Matthew 28:19-20, “19 Therefore go and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And
surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
2 Corinthians 13:14, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you
all.”
God the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost
The New
Testament, along with the Old, clearly teaches the triune nature of God. Though it was not until the Council of Nicea
that all the terms were defined and clearly written out for everyone to
understand, it can be most easily seen in the writings of the earliest church
Fathers. It was a core belief to the
early church that Jesus and Holy Spirit was as much God as the Father was. Therefore, in their writings the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit are always seen as the one divine being which is called God,
and yet three distinct persons with different roles and activity.
Here are
the writings of the fathers and their view of the nature of God, also known as
the trinity.
Justin Martyr, First Apology, Chapter 6 | 160AD
In
Justin’s letter of defense to the Romans he clearly states that Christians are
not “atheists” on account they do not worship the Roman pagan gods, but rather
worship the one true God revealed in Scripture.
And in this chapter Justin clearly defines that he and the Christians of
his day worshipped and adored the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit as the “most
true God.”
“Hence are we
called atheists. And we confess that we are atheists, so far as gods of this
sort are concerned, but not with respect to the most true God, the Father of
righteousness and temperance and the other virtues, who is free from all
impurity. But both Him, and the Son (who came forth from Him and taught us
these things, and the host of the other good angels who follow and are made
like to Him), and the prophetic Spirit, we worship and
adore, knowing them in reason and truth, and declaring without grudging to
every one who wishes to learn, as we have been taught”.
Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 4, Chapter 20,
Verse 5 | 180AD
In this
letter Irenaeus clearly shows the difference in the persons and roles of the
one true God. This proves that the early
church had no problems believing that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were one
and the same God, but at the same time were different persons with different
roles. Irenaeus states that the one God
has been seen through the Spirit, the Son, and the Father and that each divine
person complements the other and works together to bring eternal life to man.
“For God is
powerful in all things, having been seen at that time indeed, prophetically
through the Spirit, and seen, too, adoptively through the Son; and He shall
also be seen paternally in the kingdom of heaven, the Spirit truly preparing
man in the Son of God, and the Son leading him to the
Father, while the Father, too, confers [upon him] incorruption for eternal
life, which comes to every one from the fact of his seeing God.”
Tertullian, Letter on Modesty, Chapter 21 | 198AD
Tertullian
was known to be the first to adopt the term “trinity” to define the unity of
the three divine persons. This is not to
say he was the first to believe that the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit were
the true God, but he was the first to begin to try to explain the nature of God
with terms that people would remember.
Therefore, he is the first father to use the term “trinity” to describe
God’s nature.
It is
good for the reader to note that he is not in a place in this letter of stating
new doctrine but rather he is making a point about the state of the church and
he then refers to the nature of God as an example for the unity of the
church. This proves that equality and
unity of God within the three divine persons was not “new doctrine,” but rather
accepted as common and was understood to be true by ever Christians of his day.
“For the very
Church itself is, properly and principally, the Spirit Himself, in whom is the
Trinity of the One Divinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”
Tertullian, Letter Against Praxeas, Chapter 9 | 213AD
At the
end of Tertullian’s life he could clearly define and defend the orthodox
Trinitarian view of God’s nature. Here
in this letter against the heresies of Praxeas Tertullian writes chapter after
chapter on the triune nature of God. He
uses many scriptures and examples from the Bible to prove that God is the
Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. His
teachings would prove very instrumental in the coming years against such
attacks like those of Arius who would deny Jesus’ and the Holy Spirit’s
divinity.
Also,
Tertullian was useful in defeating the heresy that God was one person who took
different forms called the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. He states in this passage that the Father,
Son, and the Spirit are “inseparable,” but yet they are distinct from each
other as persons. This is important to
know because some people of his day tried to say that the Father was the Son in
the form of man and the Son was the Spirit in spiritual nature, thus making
them all one person, but appearing in different forms.[1] Tertullian clearly states that the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit is the same one God, but yet three distinct persons,
meaning, the Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Holy Spirit, yet
they are the one in the same God.
“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.”
Cyprian, Treatises, Chapter 1, Verse 6 | 250AD
Cyprian
was a great defender and teacher of the trinity. As with the other church fathers Cyprian
understood the belief for the trinity as being orthodox and accepted by all
Christians. Many times in his writings
he uses the trinity to defend other points, such as the unity of the church. Therefore, his writings serve along side of
Tertullian as another example of the wide and uniformed acceptance of the
trinity.
Here in
this verse he states that Jesus was one with the Father in the same sense the
Spirit is one with the Father and Son.
And thus all three persons- the Father, Son, and Spirit are all one God.
“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.” And does any one believe that this unity
which thus comes from the divine strength and coheres in celestial sacraments,
can be divided in the Church, and can be separated by the parting asunder of
opposing wills? He who does not hold this unity does not hold God’s law, does
not hold the faith of the Father and the Son, does not hold life and
salvation.”
Reflection
1. Describe
the Trinity.
2. Defend
the trinity from the church father’s use of the New Testament.
3. Explain
how the trinity predates the Council of Nicaea.
4. Pray
that you can teach the triune nature of God with clarity and authority.
Resources
1. "The Forgotten Trinity," by James White.
[1]
This teaching is known today as “oneness” but was called modalism, modalistic
monarchianism, and Sabellianism in the third century and was made popular by
Sebellius.
