Trinity

TRINITY & OTHER DOCTRINES OF GOD:
PROF. M. M. NINAN
APPENDIX 4
Scriptural Arguments of Various Proponents
Upholders of the doctrine declare that the doctrine is not stated directly in the New
Testament.
It is instead an interpretation of elements contained in it that are seen as implying the
doctrine
It was formulated by the Councils in 4 th century.
Thus William Barclay, a Church of Scotland minister, says:
"It is important and helpful to remember that the word Trinity is not itself a New
Testament word. It is even true in at least one sense to say that the doctrine of the
Trinity is not directly New Testament doctrine. It is rather a deduction from and an
interpretation of the thought and the language of the New Testament."
And the New Catholic Encyclopedia says:
"The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is not taught explicitly in the Old Testament",
"The formulation 'one God in three Persons' was not solidly established ...prior to the
end of the 4th century".
Similarly, Encyclopedia Encarta states: "The doctrine is not taught explicitly in the New
Testament, where the word God almost invariably refers to the Father…
The term trinitas was first used in the 2nd century, by the Latin theologian Tertullian,
but the concept was developed in the course of the debates on the nature of Christ [...].
In the 4th century, the doctrine was finally formulated".
Encyclopædia Britannica says:
"Neither the word Trinity nor the explicit doctrine appears in the New Testament, nor did
Jesus and his followers intend to contradict the Shema in the Old Testament:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4). [...]
The doctrine developed gradually over several centuries and through many
controversies. [...] by the end of the 4th century, under the leadership of Basil of
Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nazianzus (the Cappadocian Fathers), the
doctrine of the Trinity took substantially the form it has maintained ever since."
The Anchor Bible Dictionary states:
"One does not find in the NT the trinitarian paradox of the coexistence of the Father, Son,
and Spirit within a divine unity."
Catholic historian Joseph F. Kelly writes:
"The Bible may not use the word 'Trinity', but it refers to God the Father frequently; the
Gospel of John emphasized the divinity of the Son; several New Testament books treat
the Holy Spirit as divine. The ancient theologians did not violate biblical teaching but
sought to develop its implications. ... [Arius's] potent arguments forced other Christians
to refine their thinking about the Trinity. at two ecumenical councils, Nicea I in 325 and
Constantinople I in 381, the church at large defined the Trinity in the way now so
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