To understand the origins of the Trinity and how it developed, you must understand what shapes the way people look at the world. About five centuries before Christ, an influential man named Plato promoted a viewpoint of the universe that became the official explanation among Greek speaking people. This had little effect on Hebrew thought since the Bible explains things quite well. However, a Jew named Philo began combining this prevailing Middle-Platonic thought with the Jewish faith around the time of Christ.
Middle Platonism presents God as the “Unmoved Mover” a distant being who is unaffected by reality. From this being, however, came the Mind, and from the Mind came the World Soul. Differing variations of this view alternately call both the Mind and the World Soul the Logos (Greek for “word”). This Grecian-influenced Jew, named Philo, then used the term “Logos” to personify wisdom (from Proverbs) as the agent who created the world.
In the centuries after Christ, as some philosophers converted to Christianity, they still viewed the world according to the ideas of Philo. They tried to connect Jesus with Philo’s Logos since John used the term logos for the “Word” in John 1:1 and 14. To do this, however, they had to say that Jesus existed prior to His birth because the philosophical Logos created the present universe. This painted God and His redemption plan to be something far different from what the apostles preached.
In 325 (three centuries after Christ), government-run church councils voted that the Logos was a person within God who had always existed from the beginning. This is the basis of the origins of the Trinity. Here is the mirror image of their faith compared to the Greeks:
• Unmoved Mover, Mind, and World Soul
• God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
When they tampered with truth, they moved Jesus from being “first and last” (Revelation 1:8) to being the “second” person in a tri-unity or Trinity. Instead of making our faith “acceptable” to philosophy, we must love truth.
In Colossians 2:8, what are we to watch out for?
Instead, what truth does Colossians 2:9 teach?
While these philosophers responsible for origins of the Trinity thought they were being so smart with their detailed explanations about God, what did God think of their “smartness”? Answer from I Corinthians 3:18-19.
What was the apostle’s concern in II Corinthians 11:3?
In II Corinthians 11:4, what specific doctrine was he concerned about?
What did he tell his student to avoid, in I Timothy 6:20-21?
What two ongoing things are in II Timothy 3:13-14?
What hope to we have to know the truth? Answer from II Timothy 3:15-17.
_______
This interactive lesson on the origins of the Trinity comes from Life! Journal “Christ in Me: The Mystery Continues.” Download the printable .pdf booklet if you prefer.
