Christian Theology and the Evolution of the Trinity
Christian theology is centered on the trinity. Every Christian teaching's comprehension depends entirely on its historical context. The origin and development of the notion of the trinity, however, have never been satisfactorily explained by theologians. The advancement of doctrine from the New Testament to the Nicene Creed will be the main topic of the research paper. Trinity operates on the premise that there are other people who exist in addition to God because God is one form. The Nicene Creed places emphasis on this feature. As a result, the exposition of the evolution of trinity from the New Testament to the Nicene Creed provides a solid basis of understanding the origin of the concept. Therefore, the trinity is an epitome of unity among three persons that exhibit key aspects of eternity represented where the Holy Ghost represents power, authority symbolized by the son and substance represented by the father (Wiley, pp. 5)
Christian Doctrine and the Representation of God
Christian doctrine emphasizes that trinity is a representation of the nature of God. The concept emphasizes on the fact that there is only one God. As a result, the Holy Spirit is God, the son is God and the father is God. However, they exist in separate entities where each one uplifts the other and represents God in their individual entities. An understanding of the doctrine of trinity hence will be achieved through the analysis of its evolution. The research paper will focus on the New Testament, the First Council of Nicaea, the Arian Controversy through to the Pro-Nicene Consensus. The analysis of these key elements will provide a good exposition on the advancement of the doctrine of trinity.
The Trinity in the New Testament
The New Testament brings out the aspect of trinity clearly explained in the New Testament. Some of the theologians who have opposed this doctrine have done so on the basis that there is absence of scriptural evidence. Scripture was not written with a theological focus, as a result, on the surface, the opposers of the Trinitarian nature of God may appear to be true. However, the New Testament strongly brings out God as the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit through various passages of scripture that are evident enough in the New Testament. As a result, the concept is not explained explicitly. Philosophers, apologists and theologians have emphasized that through the deductive inference of scripture the trinity nature of God is exposed.
Key Scriptures in the New Testament
Key scriptures in the gospel, one of the letters of Peter and in one of the books of Peter bring out clearly the trinity concept in the New Testament (Wiley, pp. 6). In the book of Mathew chapter 28:19, the scripture clearly brings out the trinity nature of God when Jesus was commissioning the disciples to make disciples in all nations. The emphasis is on the second part of scripture where Jesus tells them to baptize the new converts in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. The scripture echoes the aspect of singularity and brings out the doctrine clearly. In 2nd Corinthians, one of the epistles of Paul, chapter 13:14 clearly expresses the aspect that the doctrine had started to take root in the early church at Corinth. Paul bids the church farewell by stating categorically that the grace of the Lord Jesus, and the Love of God together with the fellowship of the Holy Spirit to keep the church united in their quest to grow and maintain their faith. Finally, the apostle Peter in the book of 1st Peter 1:1-2, while preaching, recognizes the trinity by urging God's elect to grow in faith through the knowledge of God the Father, abiding through obedience to the Holy Spirit and being sanctified continuously by the Holy Spirit.
The Development of the Trinity Doctrine: Councils and Controversies
The early church in 325 A.D experienced great opposition towards the doctrine of trinity. Most of the Christians during that period insisted that the doctrine was imposed to them by the emperor, Constantine. The emperor together with the council of Nicaea played a critical role towards the development of the doctrine of trinity (Closson 2-4). Historians and theologians allude to the fact that the council, under the leadership of Constantine, played a critical role in bringing an end to the persecution of the church. Moreover, Constantine developed a tradition where the emperors were actively involved in the affairs of the church. He played a key role especially with regards to solving the conflicts that the church faced such as the removal of Paul of Samosata from his church together with resolving the conflict that was propagated by Donatists.
The Arian Controversy and its Resolution
Arius, an Alexandrian presbyter, sparked a controversy in his time that led to the rallying around of many bishops in support of the now accepted prose on the Trinity. Arius teachings were based on a theological tradition that advocated for subordinationism ("History of Trinitarian Doctrines", pp. 10-15). Meaning, a long time ago, God created his Son from nothing else other than word of mouth. It is from this teaching that a controversy erupted as Arius was opposed by Alexander, his bishop from Alexandria. Later on, Arius was excommunicated after much examination by Alexander. As a result, the controversy caused a split in the church as those who subscribed to subordinationism sided with Arius while those who believed that the Father and Son had a metaphysical relationship formed the opposition.
The Nicene Creed and its Interpretation
Thereafter, councils were formed to attend to the disputes in the church leading to the excommunication and vindication of supporters of either side. Moreover, each side made it their business to gain the support of the emperor ruling at that time by attempting to beguile the royal power to destroy those with contrary ideologies. It is during this period that Emperor Constantine convened a council of bishops that later proclaimed that both the Son and Father were indeed of the same essence, that is, homoousios, hence the excommunication of Arius together with his group.
The Pro-Nicene Consensus and Different Views
The true meaning of the word homoousios was not clearly understood and as a result both the subordinationists and anti-subordinationists had different interpretations of the same word. It was until later that an anti-subordinationist council upheld by Athanasius, led to the interpretation of homoousius as both the Father and Son being one and not merely two similar beings. It is also the same council that advocated for the worshipping and glorifying of the Holy Spirit as well as both the Father and Son. Moreover, the council stated in a letter attached to their creed that all the three form a sole Godhead.
The Impact of the Pro-Nicene Consensus
During the time when Constantinople's Council was causing mayhem in the region, subordinationist groups dwelling in the western and eastern empires started being extinguished by ecclesial and imperial forces. The concept of the trinity started gaining its way into the common establishments of Christianity hence taking a certain discernible form hence introducing the pro-Nicene consensus.
Differing Views on the Trinity
According to Gregory of Nyssa, the Trinity is compared to three human beings. Gregory together with his brothers Gregory Nazianzus and Basil of Caesarea established consistent terms in relation to the Trinity, that is, hypostasis, to mean God is three and ousia to mean that God is indeed one. All three were Cappadocian Fathers who were unable to determine the distinct function of each and every person hence three specific deities should not be spoken of. Pro-Nicenes therefore argue that God is simple unique and incomprehensible hence assume that it is impossible to draw comparisons between creation and God (Wiley, pp. 4-6). Furthermore, Pro-Nicenes also hold the mysterian view that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are beneficial spiritually.
On the other hand, Augustine argues that God is one and is indeed the Trinity. God is mostly described and addressed by use of personal pronouns and should be loved due to His timelessness, simplicity, perfection and deep existence. Augustine confesses that the biblical faith is his even as it is also the Catholic faith and that it is because of sin that people's minds have been corrupted hence creating unbelief. Augustine's trinitarianism also suggests that God is immutable hence certain term scan be applied to each of the members of the Trinity while other relational terms can only be applied to one of the persons of the Trinity.
The Trinity in Modern Christianity
During the Protestant Reformation post medieval times, that is, the sixteenth century, Christians rejected a number of propositions due to their inconsistency with apostolic doctrines. This was after a thorough examination of the New Testament. Those who later accepted such propositions formed Magisterial Reformation while those who either rejected or denied them as being incompatible with the Bible formed part of the Radical Reformation. With the passing of time, those who were anti-Trinitarian and non-Trinitarian later joined the Trinitarian group while creedal Trinitarians later became Unitarians after being plagued by several controversies. Despite the numerous views that have surfaced over time, many Christians today subscribe to Athanasian creeds.
Conclusion
The Trinity has therefore caused a lot of speculation due to the diverse opinions and practicality in politics, marriage, religious experience, worship and gender relations (Wiman & Scholl, pp. 1-2). Some theologians hold that the Trinity doctrine should not be derived from the Bible while others advocate for the standard arguments. In essence, it is upon Christian philosophers to defend the doctrine against any form of conflicting and illogical charges.
Work cited
Closson, Don. "The Council of Nicaea and The Doctrine Of Trinity." Probe for Answers 1.1 (2003): 2-4. Print.
"History Of Trinitarian Doctrines." (2017): 10-15. Web. 4 Sept. 2017.
Wiley, H. Orton. "Christian Theology-The Trinity." Wesley Center Online (2011): 4-6. Web. 4 Sept. 2017.
Wiman, Christian, and Travis Scholl. "Medidation of A Modern Believer." (2017): 1-2. Web. 4 Sept. 2017.
