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The Trinity in Church History
The Trinity is quickly becoming one of the greatest
mysteries in modern Christianity. Opponents and proponents alike struggle with
the misinformation and often the lack of information on this topic. Is it three
gods or one God? Is it modes of God or persons? Did the early church force this
doctrine into Christianity? To do justice to this topic I have broken this into
a four-part Study. We will look at church history (especially leading up to the
Council of Nicaea), what the early church believed, the heresies that the church
confronted and the last part will examine the doctrine of the Trinity.
The most common argument I hear against the Trinity or even
against the accuracy of the scriptures is the claim that the Council of Nicaea
altered the Bible or changed church doctrine to fit their purposes. Did the
Council of Nicaea alter the scriptures? And did this council formulate the
doctrine of the Trinity? Did the church only pick the books of the Bible to fit
their beliefs? Often liberal theologians claim the councils had an axe to grind
and an agenda to promote. However, as we examine history we will see these
claims fall short of the facts. Those who make claims such as “The early
church had an axe to grind”, are ignorant of history. Let’s take a
historical look at the early church.
Persecution has always been a weapon against Christianity.
We see persecution against the church in the book of Acts and the apostle John
addresses it in Revelation. Because the Bible ends its account here, the church
is largely unaware of the martyrs that continued where scripture left off. Even
when the Roman Emperors were not persecuting the church, local persecutions by
Rome were consistently taking place up until the time of Constantine. Keep in
mind that Jesus was crucified between 33 and 34 AD. For the first 20 years, the
Jewish leaders were the primary source of persecution.
Nero was the first great Roman persecutor of the church. He
was Emperor and persecuted the church between 54 and 68 AD. The Romans allowed
any religion and its citizens were allowed to worship any god as long as Caesar
was worshipped as the god over all. Rome required its people to worship Caesar
once a year. This obviously violates the Christian faith because God forbids
having any other gods becoming the object of our worship. In AD 64, Nero was
blamed for the great fire that destroyed over 70% of the Imperial City. Nero
found his scapegoat in the Christian community. At the time, Christians were
only a small sect in the city and an easy target for the wrath of the Romans.
Nero accused this sect of being the cause of this fire. When the citizens
responded favorably, he made it into a public spectacle by feeding Christians to
the lions in the surviving amphitheater.
Soon after this, Nero publicly proclaimed himself as the
enemy of Christianity. He targeted the apostles, and soon Peter and Bartholomew
were imprisoned. History states that Peter was shackled to a post in a prison
called Mamertine. The prison and torture post are still on public display. Peter
spent 9 months shackled to this post. During this time he was known for
converting many jailers and prisoners to Christ. He was led out to watch his
wife be crucified. He encouraged her by calling out, “Remember the Lord”.
Soon after he was also crucified head down. Peter is the only apostle known to
having been married. Bartholomew was condemned to die with Philip but was
released when the magistrate ordered him cut down from the cross. Philip was
crucified, but Bartholomew continued preaching until he was crucified in 68 AD,
the year Nero died. The apostle Paul was a Roman citizen. It was illegal to
crucify a Roman, therefore Nero had Paul beheaded. Some traditions have it that
Paul was torched by oil before he was beheaded.
He continued the persecution and is infamous for his
banishment of John the apostle. John was exiled to the isle of Patmos in ad 95.
John returned and died peacefully around 100 AD.
One of the early theologians Ignatius was condemned to die
by Trajan. Ignatius was a disciple of the apostle John. When Ignatius was on his
way to Rome to be crucified, he wrote seven epistles. These are not a part of
scripture, but they offer a lot of clear evidence as to what the churches
closest to the apostles believed. This will be examined later in this series.
In 155 AD, Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna stood before a
packed stadium. Just before he was martyred, out of respect for his age, the
Proconsul offered leniency by saying, "Swear, and I will release thee;
curse the Christ." Polycarp responded, "Eighty and six years have I
served him, and he hath done me no wrong; how then can I blaspheme my king who
saved me?"
Marcus Aurelius also became known as one of the
greatest persecutors of the church in AD 161-180.
Local persecutions continued against the church even though
there was not an active emperor trying to stamp out the church. One of the early
church theologians named Tertullian wrote around 210 AD, “They think the
Christians the cause of every public disaster, of every affliction with which
the people are visited. If the Tiber rises as high as the city walls, if the
Nile does not send its waters up over the fields, if the heavens give no rain,
if there is an earthquake, if there is famine or pestilence, straightway the cry
is, ‘Away with the Christians to the lion!’”
There were many Christians who denied their faith to save
their own lives during these years. However, as Christians began to see the
courage, dignity and joy that empowered those who were martyred, Christians
began to draw their strength from the martyrs and martyrdom became something to
be desired. Instead of stamping out the church, Christianity flourished and
becoming a martyr was considered the highest honor in Christianity.
After seventy years, a new emperor declared war on the
church. In the year 250, the emperor Decius commanded all Romans to perform
sacrifices before the magistrate. When sacrifices were complete they would
receive a certificate to present as evidence of their loyalty to Rome. Many
professing Christians obtained certificates through performing these sacrifices,
bribing officials, or obtaining forged certificates. This created divisions in
the church with those who stood loyal to scripture in spite of the persecutions
that followed. Three bishops, Fabian, Babylas, and Alexander were martyred for
refusing to sacrifice for the emperor. One year later, Decius died and the
persecution ended.
Valerian began new persecutions in 257. He banished
ministers and prominent laymen. He also confiscated property and forbade
Christian assemblies and reinstated death penalties for Christians. Cyprian of
Carthage and Sixtus II of Rome were prominent martyrs. The persecution ended in
260 when the Persians captured Valerian and his son Gallenius revoked the
persecution. Under Gallenius, Christianity became a legal religion for the first
time.
The last great Roman persecution against the church came in
303 and ended in 311 under the western emperor Diocletian and Galerius, Augustus
of the east. For unknown reasons, Galerius ordered his army purged of all
Christians. Soon after, he prohibited Christian worship and he ordered churches
to be destroyed and scriptures burned. He ordered bishops to be captured,
tortured and killed and ordered the community to be purged of Christians by
blood. In 305, Diocletian ended his persecution while Galerius continued until
311 when he issued an edict to tolerate the Christian religion. It was a
reluctant acknowledgment that he failed in his attempt to wipe out Christianity.
Constantine was proclaimed western emperor around 312 AD.
Soon after, he found himself battling the eastern kingdom of Rome, which was
lead by Maxentius. It was just before this battle that Constantine had a dream
where he saw the chi-rho. This was often used as the sign of the cross in
Christianity during the early years. It was the Greek symbols of ‘X’ and the
‘P’ put together. ‘X’ makes the ‘ch’ sound in Greek and ‘P’
makes the ‘r’ sound. The chi-rho combines these two symbols to form a
monogram representing Christ’s name. When Constantine saw this symbol in his
dream, he also saw the words, “In hoc signo vinces”, which means, “by this
sign conquer.” Constantine won a great victory and united the kingdom again.
Constantine granted religious liberty for Christians and issued the ‘Edict of
Milan’, which restored confiscated property back to Christian owners.
It was shortly after this persecution ended that the Council of Nicaea was called. There is a point to this review of history. Critics of the Bible and critics of the Trinity argue that the council of Nicaea was a group of liberal Christians armed with an agenda to alter the bible to fit their views. However, we see a different story in history. The council of Nicaea was only 14 years after the last great persecution against the church. These are not liberal theologians, but people who suffered greatly for their faith. At the Council of Nicaea, Constantine kissed the face of one of the bishops that lost an eye from torture. These were not men who were grinding their axes against tradition, but men who lost homes, families, friends, and lived in peril for their lives – all without wavering from their faith. These men were not out for their own self-interest. They endured severe persecution and torture as proof. If they had selfish motives, they would not have been willing to lose everything for their faith. These were ministers defending the faith that some of their peers laid down their lives for, and they were not willing let heresy diminish the gospel they also suffered for. From outside the church they suffered greatly against persecution and now they could not sit idly by while the gospel was challenged from within the church.
Eddie Snipes
Exchanged Life Outreach
http://www.exchangedlife.com
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