A detailed historical research image examining the development of the doctrine of the Trinity, featuring Simon Brown studying the Bible, the Trinity symbol, the Council of Nicaea, and the question of whether later Church Fathers rejected the earlier Jewish understanding that God is One.
DID THE CATHOLIC CHURCH CREATE THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY?
And Did Later Church Fathers Reject the Earlier Jewish Understanding of the One God?
Research by Simon Brown
The doctrine of the Trinity is today regarded by Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, and most Protestant denominations as one of the central doctrines of Christianity.
It teaches that there is one God, while the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three distinct persons who fully share the one divine being.
Millions of Christians naturally assume that this was exactly what Jesus, Peter, Paul, and the earliest Christians believed and taught.
But is that what history actually shows?
Was the fully developed doctrine of the Trinity preached by Jesus?
Was it preached by Peter?
Was it preached by Paul?
Was there an official doctrine of one God existing as three co-equal and co-eternal persons during the lifetime of Jesus and His apostles?
Or did this theological definition emerge through controversies that reached their decisive stage centuries after Jesus?
In this study we are going to examine:
Jesus and the Jewish understanding of God.
The apostles.
The Council of Nicaea.
The Nicene Creed.
The Church Fathers.
Gregory of Nyssa.
The persecution of Christians judged to be heretics.
William Tyndale.
Michael Servetus.
And the extraordinary theological research of one of history's greatest scientists:
SIR ISAAC NEWTON.
But our final authority will not be any of these men.
It must always come back to:
WHAT DID JESUS CHRIST ACTUALLY TEACH?
THE CREED OF JESUS
Jesus was a Jew.
His apostles were Jews.
Their Scriptures were the Hebrew Scriptures.
At the heart of Israel's faith stood one of the greatest declarations concerning God ever given:
“HEAR, ISRAEL: YAHWEH OUR GOD, YAHWEH IS ONE.”
Deuteronomy 6:4 — BLB
This confession became known as the Shema.
Israel was surrounded by nations worshipping many gods.
But Israel worshipped the One God.
Now something extremely important happens in the New Testament.
Jesus Himself is asked:
Which commandment is the first of all?
Jesus answers:
“THE FIRST IS, ‘HEAR, ISRAEL: THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE.’”
Mark 12:29 — BLB
Notice what Jesus does not say.
He does not answer:
“God is three persons in one essence.”
He does not say:
“God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, co-equal and co-eternal.”
He does not introduce the later theological terminology of ousia, hypostasis, or homoousios.
Instead, Jesus repeats Israel's ancient confession:
“THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE.”
Then something even more significant happens.
The Jewish scribe replies:
“RIGHT, TEACHER. YOU HAVE SPOKEN ACCORDING TO TRUTH THAT HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NOT ANOTHER BESIDES HIM.”
Mark 12:32 — BLB
Notice the singular language:
HE IS ONE.
And:
THERE IS NOT ANOTHER BESIDES HIM.
Did Jesus correct him?
Did Jesus tell him that his understanding of God was incomplete because God was actually three persons?
No.
Jesus saw that the man answered wisely and told him:
“YOU ARE NOT FAR FROM THE KINGDOM OF GOD.”
Mark 12:34 — BLB
This conversation is enormously important.
Because Jesus affirmed the Jewish confession of the One God.
Remember this.
Approximately three centuries later, Christian theologians would be discussing this Jewish conception of God in remarkably different language.
WAS THERE AN OFFICIAL TRINITY DOCTRINE DURING THE TIME OF JESUS?
The word Trinity does not occur anywhere in Scripture.
But the issue goes much deeper than the absence of a word.
Nowhere do we find Jesus explicitly giving His disciples the later theological formula:
ONE GOD IN THREE CO-EQUAL AND CO-ETERNAL PERSONS.
Trinitarian scholars generally argue that the later doctrine was developed as the Church attempted to account for everything Scripture says about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
That distinction is important.
There are therefore two different questions:
CAN TRINITARIAN THEOLOGY BE CONSTRUCTED FROM BIBLICAL PASSAGES?
And:
WHEN WAS THE FORMAL TRINITARIAN DOCTRINE ACTUALLY DEFINED?
History gives us a clear answer to the second question.
The decisive controversies came centuries after Jesus.
AD 325 — THE COUNCIL OF NICAEA
During the fourth century, an enormous controversy developed concerning the relationship between God the Father and Jesus Christ.
Arius and those associated with him opposed the idea that the Son was eternally equal with the Father.
The controversy became so serious that Emperor Constantine summoned bishops to:
THE FIRST COUNCIL OF NICAEA
in AD 325.
The resulting creed began:
“WE BELIEVE IN ONE GOD, THE FATHER ALMIGHTY...”
and continued:
“AND IN ONE LORD JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD...”
But it went further.
The Son was described as:
God from God
Light from Light
true God from true God
begotten, not made
and:
“OF ONE SUBSTANCE WITH THE FATHER.”
The crucial Greek word was:
HOMOOUSIOS
meaning of the same substance or essence.
This became one of the most important words in subsequent Trinitarian theology.
THE NICENE CREED DID SOMETHING ELSE
The original creed did not merely state what the bishops believed.
It concluded with an:
ANATHEMA.
Those saying that there was a time when the Son did not exist, that He came from nothing, or that He was created or of another substance were condemned by:
“THE CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH.”
This is part of the surviving historical text of the creed.
We therefore have something that deserves careful consideration.
Approximately three centuries after Jesus, a Church council was formally establishing theological boundaries concerning the relationship between God and Christ.
This does not automatically prove that the council was wrong.
But neither should we pretend that its theological language was simply quoted from Jesus.
It was not.
JESUS NEVER USED THE WORD HOMOOUSIOS.
Peter never preached it at Pentecost.
Paul never wrote:
“God is three co-equal persons sharing one divine essence.”
This terminology belongs to later Christian theological development.
NICAEA DID NOT COMPLETE THE LATER TRINITARIAN FORMULATION
Another important historical fact is frequently overlooked.
The creed of AD 325 ended its positive confession with only a very brief statement concerning the Holy Spirit.
The controversies continued.
Then came:
THE FIRST COUNCIL OF CONSTANTINOPLE — AD 381.
The creed associated with Constantinople contains the much fuller language concerning the Holy Spirit familiar to Christians from the later Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed.
Look at the chronology:
JESUS AND THE APOSTLES:
First century.
COUNCIL OF NICAEA:
AD 325.
COUNCIL OF CONSTANTINOPLE:
AD 381.
Therefore the definitive creedal language associated with Trinitarian Christianity emerged through controversies taking place approximately three centuries after Jesus.
DID THE CATHOLIC CHURCH INVENT THE TRINITY?
We must be historically fair.
It would be too simplistic to say:
“ONE POPE INVENTED THE TRINITY.”
It would also be historically inaccurate to say:
“CONSTANTINE INVENTED THE TRINITY IN AD 325.”
The development was considerably more complicated.
Christian theologians had discussed the Father, Son, Logos, and Holy Spirit long before Nicaea.
Different Christians proposed different explanations.
Nicaea was a major turning point rather than the beginning of every idea that eventually formed Trinitarian theology.
Nevertheless, another historical fact remains:
THE FULLY DEVELOPED TRINITARIAN CREED WAS NOT GIVEN BY JESUS IN THE FORM LATER DEFINED BY THE CHURCH.
The councils of the fourth century played a decisive role in establishing the theological boundaries that eventually became Christian orthodoxy.
And the original Nicene Creed itself invokes:
A detailed historical timeline illustrating the development of Trinitarian doctrine. The image begins with Jesus and the apostles in the first century, moves through the theological debates of the second and third centuries, and continues to the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 and the Council of Constantinople in AD 381. It compares the biblical language concerning the One God, the Father, and Jesus Christ the Son of God with the later theological terminology of one divine essence, three persons, homoousios, and the developing Trinitarian creeds.
“THE CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH.”
Therefore a much more historically defensible conclusion is:
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY DEVELOPED OVER TIME AND WAS FORMALLY DEFINED THROUGH CENTURIES OF THEOLOGICAL CONTROVERSY AND THE GREAT CHURCH COUNCILS.
And then we discover something extraordinary in the writings of one of the great Trinitarian Church Fathers.
HOW DID A GREAT CHURCH FATHER VIEW JEWISH MONOTHEISM?
Meet:
GREGORY OF NYSSA.
Gregory lived during the fourth century and became one of the most influential theologians in the development and defence of Trinitarian orthodoxy.
Together with Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nazianzus, he is remembered as one of the great:
CAPPADOCIAN FATHERS.
These theologians played an enormously important role in explaining how God could be one divine nature while distinguished as three persons or hypostases.
But Gregory wrote something remarkable.
In The Great Catechism, Gregory compared Christian theology with:
JEWISH MONOTHEISM
on one side,
and:
GREEK POLYTHEISM
on the other.
Gregory argued that Christian truth occupied a position between the two.
His language is astonishing.
He says that:
“THE TRUTH PASSES IN THE MEAN BETWEEN THESE TWO CONCEPTIONS, DESTROYING EACH HERESY...”
Gregory then explains that something is retained from each conception.
From the Jewish conception:
THE UNITY OF THE NATURE.
And from the Hellenistic conception:
THE DISTINCTION AS TO PERSONS.
This deserves very careful attention.
This was not written by a modern critic attacking the Trinity.
It was written by:
ONE OF THE GREAT TRINITARIAN CHURCH FATHERS HIMSELF.
DID A CHURCH FATHER CALL THE CREED OF JESUS HERESY?
We must be extremely precise.
Gregory did not literally write:
“THE CREED OF JESUS IS HERESY.”
Those are not his words, and we should never put words into someone's mouth.
But Gregory explicitly discusses the Jewish dogma and says Trinitarian truth passes between the Jewish and Greek conceptions, overcoming what he considered erroneous while retaining something from each.
Now go back approximately three centuries.
What Jewish creed did Jesus Himself affirm?
“THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE.”
Mark 12:29
And what did the Jewish scribe say?
“HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NOT ANOTHER BESIDES HIM.”
Mark 12:32
Did Jesus condemn that confession?
No.
He told the man:
“YOU ARE NOT FAR FROM THE KINGDOM OF GOD.”
Mark 12:34
Therefore we are entitled to ask an extremely serious historical question:
HOW DID THE JEWISH MONOTHEISM THAT JESUS HIMSELF AFFIRMED LATER COME TO BE REGARDED AS SOMETHING CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY NEEDED TO CORRECT OR MOVE BEYOND?
Every Christian should be willing to investigate that question.
WHAT DID PAUL SAY?
Paul gives us an extraordinarily straightforward statement:
“YET TO US THERE IS ONE GOD, THE FATHER, FROM WHOM ARE ALL THINGS, AND WE FOR HIM; AND ONE LORD, JESUS CHRIST, THROUGH WHOM ARE ALL THINGS, AND WE THROUGH HIM.”
1 Corinthians 8:6 — BLB
Notice Paul's identification:
ONE GOD — THE FATHER.
And:
ONE LORD — JESUS CHRIST.
Paul also writes:
“FOR THERE IS ONE GOD AND ONE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MEN, THE MAN CHRIST JESUS.”
1 Timothy 2:5 — BLB
Again:
ONE GOD.
And:
ONE MEDIATOR — CHRIST JESUS.
And Paul states:
“BUT GOD IS ONE.”
Galatians 3:20 — BLB
WHO DID JESUS CALL “THE ONLY TRUE GOD”?
Jesus prayed directly to His Father:
“NOW THIS IS ETERNAL LIFE, THAT THEY MAY KNOW YOU, THE ONLY TRUE GOD, AND JESUS CHRIST WHOM YOU SENT.”
John 17:3 — BLB
Jesus calls His Father:
“THE ONLY TRUE GOD.”
Then distinguishes Himself as:
“JESUS CHRIST WHOM YOU SENT.”
Whatever theological tradition we have inherited, those words deserve their full weight.
WHAT DID JESUS CALL HIMSELF?
Jesus said:
“I SAID, ‘I AM SON OF GOD.’”
John 10:36 — BLB
Peter confessed:
“YOU ARE THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.”
Matthew 16:16 — BLB
And John explains the purpose of his Gospel:
“BUT THESE HAVE BEEN WRITTEN SO THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD, AND THAT BELIEVING YOU MAY HAVE LIFE IN HIS NAME.”
John 20:31 — BLB
The stated confession is:
JESUS IS THE CHRIST.
THE SON OF GOD.
FROM ANATHEMA TO IMPERIAL ENFORCEMENT
Now we reach a darker part of Christian history.
It is sometimes claimed that Christians who rejected the Trinity were immediately executed at Nicaea.
THAT IS NOT HISTORICALLY ACCURATE.
Arius and prominent dissenters were condemned and exiled.
Nicaea itself did not order Arius to be burned alive for rejecting the creed.
We should not exaggerate the historical evidence.
But something extremely important had changed.
Christian doctrinal disagreement was increasingly becoming connected with:
IMPERIAL POWER.
Once theological orthodoxy and political authority became intertwined, doctrinal disagreement could have consequences far beyond an argument between theologians.
Christians judged to be heretics could face:
exile,
loss of churches,
legal restrictions,
confiscation,
and eventually, in some circumstances:
DEATH.
That development should trouble every Christian regardless of denomination.
WHEN DID JESUS AUTHORIZE CHRISTIANS TO PERSECUTE CHRISTIANS?
Jesus and His apostles were themselves persecuted.
They preached.
They reasoned.
They persuaded.
They suffered.
They died for their faith.
But where did Jesus command His followers:
Imprison those who disagree with your theology?
Exile them?
Confiscate their property?
Torture them?
Burn them?
There is an enormous difference between:
DEFENDING A DOCTRINE WITH SCRIPTURE
and:
ENFORCING A DOCTRINE WITH POLITICAL POWER.
This distinction becomes painfully clear later in Christian history.
WILLIAM TYNDALE — WHEN TRANSLATING SCRIPTURE COULD COST YOU YOUR LIFE
One of the greatest figures in the history of the English Bible was:
WILLIAM TYNDALE.
Tyndale devoted his life to making Scripture available to ordinary English-speaking people.
He wanted ordinary men and women to be able to read God's Word for themselves rather than being completely dependent upon ecclesiastical authorities.
But we must make something clear.
TYNDALE WAS NOT EXECUTED FOR REJECTING THE TRINITY.
There is no sound historical basis for presenting him as an anti-Trinitarian martyr like Michael Servetus.
Tyndale's conflict concerned wider questions of Scripture, translation, Church authority, and doctrines judged heretical by the authorities of his time.
He was arrested in 1535.
After approximately eighteen months of imprisonment, Tyndale was executed in 1536.
His method of execution was horrific:
HE WAS STRANGLED AND THEN HIS BODY WAS BURNED.
Whatever disagreements Christians may have with Tyndale's theology, his story illustrates what could happen when theological and ecclesiastical authority became backed by coercive political power.
But there is something else about Tyndale that is extremely interesting for our investigation.
HOW DID TYNDALE TRANSLATE JOHN 1?
Most modern Christians know John 1 like this:
“In the beginning was the Word...”
Then, almost immediately, modern translations begin referring to the Word as:
He
and:
Him.
But Tyndale's 1534 New Testament used wording that may surprise modern readers.
It reads:
“ALL THINGES WERE MADE BY IT...”
and:
“IN IT WAS LYFE...”
Tyndale therefore used the English pronoun:
“IT”
for the Word in these verses.
This does not prove that Tyndale rejected the Trinity.
It does not.
Nor does it prove that Tyndale regarded the Word as merely an impersonal spoken utterance.
We must not make the historical evidence say more than it says.
But it proves something worth remembering:
THE MODERN USE OF “HE” AND “HIM” THROUGHOUT THESE OPENING VERSES WAS NOT THE ONLY WAY EARLY ENGLISH TRANSLATORS RENDERED THE PASSAGE.
And that gives us another reason to go beyond English translations and examine:
THE ORIGINAL GREEK.
Translation matters.
Theological assumptions can matter.
And Christians should always be willing to investigate the underlying text.
MICHAEL SERVETUS — WHEN REJECTING THE TRINITY COULD COST YOU YOUR LIFE
Now we come to a case where the connection with anti-Trinitarian belief is unmistakable.
MICHAEL SERVETUS.
Servetus was a Spanish physician and theologian.
He explicitly attacked the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity.
His writings included:
ON THE ERRORS OF THE TRINITY.
Servetus rejected the traditional Nicene understanding of God.
Eventually he came into serious conflict not merely with Roman Catholic authorities but also with Protestant reformers.
This is important.
Because the persecution of theological dissent cannot honestly be blamed exclusively upon:
ROMAN CATHOLICISM.
Servetus escaped Catholic imprisonment in France and eventually appeared in Protestant Geneva.
There he was arrested.
He was prosecuted for heresy.
Among the central issues were:
HIS REJECTION OF THE TRINITY
and:
HIS REJECTION OF INFANT BAPTISM.
The outcome was horrifying.
On 27 October 1553:
MICHAEL SERVETUS WAS BURNED ALIVE AT THE STAKE.
This happened in:
PROTESTANT GENEVA.
John Calvin played an important role in the prosecution.
Historical accounts indicate that Calvin supported the death penalty while preferring that Servetus be executed by a less brutal method than burning.
Nevertheless, Geneva's authorities condemned Servetus to the flames.
THINK ABOUT WHAT HAD HAPPENED
Jesus said:
“THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE.”
Centuries later, Christians were arguing about philosophical definitions of God's nature.
And centuries after that:
A MAN COULD BE BURNED ALIVE FOR REJECTING THE ACCEPTED TRINITARIAN DOCTRINE.
Whether Servetus was right about everything is not the point.
He certainly held theological ideas with which many non-Trinitarians themselves would disagree.
The question is:
WHEN DID JESUS GIVE CHRISTIANS AUTHORITY TO BURN A MAN ALIVE BECAUSE HIS UNDERSTANDING OF GOD WAS WRONG?
That question applies equally to:
Catholics.
Protestants.
Trinitarians.
Unitarians.
And every other Christian tradition.
Religious persecution is not made righteous simply because the persecutor believes his doctrine is correct.
THE GREAT IRONY OF THE REFORMATION
The Reformation challenged the authority of Rome and insisted upon returning to Scripture.
Yet Servetus demonstrates that Protestants themselves could reproduce the very same terrible principle:
RELIGIOUS ORTHODOXY ENFORCED BY CIVIL POWER.
This is why the lesson of history cannot simply be:
“CATHOLICS WERE WRONG.”
The lesson must be deeper:
NO CHRISTIAN INSTITUTION SHOULD BE ABOVE EXAMINATION.
Catholic.
Orthodox.
Protestant.
Trinitarian.
Non-Trinitarian.
Every doctrine must be tested.
And that brings us to perhaps the most extraordinary investigator in this entire story.
SIR ISAAC NEWTON — THE SCIENTIST WHO REJECTED THE TRINITY
Most people know Sir Isaac Newton because of:
gravity,
mathematics,
optics,
and:
physics.
Far fewer people realize that Newton devoted an enormous amount of intellectual energy to:
THE BIBLE.
BIBLICAL MANUSCRIPTS.
PROPHECY.
THE CHURCH FATHERS.
EARLY CHRISTIAN HISTORY.
AND THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY.
Newton was not casually reading Scripture on Sunday mornings.
He undertook an enormous investigation.
Millions of words of his religious writings survive.
And Newton reached a conclusion that would have shocked the orthodox Christianity of his time.
NEWTON REJECTED THE TRINITY.
He became convinced that the simple original Christian religion had been:
CORRUPTED.
Newton believed that this corruption had taken place particularly during the theological upheavals of the early Church.
He regarded the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity as part of that corruption.
This is extraordinary.
One of history's greatest intellectual figures examined Scripture, manuscripts, Church history, and the Church Fathers and concluded that established Christianity had gone seriously wrong concerning the nature of God.
NEWTON EVEN INVESTIGATED TRINITARIAN CORRUPTIONS OF SCRIPTURE
Newton did something else particularly relevant to modern Bible research.
He investigated passages that had historically been used as proof texts for the Trinity.
Two especially important passages were:
1 JOHN 5:7
and:
1 TIMOTHY 3:16.
Newton compared manuscripts, ancient versions, and quotations from the Church Fathers.
He concluded that important textual readings associated with Trinitarian arguments had been corrupted or incorrectly transmitted.
Today, textual criticism has independently confirmed the famous problem with the later Trinitarian wording of 1 John 5:7: the so-called Comma Johanneum is absent from the earliest Greek manuscript tradition and is not printed as original text in modern critical Greek New Testaments.
Newton was doing serious textual criticism centuries ago.
BUT NEWTON DID NOT GET EVERYTHING RIGHT
This is extremely important.
It would be easy for someone who rejects the Trinity to say:
“Isaac Newton agreed with us, therefore Newton proves we are right.”
But that would be exactly the kind of argument this article is warning against.
NEWTON IS NOT OUR AUTHORITY.
Newton rejected orthodox Trinitarianism, but he still believed in the personal pre-existence of Christ and held a strongly subordinate understanding of the Son.
In other words, Newton rejected the Nicene claim that Jesus was eternally co-equal with the Father.
But he did not therefore arrive at every conclusion presented in this research concerning the origin and identity of Jesus.
So Newton himself must be tested against Scripture.
REJECTING THE TRINITY DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY GIVE US THE TRUTH ABOUT JESUS
This point is extremely important.
There are many different alternatives to Trinitarianism.
Simply rejecting the Trinity does not prove that:
Arianism is correct.
It does not prove that:
Jesus was an angel.
It does not prove that:
Jesus was Michael the archangel.
It does not prove every Unitarian explanation correct.
Every claim must independently survive the biblical evidence.
The writer of Hebrews asks:
“FOR TO WHICH OF THE ANGELS DID HE EVER SAY, ‘YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU’?”
Hebrews 1:5 — BLB
The Son is distinguished from the angels.
Therefore moving from:
“JESUS IS NOT GOD THE SON”
to:
“JESUS MUST HAVE BEEN AN ANGEL”
does not automatically follow.
We still have to ask:
WHAT DOES SCRIPTURE SAY?
WHEN WAS JESUS BEGOTTEN?
Matthew describes what happened to Mary:
“THAT HAVING BEEN CONCEIVED IN HER IS FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT.”
Matthew 1:20 — BLB
Luke gives an even more revealing explanation.
The angel tells Mary:
“THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL COME UPON YOU, AND THE POWER OF THE MOST HIGH WILL OVERSHADOW YOU; THEREFORE ALSO THE HOLY ONE BEING BORN WILL BE CALLED THE SON OF GOD.”
Luke 1:35 — BLB
Notice the word:
“THEREFORE.”
The miraculous conception is directly connected with Jesus being called:
THE SON OF GOD.
This is why rejecting the Trinity should never simply mean exchanging one later theological system for another.
Return to Scripture.
NEWTON TEACHES US TWO VERY IMPORTANT LESSONS
LESSON ONE:
One of history's greatest intellectual investigators studied Scripture and early Church history and concluded that orthodox Trinitarian Christianity had departed from the original faith.
But:
LESSON TWO:
EVEN ISAAC NEWTON COULD BE WRONG.
Newton challenged the Church.
But Newton must also be challenged by Scripture.
That gives us perhaps the most important principle in this entire investigation:
NEVER BUILD YOUR FAITH UPON A MAN.
Not:
Constantine.
Not:
Arius.
Not:
Athanasius.
Not:
Gregory of Nyssa.
Not:
William Tyndale.
Not:
Michael Servetus.
Not:
Isaac Newton.
Not:
Luther.
Not:
Calvin.
Not:
a pope.
Not:
a pastor.
Not:
a denomination.
And certainly not:
SIMON BROWN.
Test everyone.
RETURN TO JESUS
After nearly two thousand years of councils, creeds, theological controversies, persecutions, denominations, reformations, translations, and arguments, perhaps Christianity needs to return to something remarkably simple.
What did Jesus say?
Who is God?
Jesus says:
“THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE.”
Mark 12:29 — BLB
Who did Jesus call the only true God?
Speaking to His Father:
“YOU, THE ONLY TRUE GOD.”
John 17:3 — BLB
Who is Jesus?
Peter says:
“THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.”
Matthew 16:16 — BLB
Jesus Himself says:
“I AM SON OF GOD.”
John 10:36 — BLB
Why was John's Gospel written?
“SO THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD.”
John 20:31 — BLB
This is the language of Scripture.
SOMETHING CHANGED BETWEEN JESUS AND THE FOURTH CENTURY
Put the evidence side by side.
JESUS:
“The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
THE JEWISH SCRIBE:
“He is one, and there is not another besides Him.”
PAUL:
“One God, the Father.”
JESUS:
“You, the only true God.”
PETER:
“The Christ, the Son of the living God.”
JOHN:
“Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.”
Then compare that simple language with the increasingly technical terminology of later theological controversies:
ousia
hypostasis
homoousios
one essence
three persons
The Church Fathers believed this language was necessary to protect Christian truth.
But the historical question remains:
WHY WAS THIS LANGUAGE NECESSARY IF JESUS HAD ALREADY CLEARLY TAUGHT THE TRINITY?
And why does Jesus' own confession concerning God correspond so directly with the Jewish monotheistic confession that later Christian theology believed required further qualification?
AND THEN AN EVEN MORE DISTURBING QUESTION
How did Christianity travel from:
JESUS TEACHING AND PERSUADING PEOPLE
to:
CHURCH COUNCILS DEFINING HERESY
and eventually, in later Christian history:
CHRISTIANS IMPRISONING AND EVEN EXECUTING OTHER CHRISTIANS FOR HERESY?
The answer is complicated.
It developed over many centuries.
Catholics participated in it.
Protestants participated in it.
Therefore this article should never be used simply as a weapon against Catholics.
The lesson is much bigger.
HUMAN RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS CAN BECOME DANGEROUS WHEN THEIR INTERPRETATION OF GOD BECOMES SOMETHING THEY ARE WILLING TO FORCE UPON OTHERS.
Jesus did not need a sword to defend truth.
Truth should be demonstrated.
Not forced.
WILLIAM TYNDALE GAVE PEOPLE THE SCRIPTURES
Tyndale's story gives us an appropriate reminder.
Whatever conclusions Tyndale himself reached doctrinally, his great achievement was helping ordinary English-speaking people gain direct access to Scripture.
And his surprising translation of John 1 reminds us that even familiar passages deserve investigation.
Do not merely ask:
“What does my modern English Bible say?”
Ask:
What does the Greek say?
What did earlier translations say?
Are there textual variants?
How did early Christians quote the passage?
Has theological tradition influenced how I automatically understand it?
These are legitimate questions.
NEWTON INVESTIGATED THE MANUSCRIPTS
Newton went even further.
He compared textual evidence and challenged famous Trinitarian proof texts.
He concluded that Christianity had suffered serious corruption.
But even Newton must ultimately stand before the same test:
DOES HIS TEACHING AGREE WITH SCRIPTURE?
That is the standard we should apply to everyone.
DO NOT SIMPLY BELIEVE THIS ARTICLE
Please investigate it.
Read the original Nicene Creed.
Study AD 325.
Study AD 381.
Read Gregory of Nyssa.
Read Athanasius.
Study what happened to Arius.
Read about William Tyndale.
Read Tyndale's 1534 New Testament.
Study Michael Servetus.
Read Isaac Newton's theological writings.
Compare ancient manuscripts.
Read Trinitarian scholars.
Read non-Trinitarian scholars.
But above everything else:
READ JESUS.
Do not believe something merely because it is:
Catholic.
Do not reject something merely because it is:
Catholic.
Do not believe something merely because it is:
Protestant.
Do not believe something merely because:
Isaac Newton believed it.
And do not believe something merely because:
I wrote it.
Test every claim.
THE FINAL QUESTION IS YOURS
Jesus was asked for the greatest commandment.
His answer began:
“HEAR, ISRAEL: THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE.”
Mark 12:29 — BLB
The scribe answered:
“HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NOT ANOTHER BESIDES HIM.”
Mark 12:32 — BLB
Jesus responded:
“YOU ARE NOT FAR FROM THE KINGDOM OF GOD.”
Mark 12:34 — BLB
Jesus later prayed to His Father:
“THAT THEY MAY KNOW YOU, THE ONLY TRUE GOD, AND JESUS CHRIST WHOM YOU SENT.”
John 17:3 — BLB
And John tells us exactly why his Gospel was written:
“THESE HAVE BEEN WRITTEN SO THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD.”
John 20:31 — BLB
So perhaps the greatest question is not:
WHAT DID NICAEA SAY?
Nor:
WHAT DID GREGORY SAY?
Nor:
WHAT DID CALVIN SAY?
Nor:
WHAT DID TYNDALE SAY?
Nor:
WHAT DID NEWTON SAY?
The greatest question is:
WHAT DID JESUS CHRIST SAY?
And therefore:
DOES MY CREED AGREE WITH THE CREED OF JESUS?
Search the Scriptures.
Study the history.
Examine the manuscripts.
Read the Church Fathers.
Test the traditions.
Question human authority.
Never persecute another person for asking questions.
And follow the evidence wherever it leads.
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