Is the Trinity an authentic part of the Christian faith, or a later invention? After all, the timespan between Jesus’ ministry and the Council of Nicaea (325 A.D) is longer than the age of the United States! How did the doctrine of the Trinity develop during these three centuries?
Many skeptics hold that the Nicene concept of the Trinity was invented by powerful Christians, and is not an original part of Christian teaching. This is one of the most common objections to the doctrine of the Trinity. It is a popular argument among Atheists, Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and others. This argument that the Trinity is a later invention may seem plausible given (1) the 300-year time gap, (2) the Nicene Creed uses fancy philosophical words that do not appear in Scripture, such as the word “consubstantial,” and (3) the Nicene Creed appears to be political power-play to shut down any further debate on the issue.
However, when we examine the evidence, we see that the doctrine of te Trinity was there all along. The principles of the Trinity were present from the beginning of Christianity:
- There is only one God
- God is three persons: Father, Son, and Spirit
- Each person is fully God
- Each person is distinct (for instance, the Father is not the Son)
There is only One God.
Christians have always believed in one God. Consider the writings of Clement, bishop of Rome in the first century, who probably knew the Apostles personally. The First Epistle of Clement says that “the name of the true and only God might be glorified; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”1 Clement also writes, “Let all the nations know that Thou art God alone and Jesus Christ Thy Son, and we are Thy people and the sheep of Thy pasture.”2 The belief in one God is a crucial aspect of Christianity as well as the doctrine of the Trinity.
God is Three Persons who are Distinct yet Fully Divine
Early Christians worshipped a tri-personal God. The formula of Father-Son-Spirit, often called the “Trinitarian Formula” pops up often in early writings.
- Ignatius, a disciple of the Apostle John, wrote around 110 A.D. about “stones of a temple, prepared beforehand for the building of God the Father, hoisted up to the heights by the crane of Jesus Christ, which is the cross, using as a rope the Holy Spirit”3 All three persons are mentioned in the same breath, and are all working together to build a spiritual temple.
- Ignatius also claimed that Jesus Christ was God: “I glorify Jesus Christ, the God who made you so wise, for I observed that you are established in an unshakable faith, having been nailed, as it were, to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.”4
- Justin Martyr wrote in the 150s, “The Father of the universe has a Son; who also, being the first begotten Word of God, is even God. And of old He appeared in the shape of fire and in the likeness of an angel to Moses and to the other prophets; but now in the times of your reign, having, as we before said, become Man by a virgin .”5 Notice here that the Father and Son are distinct persons, yet both are fully God.
- Polycarp proclaimed right before he was burned at the stake in 155, “I glorify you, through the eternal and heavenly High Priest, Jesus Christ, your beloved Son, through whom to you, with him and the Holy Spirit, be glory both now and for the ages to come.”6 These three persons are distinct, yet Polycarp worships and glorifies all three together. This assumes they are all God because God does not share his glory with anyone else (Isaiah 42:8).
- Athenagoras answers the accusation that Christians are atheists because they do not worship the Roman gods (atheism has a different meaning in those times). In 190, still well before Nicaea, he writes, “The Holy Spirit Himself also, which operates in the prophets, we assert to be an effluence of God, flowing from Him, and returning back again like a beam of the sun. Who, then, would not be astonished to hear men who speak of God the Father, and of God the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and who declare both their power in union and their distinction in order, called atheists?”7 Here, Athenegoras asserts that the Father, Son, and Spirit are equally divine persons, distinct from each other yet united in their deity.
When we put these sources together, we see Trinitarian principles 2-4: God is three persons, each person is fully God, and each person is distinct. These principles were established well before the Council of Nicaea.
An Earlier Example from Scripture
We have an earlier example that confirms the doctrine of the Trinity, from Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Now Philippians was written in the early 60’s A.D, but a specific section, often called the “hymn of Christ” probably comes from even earlier.8 Due to its Greek structure, many scholars, including the skeptic Bart Ehrmen, note that Paul appears to be quoting a poem that he did not compose.9 In other words, this poem/hymn was written before Paul wrote the Letter to the Philippians. This means it was written within three decades of Christ’s ministry! Here is the “hymn of Christ” in Philippians 2:5-11:
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
These verses contain stunning truths that confirm the principles of the Trinity.
- Jesus was pre-existent. This means he existed before he was born as a man (v. 7).
- The pre-existent Jesus was in the form of God (v. 6). The Greek word for “form” (morphē) means the true and exact nature of something10. Thus, Jesus was in the true and exact nature of God.
- Jesus is the Yahweh God of the Old Testament (v. 9-10). These verses reference Isaiah 45:22-23, where Yahweh proclaims, “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’” Philippians applies this passage to Jesus. Thus, Christ receives the worship and allegiance that belongs to the one God alone.
- Jesus has a relationship with the Father (v. 9-11). While Jesus fully God, he is distinct from the Father and has a relationship with him. Jesus obeys the Father to the point of death. Then, Jesus and Father share their glory with one another. The Father exalts the Son to be worshipped as the Yahweh God. When people worship the Son as Lord, it all goes back to the glory of God the Father. In this way, the Father and the Son glorify each other as distinct persons who are both fully God.
In summary, this passage in Philippians assumes (1) there is one God, as seen in the reference to Isaiah, (2) the Son is fully God, and (3) the Son is a distinct person from the Father. The principles of the Trinity were not invented centuries later; they were present from the beginning of Christianity.
So, what was is purpose of the Council of Nicaea? Well, various false teachings arose that challenged the principles of the Trinity. For instance, Arianism taught that Jesus was not fully God. Christians needed to refute these false teachings and establish clear boundaries to defend the truth about God. The Creeds did not invent beliefs, they defended beliefs that were always a part of authentic Christianity. Christians have always worshipped God as Father, Son, and Spirit because that is precisely what Scripture commands.
- 1 Clement 43.1 ↩︎
- 1 Clement 59.4 ↩︎
- Ignatius, Letter to the Ephesians, 9.1 ↩︎
- Ignatius, Letter to the Smyrnaeans, 1.1 ↩︎
- Justin Martyr, First Apology, 63 ↩︎
- Martyrdom of Polycarp, 14.3 ↩︎
- Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians, 10 ↩︎
- ESV Study Bible, 2282 ↩︎
- Bart Ehrman, https://ehrmanblog.org/the-pre-pauline-poem-in-philippians-2-for-members/ ↩︎
- ESV Study Bible, 2283 ↩︎
