Christian Understanding of Trinity3

TRINITY : M. M. NINAN
9. Trinity through History
Tertullian gave Sabellius' doctrine the name Patripassianism,
meaning ‘the father suffered’. It was God the Father himself who
became incarnate as Jesus. He was born, suffered, and died on
the cross. Hence the Father's (patri) passion (suffer) on the
cross is efficacious
PATRIPASSIANISM
Sabellianism declared that it was "The Father"
not the Son, who suffered and died on the Cross.
Sabellius of Libya in Rome systemized this concept. "The
existence of a divine monad (huiopater) which by a process of
expansion projected itself successively in revelation as the
Father, Son, H.Spirit.( Elwells Evangelical dictionary of theology
p.727)
Thus One God successively revealed Himself to man through
history. So these three modes simply were a process of
revelation as man understood the unchanging Monad. This is
known as dispensational Modalism. “The Father was the
creator and law giver, the Son was the redeemer and the Holy
.Spirit was the giver of grace and the regenerator."
"Their doctrine is, that Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one and
the same being, in the sense that three names are attached to
the one substance. A close analogy may be found in the body,
soul and spirit of man. The body as it were the Father: the soul
as the Son ; while the Spirit is to the Godhead as his spirit is to a
man. Or take the sun: it is one substance, but it has three
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