What are the origins of the trinity?

[Matt Faith]

Does anybody know how the trinity concept started? And also when it started?

 

[nylah201]

read genesis. the first chapter has the very first hint of a triune God......specifically genesis 1:26 where God says: " Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness." you aren't going to find the word "trinity" in the bible. but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. after all, the word "bible" isn't in there either.

 

[Matt Faith]

Oh I currently believe the trinity to be true, I was just wondering how the doctrine came about and when?

 

[sonpari44]

Most people assume that everything that bears the label "Christian" must have originated with Jesus Christ and His early followers. But this is definitely not the case. All we have to do is look at the words of Jesus Christ and His apostles to see that this is clearly not true.
The historical record shows that, just as Jesus and the New Testament writers foretold, various heretical ideas and teachers rose up from within the early Church and infiltrated it from without. Christ Himself warned His followers: "Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name . . . and will deceive many"

 

[SeventhValley]

It was the official term designated to the Father,Son,Holy Spirit relationship. So the Trinity was there from the beginning but the term Trinity came about when a short term was needed for the Father, Son, Holy Spirit during teaching and discussion.

 

[SeventhValley]

three". [13]
The first recorded use of this Greek word in
Christian theology (although not about the
Divine Trinity) was by Theophilus of Antioch
in about 170. He wrote:

In like manner also the three days which
were before the luminaries, are types of
the Trinity [Τριάδος], of God, and His
Word, and His wisdom. And the fourth is
the type of man, who needs light, that so
there may be God, the Word, wisdom,
man. [16]-Wikipedia Trinity

 

[SeventhValley]

So it is a practical term used by theologians to best describe God as found in the NT.

 

[Mayflower1]

that is what drew me to Mormon beliefs for awhile, because of my misunderstanding of the Trinity. It made more sense to me to be three seperate Gods, then three in one God. I have come to better understand this now. Now the Trinity is one of the reasons I don't follow Mormon beliefs.

 

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[Keachian]

The Trinity was fully realized between the Old and New Testaments in the Incarnation, life, death and Resurrection of the Word of God and the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, the first Christians experienced the Trinity in a way that we have never and will never until our own Resurrection.

 

[OzSpen]

Does anybody know how the trinity concept started? And also when it started?

The nature of God came by revelation from God Himself. The concept started with God declaring his essence in the Scripture.

Without the Scriptures, we would not know the nature of the essence of God.

Are you suggesting that the Triune nature of God came from a source outside of Scripture? There are articles across the www that purport that the Trinity came from outside of monotheistic Christianity, was an invention of the first century, and may even have originated with paganism.

However, these are hypotheses that I have not found convincing.

God revealed his nature in Scripture and that is that the Almighty God is Trinitarian by nature.

Oz

 

[FredVB]

The trinity doctrine indeed did start in the Bible, with the new testament, that word for it came later. The original apostles appointed by Christ came to understand through it being revealed that the heavenly Father, Jesus their Lord, and the Spirit of God, distinct as they were personally, were the same one being God, Yahweh, in full unity. This is the explanation for how the new testament writers wrote passages for this that support belief in the trinity of God, that they would not have written otherwise with not understanding things for it themselves.

 

[concretecamper]

The trinity doctrine indeed did start in the Bible, with the new testament,

Really?

New Testament canon closed: 393 A.D.
Tertullian: 213 A.D.

One has to wonder why the New Testament lacks such a complete description of the Trinity. Tertullian's description goes far beyond anything in the Bible.....and the bible came afterword!

"Bear always in mind that this is the rule of faith which I profess; by it I testify that the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit are inseparable from each other, and so will you know in what sense this is said. Now, observe, my assertion is that the Father is one, and the Son one, and the Spirit one, and that They are distinct from Each Other. This statement is taken in a wrong sense by every uneducated as well as every perversely disposed person, as if it predicated a diversity, in such a sense as to imply a separation among the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit...Happily the Lord Himself employs this expression of the person of the Paraclete, so as to signify not a division or severance, but a disposition (of mutual relations in the Godhead); for He says, 'I will pray the Father, and He shall send you another Comforter. ... even the Spirit of truth,' thus making the Paraclete distinct from Himself, even as we say that the Son is also distinct from the Father; so that He showed a third degree in the Paraclete, as we believe the second degree is in the Son, by reason of the order observed in the Economy.” Tertullian, Against Praxeas, 9 (A.D. 213).

 

[OzSpen]

The trinity doctrine indeed did start in the Bible, with the new testament, that word for it came later. The original apostles appointed by Christ came to understand through it being revealed that the heavenly Father, Jesus their Lord, and the Spirit of God, distinct as they were personally, were the same one being God, Yahweh, in full unity. This is the explanation for how the new testament writers wrote passages for this that support belief in the trinity of God, that they would not have written otherwise with not understanding things for it themselves.

No, the Trinity of God did not start in the New Testament. It is throughout the Bible. It is revealed in the Old Testament before it is explicated in the New Testament.

I urge you to consider carefully the content of these articles,

• 'The Trinity in the Old Testament';
• 'Is the Trinity taught in the Old Testament?'
• 'The Triunity (Trinity) of God in the Old Testament';
• 'Verses showing the plurality of God in the Old and New Testaments'.

In Christ,
Oz

 

[SeventhValley]

You realize Tertullian was a pretty much a Pentacostal hence his not being held as a Saint.

Also Gospel of Matthew 90 AD.

Matthew 28:19

Go ye therefore, and teach
all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost:

God's word is much better than man's.

 

[OzSpen]

Really?

New Testament canon closed: 393 A.D.
Tertullian: 213 A.D.

One has to wonder why the New Testament lacks such a complete description of the Trinity. Tertullian's description goes far beyond anything in the Bible.....and the bible came afterword!

"Bear always in mind that this is the rule of faith which I profess; by it I testify that the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit are inseparable from each other, and so will you know in what sense this is said. Now, observe, my assertion is that the Father is one, and the Son one, and the Spirit one, and that They are distinct from Each Other. This statement is taken in a wrong sense by every uneducated as well as every perversely disposed person, as if it predicated a diversity, in such a sense as to imply a separation among the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit...Happily the Lord Himself employs this expression of the person of the Paraclete, so as to signify not a division or severance, but a disposition (of mutual relations in the Godhead); for He says, 'I will pray the Father, and He shall send you another Comforter. ... even the Spirit of truth,' thus making the Paraclete distinct from Himself, even as we say that the Son is also distinct from the Father; so that He showed a third degree in the Paraclete, as we believe the second degree is in the Son, by reason of the order observed in the Economy.” Tertullian, Against Praxeas, 9 (A.D. 213).

Why does the NT lack a complete description of the Trinity? For the same reason that it lacks a complete description of the deity of Christ, baptism, predestination/election, etc.

The NT is not a systematic theology, so there was no need to provide a detailed understanding of the Trinity. That was for later Bible teachers to convey.

I believe we need to understand that the books of the Bible were Scripture from the time they were written in the first century, although obtaining an authorised list was not until late in the fourth century.

We must not forget that the Muratorian fragment, dated AD 170-200, contained a list of 22 of the 27 books of the NT.

Oz

 

[FredVB]

Really?
New Testament canon closed: 393 A.D.
Tertullian: 213 A.D.
One has to wonder why the New Testament lacks such a complete description of the Trinity. Tertullian's description goes far beyond anything in the Bible.....and the bible came afterword!

This is your interpretation. Manuscript portions of texts of a few new testament books date from the first century A.D. Manuscripts of all the new testament books exist from the second century A.D. and they circulated widely as they were discussed. There were disagreements, but there always are, today there are disagreements and heresies circulate.

Yahweh is the same God in the old and new testaments of the Bible. Jesus Christ is the incarnation of Logos, the Word who is with God and is God, he is introduced first as the Son of God with being announced in his coming incarnation, he is Son of God as the incarnation, and serves the Father who remains in the greater position in this. The heavenly Father and Christ the Word who came among us as the Son are the same Yahweh, the only God, the same as the Spirit of God, although distinct as what we refer to as persons, in full unity as one being, the supreme being. They each have their office being distinct in those, the authority of Logos authorizing the will of the heavenly Father who designs all, the Spirit revealing and moving things to happen for it, among further things that we may later learn. The Father is God to the Son in Bible passages, the Son is also God to the Father in Bible passages.

The Bible very clearly indicates there is only one true God, and no scriptures indicate that Jesus Christ is a false God. Rather, he made claim in several ways, so that when it was understood hearers were going to stone him for it, he claimed his preexistence and unity with the Father, there was his claiming of I Am, fulfilling prophecies about Yahweh, and accepted worship as God. All things were created through him and for him, and in him all things consist, fullness of deity dwells in him, and he is over everything. These things from the Bible cannot be true of any but God. The heavenly Father is God to him, he is also God to the Father. Distinction in their wills has unity with their never being in disagreement. Christ is the Son of God in reference to the incarnation.

No, the Trinity of God did not start in the New Testament. It is throughout the Bible. It is revealed in the Old Testament before it is explicated in the New Testament.

I urge you to consider carefully the content of these articles,

• 'The Trinity in the Old Testament';
• 'Is the Trinity taught in the Old Testament?'
• 'The Triunity (Trinity) of God in the Old Testament';
• 'Verses showing the plurality of God in the Old and New Testaments'.

I see the plurality within God's unity in the old testament of the Bible. But the unity of the Father, Christ the Son, and the Spirit of God is in the new testament of the Bible.

 

[OzSpen]

I see the plurality within God's unity in the old testament of the Bible. But the unity of the Father, Christ the Son, and the Spirit of God is in the new testament of the Bible.

I agree that the explication of the nature of the Trinity is made clearer in the NT. But the plurality in unity is still there in the OT.

 

[Petruchio]

One has to wonder why the New Testament lacks such a complete description of the Trinity. Tertullian's description goes far beyond anything in the Bible.....and the bible came afterword!

What is it with the Catholic compulsion to aid heretics in their arguments? You do realize you are claiming that the Bible did not exist until after Tertullian.. right? And that the Trinity is a late development... right? This is exactly what the Mormons, JWs, and other groups claim.

It's all ignorance though. The scripture's historicity is well established long before then. Ignatius, Polycarm, and Irenaeus, well within the first and second centuries, quote from almost the entirety of the New Testament. The only thing up in the air was the apocrypha, with Jerome establishing a canon that excludes them, until Rome changed things up at Trent. And Jerome was not claiming to be creating a canon from scratch. He defended his listing based on long history, even opposing the Roman church in their attempts at putting out the epistle of the Hebrews, and the Greeks with putting out Revelation.