The Trinity
The doctrine of the Trinity stands as one of the most fundamental doctrines in Christianity. It has its roots in the gospels of the New Testament, most notably in the Book of Matthew, where Christians are instructed to baptize men “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19Matthew 28:19
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19 Therefore go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,). This passage, known as The Great Commission, forms the basis of all Christian evangelism. There was a great deal of controversy within the early church as to whether these three entities – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit – constituted three distinct entities or one unified deity. The former was a belief espoused mainly by adherents of Arianism (named after the Christian priest, Arius, who advocated the belief) which was ultimately declared heretical by the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D.
Since then, the view that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are fundamentally “thee persons, one substance” has become an orthodox belief and is generally accepted as truth within the vast majority of the Christian community, and followers are still baptized in the name of one unified God, comprised of God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit. Modern theological scholars insist that the triune God is a necessary belief to understand scripture, as in order for Christ’s death and resurrection to act as payment for the sins of men, Christ must have been both human as well as divine. In the Book of John, it states that “the Word was God” (John 1:1John 1:1
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The Gospel According to John
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1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.) and that the Word “became flesh” (John 1:1John 1:1
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The Gospel According to John
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1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.4), which is often cited as justification for the belief that Christ was at once both God and human.
References to the unity of God are not limited to the New Testament, either. In Deuteronomy 6:4Deuteronomy 6:4
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4 Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God; Yahweh is one: it states that “the Lord is One”, and in Isaiah 44:6Isaiah 44:6
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6 Thus says Yahweh, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies: I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God. God is quoted as saying “apart from me there is no God.” Ultimately, if one maintains the accuracy of scripture, this demonstrates that the Hebrews understood God as a single being, marking ancient Judaism as a monotheistic belief system fundamentally opposed to the predominantly polytheistic religious beliefs of the ancient world. This departure ultimately affirms the belief that the god of the New Testament, identified as three distinct persons, must represent three aspects of a single deity if the consistency of Christian scripture is to be maintained.