and NO the Doctrine of the Trinity did NOT COME FROM PAGANISM!

There are actually quite a few sources that make this claim. The common belief that all of these sources share is the belief that Historic, Creedal Christianity was corrupted. Muslims believe this. New Agers believe this. Many different sects and cults believe this. And, today another group that is known as Hebrew Roots or Torahism continues to perpetuate their own version of how the true faith of Christ and His apostles somehow got lost or severely distorted. I've blogged about Hebrew Roots here: LINK

I mention the Hebrew Roots/Torahism groups in particular because certain manifestations of this movement are extremely vocal in denouncing the Trinity. Not all of them, but rejecting the doctrine of the Trinity is often the outcome as people get more and more entangled in the Hebrew Roots movement. 

When and how the Christian faith got corrupted is debated by the groups I've just mentioned. The most common version is that it happened under Constantine in the 4th Century and is often blamed on the Roman Catholic Church. Of course, NONE of these groups knows Church History well and the claims they make are historically comical. 

Take for example a common claim that the doctrine of the Trinity was imported into Christianity from pagan sources in the 4th Century. For that to be true, that would mean that the doctrine began to be taught during the 300s by Christians. How is it possible that the late 2nd Century/early 3rd Century apologist Tertullian coined the term around the year AD213? This is more than 100 years BEFORE the Council of Nicea in AD325 when critics claim the doctrine was introduced! 

The clear teaching of the church from the days of the apostles as is evidenced in all of the writings before Tertullian is that the Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God and yet there is only ONE God. 

Tertullian only came up with the term Trinity to describe what Christians had believed from the beginning. 

Below are the quotes of the Christian leaders who preceded Tertullian from the late 1st century up until the term was first used by him in AD212 which is my final quotation below. You can all see that this doctrine is NOT pagan but is what Christians have confessed and believed from the beginning.

Do we not have one God and one Christ? Is there not one Spirit of grace poured out upon us?  Clement of Rome (c. AD96, W), 1.17.

 

The most true God, is the Father of righteousness. ...We worship and adore Him, the Son (who came forth from Him and taught us these things, along with the host of the other good angels who follow and are made like Him), and the prophetic Spirit.  Justin Martyr (c. AD160, E), 1.164.

 

Who, then, would not be astonished to hear men called atheists who speak of God the Father, and of God the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and who declare both their power in union and their distinction in order?  Athenagoras (c. AD175, E), 2.133.

 

Christians know God and His Logos. They also know what type of oneness the Son has with the Father and what type of communion the Father has with the Son. Furthermore, they know what the Spirit is and what the unity is of these three: the Spirit, the Son, and the Father. They also know what their distinction is in unity.  Athenagoras (c. AD175, E), 2.134.

 

We acknowledge a God, and a Son (His Logos), and a Holy Spirit. These are united in es­sence—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Now, the Son is the Intelligence, Reason, and Wisdom of the Father. And the Spirit is an emanation, as light from fire.  Athenagoras (c. AD175, E), 2.141.

 

The three days which were before the luminaries are types of the Triad of God, His Word, and His Wisdom.  Theophilus (c. AD180, E), 2.101.

 

It is the Father who anoints, and it is the Son who is anointed by the Spirit. The Spirit is the unction.  Irenaeus (c. AD180, E/W), 1.446.

 

I have also largely demonstrated that the Word, namely the Son, was always with the Father. Now, that Wisdom also, who is the Spirit, was present with Him before all creation, He declares by Solomon: “God by Wisdom founded the earth, and by understanding He has established the heaven. By His knowledge, the depths burst forth, and the clouds dropped down the dew.” And again: “The Lord created me the beginning of His ways in His work. He set me up from everlasting, in the beginning, before He made the earth.” ...There is therefore one God, who by His Word and Wisdom created and arranged all things.  Irenaeus (c. AD180, E/W), 1.488.

 

God is powerful in all things. At that time, He was seen prophetically through the Spirit and adoptively through the Son. However, he will be seen paternally in the kingdom of heaven. The Spirit truly prepares a man in the Son of God, and the Son leads him to the Father. Finally, the Father confers upon him incorruption for eternal life.  Irenaeus (c. AD180, E/W), 1.489.

 

It is after the image and likeness of the uncreated God: the Father planning everything well and giving His commands, the Son carrying these into execution and performing the work of creating, and the Spirit nourishing and increasing.  Irenaeus (c. AD180, E/W), 1.521,522.

 

One God the Father is declared, who is above all, through all, and in all. The Father is indeed above all, and He is the Head of Christ. But the Word is through all things and is Himself the Head of the Church. While the Spirit is in us all, and He is the living water.  Irenaeus (c. AD180, E/W), 1.546.

They ascend through the Spirit to the Son, and through the Son to the Father. And in due time, the Son will yield up His work to the Father, even as it is said by the apostle.  Irenaeus (c. AD180, E/W), 1.567.

 

The universal Father is one. The universal Word is one. And the Holy Spirit is one.  Clement of Alexandria (c. AD195, E), 2.220.

 

Thank the one only Father and Son, Son and Father. The Son is the Instructor and Teacher, along with the Holy Spirit. They are all in One, in whom is all, for whom all is One, for whom is eternity.  Clement of Alexandria (c. AD195, E), 2.295.

 

It is protected by the power of God the Father, and the blood of God the Son, and the dew of the Holy Spirit.  Clement of Alexandria (c. AD195, E), 2.601.

 

We pray at a minimum not less than three times in the day. For we are debtors to Three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Tertullian (c. AD198, W), 3.690.

 

For the very Church itself is—properly and principally—the Spirit Himself, in whom is the Trinity of the One Divinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Tertullian (c. AD212, W), 4.99.

Whereas the term "Trinity" itself is not found in the Bible, the doctrine of the Trinity is what the Apostles taught and it is what the early church believed and taught. To embrace it is orthodoxy. To reject it places one OUTSIDE of the Christian faith.

We cannot allow false teachings and fake history to pervert the faith once for all delivered to the saints!

#trinity, #trinitarian, #orthodox, #pagan, #paganism