Gregg Allison, Ph.D.: "Historical Theology," Ch. 11--Trinity, 231ff.

1.     God in Three Persons, 231-253. Quite unconfessionally (once again) for Gregg, we, on the other hand will confess, being taught this in our youth: WSC “Q. 5. Are there more Gods than one? A. There is but one only, the living and true God. Q. 6. How many persons are there in the godhead? A. There are three persons in the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.” The baptismal formula (Mt.28.19), apostolic benediction (2 Cor. 13.14). Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Tertullian, Origen, Novatian, Hippolytus, dynamic Monarchianism, modalistic Monarchianism, Sabellianism, and the Nicene Creed are the agenda items for the ancient church’s view of the Trinity.[i] Dynamic Monarchianism—Theodotus of Rome, Paul of Samosata. Modalist Monarchianism—Praxeas of Rome, Noetus of Smyrna, Zephrinus and Callistus of Rome, Sabellius. Both lost the deity of the Son and Spirit. The Nicene Creed comes into being in 325 AD.

---

[i] GOD IN THREE PERSONS: THE TRINITY: EARLY CHURCH

 

Polycarp, as he was being martyred, “I glorify you, through the eternal and heavenly High Priest, Jesus Christ, your beloved Son, through whom to you, with him and the Holy Spirit, be glory both now and forever both now and for the ages to come.” Martyrdom of Polycarp, 13, in Holmes, 239; ANF, 1:42.

 

Clement of Rome: “the name of the true on and only God” Letter of the Romans to the Corinthians, 77; ANF 1.17.

 

Ignatius on the church and members: “stones of a temple, prepared beforehand for the building of God the Father, hoisted up to the heights by the crane of Jesus Christ, which is the cross, using as a rope the Holy Spirit.” Letter to the Ephesians, 9 in Holmes, 143; ANF, 1:53.

 

Shepherd of Hermas: “First of all believe that God is one, who created all things and set them in order, and made what did not exist everything that is, and who contains all things but is himself alone uncontained.” Shepherd of Hermas, mandate 1.1 (26), in Holmes, 375; ANF, 2:20.

 

Justin Martyr: “In the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they [new converts] then receive the washing with the water.” First Apology, 61, in ANF, 1:183.

 

Justin Martyr: “…the most true God, the Father of righteousness, and temperance [patience] and other virtue, who is free from all impurity. But both him, and the Son (whom came forth from him and taught us these things…), and the prophetic Spirit, we worship and adore, knowing them in reason and truth.” Justin Martyr, First Apology, 6, in ANF, 1:164

 

Justin Martyr on Genesis 1.26-27, an economic and ontological consideration: “we can indisputably learn that [God} conversed with someone who was numerically distinct from himself and also a rational Being.” Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew, 62, in ANF, 1:264.

 

Athenagoras: “our doctrine acknowledges one God, the Maker of this universe, who is himself uncreated. A Plea for the Christians, 4, in ANF, 2:131.

 

Athenagoras, rebutting the charge of atheism in a Trinitarian way: “Who…would not be astonished to hear men who speak of God the Father, and of God the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and who declare both their power in union and their distinction in order, called atheists?” A Plea for the Christian, 10, in ANF, 2:133.

 

Athenagoras, on the Trinity: “…know God and his Logos, what is the oneness of the Son with the Father, what is the communion of the Father with the Son, what is the Spirit, what

 

Irenaeus: “He is the only God, the only Lord, the only Creator, the only Father, alone containing all things, and himself commanding all things into existence.” Against Heresies, 2.11, in ANF 1.L 359.

 

Irenaeus on Proverbs 3.19-20 and 8.22-31: “…demonstrated that the Word, namely the Son, was always with the Father; and that Wisdom also, which is the Spirit, was present with him, anterior [prior] to all creation….There is therefore one God, who by the Word and Wisdo created and arranged all things.” Against Heresies, 4.20.3-4, in ANF, 1:488.

 

Irenaeus on the economic Trinity: “…the Father planning everything well and giving his commands, the Son carrying these into execution and performing the work creating, and the Spirit nourishing and increasing [what he has made].” Against Heresies, 4.38.3, in ANF, 1: 521-22.

 

Irenaeus on this triadic pattern: “…was revealed; for God the Father is shown forth through all these [operations], the Spirit indeed is working, and the Son ministering, while the Father was approving, and man’s salvation being accomplished.” Against Heresies, 4.20.6, in ANF, 1: 489.

 

Origen: “three hypostases [persons], the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit…As light…could never exist without splendor, so neither can the Son be understood to exist without the Father…God is the Father of his only-begotten, who is indeed born of him, and derives from what he is, but without any beginning…the unity of nature and substance belonging to the Father and the Son.” First Principles. 4.28, in ANF, 4:376. 1.2.2, in ANF, 4:246. 1.2.6, in ANF, 4:248. 1.3.3, in ANF, 4:252.

 

Tatian and the Son’s generation: “God was in the beginning…With him, by Logos-power, the Logos himself also, who was in him, subsists. And by his [God’s] simple will, the Logos springs forth; and the Logos, not coming forth in vain, because the first-begotten work of the Father.” Address to the Greeks, 5.5, in ANF, 2:67.

 

Tertullian evincing doctrinal precision: “All are one, by unity…of substance; while the mystery of the economy is still guarded, which distributes the unity into a Trinity, placing in their order the three persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Three, however, not in condition, but in degree; not in substance, but in form; not in power, but in appearance. Yet, they are of one substance and of one condition and of one power, inasmuch as he is one God from whom these degrees and forms and aspects are reckoned under the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Against Praxeas, 2, in ANF, 3: 598.

 

Hippolytus: “But if he desires to learn how it is shown still that there is one God, let him know that his power is one. As far as regards the power, therefore, God is one. But as far as regards the economy, there is a three-fold manifestation.” Hippolytus, Against the Heresy of One Noetus, 3, in ANF, 5: 224.

 

Hippolytus on the economic Trinity and John 1.1: “If, the, the Word was with God, and was also God, what follows? Would one say that he speaks of two Gods? I shall not indeed speak of two God, but of one: of two persons, however, and of a third economy, viz., the grace of the Holy Spirit. For the Father is indeed one, but there are wo persons, because there is also the Son; and then there is the third, the Holy Spirit. The Father decrees, the Word executes, and the Son is manifested, through whom the Father is believed on. The economy of harmony is led back to one God; for God is one. It is the Father who commands, and the Son who obeys, and the Holy Spirit who gives understanding: The Father who is now above all, and the Son who is through all, and the Holy Spirit who is in all.” Against the Heresy of One Noetus, 14, in ANF, 5: 228.

 

Hippolytus on dynamic Monarchianism: “Jesus was a (mere) man, born of a virgin, according to the counsel of the Father. After he had lived indiscriminately with all men and had become preeminently religious, he subsequently—at his baptism in the Jordan River—received Christ, who came from above and descended (upon him) in the form of a dove. This was the reason, according to Theodotus, why (miraculous) powers did not operate within him prior to the manifestation in him of that Spirit which descended and which proclaims him to be the Christ.” The Refutation of All Heresies, 7.23 in ANF, 5:114-115.

 

Hippolytus on modalist Monarchianism or modalism or Sabellianism, asserted by Callixtus and others: “Callistus alleges that the Logos himself a Son and is himself Father. Although called by a different title, in reality he is one indivisible spirit. And he maintains that the Father is not one person while the Son is another, b ut that they are one and the same; and that all things are full of the divine Spirit…And he affirms that the Spirit, which became in incarnate in the virgin, is not different from the Father, but is one and same.” The Refutation of All Heresies, 9.7m in ANF, 5:130.

 

Novatian on dynamic Monarchianism and modalism: “Both they who say that Jesus Christ himself is God the Father, and they who would have him to be only man, have gathered from Scripture the sources and reasons of their error and perversity. Because they perceived that is was written that “God is one,” they thought they could not otherwise hold such an opinion than supposing that it must be believed either than Christ was man only, or really God the Father…And thus they who say that Jesus Christ is the Father argue as follows: If God is one, and Christ is God, then Christ is the Father, because God is one. If Christ is not the Father, because Christ is God, there appear to be two Gods introduced, contrary to the Scriptures. And they who contend that Christ is the man only, conclude on the other hand in this way: If the Father is one, and the Son another, but the Father is God and Christ is God, then there is not one God, but two God are at once introduced—the Father and the Son. And if God is one, by consequence Christ must be a man, so that rightly the Father may be one God.” Treatise Concerning the Trinity, 30, in ANF, 5:642.