Doctrine of God - He is One

Introduction

Colossians 2:9 KJV 1900

9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

Body

Ways of Looking at the Godhead

Atheism - The belief that there is no God

Agnosticism - The belief that the the existence of God is unknown, or unknowable

Pantheist - One who equates God with nature, or the forces of the universe

Polytheism - The belief that there is more than one God

Ditheism - The belief that there is two Gods

Tritheism - The belief that there is three Gods

Monotheism - The belief that there is one God

Two tendencies within Monotheism

One group asserts that there is one God, but only by denying the deity of Jesus Christ. These groups relegate Jesus to that of a created god, subordinate god, or junior god

The other group believes in one God, but further believes that fulness of the Godhead is manifested in Jesus Christ

Trinitarianism - The belief that there are three distinct persons in the Godhead — God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit — but yet one God

Two extreme tendencies within Trinitarianism

Some emphasize the unity of God without having a clear understanding of what is meant by three distinct persons in the Godhead

Others emphasize the three distinct persons to the point of believing in three distinct, self-conscious beings. They are essentially tritheistic.

We assert that the biblical teaching of the Godhead is that of Monotheism of the kind that professes that the fulness of the Godhead is in Jesus Christ.

Some Things to Keep in Mind

Our understanding of who God is is extremely important

It must conform to scripture as God has revealed Himself to us. It’s got to be true!

I Chronicles 28:9 “9 And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.”

Philippians 3:10 “10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;”

False doctrines existed even in the Apostolic Age (i.e., gnosticism, montanism, etc.)

God’s Word is the only true and authoritative source of truth, including our understanding of the Godhead. History cannot let us know what is true and what is false.

We will see a departure from the truth and supremacy of Scripture into human reason and philosophy

We cannot begin with our idea of truth and ask God to confirm it in His Word. We must begin with the truth of Scripture and let that inform our understanding.

God always has a remnant reserved for Himself in every period of history

I Kings 19:14 “14 And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”

I Kings 19:18 “18 Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.”

The crowd is not always right

I Kings 18 - 450 prophets of Baal vs. one prophet of the God of Israel, Elijah.

I Kings 22 - 400 prophets foretold victory to king Ahab, but one prophet, Michaiah, prophesied failure and Ahab’s death. Michaiah was correct and the 400 were wrong.

It requires revelation from God to understand His Word

John 16:13 “13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”

Matthew 16:15-17 “15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.”

Historical Teachings about the Godhead

Apostolic Age - The time of the Apostles

We’ll get more into this in the next lesson, as this will cover the biblical teaching on the Godhead, but briefly:

Strict Monotheism that asserted Jesus Christ was God manifest in the flesh

We find no assertions of a triune God either in the Old Testament or in the New Testament

We do find references such as “son”, “father”, etc. Those will be discussed in later lessons.

Second Century - A.D. 100 - A.D. 200

Clement of Rome - Bishop of Rome in the 90’s.

He speaks of the “sufferings of God” on the cross

According to him, the church is Christ’s flock, and He is its Lord

He greatly exalts Jesus Christ in his writings

Ignatius - Bishop of Antioch. He was martyred by being thrown to the lions

He asserts the importance of the church’s obligation to properly represent Christ to the world

About the incarnation he says, “Our God, Jesus the Christ, was conceived in the womb of Mary according to a dispensation.”

He speaks of “the passion of my God,” “the blood of God,” and “Jesus Christ our God.” “There is one God who manifested Himself through Jesus Christ.”

Polycarp - Bishop of Smyrna. At age 86 he was burned at the stake.

He tells us of “the coming of our Lord in flesh.”

The New Catholic Encyclopedia says concerning trinitarianism in the second century, “Among the Apostolic Fathers, there had been nothing even remotely approaching such a mentality or perspective; among the second century Apologists, little more than a focusing of the problem as that of plurality within the Godhead…a trinitarian solution was still in the future.”

To sum up: During the second century there is no mention of a trinitarian idea of the Godhead. The only thing we see, not only in scripture, but also in the writings of the Post-Apostolic Age, is that of the Oneness of God.

Third Century - A.D. 200 - A.D. 300

Praxeas - Itinerant preacher and teacher

His teachings gave Christ His proper degree of divinity by making Him one with the Father

He taught that the Father was the Spirit which is God, and that the Son designated the flesh or human element of Christ

He taught in Rome and met with no opposition from anyone

In other words, his views on the Godhead represented at least the majority view of Christians in his day.

Noetus of Smyrna (in Asia Minor)

Taught that Father and Son were different aspects of the same being

He said that the Father took flesh of Mary and became Son

The Son was the Manhood, the Father, the Godhead

Epigonus of Rome

A disciple of Noetus

Taught at Rome the doctrine of Noetus

Cleomenes

Successor to Epigonus

Taught the doctrine of Epigonus and Noetus

Sabellius - presbyter of Pentapolis in North Africa

Became the successor of Cleomentes in Rome teaching that there is only one person in the Godhead

in 260 A.D., Dionysius of Alexandria tried to refute the followers of Sabellius. In doing so he introduced tritheism and was reprimanded by the Bishop of Rome.

Sabellius asserted that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were not distinct persons but modes of one divine person

Because of this his doctrine was termed Modalistic Monarchianism. If you subscribed to this belief, you would be labeled a Modalist.

God was Father in creation, Son in redemption, and Holy Ghost in regeneration.

In the following generations, the doctrine of one person in the Godhead became associated with this man, Sabelliansim.

People in later generations who would be condemned for subscribing to this doctrine would be labeled Sabellians.

Tertullian of Carthage

Often called “the Father of Western Theology”

Later in life he joined the Montanists who at this point had been expelled from the church for heretical teachings

He opposed the Bishop of Rome of his day (probably Victor) for embracing Modalism and rejecting Montanism

Tertullian was the first christian writer to call God a trinity. He’s also the first writer to speak of God as three person in one substance.

Church historians generally refer to him as the “father of Christian trinitarianism”

Louis Berkhof, in The History of Christian Doctrines states, “It may be said that he enlarged the doctrine of the Logos into a doctrine of the trinity…Tertullian was the first to assert clearly the tripersonality of God.”

It has been speculated that Tertullian’s upbringing in North Africa influenced his outlook on the Godhead

In J. Grafton Milne’s book, A History of Egypt Under Roman Rule, it says this: “And it is not improbable that the development of the doctrine of the trinity, which formed no part of the original Jewish Christianity, may be traced to Egyptian influence; as the whole of the older Egyptian theology was permeated with the idea of triple divinity, as seen by both in the triads of gods which the various cities worshiped, and in the threefold names, representing three differing aspects of the same personality, under which each god might be addressed.”

Tertullian wrote a treatise called Against Praxeas, the preacher in Rome who taught the Oneness of God.

Tertullian’s doctrine of trinity is not like we see it today however

He believed in the beginning God was one

Sometime before creation God begat the Word, or Son as a distinct person, and became the Father

Because the Son is a created being and represents a portion of God, He is therefore inferior to the Father

He does not spend a lot of time developing a doctrine of the Holy Ghost, but in Tertullian’s theology the Holy Ghost is a third distinct person and is subordinate to both the Father and the Son

At the end of all things the Father will absorb the Son and the Holy Ghost back into Himself and He will be one again.

His views represent a form of tritheism, a fact his opponents accused him of.

Those opponents, according to Tertullian himself, were the Modalists, or those who affirmed the absolute oneness of God and deity of Jesus Christ.

Hippolytus - The first Anti-Pope

He is called this because of his attacks on the Bishop of Rome, Callistus

The Catholic Encyclopedia says of him, “His vehemence, intrasigence, and rigorism led him to make attacks on strictly orthodox positions in theology, church organization, and discipline.”

He attacked the Modalism of Sabellius and Callistus while presenting Christ as subordinate to the Father

Hippolytus writes in his treatise, Against Noetus, “I shall not indeed speak of two Gods, but of one; of two Persons however, and of a third economy, the grace of the Holy Ghost. For the Father indeed is One, but there are two Persons, because there is also the Son; and then there is the third, the Holy Spirit … It is the Father who commands, and the Son who obeys, and the Holy Spirit who gives understanding: the Father who is above all, and the Son who is through all, and the Holy Spirit who is in all.”

To sum up, Modalism, the idea that there is one person in the Godhead and that Jesus Christ is the fulness of the Godhead bodily, was the predominant doctrine of the Godhead during the third century. Trinitarianism has been introduced but is being resisted by the vast majority of the Christian world.

The Fourth Century - A.D. 300 - A.D. 400

Council of Nicea

Convened in 325 A.D. primarily to formulate a response against Arianism, the heretical belief that Jesus was just a man.

The original Nicene Creed doesn’t exist

It was roughly formulated during a synod in Alexandria in A.D. 362.

It was finalized at the council of Constantinople in A.D. 381.

This council put the final touches on the trinitarian doctrine.

Among the heresies outlined at this council is Sabellianism.

Despite all this there are still those who hold fast to truth

The Council of Nicea is a milestone in church history for several reasons

It’s the first, but not final, official step in the formulation of orthodox trinitarinism

It marked the beginning of the use of ecumenical councils to resolve doctrinal disputes.

It helped merge church and state into a cohesive whole

For the first time a political ruler convened an ecclesiastical council, became a decisive factor in determining doctrine, and instituted a church creed.

For the first time Christendom adopted a creed other than Scripture and made subscription to it mandatory.

For the first time the state inflicted civil penalties on people who did not conform to church dogma.

Marcellus of Ancryra

He strongly opposed Arianism and attended the council of Nicea

He shunned the idea of persons in the Godhead

He conceived God as one and believed that the one God expanded Himself in the offices of Son and Holy Ghost.

He believed that at the end of time there will be no distinction between these offices, and God will be all in all.

His doctrine was formally condemned at the Council of Constantinople.

Commodian the Poet

In his Carmen Apologeticum he recognized Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to be different designations given to the same person.

Priscillian

He taught that Jesus was God appearing to man in flesh. “In Christ the Father is known. God is invisible; none has seen him at any time. So he came in name and form such that he could make himself known.”

He became the Bishop of Avila and became the object of the hatred of a man named Ithacius.

Ithacius was an important bishop in Spain towards the end of the Fourth Century and was the chief spokesman of those who opposed Priscillianism.

In A.D. 380 the Council of Saragossa exommunicated Priscillian and his followers.

As this held little weight in the Fourth Century, it caused Priscillianism to grow.

His execution was ordered in A.D. 385

To sum up: In the Fourth Century we see the rise of Trinitarianism, and the raising of this doctrine to the place of church dogma. Modalists were declared to be heretics and were resisted at every juncture. We see also the skeleton upon which the Roman Catholic Church would build its