Trinity.The New International Dictionary of the New Testament "primitive Christianity didn't have an explicit doctrine of the Trinity."True?

Yes that is true , since Trinity being introduced in to Christianity during the rule of Emperor Constantin of the Eastern Roman Empire around 300 AD.

There was no need to have an official "doctrine" of the Trinity until the rise of the Arian heresy and others.

Jesus told us to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It's absurd that anyone can read/know that and claim there was no Trinity until the DOCTRINE was established. They can't count to three?????

True..............

You need to learn how doctrines become official. They are principles that have been widely accepted until they become challenged. In order to ensure orthodoxy, Church leaders (bishops and the Pope) gather in ecumenical councils to declare that the original principle is confirmed and will be protected by enforcement.

The Trinity was widely accepted. The earliest we can find (with absolutely no reason to believe it wasn't part of Tradition earlier) is with Theophilus of Antioch about A.D. 180 when he speaks of "the Trinity of God [the Father], His Word and His Wisdom." Afterwards it appears in its Latin form of trinitas in Tertullian (On Pudicity 21). It is found in many passages of Origen.

The first creed in which it appears is that of Origen's pupil, Gregory Thaumaturgus. In his Ekthesis tes pisteos composed between 260 and 270, he writes:

"There is therefore nothing created, nothing subject to another in the Trinity: nor is there anything that has been added as though it once had not existed, but had entered afterwards: therefore the Father has never been without the Son, nor the Son without the Spirit: and this same Trinity is immutable and unalterable forever."

The Trinity was declared dogma when in answer to the Arian challenge to destroy the Trinity, the Council of Nicea was called in 325 A.D.

I have a book written by a Protestant theologian of the name Brown. It's called "Heresies and Orthodoxy in the History of the Church". He gives the history of how the Trinity doctrine came to be formally worded, to silence heretics like Arius and showing that the first century Church believed Jesus to be fully God and uncreated.

Well, I'm now back after researching, and I can confirm that that quote was ORIGINALLY made by a German theologian, J. Schneider, in his own book, so the quote in that Dictionary is a quotation from Schneider. Insofar as the quote is given, it is accurate, but if that is ALL that Brown's Dictionary says about Schneider, it is grossly misleading - twisted, in fact.

That is because the build-up of Schneider's explanation of the Trinity doctrine, leading to that one sentence quoted by Brown, proves that Schneider believes (and I now quote Schneider), "the New Testament does contain the fixed, three-part formula of 2 Cor. 13:13 (EVV 14) in which God, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit are mentioned together (cf. 1 Cor. 12:4 ff.) The Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit occurs only in the baptismal formula in Matt. 28:19... An extension of the triadic form in which, however, the important element is "the one true God", "the one Lord" and "the one Spirit" appears in Eph. 4:4..."

Schneider goes on with much more evidence as to the biblical basis for the later formal Trinity doctrine. He also quotes a somewhat negative statement of Karl Barth's, but Barth was a liberal, not a trinitarian! And Schneider does that to give a balanced presentation of the differing views on this doctrine. You have to read from his Point "8. The Trinity" on page 84 of the English translation of his work (far too much for me to copy here) and so get the context of what he was saying. Anybody who extracts that one sentence to give the impression that Schneider either did not believe the Trinity doctrine, or thinks it wasn't biblically based, would be committing gross scholastic dishonesty.

.."primitive Christianity"?

Is that like simple minded Christianity like JWism?

You just love the Trinity, don't ya?

False

The Bible says that there is one God.

It says that the Father is God. (Matthew 6:8)

It says that Jesus is God. (John 8:58)

It says that the Holy Spirit is God. (Luke 1:35)

God is Triune. A person can know this with certainty, and can better comprehend the Infinite Mysteries of God, by reciting the rosary each day with care.

The Trinity doctrine developed with Tertullian, a Roman Catholic church father. If you examine his diagram (you can Google image search it), and know what the Scriptures say - you will notice that the diagram has both truth and lies. While it is true that God is the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit -- Tertullian then makes distinctions which God does not make. Both Tertullian and the Jehovah's Witnesses misunderstand the nature of the Holy Spirit, and also protestants of the pentecostal denomination who believe in modalism. God the Father is the Holy Spirit... this is how God is One. The One and Only God, the Spirit, was in the Son. Jesus said that the Father was in Him.

And He speaks more about this in detail in the book of John. Isaiah 9:6 says that the Son would be called Everlasting Father and Mighty God. Jesus is both fully God and fully man. He was put to death, as it is explained in the Bible - because He, being a man made Himself equal to God. Jesus said before Abraham was I Am. Jesus was charged with blasphemy.

Only God can be worshiped, and Jesus received worship as God by the early Christians. The Jehovah's Witness sect and even Roman Catholicism did not exist until years after Jesus was resurrected and departed from this world. Jesus didn't start either of those organizations, but His Truth has always been of the Scriptures. Going back to the nature of God's Spirit. People have trouble understanding how God can be in the earth and in heaven at the same time, and yet the Bible explains that God is not like us, and we cannot compare ourselves to Him.

His nature is not like our own. The Spirit of God is able to occupy both heaven and earth (see Jeremiah 23:24). Like a cloud is vast, the Spirit of God is also vast. And like a cloud is able to be both in the sky and also send out a funnel or tornado upon the earth. The Spirit is also able to be sent out from God, while remaining attached, and not disconnected from the Spirit in heaven - it's not two different Spirits, but one and the same Spirit.

Just as the funnel/tornado remains attached to the main structure, the Spirit is not disconnected from the Spirit, and God remains One. God demonstrated His ability to place His Spirit in an earthen vessel in the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament, and that was the pre-picture of what He would do in another earthen vessel, the bigger picture - in the flesh of man - in Jesus Christ. Jesus said if you have seen Him, then you have seen the Father. I and my Father are One. Please consult John chapter 14 (see link below)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+14&version=KJV

Dictionaries, dictionaries, dictionaries. Let Christianity speak for itself.

Depends on what you mean by "primitive" Christianity and depends on what you mean by "doctrine of the Trinity".

You research so much why don't you research this?

“The Baptismal formula was changed from the name of Jesus Christ to the words Father, Son and Holy Spirit by the Catholic Church in the 2nd century (The Catholic Encyclopedia, 2, pg 263)"

In fact, Mat 28:19 never even mentioned baptism in its original text. It read, “Go ye, and make disciples of all nations in My name.”

“The Pope is of great authority and power that he can modify, explain, or interpret even divine laws... The Pope can modify divine law, since his power is not of man, but of God, and he acts as vicegerent of God upon earth." -Lucius Ferraris, Prompta Ribliotheca, " Papa," Part. 2, translated."

"The Pope has the power to change times, to abrogate [to abolish, do away with, or annul] laws, and to dispense with all things, even the precepts of Christ." Decretal, de Tranlatic Episcop. Cap. (The Pope can modify divine law.) Ferraris' Ecclesiastical Dictionary."

OR THIS?

"And there are >>>DIVERSITIES OF OPERATIONS,<<< but it is the SAME GOD which worketh all in all" (I Corinthians 12:6).

You believe A LIE as you MISINTERPRET and believe "ADDED" Scriptures into His Word by the Roman Catholik church! You'll go to HELL because you "FORGET GOD" (Psalm 9:17) said it and I've told you so it's RECORDED!

You know good and well "DIVERSITIES OF OPERATIONS" are MUCH MORE THAN "3" or a "trinity."

The "DIVERSITIES OF OPERATIONS" are defined as >>>"MANY"<<< in I Corinthians 12:11-12. How do you get only "3" out of >>>"MANY"<<<???

GOD WARNED YOU

"NONE CAN STAY HIS HAND" in Daniel 4:35!@ You think your IGNORANT belief can???


"FORGET GOD" (Psalm 9:17) SAID IT AND YOU WILL BE

"TURNED INTO HELL!"