My question is: did God reveal his “triune” nature (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) to the Jews in Old Testament times, or was this only revealed during Christ’s time on earth (i.e. the New Testament era)? The reason I ask is that if God has always been a Trinity, wouldn’t this aspect of his nature have been revealed to the Jews in the Old Testament days, when he communicated with them? From my knowledge of the Bible I don’t recall any part in the Old Testament in which God is referred to or acknowledged as being Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Is this correct or am I missing something?
God did not reveal Himself as “triune” in the OT. The NT also does not reveal a God that is one substance yet three persons. Both the Old and New Testaments represent God as a duality – God, the Father, and the Yahweh who became Jesus Christ.
In the NT there is no mystery about the oneness of God and no attempt to depict that three are one in any kind of statement. Neither is there any indication that the idea of a Trinity had taken form. This idea that God is triune is a creation of the fourth century by theologians steeped in Greek philosophy. Even in the days of the apostles this doctrine was yet to be created. What we must realize is that the word “Trinity” appeared in Christian literature only in the beginning of the third century and was not believed until a few more centuries.
In his book on the Trinity, Catholic theologian Karl Rahner recognizes that theologians in the past have been “…embarrassed by the simple fact that in reality the Scriptures do not explicitly present a doctrine of the ‘imminent’ Trinity (even John’s prologue is no such doctrine)” (
The Trinity, p. 22)).
Other theologians also recognize that the first chapter of John’s Gospel clearly shows the pre-existence and divinity of Christ but does not teach that the Godhead is a Trinity. Commenting on John’s prologue, Dr. William Clarke writes: “There is no Trinity in this; but there is a distinction in the godhead, a duality in God. This distinction or duality is used as basis for the idea of an only-begotten Son, and as key to the possibility of an incarnation” (
Outline of Christian Theology, p. 167).
According to Berkhof, many theologians of the second and third centuries thought of the Father and Son in terms of subordination (the Son subordinate to the Father) following the triadic and emanatistic Hellenic philosophy of their day (
The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit: The Annie Kinkead Warfield Lectures; 1963-1964).
Following the deaths of the original apostles, the Apostolic Fathers came on the scene about the middle of the second century. Their writings show no metaphysical explanations for the new conceptions of God. What caused these new conceptions was the changing environment of the church which contributed heavily to the shaping of faith and theology. The change from the heavenly Father in the Sermon on the Mount to the dogma of the Trinity represents, according to Hatch and Harnack, a degeneration rather than a development, a corruption of the truth from its earliest simplicity (
Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, edited by James Hastings).
Apologists such as Ignatius of Antioch saw no relevancy in applying the Holy Spirit to the same level as the Father and Son. Justin Martyr did not have any dogmatic view regarding the Spirit and the relations of the three persons are not worked out. Athenagoras mentions a triad early in his writings but Justin’s disciple Tatian had no doctrine regarding the Trinity and made only a vague reference to a triad. For many Christians of the time having no knowledge of a triad was sufficient, and they certainly were not concerned with interrelations (
The Early Christian Doctrine of God, 1966, by Robert Grant).
Around AD 320 a series of doctrinal disputes opened with the Arian controversy, first with the nature and being of the Logos becoming man in Christ, and then the relation of this Logos to the Father. The question of the position of the Holy Spirit was of necessity dragged into the discussion (
Church History, 1889, by Professor Kurtz). The end result of this controversy was the Nicene Council of AD 325 which adopted what was considered to be the standard of orthodoxy. Those who opposed the decision of the council felt that tritheism (three gods) would be the inevitable consequence, but it took three more centuries to decide anything regarding the Holy Spirit.
Following the Council of Nicea, it was clear that the personality of the Holy Spirit, as well as its relationship to the Father and the Son, had not yet been determined. The definition given the Holy Spirit at the Council was so incomplete that 500 years later the schism that rent the Eastern and Western churches is found in this doctrinal basis (
Church History, 1889, by Professor Kurtz).
The doctrine of the Trinity is not a product of the earliest Christian period; it was not expressed until the end of the second century. In its development Christians made use of the methods already worked out by Platonists and Pythagoreans for explaining their own philosophical theology. Novatian of Rome wrote one of the early treatises dealing specifically with the Trinity and at that time affirmed the existence of two Gods (
The Early Christian Doctrine of God, 1966, by Robert Grant).
A closer examination of the Trinitarian doctrine would reveal it is not a part of Scripture. It is the product of Greek speculation and a faulty interpretation of various biblical texts which have had preconceived ideas read into them. It took 300 years to develop the doctrine which even today generates more problems than it solves.
