John

Nooj said:

Why are some of the clearest verses about Trinitarianism found in the Gospel of John, but not in any of the Gospels that were written earlier than it?

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MY FRIEND,

There are many things in John's writings which go spiritually deeper than the other Gospels. John was gifted with clarity of insights not possessed by the other Apostles, and for this reason He was our Lord's favorite and referred to as "the one Jesus loved."

In addition, during his exile on Patmos, John spent all his time in prayer and writing and much spiritual insight was revealed to him during this period which went into his Gospel as well, of course, as into the Book of Revelation.

Nooj said:

Why doesn't Paul mention the stuff that John does?

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Paul's writings were for a different purpose than John's Gospel. Paul's Letters were pastoral, no doctrinal, so information regarding the Trinity was irrelevant to what Paul was dealing with. In other words, he had no reason to.

A BOND-SLAVE/FRIEND/BROTHER OF OUR LORD/GOD/SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST,
ephraim

Nooj said:

Why are some of the clearest verses about Trinitarianism found in the Gospel of John, but not in any of the Gospels that were written earlier than it? Why doesn't Paul mention the stuff that John does?

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Because Trinity is at that state still an evolving doctine to try to 'explain' the different facets of what they know. The elements are all there in Paul, and it's not exactly spelled out in John.

Nooj said:

Why are some of the clearest verses about Trinitarianism found in the Gospel of John, but not in any of the Gospels that were written earlier than it? Why doesn't Paul mention the stuff that John does?

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It is very clear in the synoptic gospels and in the Pauline letters of the Trinity or the fact that both the Father and Jesus are God.

Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
Matthew 28:19

We are to be baptized in the name (singular, show the oneness of God) of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (showing that all three are equally import. If we are to be baptized in the name of the Son and Holy Spirit as much as the Father, then the Son and the Holy Spirit have just as high as status as the Father. Since the Father is God, the Son and the Holy Spirit must also be God, otherwise Mathew would not have put the Son and the Holy Spirit on the same level as God).


Rabbi Jacob Neusner wrote a book called “A Rabbi Talks with Jesus” in which he argued that it is obvious that Jesus, as portrayed in the gospels of Matthew,
Mark, and Luke, portrayed Himself as God, given the Jewish mindset. The Sermon on the Mount is given in contrast to Moses delivering the Law to the Jewish people up on Mount Sinai. Whereas the Old Testament prophets spoke a message with a preface of “Thus saith the Lord …”, Jesus said “It was written … but I say to you”. Jesus had to audacity to not just to speak on the authority of the Father who sent Him, but on His own authority”. Jesus taught as if He had the authority to lay aside God’s own law given to the people, or better yet to take it on a much as much deeper level, based on nothing but His own authority (“but I say to you…”). He was willing to forgive sins on only His own authority. He said of Himself “the Son of Man is the lord of the Sabbath”. God Himself gave the Sabbath. Jesus told the people on His own authority what is acceptable and not acceptable on the Sabbath. Jesus gives a parable of the king who gave His people prophets, which the people then killed. Then the king will says to Himself “I will then give them my son”. Obviously Jesus did not see Himself as just another prophet, but something much higher, that of being a son.

Rabbi Jacob Neusner did not write this as a Christianity, he still rejects Jesus as being God, but he still argues that this is what Jesus taught of Himself as portrayed in Matthew, Mark and Luke.

Paul definitely taught the Trinity.

5 Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men;
8 and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name;
10 that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Phil 2:5 – 11

Jesus existed in the “form of God”. This is very similar to the Nicene Council, which said that Jesus and the Father shared the same essence. Since Jesus is in the form of God, He could have asserted His full equality to God. How can someone other than God be considered equal with God. But Jesus chose voluntarily to humble Himself. Jesus being lower than God was not by Jesus’ nature, but purely by His own volition He chose to humble Himself. As a result of this God [the Father] exalted Jesus so that everyone should bow to Jesus and declare Jesus to be the Lord. Again, to the Jewish mindset, only God can be Lord. To say that Jesus is Lord is to say that Jesus is God. And then Paul ends it by saying “to the glory of God the Father”. So Paul see the Father and Jesus. The Father is God. But Jesus has the same form of the Father, and is to be worshipped as God, and this will glorify the Father.

Granted, this verse says nothing of the Holy Spirit. But it shows that Paul taught that Jesus was one in form with the Father.

Nooj said:

Why are some of the clearest verses about Trinitarianism found in the Gospel of John, but not in any of the Gospels that were written earlier than it? Why doesn't Paul mention the stuff that John does?

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These guys just didn't write to be writing.

In fact, Paul started to write an epistle about salvation, but was led to do otherwise:

Jude 3 said:

Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

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And not to contradict what I just said, but Paul may very well have done just that --- wrote about the Trinitarianism --- but God didn't preserve it, because it wasn't what He wanted in His Writings.

Different gospels and different writings from different Christian communities from different places dealing with different issues.

There is plenty in all gospels and Paul's letters that form the basis for belief in the Trinity. It requires a bit of digging and research to uncover the references.

John
NZ