Trinity question. Why if the Trinity is truely biblical was the doctrine developed over time?

Question

This is history of the Trinity doctrine development.

In 325 AD, the Council of Nicaea got together at a time when the Roman Empire was under Roman Catholic influence and pagan worship was rife in the Empire.
But it did not establish the Trinity, for at that council there was no mention of the holy spirit as the third person of a triune Godhead.
The Council of Constantinople in 381 C.E first established the Trinity but did not become a widely accepted creed. Many opposed it and thus brought on themselves violent persecution. It was only in later centuries that the Trinity was formulated into set creeds.
THE Trinity was defined more fully in the Athanasian Creed. Athanasius was a clergyman who supported Constantine at Nicaea.
So it took centuries from the time of Christ for the Trinity to become widely accepted in Christendom. And in all of this, what guided the decisions? Was it the Word of God, or was it clerical and political considerations?

There is no evidence that the ancient Hebrews worshipped the Trinity. Since Israel then was the Nation of God, they would of known God. The Trinity would not of been a secret waiting for the R.C. Church to formulate.

Thank you Linedancer for that small ammendment and still keeping in harmony with the question.

Answer 1

The Trinity was developed as a political move by the clergy to hold on to power among the Empire that they were in control of.
The Church considered the kingdom of God to of arrived in the form of the Roman Empire. To convert pagans to Roman Catholicism they adopted "Christianity" to fit with pagan beliefs. The Spring worship of fertility and light became the period of remembrance of Jesus' death.
The worship of Saturnalia became the celebration of Christ's birth. The triune and tri gods and godesses developed the True God to a trinity of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The Trinity of Christendom is not a true Bible teaching but a long time church clerical political development.

History itself is just a large revealer of the Trinity as a false teaching as so it's illogical fitting in with scriptures. Even clear scriptures have to be tinkered with to make the Trinity fit. Begotten Son becomes unscriptural "eternal begotten Son" though there is no verse of "eternal begotten Son" in the Bible. Or "The Father and I are one" but so I am with my wife in biblical beliefs but we are 2 seperate individual persons.

Jesus and the holy spirit in the scriptures can be outside of God. such as Jesus and God or holy spirit and God but never is it the Father and God. The Father and only the Father is God.

Answer 2

The trinity did not take on full form in 381. It fully developed in 362. As A Catholic Dictionary notes: “The third Person was asserted at a Council of Alexandria in 362."

There is nothing in the Bible to support the trinity. There is not a single verse that says the Father, Son, and the holy spirit are co-equal, co-eternal, almighty, and that they make up a single God.

You wonder, if it took hundreds of years AFTER Christ died to come up with the trinity, what did the first Christians really believe? As Jesus said at John 17:3, the Father is the ONLY true God.

The trinity took so long to develop because it took that long for the Church to beat a false doctrine into the heads of its members.

Answer 3

While I am not a Christian, I agree that the non-Trinitarian view of God seems more sensible. You might want to look at the non-Trinitarian versions of Christianity.

I would suggest looking into these Christian churches which are all non-Trinitarian: Jehovah's Witnesses, Christadelphians, Bible Students, American Unitarian Conference, Arian Catholic Church, Oneness (or Apostolic) Pentecostal, UU (Unitarian Universalist) Christian Fellowship, etc. Swedenborgianism (look up Swedenborg on Wikipedia) was also non-Trinitarian. I also believe the churches that sprang from Herbert Armstrong and retained his teachings are also non-Trinitarian (or unitarian - small "u").

While it is true that LDS Mormons do not believe in the Trinity, they have a doctrine of Godhead and eternal progression which is more polytheistic than monotheistic.

Answer 4

Unbelief never understands because it seeks to bring the being of an eternal Almighty God down to something they can understand. You can "reason" away eternal, invisible, all knowing sovereign and many of the attributes of God with the cheap excuse (I don't understand). What kind of God would He be if He were like us? or we could fully understand Him? Can a worm understand us? God is greater than our ability to comprehend so we believe what He has revealed about Himself and one or those things is He is one God but that there is 3 persons in the Godhead. Reply: The council only confirmed what the church always believed in response to the Arian heresy being taught. This is how most of the creeds and confessions have come about is when a heresy came up the church would get together and put in writing what they believed in contrast to the false teaching. Even in the Apostolic time they did this at the council held back then to counter the Judaisers.

Answer 5

Truly pagan.

The Bible does not teach a trinity. People just try to squeeze it in, but no matter what it doesn't work.

You either get more than a TRInity (a BILLIONITY) or you'd have to change the definition of the trinity, which stipulates that the THREE be EQUAL in all aspects.

There is simply no such Bible verse or even the inkling of an implication. If someone had never heard of the trinity, they would never come to that conclusion all on their own just by reading the Bible.

The Bible truth is short, simple and sweet;
Jehovah the Father is God.
Jesus is his Son
The holy spirit is God's power, the most powerful force in the universe.

Answer 6

The Trinity is not a Biblical concept and was developed by man.

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. I Timothy 3:16

Answer 7

It seems to me that the concept of Trinity comes from the fact that this universe has more than 4 dimensions. At last count according to "string" theory there are 11 dimensions. And God had to limit into 4 dimensions for humans to "see" him. Since sight is one of the requirements for some people to Believe in God.

In the old testament God was represented as LORD God, example, the fire and cloud that lead the Israelites through the desert. It seems to me that this is the Father part of the Trinity. God the Father was leading His children around and teaching them how to live with other people (nations). Then came Jesus called Christ the Messiah - Savior. God Among Us. So God lived as a Human Being for about 33 years. Experiencing what human's experience. So now God (in our time frame not His) now knows what it is like to be "human"

And finally, today's time frame. Commonly called the Age of Grace. God the Holy Spirit lives in the hearts of humans. Teaching them the ways of God. All you have to do to have the Holy Spirit come into your body is accept that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and Savior of the human race. ie the Son of God. John 3:16. you see... even the demons believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and they tremble with fear.

For more information please see
http://www.rbc.org/topics/87/browse.aspx

Peace be with you...

Answer 8

Probably for the same reason that it took two centuries for James Watt's discoveries concerning engines to turn into a Mercedes-Benz.

Only God can think up something and go "ZAP" and make it happen. Takes us humans a mite longer and we like to chew on it for awhile and find out if the flavor is amenable to us before we go running around hawking it to all the neighbors.

Answer 9

--LIKE EVOLUTION , it needs to be embelished for people of different times, cultures, fantasy believers to find a way for it to be suitable(never logical) to even so-called intellectual ones!

--Thus, people develope analogies like the 3 parts of the egg, water & its 3 forms, the 3 leaf clover etc. to make it acceptable, even though their illustrations have nothing to do with the personal relationship between a Father & Son, who have feelings for one another like Love, appreaciation, respect etc.!

--THUS AN abomination , chimera(many headed monster) is formed because it is impressive and developes different heads for different nations & religions(Babylon, Egypt,India, Catholics, Protestant etc.)
--IT SEEMS that the concept of the trinity keeps developing different heads as we see different religions springing up!

The trinity might come under the warning given here, in principle:

(1 Timothy 1:3-7) “. . .Just as I encouraged you to stay in Eph′e·sus when I was about to go my way into Mac·e·do′ni·a, so I do now, that you might command certain ones not to teach different doctrine, 4 nor to pay attention to false stories and to genealogies, which end up in nothing, but which furnish questions for research rather than a dispensing of anything by God in connection with faith. 5 Really the objective of this mandate is love out of a clean heart and out of a good conscience and out of faith without hypocrisy. 6 By deviating from these things certain ones have been turned aside into idle talk, 7 wanting to be teachers of law, but not perceiving either the things they are saying or the things about which they are making strong assertions.”

Answer 10

my understanding is like this when Jesus was with us on earth he said if you have seen me you have seen the Father and he said i will not leave you comfortless but will send you the Holy Spirit so when Jesus went to heaven he sent the Holy Spirit to earth to guide us so now you have the GOD head. GOD the Father GOD the SON and GOD the HOLY SPIRIT they are all in one for we all have a soul a spirit and at this time a fresh body which make up one being