{"id":3758,"date":"2010-05-30T06:09:49","date_gmt":"2010-05-30T14:09:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/?p=3758"},"modified":"2010-05-30T06:09:49","modified_gmt":"2010-05-30T14:09:49","slug":"wcg-and-the-origin-of-the-trinity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wcg-news\/wcg-and-the-origin-of-the-trinity\/","title":{"rendered":"WCG and the Origin of the Trinity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/trinity.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"260\" height=\"234\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/cogwriter.htm\">COGwriter<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The above drawing is used by Trinitarians to explain the Trinity, even though it clearly violates laws of logic.\u00a0 Today is known as &#8220;Trinity Sunday&#8221;.\u00a0 This &#8220;holiday&#8221;, like many observed throughout the world, does not have a biblical basis, nor was it observed by the early church.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Catholic Encyclopedia<\/em> confirms this as it teaches:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The first Sunday after <!--yyy=x71613.htm-->Pentecost<!--u44-->, instituted to honour the Most Holy Trinity.  <strong>In the early Church no special Office or day was assigned  for the Holy  Trinity.<\/strong><!--yyy=x70504.htm--><!--u44--> (<span id=\"mlaauthor\">Mershman, Francis.<\/span> <span id=\"mlaarticle\">Trinity  Sunday.<\/span> <span id=\"mlawork\">The Catholic Encyclopedia.<\/span> <span id=\"mlavolume\">Vol. 15.<\/span> <span id=\"nihil\"><em>Nihil Obstat.<\/em> October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort,  S.T.D., Censor.<\/span> <span id=\"imprimatur\"><em>Imprimatur.<\/em> +John  Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York. <\/span><span id=\"mlapublisher\">Robert  Appleton Company,<\/span> <span id=\"mlayear\">1912.<\/span> <span id=\"mladate\"><script src=\"http:\/\/www.newadvent.org\/utility\/date2.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script>26  May 2010<\/span> <span id=\"mlaurl\">&lt;http:\/\/www.newadvent.org\/cathen\/15058a.htm&gt;<\/span>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Furthermore, the Trinity itself was not an original teaching of the Greco-Roman churches either.\u00a0 Yet many consider it to be a highly important doctrine to their faith.\u00a0 <em>The Catholic Encyclopedia<\/em> claims:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\">The Trinity is the  term employed to signify the central doctrine of the Christian religion  (The Blessed Trinity, 1912).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\">But was  the trinity a  central doctrine of the New Testament? Here is what one modern  historian has written about it:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\">Like other  doctrines that became central to the faith, however, belief in the  Trinity was a historical development, not a &#8220;given&#8221; from the early years  of the faith.<\/span> <span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\"><strong>A.<\/strong> The basic notion of the Trinity is that there are three persons in the  Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These are all equally God and of  the same substance, but despite the fact there are three persons,  together, they compromise only one God, indivisible in nature.<\/span> <span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\"><strong>B.<\/strong> This doctrine does not appear to be a doctrine pronounced by the  historical Jesus, Paul, or any other Christian writer during the first  hundred years or so of Christianity.<\/span> <span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\"><strong>C.<\/strong> It cannot be found explicitly stated in the earliest Christian  writings. The only passage of the New Testament that declares the  doctrine (1 John 5:7-8) was not originally part of the text but was  added by doctrinally astute scribes at a later date (it is not found in  any Greek manuscripts until the 11th century) (Ehrman B. From Jesus to  Constantine: A History of Early Christianity, Part 2. The Teaching  Company, Chantilly (VA), 2004, p. 43). <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\">Regarding the New  Testament, even a trinitarian scholar has admitted that the Bible promotes a  <a href=\"\/two.htm\">binitarian view<\/a>, and  does not teach what is now considered to be the trinity:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\">The binitarian  formulas are found in Rom. 8:11, 2 Cor. 4:14, Gal. 1:1, Eph. 1:20, 1 Tim  1:2, 1 Pet. 1:21, and 2 John 1:13&#8230;<strong>No doctrine of the Trinity  in the Nicene sense is present in the New Testament<\/strong>&#8230;There is  no doctrine of the Trinity in the strict sense in the Apostolic  Fathers&#8230;(Rusch W.G. The Trinitarian Controversy. Fortress Press,  Phil., 1980, pp. 2-3).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\">The terms  trinity, threeness, or trinitarian are not found in the Bible.<\/span> The Protestant reformer Martin Luther himself taught:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>It is indeed true that the name &#8220;Trinity&#8221; is nowhere to be found  in the Holy Scriptures, but has been conceived and invented by man.<\/strong> (Luther Martin. The Sermons of Martin Luther,       Church Postil, 1522; III:406-421, PC Study Bible formatted  electronic database Copyright \u00a9 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights  reserved.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The<em> Cathecism of the Catholic Church<\/em> admits  the Church (not  the Bible) had to come up with terms of &#8220;philosophical&#8221;  (pagan\/Greek)  origin to explain it::<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>251<\/strong> In order to  articulate the  dogma of the Trinity, the Church had to develop its own  terminology with  the help of certain notions of philosophical origin:  &#8220;substance,&#8221;  &#8220;person,&#8221; or &#8220;hypostasis,&#8221; &#8220;relation&#8221; and so on (Catechism  of the  Catholic Church. Imprimatur Potest +Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger.   Doubleday, NY 1995, p. 74).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Earliest Trinitarian History <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><\/strong> Pagan religions sometimes had a form of a trinity of  deities.  This dates at least from the time of ancient Babylon:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The ancient Babylonians   recognised the doctrine of  a trinity, or three persons in one god\u2014as  appears from a composite god  with three heads forming part of their   mythology, and the use of the  equilateral triangle,   also, as an emblem of such trinity in   unity  (Beck TD. <span dir=\"ltr\">The mystical woman and the cities of the  nations: or,   Papal Rome and her secular satellites<\/span>. 1867.  Original from\tOxford University, Digitized\tAug 15, 2006, pp. 22-23).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Assyrians did as well:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>On one cylinder of translucent green felspar, called  amazon stone, winch   I believe to have been the signet, or amulet, of  Sennacherib himself,   is engraved the king standing in an arched frame  as on the rock tablets   at Bavian, and at the Nahr-el-Kelb in Syria. He  holds in one hand the   sacrificial mace, and raises the other in the  act of adoration before   the winged figure in a circle, here  represented as a triad with three   heads&#8230;the triune god, the supreme  deity of the Assyrians, and of the Persians,   their successors, in the  empire of the East.  Of the information as to the religious system of the  Assyrians&#8230; It is difficult to understand such a system of polytheism,  unless we   suppose that whilst there was but one supreme god,  represented sometimes   under a triune form (Layard\tAH. Discoveries in  the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon: with travels in Armenia, Kurdistan and  the desert : being the result of a second expedition undertaken for the  trustees of the British Museum. Murray, 1853. Original from\tthe  Bavarian State Library, Digitized\tOct 20, 2009, pp. 160, 637).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Sennacherib is mentioned in the Bible (2 Kings 18:13) and reigned       from about 720 BC to about 683 BC.  Furthermore, notice:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Mithra<\/strong>, who was originally subordinate  to Ormuzd,  and even reduced to the third place in the triad,  subsequently rose  practically to the first place, supplanting Ormuzd  himself. Such a  process, by which <strong>the mediating member of the trinity<\/strong>,  as  the special friend and savior of men, should become first and  nearest  in the thoughts, and affections, and hopes of men, and hence in  time  first in the divine order of the gods, is most natural, and we  have  already found it a marked feature of the historical evolution of  most  of the Ethnic trinities. Thus in the <strong>Babylonian triad  Marduk, the  mediating sun-god<\/strong>, usurps the place of Ea, his  father. The same was  true of <strong>Vishnu-Krishna in the Hindoo  trinity<\/strong>, who,  in his capacity of god- man and mediator,  reduced Brahma to almost a  shadow. So Mithraism pushed Ormuzd back into  a place of inferiority, or  rather he was quietly displaced and  forgotten. The triad was  practically reduced to unity in the Mithraic  faith (Paine LL. The Ethnic Trinities and Their Relations to the  Christian Trinity: A Chapter in the Comparative History of Religions.\t Kessinger Publishing, 1901 Original from\tthe University of California,  Digitized\tNov 20, 2007, p. 84).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Mithraism entered the Roman Empire about a century  before the crucifixion of Jesus and became influential among the  emperors, including with Emperor Constantine (see also <a href=\"\/christianity-mithraism.htm\">Do You  Practice Mithraism?<\/a>).  According to Roman Catholic sources, the term trinity,  in relation to the Godhead, did not come until the late second\/early  third century.  <span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\">Yet, the idea of  the trinity was apparently voiced by the heretic Montanus and developed  by a famous Gnostic heretic named Valentinus in the mid-2nd Century. <\/span> <span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\">One of the  so-called <em>Montanist Oracles<\/em>, spoken by Montanus was:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\">&#8220;I am the  Father and the Son and the Paraclete.&#8221; (Didymus, De trinitate iii. 41.  1.) (Assembled in P. de Labriolle, <cite>La crise montaniste<\/cite> (1913), 34-105, by Bates College, Lewston (Maine)  http:\/\/abacus.bates.edu\/Faculty\/Philosophy%20and%20Religion\/rel_241\/texts\/montanism.html  01\/31\/06).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\">This is one of  the first references to a trinitarian view of the Godhead (the other  earliest one was from the heretic Valentinus&#8211;it is unclear which was  first). The paraclete is a term used to signify the Holy Spirit (it is  from the Greek term <em>parakletos<\/em>).<\/span> <span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\">Eusebius records  (Eusebius. Church History, Book V, Chapters 18-19) that church leaders  in Asia Minor and Antioch, such as <a href=\"\/apollonius.htm\">Apollonius of Ephesus<\/a>,  that <a href=\"\/serapion.htm\">Serapion of  Antioch<\/a>, <a href=\"\/apollinaris.htm\">Apollinaris  of Hierapolis<\/a>, and <a href=\"\/thraseas.htm\">Thraseas  of Eumenia<\/a> opposed the Montantist heresies (<a href=\"\/apollinaris.htm\">Apollinaris of  Hierapolis<\/a> and <a href=\"\/thraseas.htm\">Thraseas  of Eumenia<\/a> were Quartodecimans, and <a href=\"\/apollonius.htm\">Apollonius<\/a> likely was  as well). However, Roman Bishops would not renounce the Montantist  heresy until sometime in the third century, and that after Rome accepted  certain Montanus beliefs (see Montanists in <em>The Catholic  Encyclopedia)<\/em>! <\/span> <span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\">Here is what it  is recorded that a one-time Catholic bishop named Marcellus of Ancyra  wrote, around the middle of the fourth century, where certain aspects of  trinitarianism came from&#8211;paganism: <\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\">Now with the  heresy of the Ariomaniacs, which has corrupted the Church of God&#8230;These  then teach three hypostases, just as Valentinus the heresiarch first  invented in the book entitled by him &#8216;On the Three Natures&#8217;.\u00a0 For he was  the first to invent three hypostases and three persons of the Father,  Son and Holy Spirit, and he is discovered to have filched this from  Hermes and Plato (Source: Logan A. Marcellus of Ancyra  (Pseudo-Anthimus), &#8216;On the Holy Church&#8217;: Text, Translation and  Commentary.\u00a0Verses 8-9. \u00a0Journal of Theological Studies, NS, Volume 51,  Pt. 1, April 2000, p.95 ). <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/valentinus.htm\">Valentinus<\/a> also  wrote this in the heretical &#8216;Gospel of Truth&#8217;, <\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\">The Father  uncovers his bosom,<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> which is the Holy Spirit,  revealing his secret. His secret is his Son! <\/span> (Valentinus.\u00a0  Gospel of Truth.\u00a0 Verse 17.\u00a0 English translation by Patterson Brown). <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\">Hence Valentinus  is the earliest known professing Christian writer to make clear  trinitarian claims (though he, himself, did not come up with the term<em> trinity)<\/em>. It also should be noted that Valentinus was denounced by  Polycarp of Asia Minor, when Polycarp visited Rome as a heretic  (Irenaeus. Adversus Haeres. Book III, Chapter 3, Verse 4) and is  considered to have been a heretic by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/catholic.htm\">Roman Catholics<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/orthodox.htm\">Eastern Orthodox<\/a>, most  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/salvation.htm\">Protestants<\/a>, and those in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/ylcg.htm\">Living Church of God<\/a>.<\/span> <span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\"><strong>Additional Trinitarian History<\/strong><\/span> <span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\">The position of  the Roman Catholic Church is that the term &#8216;trinity&#8217; (from the Latin <em>trinitas<\/em>)  was developed 85 years after the last book of the Bible was written:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\"><strong>In Scripture  there is as yet no single term by which the Three Divine Persons are  denoted together<\/strong>&#8230;The word trias (of which the Latin <em>trinitas<\/em> is a translation) is first found in Theophilus of Antioch about A.D.  180&#8230;Afterwards it appears in its Latin form of trinitas in Tertullian  (&#8220;De pud.&#8221; c. xxi) (The Blessed Trinity. The Catholic Encyclopedia,  Volume XV Copyright \u00a9 1912 by Robert Appleton Company Online Edition  Copyright \u00a9 2003 by K. Knight). <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\">But the claim regarding Theophilus, who wrote in Greek, is not accurate as &#8220;trinity&#8221; (as trinitas) is a Latin, not a Greek word.\u00a0 So, the first time it was used was by Tertullian (roughly 100 years after John finished penning the last book of the Bible).\u00a0 And all should realize that Tertullian had left the Church of Rome near that time to follow Montanus, whose followers the Church of Rome condemned in the early third century.<\/span> <span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\">In the fourth century, debates on the Godhead got quite heated.\u00a0 So much so, that the Roman Emperor Constantine decided to appoint himself a lay bishop (even though he had not been baptized at that stage) and convene what has been called the first &#8220;ecumenical council&#8221; in Nicea in the year 325. <\/span> <span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\">According to  historical accounts, the attendees at this council were split into three  factions:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\">1) Arians &#8211;  Supporters of the position of Dr. Arius, about 10% of the attendees.  2) In-Between &#8211; Those who held a position between the Arians and  Proto-Trinitarians, about 75% of the attendees. Eusebius was the main  spokesperson for them.  3) The Proto-Trinitarians &#8211; Those who supported the views of  Athanasius, about 15% of the attendees.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Notice that even within the Catholic\/Orthodox Council,  the majority of attending bishops did not hold to the trinitarian view  before the Council. No matter what one may feel about the truthfulness  of the trinity, how can any say that the acceptance of this doctrine is  necessary for Christians as it was not the apparent belief of the  majority of church leaders in the early fourth century?  <span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\">Although Eusebius  led the biggest group at this Council, after an impassioned speech by  Athanasius, Emperor Constantine arose. And since he was the Emperor  (plus he was dressed as a golden &#8220;angel&#8221;), his standing was noticed by  the bulk of the attendees who correctly interpreted the Emperor as now  supporting Athanasius (Emperor Constantine has familiar with a  trinitarian viewpoint as he had practiced Mithraism, which had a type of  triad leading it, see <a href=\"\/christianity-mithraism.htm\">Do You  Practice Mithraism?<\/a>). And because of Athanasius&#8217; speech and the  Emperor&#8217;s approval, the bulk of the attendees decided to come up with a  statement that the Arians could not support. This solved the Emperor&#8217;s  concern about unity of his version of Christianity, and pretty much  drove the Arians out. But even some of the strongest supporters of  Athanasius&#8217; position, such as <\/span><span>Marcion of  Ancyra, actually did not believe in the trinity as now taught (that is  why this paper used the term &#8220;Proto-Trinitarians&#8221; above). <\/span> Also notice that the Emperor Constantine was heavily  involved:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Although <strong>Constantine<\/strong> is usually remembered for   the steps he took toward making Christianity the established religion of  the Roman  Empire, it would not be wrong to consider him the one who <strong>inaugurated  the  centuries of trinitarian orthodoxy<\/strong>.\u00a0 <strong>It  was he  who proposed and perhaps even imposed the expression <em>homoousis<\/em> at the Council of Nicea in  325<\/strong>, and it was he who provided  government aid to the orthodox and exerted  government pressure against  nonconformists. (Brown HOJ. Heresies: Heresy and Orthodoxy in the  History of the Church. Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody <span>(MA), 1988, pp. 332-333).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Thus a pagan emperor, proposed and militarily imposed,  a doctrine on his own. And this did not come from the Bible into the  world&#8217;s largest churches, but from a pagan (Constantine still honored  the pagan sun deities after his supposed conversion to Christianity and  was not even baptized into the world&#8217;s church until his death bed&#8211;and  even then he insisted upon being buried in a grave dedicated to a pagan  deity).  <span>However, the trinity as now taught was not <em>completely<\/em> adopted until many decades after this 325 A.D. the Council of N<span>icea. <\/span><\/span><span> It was not even  the necessary position of the bishops of Rome or Constantinople in the  middle of the fourth century.<\/span> <span>And at least one now claimed to  be Pope (Liberius) was believed to have been Semi-Arian. Notice some of w<\/span>hat  <em>The Catholic Encyclopedia<\/em> teaches:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The <strong>second  Formula of Sirmium<\/strong> (357) stated the doctrine of the Anomoeans, or extreme  Arians. Against  this the Semi-Arian bishops, assembled at Ancyra, the episcopal  city of  their leader Basilius, issued a counter formula, asserting that the Son   is in all things like the Father, afterwards approved by the <strong>Third  Synod of Sirmium<\/strong> (358). This  formula, though silent on the  term &#8220;<em>homousios<\/em>&#8220;,  consecrated by the Council of Nicaea, was  signed by a few orthodox bishops, and  probably by Pope Liberius  (Benigni, Umberto. &#8220;Council of Rimini.&#8221; The Catholic  Encyclopedia. Vol.  13. New York:  Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 11   Jul. 2008  &lt;http:\/\/www.newadvent.org\/cathen\/13057b.htm&gt;).  <strong>Pneumatomachi<\/strong>\u2026The  majority of this  sect were clearly orthodox on the Consubstantiality of the  Son; they  had sent a deputation from the Semi-Arian council of Lampsacus (364   A.D.) to Pope <strong>Liberius, who after some hesitation acknowledged  the soundness of  their faith<\/strong> (Arendzen, John. Pneumatomachi. The  Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New    York:  Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 11 Jul. 2008   &lt;http:\/\/www.newadvent.org\/cathen\/12174a.htm&gt;)  <strong>Semiarians and Semiarianism<\/strong> A name frequently given to <strong>the  conservative majority in the East in the fourth century<\/strong>&#8230;showing  that the very name of father implies a son of like substance&#8230;rejected  the Divinity of the Holy Ghost&#8230;(Semiarians and Semiarianism.\u00a0 <span id=\"mlawork\">The Catholic Encyclopedia.<\/span> <span id=\"mlavolume\">Vol. 15.<\/span> <span id=\"nihil\"><em>Nihil Obstat.<\/em> October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort,  S.T.D., Censor.<\/span> <span id=\"imprimatur\"><em>Imprimatur.<\/em> +John  Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of  New York. <\/span><span id=\"mlapublisher\">Robert  Appleton Company,<\/span> <span id=\"mlayear\">1912.<\/span> <span id=\"mladate\"><script src=\"http:\/\/www.newadvent.org\/utility\/date2.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script>26  May 2010<\/span> <span id=\"mlaurl\">&lt;http:\/\/www.newadvent.org\/cathen\/15058a.htm&gt;)<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>So the scholars of the Church of Rome admit that the &#8220;conservative majority in the East&#8221; were not Trinitarians in the middle of the fourth century.\u00a0 There were also many &#8220;Semi-Arians&#8221; in the West at this time as well of course.<\/p>\n<p>Notice that the <a href=\"\/orthodox.htm\">Orthodox<\/a> bishop of  Constantinople, Macedonius, in the fourth century held to some form of  Semi-Arian view:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Towards the middle of the fourth century, <strong>Macedonius,  Bishop of Constantinople<\/strong>,  and, after him a number of  Semi-Arians, while apparently <strong>admitting the Divinity of the Word<\/strong>,  <strong>denied that of the Holy Ghost<\/strong> (Forget J. Transcribed  by W.S. French, Jr. Holy Ghost.  The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VII.  Copyright \u00a9 1910 by Robert Appleton  Company. Online Edition Copyright \u00a9  2003 by K. Knight. Nihil Obstat, June 1,  1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,  Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley,  Archbishop of New York).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Thus, into the middle of the fourth century, the two  major leaders of the Greco-Roman churches endorsed Semi-Arian,  non-trinitarian positions.\u00a0\u00a0 There were also many leaders in other major Greco-Roman churches in the century who did not accept the trinity.\u00a0 Here<\/p>\n<p>Here is another important semi-Arian bishop according to <em>The Catholic Encyclopedia<\/em>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>St. Cyril of Jerusalem<\/strong> Bishop of Jerusalem and Doctor of the Church, born about 315; died probably 18 March, 386\u2026 He appeared at the Council of Seleucia in 359, in which the Semi-Arian party was triumphant\u2026 He belonged to the Semi-Arian, or Homoean party, and is content to declare that the Son is &#8220;in all things like the Father&#8221;. (Chapman, John. St. Cyril of Jerusalem. The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. Nihil Obstat. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 3 Feb. 2010 &lt;http:\/\/www.newadvent.org\/cathen\/04595b.htm&gt;)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span>The trinity was  finally formally adopted  at  the Council of Constantinople<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\"> in 381&#8211;though many in the Roman and <a href=\"\/orthodox.htm\">Orthodox Church<\/a> believed in versions of it prior to this. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>To insure that people would be forced into accepting  the trinity, shortly after the 381 council, Emperor   Theodosius\u2019declared:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u2026let us believe in the one diety of the father, Son  and Holy  Spirit, in equal majesty and in a holy Trinity. We authorize the   followers of this law to assume the title Catholic Christians; but as  for the  others, since in out judgment they are foolish madmen, we  decree that the shall  be branded with the ignominious name of heretics,  and shall not presume to give  their conventicles the name of churches.  They will suffer in the first place  the chastisement of divine  condemnation an the second the punishment of out  authority, in  accordance with the will of heaven shall decide to inflict&#8230;(Theodosian  Code XVI.1.2. Cited in Bettenson H,  ed., <em>Documents of the  Christian Church<\/em>, London:  Oxford University Press, 1943, p. 31).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\">So the trinity  need the force of Roman punishment against non-trinitarians.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\">Though adopted, even in 381 it was not  exactly the same trinity teaching as now understood.\u00a0 Notice the confirmation from a Protestant theologian:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;\">The doctrine of the  Trinity is fundamental for the Christian faith, even though the doctrine  was not clearly formulated and generally accepted by an ecumenical  council until the fourth century..The Council of Chalcedon, the  decisions of which were reaffirmed at the Trullanum of 680-681, gave us  the formulation of Christological doctrine we now call orthodox.\u00a0 <span>(Brown HOJ.  Heresies: Heresy and Orthodoxy in the History of the Church. Hendrickson  Publishers, Peabody (MA), 1988, pp. <\/span>127<span>,192-193,194). <\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>A bishop of the Orthodox Church confirmed its late  acceptance:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8230;the councils defined once and for all the Church&#8217;s teaching upon  the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith &#8212; the Trinity and the  Incarnation. All Christians agree in regarding these things as  &#8216;mysteries&#8217; which lie beyond human understanding and language&#8230;the  first two, held in the fourth century&#8230;formulated the doctrine of the  Trinity&#8230;The work of Nicea was taken up by the second Ecumenical  Council, held in Constantinople in 381&#8230;While Athanasius emphasized  the unity of God &#8212; Father and Son are one in essence (<em>ousia<\/em>) &#8211;  the Cappadocians stressed God&#8217;s threeness: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit  are three persons (<em>hypostasis<\/em>) (Ware T. The Orthodox Church.  Penguin Books, London, 1997, pp. 20-23).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Trinity Today and the &#8220;New&#8221; WCG\/GCI<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Despite the fact that up until late in the fourth century, most who professed Christ did not clearly hold to a Trinitarian view of the Christian Godhead, over time (and partially due to Imperial pressure), the Trinity became accepted by the majority of those who professed Christ.<\/p>\n<p>In modern times, this has happened to groups such as the old Worldwide Church of God, which is now called Grace Communion International, and is based in Southern California (although any pressure would have come from the desire to confirm to majority Protestant positions as opposed to any governmental influence).<\/p>\n<p>The old Worldwide Church of God held to a Semi-Arian (sometimes referred to as a binitarian) view of the Godhead.\u00a0 After the death of Herbert W. Armstrong in 1986, the leadership that took over abandoned that church&#8217;s historical aversion to the Trinity. Those that disagreed with such changes to the historical Christian teachings left and many of the older leaders are now part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/ylcg.htm\">Living Church of God<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Grace Communion International recently published the following:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-family: Book Antiqua;\">Have you ever  wondered why the doctrine of the Trinity is so important to Christian  faith?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Book Antiqua;\">The fact  that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three in one and one in three  means  that Jesus Christ and the Father are not separate Gods. And that means  you don&#8217;t  ever have to worry about what God thinks about you, how God feels about  you, or  what is going to happen to you when you die.\u00a0 (Tkach J.\u00a0 Trinity: More than a doctrine.\u00a0 GCI Together, April-May 2010)<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Some may find that to be a suitable explanation, while others will realize that since the original Christian church did not teach the Trinity, it could not have been an important doctrine.\u00a0 But despite that, many will be observing Trinity Sunday.<\/p>\n<p><em>Those interested in studying this doctrine in more detail, should consider looking at the following documented articles:<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/two.htm\">Binitarian View: One God, Two  Beings Before the Beginning<\/a> Is binitarianism the correct position?  What about unitarianism or trinitarianism?<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/father.htm\">Is The Father God?<\/a> What is the view of the Bible? What was the view of the early church?<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/jesusgod.htm\">Jesus is God, But Was  Made Man<\/a> Was Jesus fully human and fully God or what?<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/holyspirit.htm\">Did Early Christians  Think the Holy Spirit Was A Separate Person in a Trinity?<\/a> Or did  they have a different view?<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/trinity.htm\">Did the True Church  Ever Teach a Trinity?<\/a> Most act like this is so, but is it?<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/unitarian.htm\">Was Unitarianism the  Teaching of the Bible or Early Church?<\/a> Many, including Jehovah&#8217;s  Witnesses, claim it was, but was it?<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/binitarian.htm\">Binitarianism: One  God, Two Beings Before the Beginning<\/a> This is a shorter article than  the <a href=\"\/two.htm\">Binitarian View<\/a> article, but has a little more information on binitarianism.<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/valentinus.htm\">Valentinus: The  Gnostic Trinitarian Heretic<\/a> He apparently was the first  Christ-professing heretic to come up with the idea of <a href=\"\/trinity.htm\">three hypostases.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>COGwriter The above drawing is used by Trinitarians to explain the Trinity, even though it clearly violates laws of logic.\u00a0 Today is known as &#8220;Trinity Sunday&#8221;.\u00a0 This &#8220;holiday&#8221;, like many observed throughout the world, does not have a biblical basis, nor was it observed by the early church. The Catholic Encyclopedia confirms this as it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church-history","category-cog-news","category-wcg-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO 5.0.1.1 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"COGwriter The above drawing is used by Trinitarians to explain the Trinity, even though it clearly violates laws of logic. Today is known as &quot;Trinity Sunday&quot;. This &quot;holiday&quot;, like many observed throughout the world, does not have a biblical basis, nor was it observed by the early church. The Catholic Encyclopedia confirms this as it\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"max-image-preview:large\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\"\/>\n\t<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wcg-news\/wcg-and-the-origin-of-the-trinity\/\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"generator\" content=\"All in One SEO (AIOSEO) 5.0.1.1\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Church of God News -\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WCG and the Origin of the Trinity - Church of God News\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"COGwriter The above drawing is used by Trinitarians to explain the Trinity, even though it clearly violates laws of logic. Today is known as &quot;Trinity Sunday&quot;. 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