Why did it take 400 years for the Trinity doctrine to become official Christian theology ?

Question

"The Trinity . . . It did not find a place formally in the theology of the church till the 4th century." -- The Illustrated Bible Dictionary

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Answer 1

The earliest known document of Christianity, the Didache, or more commonly known as the instruction to the churches, speaks of instructing how to conduct affairs of the early church. In it ( it is dated to approximately 60 CE, earlier than the gospels in fact) there is instruction how to Baptize in the name of father, son and holy ghost..the triune aspect of the Christian godhead.

Any Jews who wished to remain within the fold of the covenant of Israel would have never accepted a concept of a messiah who took on the role of God as a medium to atone for sin and most importantly, never as a human sacrifice.
From the earliest days of Christianity there was debate and worse. They fought for nearly three centuries in between the various early Christian groups whether or not Jesus was a divinity or not. The more paganized elements combining attributes of the Roman version of Mithras onto Jesus thus confirming godhood status won out . Yet, texts are also included in the official canon that deny his divinity. This is why the New Testament often appears schizophrenic in its depiction of the Godhead. Jesus is both man and god in it's texts.

Answer 2

Why don't you read what some differing encyclopedias have to say on the subject?

It has always been around, and over time, has developed and been refined.

It is a concept that is STILL in debate regarding the nature of God, and how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit differ, and in what ways they are the same.

Most people, and probably including yourself, don't even understand what the debate is about.

Those who are "opposed" claim the Holy Spirit is not a person, yet they cannot define what a person is, and even how the Father is a person when the Father is defined as being, Himself, a Spirit.

And, as they say, you cannot prove a negative. You cannot prove the Holy Spirit is not a person.

Can it therefore be proven the Holy Spirit IS a "person"? By what criterion?

Can a "non-person" speak? Or can only a "person" speak?

If the Holy Spirit is but a power or force that flows from the Father, then how do you explain Jesus relating how he came from the father in much the same fashion?

And, can a "force" speak?

Not as simple as you might have thought. But you are entitled to your beliefs, regardless of any critical thinking on your part.

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Answer 3

actually, I attempt to no longer mock all people's ideals. although scholars are taking off to verify that the earliest Christians' ideals have been something yet Trinitarian. If we Latter-day Saint Christians are heretics and stupid and cultists for arguing with the doctrine of the Trinity, then so have been Peter, Paul, John the cherished, each and all the Christians previous to the 0.33 or fourth century, and Jesus himself. "the impressive theological definition of the doctrine of the Trinity," notes J. R. Durnmelow, "become the end results of an prolonged technique of progression, which become no longer finished till the 5th century, or maybe even later."a million As bill Forrest feedback, "To insist that a perception interior the Trinity is needful to being Christian, is to renowned that for hundreds of years after the hot testomony become achieved hundreds of Jesus' followers have been in fact no longer fairly 'Christian.'"2

Answer 4

I notice that there is not much mention that the pagans worshiped triund gods, and this may have influenced dogma considering that Christianity became a state religion. This served to pacify the pagan masses.

Speaking of Holy Spirit, Luke 1:15 refers to John the Baptist in his mother's womb being filled with holy spirit. How do you get filled with another person? And then at Matt 3 11, John the Baptist relates that one is coming after him who will baptize you people with holy spirit and with fire. Now we have a forth entity for consideration, "fire."

There is no denying that Jesus Christ is a god, because he is the son of god. But he is not God Almighty, YHWH. People on this forum keep throwing up the early teachings of the JWs as evidence that they are misdirected. But the organization put those teachings behind them as the day got lighter. The majority of Christendom needs to do the same thing, instead of trying to justify a false doctrine from the middle ages, they need to start worshiping God with "spirit and truth."

Answer 5

It was because it took them that long to figure out what Jesus was. If you read Paul's earlier letters, he refers to Jesus as being "raised" by God from death. Not "rising", "raised". The theology was not well developed then. They knew he had a special relationship with God but hadn't gone into the specifics. Many believed that he became adopted by God at his resurrection. By the time Mark's gospel was written, they decided the adoption had occured at the beginning of his ministry, when he was baptized by John.

But what was he before? Just a man? And how did his "adoption" by God make him different from other humans? Matthew and Luke attempted to resolve the issue by showing that Jesus was a special being from his conception, writing infancy narratives in their gospels (narratives that tell very different stories).

But then some people started wondering if Jesus was human at all, while others still wondered about the extent of Jesus' divinity. One popular school, called Arianism, said Jesus was divine, but inferior to God. John's gospel was written to make it clear that Jesus was God, "one" with the Father, but it still didn't specify the details. If there is only one God, how can he be in heaven AND on Earth? And exactly who was Jesus praying to?

It got ugly. People actually fought each other in the streets over this stuff. They chased pastors and preaches out of town. It was affecting public order in the Empire. That's one of the reasons Constantine decided to legalize Christianity, so they could go public, call a council, and settle their theology once and for all. It was the councils of the Fourth Century that defined the orthodox version of Christianity and officially declared the alternatives heresies. (These "heretics" didn't go quietly either.)

The councils determined that Jesus was both God AND human, but a single person. He was distinct from the Father as a "person" but together they were one "God". In the process of their deliberations, they realized that the New Testament referred to a third aspect of God, the "helper" that Jesus was to send to guide his Church. There were too many references to the "Spirit" of God coming down onto people to regard it as anything but a third person. So the one God became a trinity of persons. It was the reasoned solution to a variety of contradictions found in scripture and the faith of the community. And for the sake of theological unity in the Church, it was the one that stuck.

Answer 6

It gets even funnier:

Even after the trinity became the official teaching

Non trinitarans were the 'popes'

In efforts to heal the growing breach between the rival Christian sects whose headquarters were in Rome and Constantinople and to brand as heretical apostate Christian teachers in other cities, various “Ecumenical (Universal) Church Councils” were organized over the centuries. The first one was held in Nicaea, in 325 C.E., in order to condemn the Arian anti-Trinitarian “heresy.”

The leading bishop in Constantinople, Eusebius of Nicomedia, was an Arian, and he succeeded in causing Constantine to change doctrinal horses, so to speak. Now it was the Trinitarians that were banned. In 335 Constantine banished Athanasius to Treves, in Gaul (France). Shortly thereafter, and just before he died, Constantine was baptized by Arian bishop Eusebius.

Pope (or Bishop of Rome) Liberius (358) consented to the condemnation of Athanasius, and made a profession of Arianism, that he might be recalled from his exile and reinstated in his see.

Here it is interesting that in 325 ‘the Church denied Arian, and yet by 358 a ‘Pope’ adopted it to be reinstated to the ‘Holy See’.

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Answer 7

Beginning in the 1st century and continuing up to the4th century A.D. the various emperors of the Roman Empire carried out occasional violent persecutions against Christians. Apostles,bishops, disciples and other leaders and followers of Jesus who would not compromise their faith were persecuted and martyred. The persecutions were so successful that near the end of the3rd century under the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, monuments were erected memorializing the extinction of Christianity.

Answer 8

Well the Trinity is spoken of nowhere in the Bible...but it doesn't need to be there because God specifically states His deity throughout the bible...

Verses of Scripture explicitly stating the Father's Deity:

“Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.” (John 6:27)


“And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:11)


“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.” (I Peter 1:2)


These verses are only a few in the New Testament that refer to the Person of God the Father. Many times, the generic term “God” or “Lord” is used. Specifically, God “the Father” is a term used to denote the specific Person of the Father. This reveals that the Father is a distinct Person. He is not the Son, nor is He the Spirit, yet they three are one (I John 5:7). His title alone tells of His Deity.

And I have no clue why it took 400 years for it to be known but then again it took centuries for us to figure out the the world is round and not flat. So I guess our common sense is not so common then?

Answer 9

The trinity is taken directly from the Bible itself. Just because man may not have realized it does not make it so.

1John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

Answer 10

Because that is how long it took for Christianity to become an 'organized' religion. But that does not mean that earlier generations of Christians did not accept the doctrine of the trinity.

Malcolm, [e-mail]