These articles describe the origin of the Trinity Doctrine with emphasis on the fourth-century Arian Controversy. The main purpose is to show that the Roman Empire made Trinitarian Christianity its state religion and outlawed and brutally eliminated other views. With Roman military support, the state religion of the Roman Empire became the Roman Church of the Middle Ages.
Overview Articles
Introduction
The traditional account of how and why the church accepted the Trinity doctrine is grossly inaccurate. (PDF Format)
The Real Main Issue
The issue was not whether the Son is God but whether He is a distinct Person.
The Orthodox View
When the Arian Controversy began and until Basil of Caesarea, all theologians regarded the Son as subordinate to the Father.
The Incarnation
In Nicene theology, the Son of God cannot suffer or die. It was a mere human being who suffered, died, was resurrected, and ascended to heaven.
Prosopon and Hypostasis
Some church fathers referred to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three hypostases, others as three prosōpa. These terms have very different meanings.
Pre-Nicene Fathers
Sabellius
Sabellius (fl. c. 217-220) taught that Father, Son, and Spirit are three portions of a single divine Being.
Tertullian
Tertullian’s theology was similar to Sabellius’: Both asserted that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct portions of a single divine Person.
Jesus is God.
Church Fathers referred to the Father as ‘the only true God’ and to the Son as ‘our God.’ But the ancient term ‘theos’ (translated as God) did not mean ‘God’.
Arius
Was he important?
The term ‘Arian Controversy’ implies that Arius’ theology dominated the fourth-century church. However, he was insignificant.
Philosophy
Arius is often falsely accused of mixing philosophy into theology.
A conservative
Arius was not a theological rebel, as often claimed. He received his theology from Dionysius of Alexandria and Methodius of Olympia.
Did Arius follow Origen?
Origen was the most prominent theologian of the first three centuries. This article lists several differences between the teachings of Arius and Origen.
Time before the Son
Arius stated that the Son existed before time but that the Father existed before the Son. Did Arius contradict himself?
The Son is immutable.
Arius wrote that the Son of God never changes but Athanasius claimed that Arius taught the opposite.
Arius’ theology
Recent evaluations of his theology conclude that he was a thinker and exegete of resourcefulness, sharpness, and originality.
John 1:1
How did Arians explain this verse? They did not believe that Jesus is one among many but that He is our God, while the Father is His God.
The Nicene Council
Constantine dominated.
This so-called first ecumenical council was the emperor’s meeting. He called and controlled it and ensured it reached the kind of conclusion that he thought best.
The Creed
The delegates to the Council of Nicaea believed the Son is subordinate to the Father and there are several indications in the Creed of this.
Pro-Nicene theology did not yet exist.
At Nicaea, the Nicenes taught that the Father and Son are a single Person. They began to teach that God is both one and three only in the 360-370s.
Eusebius explained the Creed.
Eusebius of Caesarea, the foremost theologian at the Council, wrote to his church immediately afterward to explain how he understood the Creed.
Should a Protestant accept the Nicene Creed?
Since the terms and concepts ousia, homoousios, and hypostasis originate from pagan philosophy and not from the Bible, the Creed is not Sola Scriptura.
Homoousios meant ‘one Person’.
Homoousios was a Sabellian term. It was adopted at Nicaea because Alexander allied with Sabellians, who used the term to teach that Father and Son are one Person.
Homoousios was not important.
For three decades after the Council of Nicaea, nobody mentions the term. It came back into the Arian Controversy in the 350s, some 30 years after Nicaea.
Egyptian Paganism used homoousios.
The term does not appear in the Bible or any orthodox Christian confession before Nicaea.
The Trinity doctrine deviates from the Nicene Creed.
While the Creed uses ousia and hypostasis as synonyms, asserting that the Father and Son are a single hypostasis (Person), the Doctrine proclaims three hypostases.
Post-Nicaea Correction
After Nicaea, Sabellians claimed that ‘homoousios’ meant that the church had accepted Sabellianism. The church then exiled all leading Sabellians.
The Arians
After Nicaea, for about 55 years, Arianism dominated the church.
Arian Emperors
Apart from Constantine in the beginning and Theodosius in the end, all emperors during the Arian Controversy were Arians.
Athanasius invented Arianism.
Arius was insignificant but Athanasius invented the term ‘Arian’ to falsely label his opponents with a theology that had already been condemned.
The Dedication Creed – AD 341
This Creed shows how the Nicene Creed would have read if Emperor Constantine had not manipulated that Council. It is anti-Arius but mainly anti-Sabellian.
The Long Lines Creed – AD 344
In response to the explicit one-hypostasis view of the Western manifesto at Serdica in 343, the Eastern Long Lines Creed proclaimed three hypostases.
Is the Son a creature?
The claim that Arians described the Son as a created being is misleading.
Homoians
Homoians claimed that the Son is like the Father but rejected all ousia terms (including homoousios) because it is not in the Bible.
Homoi-ousians
In contrast to ‘same substance’ (homoousios), the Homoiousians believed that His substance is similar but not the same.
Colossians 2:9
“In Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” – This article quotes the mainstream anti-Nicenes to show how they understood that verse.
The Pro-Nicenes
The Sabellians
They taught the Father and Son are a single divine Person with a single mind. Jesus is merely an inspired human being.
Athanasius was a Sabellian.
He did not defend scriptural orthodoxy. He was not a Trinitarian. He was a Sabellian. He believed the Son is part of the Father.
Athanasius was deposed for violence.
Athanasius was excommunicated for violence. He claimed to be falsely accused by an Arian Conspiracy but R.P.C. Hanson shows that his condemnation was deserved.
The West vindicated Athanasius.
The East exiled Athanasius and the Sabellian Marcellus but the West, at a council in Rome in 340, accepted them as orthodox and innocent of crimes.
The Council of Serdica – AD 343
The Western manifesto reveals Nicene theology at this time, namely that the West adhered to a one-hypostasis theology, similar to the Sabellians.
Basil of Caesarea
While the Trinity doctrine declares that the Father and Son are one Being (one indivisible substance), Basil taught that they are distinct Beings.
The Meletian Schism
The Meletian Schism was a dispute between two Pro-Nicene groups, with Athanasius on the one side and Basil of Caesarea on the other.
Emperor Theodosius
The Council of Constantinople – AD 381
This council was not ecumenical. It was a regional synod of Antioch, attended only by pro-Nicenes because all other forms of Christianity had already been outlawed.
Later Developments
Fifth Century
In 380, Emperor Theodosius made Trinitarian Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire. But, in the fifth century, Arian immigrants dominated Europe.
The Roman Church
Supported by the military power of the Roman Empire, the imperial version of Christianity (Trinitarianism) became the church of the Middle Ages.
The Waldensian massacres
The Roman Church called all to destroy the Waldensians, absolving all who perpetrated such crimes. The Waldensians were looted, tortured, and massacred.
Authors
Extracts and summaries from the writings of scholars who have studied the ancient documents themselves:
Lewis Ayres, Nicaea and its Legacy
He is a Catholic theologian and Professor of Catholic and Historical Theology.
RPC (Richard) Hanson, The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: The Arian Controversy, 318-381.
This is a summary of parts of this book, which is regarded by many as the best study of the primary sources surrounding the Arian controversy, in English. (E.g., Goddart, Hart)
Lecture by RPC Hanson
A very informative lecture on the Arian Controversy by RPC Hanson, a famous fourth-century scholar
Fortman, Edmund J. The Triune God – Nicene Creed
Erickson, Millard J. God in Three Persons
Boyd, William Union of Church and State in the Late Roman Empire
Trinity Doctrine – General
The Athanasian Creed vs Eastern Orthodoxy
While the Athanasian Creed, the primary formulation of the Trinity doctrine, identifies the “one God” as the Trinity, Eastern Orthodoxy identifies the “one God” as the Father alone.
Elohim
Elohim (often translated as God) is plural in form. Does this mean that the Old Testament writers thought God is a multi-personal Being?
Eternal Generation
That the Father has begotten the Son implies He is subordinate to the Father. However, ‘Eternal Generation’ explains the Son as co-equal.