The Trinity

[Annie39]

When was the dogma of the Trinity formally defined?

Thanks,
Annie

 

[Luvtosew]

I do believe it was the council of Nicea in 325, but my memory is not that good. Constatine wanted a answer to stuff so they met and wrote the Creed. You would have
to double check or someone else will chine in.

 

[DaveBj]

From the Wiki article on “Trinity:”

The first of the early church fathers recorded as using the word Trinity was Theophilus of Antioch writing in the late second century. He defines the Trinity as God, His Word (Logos) and His Wisdom (Sophia) in the context of a discussion of the first three days of creation. The first defence of the doctrine of the Trinity was in the early third century by the early church father Tertullian. He explicitly defined the Trinity as Father, Son and Holy Spirit and defended the Trinitarian theology against the “Praxean” heresy.

I know it’s fashionable to hate Wikipedia, but a quick search there on any concept in question would really aid in the cause of learning about basic questions.

 

[Jaypeeto4]

Justin Martyr, converted by those who knew the apostles personally and were taught by them,
also taught everything we believe about The Trinity. He just didn’t use that word.

He described that all Christians worship
The Father, the Word, and the Prophetic (Holy) Spirit.

He described the way that the word or son is eternally generated by the Father
by referring to how a kindled flame can separate or be distinct from it’s original source
yet remain the same essence, the original flame. This is a pretty good attempt at describing HOW the Father and the Son (Word) are the exact same Divine nature, namely full and equal deity while remaining distinct in “person”. To make things very clear,
Justin referred repeatedly to Jesus the Word as being The LORD of Hosts.
The LORD of Hosts is a very specific thing to say. In the Hebrew Tanakh, the “old testament” scriptures, this LORD is the four letters of the Tetragram,
meaning no one else and no one OTHER,
than YAHWEH himself, God almighty.
So, despite the claims of anti-Trinitarians,
the doctrine that Jesus Is God Almighty, the Word, was the original Apostolic doctrineand nothing historical can show this to be otherwise.
Add to that Justin’s teaching that the Spirit is also God and worshiped as such,
and bingo, you have just described, fully, The Holy Trinity,
without using the WORD, “Trinity.”
That TERM, it was correctly noted above, is first used, that we KNOW OF, in the writings of Theolphilus in about 180 A.D.

But the doctrine IS the original Apostolic teaching.
Please do not let ANYONE fool you into believing otherwise.
God love you.

 

[Annie39]

Thank everyone.

Not to worry jaypeet, as a Tiber swimmer (revert 1989) I am very much a committed Catholic. In the past I was involved with Catholic apologetics.

After a discussion I had with one of my sisters (ex-Catholic) regarding Constantine that turned out well I began thinking, what if I get another opportunity to discuss the Faith with her? I want to be ready to give evidence that the Catholic Church is what she says She is. My sister believes in sola scriptura and praying that’s it. Her interpretation of scripture is right for her but everyone else can interpret scripture to his/her thinking and that’s okay with her. At least that is what she says she thinks, but she believes in Catholic doctrines like the Trinity and attends her church on Sundays.

If I can show that she believes in the Trinity (like Catholics) instead of believing that Jesus Christ is not God like the Arians because of Catholic Church authority I’m hoping that another little seed will have been planted. I have a little more work to do to organize my thoughts but this has helped. If you or anyone else would like to give (name removed by moderator)ut here, I would be grateful.
Annie