The Trinity, A Hellenistic Creation
February 8th, 2008 by Sean
One of the most convincing reasons why I do not believe in the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity is because it began to develop after the Bible was finished being written. In other words, we have no book, chapter, paragraph, or verse in which the idea of the Trinity is explicitly stated. Furthermore, we understand that the earliest Christians were all practicing Jews–people who believe that God is an absolute unity (i.e. not one in three, but one in one). So, if the early Christian movement grew out of the soil of Jewish monotheism, at what point did the new idea that the Messiah would be God along with the Father and the Spirit arise? I’m not sure exactly who or when the first person wrote down trinitarian ideas. Some say Justin Martyr with his “logos christology” (the idea that Jesus pre-existed as the Word) was the first person to introduce the mutating virus that would eventually become the full blown Trinity in c. 145 a.d.. Others say it was Tertullian who introduced the word, trinitas twenty years later.
Tertullian denounced Christian doctrines he considered heretical, but later in life adopted views that themselves came to be regarded as heretical…He was a notable lawyer in Rome during the reign of Marcus Aurelius and introduced the term Trinity as the Latin trinitas, to the Christian vocabulary and also probably the formula “three Persons, one Substance” as the Latin “tres Personae, una Substantia”… (Wikipedia article, click here)
The Trinity was not developed in the regions of Hebraic Judea but in the midst of the Hellenistic (hellenistic has to do with Greek thinking, culture, philosophy, etc.) thought centers (i.e. Alexandria, Egypt). In fact, the eventually framers of the doctrine (i.e. the Cappadocians in particular) were trained in Greek philosophy. Rather than focusing on what it meant to be the messiah in terms of function they focused instead on the substance of the Son of God. Rather than keeping with the spirit of Jesus’ apocalyptic, kingdom message, they instead became obsessed in determining the exact relationship between Son and Father. I found the following quote insightful:
If we take the New Testament as a criterion, we cannot deny that the Council of Nicaea certainly maintained the New Testament message and did not Hellenize it totally. But it is equally beyond dispute that the council remained utterly imprisoned in Hellenistic concepts, notions and thought-models which would have been completely alien to the Jew Jesus of Nazareth and the earliest community. Here in particular the shift from the Jewish Christians apocalyptic paradigm to the early church Hellenistic paradigm had a massive effect. (Christianity: Essence, History, and Future, Continuum International Publishing Group In, NY, NY, ©1994, page 182.)
This, among other reasons, has compelled many of us to go back before the Trinity, directly to the words of Jesus, and then before them all the way back to the clear understanding of God presented in the Hebrew Scriptures. We prefer to take our understanding from the New Testament in light of the Old Testament and the 1st century context.
Isn’t it something how the phraze “Jesus is God” has replaced
“Jesus is the Son of God” with some people? Here’s an example:
A man told me that if I don’t believe Jesus is God, then…….(here we
go, it seems like anything goes..) Then, I believe Jesus was just a
sinful man, and so I can not be saved from my sins.
There are many versions of that, but that’s the jist of it.
If I don’t believe Jesus is God, then…I’m saying Jesus was just another man like all the rest of us.
Suppose I say, I don’t believe John the Baptist is Elijah, but Elijah
is Elijah, and John the Baptist is John the Baptist, though both
John the Baptist and Elijah are great examples of men of God who
were anointed of God and did the will of God.
Suppose I say that, and somebody says, “Well, Ray, since you do
not believe John the Baptist is Elijah, then ……..(here we go, anything seems to go)……You do not believe Jesus, and so you
are not a Christian, or You are saying that John the Baptist wasn’t
walking under the anointing of God like Elijah did,…..or You are saying that John the Baptist was not a real prophet.,…or You are
saying that John the Baptist wasn’t one who was prophesied of
who would ‘prepare the way of the Lord.’”
Would they be fair? Would they be walking under the anointing of
God? Isn’t the anointing of God effective? Doesn’t the anointing of
God walk in the truth?
I can find a verse that says that Jesus confessed John the Baptist
as Elijah, yet I can still say that they were not really the same person, which was what I meant when I said, “John is not Elijah.”
I suppose they only heard what they wanted to hear.
Isn’t there a sense in which John the Baptist is Elijah? I can contend
both ways, if I do so honestly and openly, being authentic.
Can’t I do the same with Jesus? I suppose I can say that “Jesus is
God”, in a sense, but because I don’t want to be misunderstood,
and be judged by man to belong to a certain camp, or particular
persuasion of doctrine, I don’t usually go around confessing “Jesus
is God.”, to persuade people to join my particular discipline.
I want people to know that there are many Christians, who are not
accepted as such, or who will not be accepted into certain schools,
or churches, because they don’t fit somebody’s particular mold that
was not necessarily cast by God himself, meant to be the only way
to consider him, or to worship him, or to confess him.
God wants all of us to say the same thing. Can we all agree that one may still be a Christian even if he doesn’t believe or confess
that Jesus is God? I think we should learn to do so, for many of the
reasons already given.
Can we all agree that many Christians don’t believe or confess that
Jesus existed with God in the beginning? I believe so. They are still
Christians.
Can we all agree that many Christians believe and confess the trinity doctrines? I believe many do, and they are still Christians.
Can we all agree that there are some who do not like the trinity
doctrines, practices, and words they use, but still believe Jesus was
with God from all eternity? I believe there are some, and they are
still Christians.
Can we all get to discerning who we are…….members one of another, because of Jesus? I think we can if we try.