A Patristic Study of the Kingdom of God and the Development of the Trinity

by Juan Baixeras

Index

The purpose of this paper is to show that the Doctrine of the Trinity is not something that was taught by Jesus and the Apostles, but that it was, in fact, a doctrine that slowly developed throughout several centuries due to the heavy influence of Greek philosophy. It is also intended to show the early Christian leaders’ beliefs on the nature of Jesus, the kingdom of God, and what happens to Christians when they die. Finally, it is for the reader to see the gradual change in Christian theology (for the worse) on these topics as time wore on.

One of the oldest and least credible arguments that proponents of the Trinity try to pass off as fact is that the Apostles taught the Trinity in the New Testament.

The Council of Nicaea, in 325 AD., made "Jesus of the same substance as God." This is not the Trinitarian doctrine we know of today, but it was a start. Fifty-six years later, at the Council of Constantinople in 381 AD., the Holy Spirit was added to the formula, bringing to life the modern day Trinity. One can easily see that even at Nicaea the Trinity was not an established doctrine by the absence of the Holy Spirit. Trinitarians will argue that the belief in a triune God was there from the Apostles, and that it was formalized as dogma at Nicaea and Constantinople. But the fact is that the New Testament does not anywhere teach the doctrine of the Trinity. The Doctrine of the Trinity, as we shall see, was not an established doctrine from Apostolic times, but a slowly developing idea that took over three hundred years to formalize.

Just to clear up the claim that the Apostles taught the Trinity in the New Testament, we will conduct a careful analysis of Patristic writings from the days of the Apostles all the way to Nicaea. The logic is, that if the Apostles did indeed teach the Trinity, then it would stand to reason that the early Christian leaders of the church would also be Trinitarians, and their letters should reflect that teaching. The problem that Trinitarians will find is that these early Christian leaders (until the late second century) had no idea of any Trinity. The latter part of the second century is when we start hearing for the first time of a Trinity of any kind, and even then, it is not very similar to the Trinity that Christianity has today. If the Apostles had actually taught the Trinity, then the Doctrine of the Trinity should be a constant teaching from the Apostles all the way to Nicaea. The problem with this thought is that the Christian leaders which came right after the Apostles, and who in some cases were appointed by the Apostles, are strangers to the thought of a triune God. As we get farther and farther away in time from the Apostles, we begin to see changes in the writers’ Christology and their overall theology. This is almost completely due to the incredible influence of Greek philosophies such as Platonism, Neo-Platonism, Stoicism, and Gnosticism on early Christianity. There are probably a few more isms, but these are the major culprits. Greek philosophy not only created the Doctrine of the Trinity, but it was also responsible for several more near fatal changes to true Christianity which we will also be examining.

You must realize that in those days Greek philosophy was the major thought pattern of the civilized world. Anyone who was anyone was educated in Greek philosophy. Another reason why these philosophies were so quick to influence early Christianity is that in the beginning of the church, the leaders were for the most part Jewish, with the Jewish concept of God.

"The Jews conceive God as an absolutely simple unity (inferring absolutely no constituent divisions)." (Jewish Thought 6/12/96)

When Christianity started spreading, the leaders of the churches were now Gentiles who had converted to Christianity. These people, for the most part, had been educated in Greek philosophies in their schools and universities. As educated persons, they of course wanted to find a place for their new religious beliefs within the philosophical framework they had already acquired. So when they read Hebrew Scriptures, they could not help injecting Greek philosophical meanings into them. The Encyclopedia Britannica says concerning Christian Platonist:

"They did not believe that truth could conflict with truth and were confident that all that was rationally certain in Platonic speculation would prove to be in perfect accordance with the Christian revelation. Their unhistorical approach and unscholarly methods of exegesis of texts, both pagan and Christian, facilitated this confidence."

There was also the felt need of some Christians with Greek philosophical training to express Christianity in those terms, both for their own intellectual satisfaction and in order to convert educated pagans.

What is needed today is to remove all the Greek influence from what is called modern day Christianity, and return to the Christianity that was preached by Jesus and his Apostles.

This paper will cover almost all the major Patristic writings leading up to Nicaea. Some writings have been left out because they had nothing to contribute to the topics at issue.

The study of the writings of the so-called "Fathers" (patres) of the Church" is called "patristics." Do not be confused. "Fathers" in this sense does not mean "priests," although many of these individuals were priests. It also does not exactly mean "fathers" in the sense of "founding fathers." It means "teachers." This was a standard usage in ancient and early Christian times. In the first few centuries, the term "father" was primarily applied to the bishop, who had the primary teaching role within the church. Gradually, the word was extended to include all early Christian writers who were taken as representing the authentic tradition of the church. We will be concerned only with the Church fathers up to the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD.

This group of "fathers" will be divided up into what are known as the Apostolic Fathers, and the Church Fathers. Apostolic Fathers does not mean the Apostles. These are individuals who are considered to be the disciples of the Apostles, or of their immediate disciples. They are about as close as you can get to the Apostles. As you will see, their theology for the most part, has not been corrupted. Their writings basically continue the preaching tradition of the Apostles. There is little theoretical speculation. (History of Philosophy, Vol. 2, Chpter 2.)

The ideal thing would be for a person to actually read the original letters in this study. But since that is almost impossible for most people due to time constraints and other reasons, I have written down all the verses in these writings that pertain to the three most important subjects that the influence of Greek philosophy has corrupted.

1. The nature of Jesus Christ. (Who do the writers think that Jesus is?)

2. The kingdom of God. (Do the writers think that the kingdom of God is an earthly kingdom that is to come in the future at the return of Christ, or do they think that it is a kingdom of the heart?)

3. The nature of death and afterlife. (Do the writers think that you go to heaven or hell when you die, or do they believe in the resurrection of the dead upon Christ’s return?)

This paper is structured in the following manner:

1. I will briefly define the major Greek philosophies so that the reader can have a working understanding of each philosophy and see its influence in certain writings.

2. I will list a short biography of each writer before reviewing his writings.

3. I will list all the verses dealing with the topics mentioned above and a commentary for each verse.

4. I will summarize what I believe to be the writers' opinions on those topics mentioned from only the verses listed in the paper. The reader will be able to draw his or her own conclusions based on the same verses.

Index