6.
  92. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & 1 John 4:2.
  93. ^ Painter & Harrington 2002, p. 324.
  94. ^ Burge 1987, pp. 14–21.
  95. ^ Keith 1896, 1 Clement, ch. 46.
  96. ^ Keith 1896, 1 Clement, ch. 58.
  97. ^ a b Lupi 2000, p. 130.
  98. ^ Keith 1896, 1 Clement, ch. 59.
  99. ^ Hildebrand 2011, p. 95.
  100. ^ Keith 1896, 1 Clement, ch. 61.
  101. ^ Keith 1896, 1 Clement, ch. 64.
  102. ^ Ehrman 2003, pp. 411, 429.
  103. ^ a b Svigel 2019, p. 25.
  104. ^ Svigel 2019, p. 26.
  105. ^ a b Anatolios 2011, p. 16.
  106. ^ a b c d e f Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 2024.
  107. ^ Hurtado 2011, p. 277.
  108. ^ Schaff 1896, p. 607.
  109. ^ a b Hurtado 2011, p. 294.
  110. ^ Fletcher-Louis 2009, p. 45.
  111. ^ Bauckham 2004, p. 23.
  112. ^ Bowman 2008, p. 29.
  113. ^ Gieschen 2021, p. 90.
  114. ^ McCall 2004, p. 358.
  115. ^ Hurtado 2010, p. 264.
  116. ^ Bokedal 2015, p. 870.
  117. ^ Harris 1992, p. 123.
  118. ^ Bokedal 2015, p. 856.
  119. ^ Novenson 2022, p. 581.
  120. ^ a b Harnack 1894, p. 191.
  121. ^ Harnack 1894, pp. 191–192.
  122. ^ a b Harnack 1894, p. 192.
  123. ^ Svigel 2019, p. 27.
  124. ^ Lupi 2000, p. 127.
  125. ^ Lake 1912, XII.8.
  126. ^ Lake 1912, XIV.6.
  127. ^ Lake 1912, V.5.
  128. ^ Lake 1912, VI.12-13.
  129. ^ Lake 1912, VII.4.
  130. ^ Lake 1912, I.3.
  131. ^ Lake 1912, XII.2.
  132. ^ Lake 1912, XIV.2.
  133. ^ Roberts, Donaldson & Coxe 1885.
  134. ^ Lightfoot & Harmer 1891, Ephesians 0.
  135. ^ Lightfoot & Harmer 1891, Smyrnaeans 0-1.1.
  136. ^ a b Monroy 2015, p. 292.
  137. ^ McDonnell 2017, p. 3.
  138. ^ Dreyer 2007, p. 31.
  139. ^ Colbert 2021, p. 12.
  140. ^ Pliny 1997.
  141. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & Philippians 2:9-11.
  142. ^ a b Svigel 2019, p. 30.
  143. ^ a b Svigel 2019, p. 31.
  144. ^ Svigel 2019, p. 33.
  145. ^ Svigel 2019, p. 35.
  146. ^ Justin Martyr n.d.
  147. ^ Finnegan 2019.
  148. ^ Lohse 1985, p. 37.
  149. ^ Bucur 2009, p. 107.
  150. ^ a b Hurtado 2008, p. 28.
  151. ^ Hurtado 2008, p. 21.
  152. ^ Hurtado 2008, p. 22.
  153. ^ Hurtado 2008, pp. 22–23.
  154. ^ Hurtado 2008, p. 23.
  155. ^ Hurtado 2008, p. 24.
  156. ^ Segal 1977, p. 758.
  157. ^ Parsons 2014, p. 591.
  158. ^ Augustin 1998, p. 458.
  159. ^ a b Hurtado 2008, p. 27.
  160. ^ a b Hurtado 2008, p. 29.
  161. ^ Anatolios 2011, p. 3.
  162. ^ a b c Anatolios 2011, p. 20.
  163. ^ a b c d Anatolios 2011, p. 21.
  164. ^ Briggman 2017.
  165. ^ McDonnell 1998, pp. 317–318.
  166. ^ Smith 1998, p. 319.
  167. ^ Parsons 2014, p. 585.
  168. ^ Kirby 2026, II.15.
  169. ^ a b c d e Grant 2011, pp. 99–100.
  170. ^ a b Polycarp 1885, Greeting.
  171. ^ Polycarp 1885, Phil. 1.
  172. ^ a b c Polycarp 1885, Phil. 2.
  173. ^ Polycarp 1885, Phil. 6.
  174. ^ a b Polycarp 1885, Phil. 12.
  175. ^ Polycarp 1885, Phil. 5.
  176. ^ Polycarp 1885, Phil. 7.
  177. ^ Tertullian n.d.
  178. ^ Osborn 2003, pp. 121–122.
  179. ^ a b Lupi 2000, p. 139.
  180. ^ a b c Lupi 2000, p. 140.
  181. ^ Tertullian n.d., Against Praxeas 2.
  182. ^ Tertullian n.d., Against Praxeas 3.
  183. ^ Lupi 2000, p. 144.
  184. ^ Lupi 2000, pp. 144–145.
  185. ^ a b c d e Lupi 2000, p. 145.
  186. ^ Menzies 1896, Commentary on John, Book II.
  187. ^ a b Wilken 1982.
  188. ^ Lupi 2000, pp. 145–146.
  189. ^ a b c d e f g h Lupi 2000, p. 146.
  190. ^ Athanasius 1886, De Decretis.
  191. ^ a b c d e f Dionysius of Rome 1886, p. 365.
  192. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & John 10:30.
  193. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & John 14:10.
  194. ^ a b c Novatian 1886, On the Trinity.
  195. ^ Britannica 2024, Novatian.
  196. ^ Chapman 1911.
  197. ^ a b c d Gregory Thaumaturgus 1886, A Declaration of Faith.
  198. ^ Wallace 2004.
  199. ^ Cyprian 1886, De Unitate Ecclesiae, 6.
  200. ^ Scrivener 1883.
  201. ^ Cyprian 1886, Ad Jubaianum, 23.12.
  202. ^ UBS 2004.
  203. ^ Pöhlmann & West 2001, 192.
  204. ^ Cosgrove 2011.
  205. ^ Smith 2011, 28.
  206. ^ a b c Grenfell & Hunt 1922, pp. 21–25.
  207. ^ Wellesz 1945, p. 34.
  208. ^ Pöhlmann & West 2001, 190-192.
  209. ^ McKinnon 2001.
  210. ^ Cosgrove 2011, 37-63.
  211. ^ Cosgrove 2011, 37.
  212. ^ Smith 2011, 28, 211.
  213. ^ Lang 1941, 23.
  214. ^ The Catholic Encyclopedia 1913.
  215. ^ a b Walker 1949, p. 73.
  216. ^ a b Latourette 1975, pp. 144–146.
  217. ^ Berkhof 1949, p. 83.
  218. ^ Armstrong & Blumenthal 2006, Platonism.
  219. ^ a b c Britannica 2026, Trinity (Christianity).
  220. ^ New Catholic Encyclopedia 1967, p. 299.
  221. ^ Douglas 1963, p. 1298.
  222. ^ Hurtado 2008, p. 7.
  223. ^ a b HistoryWorld 2012, History of Arianism.
  224. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Fortman 1972, p. 66-70.
  225. ^ a b Hanson 1988, p. 95.
  226. ^ Schaff 2007, pp. 49–50.
  227. ^ a b Schaff n.d., Creeds of Christendom, vol. I.
  228. ^ Steenberg 2009, p. 106.
  229. ^ Ngong 2010, p. 131.
  230. ^ a b c Letham 2012, 2DM802LA: The Doctrine of the Trinity (course syllabus).
  231. ^ Addis & Arnold 1960, p. 812.
  232. ^ Athanasius 1886a, De Decretis.
  233. ^ Athanasius 1886b, Orations against the Arians.
  234. ^ Athanasius 1886c, Letters to Serapion.
  235. ^ Athanasius 1886c, Ad Serapion 3.7.
  236. ^ Basil & De Spiritu Sancto, 29.
  237. ^ a b Vassiliadis 2012, p. 4.
  238. ^ Apostolic Constitutions 1886, Book VIII, XXXV.
  239. ^ Apostolic Constitutions 1886, Book VIII, XXXVI-XXXVII.
  240. ^ Apostolic Constitutions 1886, Book VIII, XXXVII.
  241. ^ a b c d e f Baber 2010, The Trinity.
  242. ^ a b c Fitzmyer 1991, p. 102.
  243. ^ McDonald 2011, pp. 4–5.
  244. ^ McDonald 2011, p. 36.
  245. ^ a b McDonald 2011, p. 51.
  246. ^ a b Cross & Livingstone 2005, p. 100.
  247. ^ EWTN 2019, The Eleventh Council of Toledo (675).
  248. ^ Meens 2016, p. 64.
  249. ^ Hella 2023, p. 67.
  250. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & Mark 12:29.
  251. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & 1 Corinthians 8:4-6.
  252. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & John 17:3.
  253. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & John 1:1-18.
  254. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & Ephesians 4:4-6.
  255. ^ Bible (Berean Standard) & 1 Peter 1:2.

Bibliography

  • "Matthew 25:31-46". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
  • "Mark 9:45-48". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
  • "Colossians 1:19-20". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
  • "Philippians 2:10-11". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
  • "Galatians 3:28". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
  • "Romans 5:18". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
  • "1 Corinthians 15:22". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
  • "1 Corinthians 15:28". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
  • "Romans 11:32". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
  • "Acts 3:21". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
  • "1 Peter 3:18-20". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
  • "1 Peter 4:6". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
  • "2 Peter 3:9". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
  • "1 Timothy 2:3-6". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
  • "1 Timothy 4:10". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
  • "John 12:32". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
  • "2 Corinthians 5:14-19". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
  • "1 John 2:2". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
  • "Titus 2:11". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
  • "Ephesians 1:10". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
  • "Luke 3:6". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
  • "Romans 8:19-21". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
  • "John 1:29". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
  • "John 16:7". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-01.
  • "John 17:3". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-01.
  • "Novatian". Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2024-03-29. Retrieved 2026-03-01.
  • Roberts, Alexander; Donaldson, James; Coxe, A. Cleveland, eds. (1886). "Apostolic Constitutions, Book VIII". New Advent. Translated by James Donaldson. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co. Retrieved 2026-03-01.
  • Athanasius (367). Festal Letters. Preserved in Jerome, De Viris Illustribus.
  • Athanasius (1886a). Schaff, Philip (ed.). De Decretis (Defence of the Nicene Definition). Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II. Vol. 4. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co.
  • Athanasius (1886b). Schaff, Philip (ed.). Orations against the Arians. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II. Vol. 4. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co.
  • Athanasius (1886c). Schaff, Philip (ed.). Letters to Serapion. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II. Vol. 4. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co.

Cyprian (1886). Roberts, Alexander; Donaldson, James (eds.). Treatise I: On the Unity of the Church. Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol. 5. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co.

  • Scrivener, Frederick Henry Ambrose (1883). A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament (3rd ed.). London: George Bell and Sons.
  • Aland, Kurt; Aland, Barbara (2004). The Greek New Testament (4th rev. ed.). Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft / United Bible Societies. ISBN 3438051109.}}
  • Ehrman, Bart D. (2014). How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee. HarperOne. ISBN 978-0061778186.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Grillmeier, Aloys (1975). Christ in Christian Tradition: From the Apostolic Age to Chalcedon (451). Translated by Bowden, John. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0664223014.
  • Witherington, Ben (2009). The Indelible Image: The Theological and Ethical Thought World of the New Testament. Vol. 1: The Individual Witnesses. IVP Academic. ISBN 978-0830838615.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • O'Collins, Gerald (2009). Christology: A Biblical, Historical, and Systematic Study of Jesus. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199557875.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Fuller, Reginald H. (1965). The Foundations of New Testament Christology. New York: Scribner. ISBN 978-0684155326.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Sanders, E. P. (1977). Paul and Palestinian Judaism: A Comparison of Patterns of Religion. Fortress Press. ISBN 978-0800604998.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Dunn, James D. G. (1990). Jesus, Paul, and the Law: Studies in Mark and Galatians. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0664250959.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • "John 10:30". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-01.
  • "John 14:10". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-01.
  • Zupez, John (2014). "Celebrating God's Plan of Creation/Salvation". Emmanuel. 120 (5): 356–359.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Pretorius, Mark (2006). "The theological centre of Pauline theology as it relates to the Holy Spirit". HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies. 62 (1): 253–262. doi:10.4102/hts.v62i1.354.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Dunn, James D. G. (2003). Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making. Volume 1. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0802839312.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • O'Collins, Gerald; Farrugia, Edward G. (2004). A Concise Dictionary of Theology. T&T Clark. ISBN 978-0567083548.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Jestice, Phyllis G., ed. (2004). Holy People of the World: A Cross-Cultural Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-57607-355-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Grenfell, Bernard P.; Hunt, Arthur S. (1922). "1786. Christian hymn with musical notation". The Oxyrhynchus Papyri. Vol. 15. London: Egypt Exploration Society. pp. 21–25.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Lang, Paul Henry (1941). Music in Western Civilization. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-04074-6. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • McKinnon, James W. (2001). "Christian Church, Music of the Early. §II: Special Issues, 8. The Musical Character of Early Christian Song". In Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-333-60800-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Pöhlmann, Egert; West, Martin L. (2001). Documents of Ancient Greek Music: The Extant Melodies and Fragments. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-815223-X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Smith, John Arthur (2011). Music in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity. Farnham: Ashgate. ISBN 978-1-4094-9423-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Basil of Caesarea (1895). "Chapter 29" (PDF). In Schaff, Philip (ed.). De Spiritu Sancto. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2. Vol. 8. New York: Christian Literature Publishing Co.
  • Cosgrove, Charles H. (2011). An Ancient Christian Hymn with Musical Notation: Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1786: Text and Commentary. Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum. Vol. 65. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.
  • Wellesz, Egon J. (1945). "The Earliest Example of Christian Hymnody". The Classical Quarterly. 39 (1–2): 34–45. doi:10.1017/S0009838800029803.
  • Vassiliadis, Petros (2012). "From the Pauline Collection to Phos Hilaron of Cappadocia". St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly. 56 (1): 5–16.
  • Menzies, Allan, ed. (1896). Ante-Nicene Fathers. Volume 9: Recently Discovered Additions to Early Christian Literature; Commentaries of Origen. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • "St. Dionysius". Wikisource: Catholic Encyclopedia (1913). Retrieved 2026-02-28.
  • Walker, Williston (1949). A History of the Christian Church. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 73.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Latourette, Kenneth Scott (1975). A History of Christianity. New York: Harper & Row. pp. 144–146.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Berkhof, Louis (1949). The History of Christian Doctrines. Grand Rapids: Baker. p. 83.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Ehrman, Bart D. (2003). The Apostolic Fathers. Volume I: I Clement. II Clement. Ignatius. Polycarp. Didache. Loeb Classical Library. Vol. 24. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674996076.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Hildebrand, Stephen M. (2011). "The Trinity in the Ante-Nicene Fathers". In Emery, Gilles; Levering, Matthew (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of the Trinity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 95–108. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199557813.003.0008.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • "John 20:21". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-01.
  • "John 1:1". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-02-28.
  • "John 20:28". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-02-28.
  • "John 14:28". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-02-28.
  • "Romans 1:3-4". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-01.
  • "Romans 1:4". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-01.
  • "Romans 14:11". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-03-01.
  • "John 3:17". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-02-28.
  • "John 5:19". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-02-28.
  • "John 17:1". Wikisource: Bible (Berean Standard). Retrieved 2026-02-28.
  • Siker, Jeffrey S. (2000). "Christianity in the Second and Third Centuries". In Esler, Philip F. (ed.). The Early Christian World. Routledge. pp. 233–235. ISBN 0-415-24141-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Colbert, J. K. (2021). From Pouring to a Triad: Images of the Holy Spirit in the Apostolic Fathers and Early Apologists (Doctoral dissertation). ProQuest.{{cite thesis}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Dreyer, Elizabeth A. (2007). Holy Power, Holy Presence: Rediscovering Medieval Metaphors for the Holy Spirit. Paulist Press.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • McDonnell, Kilian (2017). The Other Hand of God: The Holy Spirit as the Universal Touch and Goal. Liturgical Press.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Monroy, Mauricio Saavedra (2015). The Church of Smyrna: History and Theology of a Primitive Christian Community. Peter Lang.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Polycarp of Smyrna (1885). "Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians". In Roberts, Alexander; Donaldson, James (eds.). Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol. 1. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co.
  • Addis, W. E.; Arnold, Thomas (1960). A Catholic Dictionary.
  • Armstrong, A. Hilary; Blumenthal, Henry J. (2006). "Platonism". Encyclopaedia Britannica 2006 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD. Encyclopaedia Britannica.
  • Augustine, Aurelius (1998). Schaff, Philip (ed.). On the Holy Trinity. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series. Vol. 3. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
  • Baber, H. E. (2010-10-22). "The Trinity". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Archived from the original on 2010-10-28. Retrieved 2026-02-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Bauckham, Richard J. (2004). "Monotheism and Christology in Hebrews 1". In Stuckenbruck, Loren T.; North, Wendy E. S. (eds.). Early Jewish and Christian Monotheism. London: T&T Clark International.
  • BBC (2011-07-21) [2006-06-06]. "The Trinity". BBC Religion & Ethics. British Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 2009-02-25. Retrieved 2026-02-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Bokedal, Tomas (2015). "The Early Rule-of-Faith Pattern as Emergent Biblical Theology". Theofilos Supplement. 7 (1): 3–22.
  • Bowman, Robert M., Jr. (2008). "Jesus Christ, God Manifest: Titus 2:13 Revisited". Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society. 51 (4): 733–752.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Brown, Colin, ed. (1976). "Trinity". The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology. Vol. 2. Zondervan. p. 84.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Bucur, Bogdan Gabriel (2009). Angelomorphic Pneumatology: Clement of Alexandria and Other Early Christian Witnesses. Brill. p. 107. ISBN 978-90-04-17717-8.
  • "Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 50:250-259". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 50: 250–259. 1967–1968.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
  • Cadoux, C. J. (1943). A Pilgrim's Further Progress: Dialogues on Christian Teaching. Oxford: Blackwell. pp. 40–42.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Cave, Sydney (1925). The Doctrine of the Person of Christ. Duckworth. p. 48.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Commentary on what the early Christians believed about the Trinity (1998). Commentary on what the early Christians believed about the Trinity. Patritic Research Documents.
  • Creed, J. M. (1938). The Divinity of Jesus Christ: A Study in the History of Christian Doctrine since Kant. pp. 122–123.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Cross, F. L.; Livingstone, E. A., eds. (2005). The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press. p. 100.
  • Davidson, A. B. (1899). "God". Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. Vol. II. p. 205.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Dictionary of the Apostolic Church (n.d.). "Christ". Dictionary of the Apostolic Church. Vol. 1. p. 194.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  • Dionysius (1886). The Works of Dionysius the Areopagite. Oxford: James Parker & Co. p. 365.
  • Dionysius of Rome (1886). "Against the Sabellians". In Roberts, Alexander; Donaldson, James; Coxe, A. Cleveland (eds.). Fathers of the Third and Fourth Centuries: Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, Homily, and Liturgies. The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol. 7. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company. p. 365.
  • Eliade, Mircea, ed. (1987). "Trinity". The Encyclopedia of Religion. Vol. 15. Macmillan Publishing Company. p. 54.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Encyclopaedia Britannica (2026-02-13). "Trinity". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 2026-02-28.
  • Fitzmyer, Joseph A. (1991). A Christological Catechism: New Testament Answers. Paulist Press.
  • Fletcher-Louis, Crispin H. T. (2009). "A New Explanation of Christological Origins: A Review of the Work of Larry W. Hurtado". Tyndale Bulletin. 60 (2): 161–205.
  • Gaston, Thomas (2007). Proto-Trinity: The Development of the Doctrine of the Trinity in the First and Second Christian Centuries (MPhil(b) thesis). University of Birmingham. p. 69.{{cite thesis}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Geanakoplos, Deno John (1989). Constantinople and the West. University of Wisconsin Press.
  • Gieschen, Charles A. (2021). "The YHWH Christology of the Gospel of John". Concordia Theological Quarterly. 85: 3–22.
  • Goguel, Maurice (1960). Jesus and the Origins of Christianity. Harper.
  • McDonald, William J., ed. (1967). "Trinity". New Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company. p. 296. OCLC 174793433.
  • Werner, Martin (1957). The Formation of Christian Dogma: An Historical Study of Its Problem. Translated by Brandon, S. G. F. London: Adam & Charles Black. OCLC 384411.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Muller, James Arthur (1924). Creeds and Loyalty: Essays on the History, Interpretation and Use of the Creeds. New York: The Macmillan Company. OCLC 224787.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Grant, Robert M. (2011). "Patristic Witness". In Emery, Gilles; Levering, Matthew (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of the Trinity. Oxford University Press. pp. 99–100.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Hanson, Anthony Tyrrell (1975). Grace and truth: A study in the doctrine of the Incarnation. London: S.P.C.K. p. 66.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Hanson, R. P. C. (1988). The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: The Arian Controversy 318-381. p. 95.
  • Harris, Murray J. (1992). Jesus as God: The New Testament Use of Theos in Reference to Jesus. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House. ISBN 0-8010-2195-2.
  • Hastings, James, ed. (1913). "God". Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics. Vol. 6. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. p. 254.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Hastings, James, ed. (1922). "Trinity". Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics. Vol. 12. p. 461.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Hella, Anni (2023). "How can we trust these books?": The Use and Authority of Manuscripts in the Council of Ferrara-Florence (1438-39). Department of Cultural History, School of History, Culture and Arts Studies, Faculty of Humanities (Doctoral dissertation). University of Turku. p. 67.
  • Hurtado, Larry W. (2003). Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity. Wm. B. Eerdmans. pp. 52–53.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Hurtado, Larry W. (2010). "The Origins of Jesus-Devotion: A Response to Crispin Fletcher-Louis". Tyndale Bulletin. 61 (1): 1–20.
  • Hurtado, Larry W. (2011). "Early Devotion to Jesus: A Report, Reflections and Implications". The Expository Times. 122 (4): 167–176. doi:10.1177/0014524610388102.
  • Hurtado, Larry W. (2008). Early Christian devotion to Jesus. pp. 7, 9–10, 10, 12–15, 21–24, 27–29.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Ignatius of Antioch (1885). Roberts, Alexander; Donaldson, James; Coxe, A. Cleveland (eds.). Ante-Nicene Fathers. Volume 1: The Apostolic Fathers, with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co.
  • Jervell, Jacob (1984). Jesus in the Gospel of John. p. 21.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Justin Martyr (n.d.). "ch. 13". The First Apology. New Advent.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  • Lohse, Bernhard (1966). A Short History of Christian Doctrine. Philadelphia: Fortress Press. p. 38.
  • Lohse, Bernhard (1985). A Short History of Christian Doctrine. Fortress Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-8006-3188-8.
  • Marshall, Howard (1988). "Jesus as Lord: The Development of the Concept". Eschatology in the New Testament. Hendrickson. p. 144.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Matthews, W. R. (1949). The Problem of Christ in the 20th Century. Maurice Lectures. p. 22.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • McClintock, John; Strong, James (1987). "Matthew 28:19". Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature. Vol. X. Baker Book House. p. 552.
  • Meens, Rob (2016). Religious Franks: Religion and Power in the Frankish Kingdoms. Manchester University Press. p. 64.
  • New Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: McGraw-Hill. 1967.
  • Ngong, David Tonghou (2010). The Holy Spirit and Salvation in African Christian Theology. Peter Lang. pp. 131, 153 fn. 35. ISBN 978-1-4331-0941-6.
  • Novatian (1886). "On the Trinity". New Advent. Translated by Robert Ernest Wallis. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 5. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886). Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Retrieved 2026-02-21.
  • Novenson, Matthew V. (2022). Monotheism and Christology in Greco-Roman Antiquity. Leiden: Brill.
  • Osborn, Eric (2003). Tertullian, First Theologian of the West. Cambridge University Press. pp. 121–122. ISBN 978-0-521-52495-7.
  • Pagels, Elaine (2003). Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas. Random House.
  • Paine, L. L. (1900). A Critical History of the Evolution of Trinitarianism, and Its Outcome in the New Christology. Houghton Mifflin and Co. p. 4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Parsons, Stuart E. (2014). "Very Early Trinitarian Expressions". Tyndale Bulletin. 65 (1): 141–152.
  • Schaff, Philip (1896). History of the Christian Church, Volume II: Ante-Nicene Christianity. Grand Rapids: Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
  • Segal, Alan F. (1977). Two Powers in Heaven: Early Rabbinic Reports about Christianity and Gnosticism. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 0-391-04172-X.
  • Ehrman, Bart D. (2011). The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199757534.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Still, Todd D.; Wilhite, David E. (2012). Tertullian and Paul. A&C Black. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-567-55411-6.
  • Svigel, Michael J. (2019). "Trinitarianism in Didache, Barnabas, and the Shepherd: Sketchy, Scant, or Scandalous?". Perichoresis. 17 (1): 23–40. doi:10.2478/perc-2019-0008.
  • "The Blessed Trinity". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1912. p. 49. Retrieved 2026-02-23.
  • "Trinity". The New Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1985. p. 928.
  • Trinity. World History Encyclopedia. n.d.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  • Harnack, Adolf von (1894). History of Dogma (PDF). Vol. 1. Translated by Buchanan, Neil. Williams & Norgate.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Weigall, Arthur (1928). The Paganism in Our Christianity. G.P. Putnam's Sons. p. 197.
  • Wenham, Gordon J. (1987). Word Biblical Commentary: Genesis 1-15. Vol. 1. Word Books. p. 27.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Wright, N. T. (1998). Jesus and the Identity of God. Vol. 14. pp. 42–56.
  • York University (n.d.). "Pliny, Letters 10.96-97". York University.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  • Gibbs, John G. (1971). "Pauline Cosmic Christology and Ecological Crisis". Journal of Biblical Literature. 90 (4): 466–479. doi:10.2307/3263615.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Breck, John (1990). Spirit of Truth: The Origins of Johannine Pneumatology. St Vladimir's Seminary Press. ISBN 0881410810.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Mills, Watson E.; Wilson, Richard F. (1997). Acts and Pauline Writings. Mercer University Press. ISBN 086554512X.

Content Disclaimer

Informasi ini disarikan dari Wikipedia dan disajikan kembali untuk tujuan edukasi. Konten tersedia di bawah lisensi CC BY-SA 3.0. Kami tidak bertanggung jawab atas ketidakakuratan data yang bersumber dari kontribusi publik tersebut.

  1. The information displayed on this website is sourced in part or in whole from Wikipedia and has been adapted for the purpose of restating it. We strive to provide accurate and relevant information, however:
  2. There is no guarantee of absolute accuracy. Wikipedia is an open, collaborative project that can be edited by anyone, so information is subject to change.
  3. It is not intended to constitute professional advice. The content displayed is for informational and educational purposes only. For important decisions (e.g., medical, legal, or financial), please consult a professional.
  4. Content copyright. Wikipedia is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License (CC BY-SA). This means that content may be reused with appropriate attribution and shared under a similar license.
  5. Responsible use. Any risk arising from the use of information from this website is entirely the responsibility of the user.