The Trinity

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Research Nov 25, 2023

The Trinity

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Table of Contents:
What I believe about Christ
First-born of Creation
Early Christian/Jewish Writings that say Christ was "Begotten"
Early Church Fathers Treat God and Christ Separately
Common Questions and Answers

What I believe about Christ

First-born of Creation

Colossians 1:15 "Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:"

Early Christian/Jewish Writings that say Christ was "Begotten"

The Ascension of Isaiah 7:37 And I praised Him, who is not named and the Only-begotten who dwelleth in the heavens, whose name is not known to any flesh, who has bestowed such glory on the several heaves, and who makes great the glory of the angels, and more excellent the glory of Him who sitteth on the throne.

Testament of Benjamin 2:6 And the twelve tribes shall be gathered together there, and all the Gentiles, until the Most High shall send forth His salvation in the visitation of an only-begotten prophet.

Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus 10:3 to whom alone He imparted the privilege of looking upwards to Himself, whom He formed after His own image, to whom He sent His only-begotten Son, to whom He has promised a kingdom in heaven, and will give it to those who have loved Him.

First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians 36:4 but of His Son the Master said thus, Thou art My Son, I this day have begotten thee. Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the Gentiles for Thine inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Thy possession.

Acts of Peter 3:2 Then Paul called for silence and said: Men and brethren which now have begun to believe on Christ,... Jesus the living God will forgive you... then shall ye have for your guide everlastingly the first-begotten of all creation, and shall have strength in peace with our Lord.

Fragments of Justin Martyr 2:2 But since, from the one God, who both made this world and formed us, and contains as well as administers all things, there came to us the only-begotten Son, summing up His own workmanship in Himself, my faith in Him is stedfast, and my love towards the Father is immoveable, God bestowing both upon us.

The Apocalypse of Abraham 1:19 In contrast to Christ, God the Father is called the "Without father, without mother, unbegotten."

Early Church Fathers

Issues with Translations of Ignatius

Epsitle to the Ephesians, Chp XIX Says "God Himself being manifested in human form for the renewal of eternal life." Many would take this to be a very trinitarian statement. So I looked at the Greek of this... "θεου ανθρωπινως φανερουμενου εις καινοτητα αιδιου ζωης", and found that it literally translates to this "deity made human in the newness of his own life." So it is no longer a supporting text for a Trinitarian viewpoint. It seems the Roberts-Donaldson translation is not without its biases.

Early Church Fathers Treat God and Christ Separately

Clement (ca 85 A.D)
"Have we not one God and one Christ? Is there not one Spirit of grace poured out upon us?" (46).

Polycarp 110 AD
Epistle of Polycarp 0:1 and the presbyters that are with him unto the Church of God which sojourneth at Philippi; mercy unto you and peace from God Almighty and Jesus Christ our Savior be multiplied.
Epistle of Polycarp 1:3 ...ye know that it is by grace ye are saved, not of works, but by the will of God through Jesus Christ.
Epistle of Polycarp 3:3 which is the mother of us all, while hope followeth after and love goeth before--love toward God and Christ and toward our neighbor. ...
Epistle of Polycarp 12:2 Now may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the eternal High-priest Himself the Son of God Jesus Christ...
Martyrdom “O Lord God Almighty, the Father of your beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ"

Papias, 110 AD
Fragments of the Exposition of the Oracles of the Lord, 5 "And when all things shall be subjected to him, then shall the Son also himself be subject to [the Father], Who put all things under him, that God [the Father] may be all in all.”

Aristides (ca. 125 A.D)
Now the Christians trace their origin from the Lord Jesus Christ. And He is acknowledged by the Holy Spirit to be the son of the Most High God, who came down from heaven for the salvation of men.(Apology 15).

Justin Martyr (ca. 150 A.D)
First Apology "by the Word Himself, who took shape, and became man, and was called Jesus Christ,"
"And that you will not succeed is declared by the Word, than whom, after God who begat him, we know there is no ruler more kingly and righteous."
"the Word, who is the firstborn of God, was brought forth without sexual union, and that he, Jesus Christ, our Teacher, was crucified and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven"
"And the first power after God the Father and Lord of all is the Word, who is also the Son; and of Him we will, in what follows, relate how He took flesh and became man."
"His Son, who alone is properly called Son, the Word, who also was with Him and was begotten before the works, when at first He created and arranged all things by Him, is called Christ"

Tatian (165 A.D)
Address to the Greeks, 5 "And by His simple will the Word sprang forth, and the Word, not coming forth in vain, became the firstbegotten work of the Father . Him [the Word] we know to be the Beginning of the world (cf. Rev. 3:14)"
"so the Word, coming forth from the Word-Power of the Father, has not divested of the Word-Power Him who begat Him"

Theophilus of Antioch (ca. 175 A.D)
"And He is without beginning, since He is unbegotten; and He is unchangeable, because He is immortal. And he is called God… He is Lord, because He rules over the universe, Father, because He is before all things, "
"God, then, having His own Word internal within His own bosom, begat him, emitting him along with His own wisdom before all things. He had this Word as a helper in the things that were created by Him"

Irenaeus (ca. 185 A.D)
But if the Word of the Father who descended is the same also that ascended, he, namely, the only-begotten Son of the Only God, who, according to the good pleasure of the Father, became flesh for the sake of men. (Book I, 9)
Now, that this God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Paul the apostle also has declared, “There is One God, the Father, who is above all, and through all, and in all. (Book II, 2).
These [Apostles] have all declared to us that there is One God, Creator of heaven and earth, announced by the law and the prophets and one Christ the Son of God.
but to the Greeks they preached One God, who made all things, and His Son Jesus Christ. (Book III, 12).

Irenaeus, Against Heresies
https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103110.htm
1:10:1 - The Church, ... has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith: [She believes] in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets

Tertullian, 200 AD
Against Praxeas (from 11th century catalog of Cluny)
https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0317.htm
http://www.tertullian.org/collections/cluniacense.htm
Praxeas thought that the Father and the Son were so much the same that we could say that God the Father suffered on the cross. Tertullian points out that this isn't how scripture talks about God, and goes on to summarise the teaching of scripture on the persons of the trinity, and their relationship, thereby being the first to explicitly recognise the doctrine of the Trinity.
Chp 1
In various ways has the devil rivalled and resisted the truth. Sometimes his aim has been to destroy the truth by defending it. He maintains that there is one only Lord, the Almighty Creator of the world, in order that out of this doctrine of the unity he may fabricate a heresy. He says that the Father Himself came down into the Virgin, was Himself born of her, Himself suffered, indeed was Himself Jesus Christ.
Chp 3
Speaking of the hosts of God, carrying out his "monarchy".. and the point being that it is still a monarchy, even if the Son and Spirit are involved in it.
"how comes it to pass that God should be thought to suffer division and severance in the Son and in the Holy Ghost, who have the second and the third places assigned to them, and who are so closely joined with the Father in His substance, when He suffers no such (division and severance) in the multitude of so many angels? Do you really suppose that Those, who are naturally members of the Father's own substance, pledges of His love, instruments of His might, nay, His power itself and the entire system of His monarchy, are the overthrow and destruction thereof?"
(Son and Spirit are "of the Father's own substance")
(The Son and Spirit, distinct from the Father, support the monarchy of the Father)
Chp 4
4:7 Now, from this one passage of the epistle of the inspired apostle, we have been already able to show that the Father and the Son are two separate Persons, not only by the mention of their separate names as Father and the Son, but also by the fact that He who delivered up the kingdom, and He to whom it is delivered up — and in like manner, He who subjected (all things), and He to whom they were subjected — must necessarily be two different Beings.

But the Greek "mono-genes" (only-begotten) really means "one and only" right?

The Greek "gennao" was used for other begetting's in the New Testament, for human births. So this IS the concept that the Scriptures teach... that Christ was "born out of God". See also the list of texts above that show this.

Mono- genes does not mean "one unique one" - as Michael Heiser postulates. He is a Trinitarian, so it behooves him to make this incorrect claim about the translation here. Many Greek texts use this word for a BORN child. Some places in the Bible even use the verb-form of the Greek word "gennao" to explain how God begat Christ (see Heb 5:5, 1 John 1:5 above).

Does 1 Corinthians 1:2-3 say we should pray to Jesus?

1 Cor 1:2 does not tell us to do anything, really. Paul mentions that those people called on Christ, because He was coming back to save them in 70 AD. The word is literally "called" or "addressed", not "prayed to". That is a different word.

I also didn't say it was a bad thing, necessarily, to pray to Jesus, it just is not what He taught us to do. Jesus is our high priest (Heb 5) and intercessor (Rom 8:34), to God the Father. He taught us to pray to the Father.

Doesn't Acts 7:59 show Stephen praying to Jesus?

Acts 7:59-60 "And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep."

In Stephen's final moment of death he "calls out" (in the Greek) to Christ... because Stephen knows he is going to reign with Christ in Heaven... That is what Christ had told the Christians.

Again, I do not believe it is sinful to pray to Jesus, but we must recognize the way things were set up by God... we pray to Him (the Father) through - in the name of - Christ (the Son). Nothing else was taught in the Scriptures, especially by Christ Himself, which should be the most important teaching of all.

Doesn't Isaiah 9:6 say that Jesus is the "Everlasting Father?"

The answer is on this page: Is Jesus the Everlasting Father in Isaiah 9:6?