Did Anyone Believe in the Trinity Before Nicea?

A charge that I have encountered in my comments is that nobody believed in the doctrine of the Trinity prior to the Council of Nicea. There is a half-truth to this in that, in the early days of the Church, the language of Trinitarian doctrine – namely, 1 God in 3 Persons, etc. – was not fully developed yet.

The linguistic understanding of the Trinity that Christians hold today comes largely from the Cappadocian Fathers – Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory of Nazianzus – who lived around the latter half of the fourth century. Piggybacking off of the work of Athanasius, the great defender of Christ’s deity in the wake of Nicea, the Cappadocian Fathers would give the most detailed expression of what Trinitarianism affirms, that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three co-equal, co-eternal divine Persons with one common being, substance or nature – that being of God.

It would be anachronistic to look for the fully articulated language of the doctrine of the Trinity prior to the ministry of these men. Nonetheless, what we can look for in early Church is the teaching of the core principles of Trinitarianism; that there is only one God, that Jesus is truly God as the Father is along with the Holy Spirit, but is nevertheless distinct from the Father & Spirit in His Personhood.

One of the preeminent early Church fathers was Ignatius, bishop of Antioch and a student of the apostle John. Ignatius wrote many letters before he was martyred in Rome in the year 107AD. In his letter to the church of Ephesus, Ignatius states in his opening, “…by the will of the Father, and Jesus Christ, our God…” This statement is proof of two things: 1) Ignatius believed Jesus was truly God and 2) Ignatius believed that Jesus was distinct from the Father. He makes a similar statement in chapter 18, while also referring to Jesus as, “the Son of God who was begotten before time began, and established all things according to the will of the Father…” In addition to overtly stating his belief in the deity of Christ, Ignatius also ascribes eternality and Creatorship to Him – these two attributes being ones that are only found in God. In chapter 19, he goes so far as to describe Jesus as, “…God being manifested as a man…”

Ignatius reenforces these beliefs in his letter to the Romans:

“…to the Church which has obtained mercy, through the majesty of the Most High Father, and Jesus Christ, His only-begotten Son; the Church which is beloved and enlightened by the will of Him that willeth all things which are according to the love of Jesus Christ our God…I also salute in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father…who are filled inseparably with the grace of God, and are purified from every strange taint, abundance of happiness unblameably, in Jesus Christ our God… to the Church which has obtained mercy, through the majesty of the Most High God the Father, and of Jesus Christ, His only-begotten Son; the Church which is sanctified and enlightened by the will of God, who formed all things that are according to the faith and love of Jesus Christ, our God and Saviour..."

These statements again affirm that Ignatius is a monotheist (he believes in only one God) while attributing that one essence of God to both the Father & the Son and, at the same time, maintaining a distinction between the Father & Son. This is Trinitarianian belief before the advent of the term Trinity.

“For our God, Jesus Christ, now that He is with the Father, is all the more revealed.”

“There is one Physician who is possessed both of flesh and spirit; both made and not made; God existing in flesh; true life in death; both of Mary and of God; first passible and then impassible, -- even Jesus Christ our Lord…our Physician is the only true God, the unbegotten and unapproachable, the Lord of all, the Father and Begetter of the only-begotten Son. We have also as a Physician the Lord our God, Jesus the Christ, the only-begotten Son and Word, before time began, but who afterwards became also man, of Mary the virgin.”

In this single statement Ignatius affirms: that Christ is truly God, that Christ’s unique office in the Godhead is as the Son and, simultaneously, that Christ is truly man. All of these beliefs are at the core of the Christian faith through the present day.

The Trinity is not a doctrine invented by men or a corrupt Church. It is the clear, consistent teaching of the entirety of the Christian scriptures and it was affirmed as such by the earliest generations of the Church.

[TheMOV]

Before Isaac Newton formulated the theory of gravity, people used to float up into the air.

[dcttdcg]

Funny that God would not clearly state such an allegedly important doctrine in His Word. It took centuries of imperfect men to sub out the language of that doctrine and the further in time from the apostles you get the more complex the thought. Kinda like it was all from the thoughts of man alone.

[johnfrancis]

Go forth and baptise all nations in the name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit.

[Mike-vlzb]

Each of the seven genuine letters also has a shorter and longer version, but only the shorter versions are considered authentic. In addition, there are several spurious epistles attributed to Ignatius, including three that exist only in Latin and six forgeries in Greek versions.

[sy]

Why can’t you just believe in one God like Jesus himself believed.

[thomasbradley]

The New testament itself does not directly state the trinitarian doctrine. In fact the word Trinity is not found anywhere in the New testament. However the New testament does allude to the fact that the father is God the son is God the holy spirit is God three persons one being. God allows us to discover him over time. By the end of the Nicene council it was well understood that God is three persons one being and that Jesus is fully God and fully man, two natures one person. The trinitarian doctrine is fully embraced by the entire Catholic Church Orthodox church and Protestant church.

[pantelispanopoulos]

The Didache of the Apostles, one of the earliest Christian books (albeit very small) does mention Father-Son and Holy Spirit and that everything should be done in their Name!

[WhateverWhateverwtghvh]

There is essentially only 1 or 2 verses that push the trinity. Everything else can easily be explained by Jesus being the son of God and existing before time and the holy spirit simply being the spirit of God existing before time.

[larrybedouin]

Anti-trinitarians are a dividing spirit not from God.

[ArtorGrael]

The Ignatius quotes are (mostly) consistent with arianis, m.
Scholars have said there are Ignatian writing which are forgeries, even by arians.
It doesn't establish Jesus is God in a trinitarian way.

[SurroundedByGiants]

It doesn't appear that Jesus and the apostles taught this and, in fact, warned of new deceptive teachings cropping up. Still, I realize I am an ignorant sinner and I hope God will teach me (and others) what I need to know.

[colinmilton]

I only counted 2 in the video, not a 3. A twoitty

[shahidrasul]

There is ONLY ONE GOD! HE has NO partners!
HIS sovereignty over all!
FOR him is all gratitude!
HIS power DOMINATES ALL.
No eye has seen HIM,
HE is Eternal and Self Sufficient.
He Depends on No one.
He is not physical, never has been!

[francois]

God the Father, the Son of God and the Spirit **OF** God, perfectly Biblical.
God, God the Son and God the Spirit, is an added philosophical concept, with No supportive Bible scripture.

Try and explain this philosophy to the Jews who understood that the Father is the source of all Life and therfore He is referred to as the only true God unto this day. 1Cor 8:6.

Scripture can be misused to ALLUDE to many false teaching like the Trinity. Where in scripture is there a "Thus saith the LORD" for any of the Trinitarian assumptions like three persons forming a singular God, Christ being Co-Eternal with His Father (unlogical ) or Christ being referred to as "God the Son" etc. NO Scripture to back it up.

There is only one Jesus, and He cannot be divided into a pre and post incarnate Christ. He simply continued His life as the incarnate Christ with both Human and Divine nature, where as before he had only a Divine Nature.

Jesus a Jew by human nature, and God by Divine Nature also states that His Father is the Only true God, Jhn 17:3 because He is the source of all Life, and that He Himself received Life from His Father. (Jhn 5:26) When did He receive life from His Father? Not at His incarnation because that would mean He did not have life before. Proverbs 8 states that it was before all creation.

Jhn 8:54 Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: (The Father is The God of Israel, not a Trinity)

Jhn 17:1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said....3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (The Father is the only True God according to Jesus)

Jhn 5:26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;


Through Solomon Christ declared concerning Himself as the Wisdom of God: Proverbs 8:22- "The Lord possessed Me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I was set up from everlasting, ...When there were no depths, I was brought forth;..before the hills was I brought forth....I was by Him, as one brought up with Him; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him."

*Eph 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: *

[spiritualhammer]

Hardly anyone knew about the trinity until well AFTER the Council of Nicea.

[johnmariano]

Funny that Ignatius never mentioned that Holy Spirit as a separate sentient being or mentioned it in his greetings as Paul did in all Pauline epistles...
How can you say that Ignatius believe trinity.
He believes that Jesus is God, which is true, but never mentioned that the Holy Spirit is part of Godhead...
so where is the trinity there?

[TavishCaryMusic]

Much of Ignatius is dodgy. There are 3 variant documents, long, middle, and short. We don't know which ones are valid. Either way, there was obviously disagreement in the early church. Many different beliefs. To take one and simply say that was just the mainstream view is just wrong. The winners write history. The Trinitarians ended up winning and were able to write the history. But they couldn't completely hide the truth.

[Roze_Mari]

Okay soo, is orthodoxy/orthodox christians in line with these teachings or na??

[thomasreed]

One major problem the early church did not teach tithing either! They didn’t teach Trinity because over 500 people were at the baptism of Jesus where they clearly heard the voice of God cry out this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased and also witness a white dove descend from above in which many believed was a sign of the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus

[stevenwebb]

If Jesus is God (or equal to God the father), why did he call our God and Father his God and Father at John 20:17?