1. CHURCH HISTORY T H E N T O N O W 1054-1299 33AD-325 476-799 1521-1610
Biblical-Literacy.com
© Copyright 2015 by Mark Lanier. Permission hereby granted to reprint this document in its
entirety without change, with reference given, and not for financial profit.

2. The Trinity in the Post-Apostolic Church
Creeds not Chaos
The Trinity in the Post-Apostolic Church
17th-century Russian icon illustrating the articles of the Creed

3. Video St Patricks Bad Analogies

5. 3

6. Creed – Credo (Lat.) – I believe

7. Creed – Credo (Lat.) – I believe
Niceano-Constantinopolitan Creed

10. ...express the essentials

11. ...counter wrong views

13. Only one God

14. Only one God
Salvation a threefold source

15. Only one God
Salvation a threefold source
Jesus Christ is God

16. Only one God
Salvation a threefold source
Jesus Christ is God
Holy Spirit is a person

17. Only one God
Salvation a threefold source
Jesus Christ is God
Holy Spirit is a person
Father, Son & Spirit distinct and yet one

21. Modalistic Monarchianism / Sabellianism
Modalism
Modalistic Monarchianism / Sabellianism

23. Dynamic Monarchianism / Adoptionism

26. Yo, wassup?

27. Yo, wassup?
Jus movin’ the Mediterranean

29. Tertullian of Carthage
The Father of Latin Christianity

30. c AD

31. Roman Carthage
c AD

34. Praxeas

35. Father is the Son
Son is the Father

36. Father is the Son
Son is the Father
Patripassianism

40. The Father

42. Let’s talk bout the rootin’ tootin’ Trinty

43. Father
Son
Spirit
Distinct

44. Trinty (trinitas)

45. Trinty (trinitas)
three-ness three-in-one-ness

46. essence being substance
substantiae

47. Essence – substaniae – ‘godness’

48. Essence – substaniae – ‘godness’

49. Essence – substaniae – ‘godness’
Person (personae)
Person (personae)
Essence – substaniae – ‘godness’
Person (personae)

50. Person (Lat. personae) = (Gk. prosopon) = Mask

53. Tritheism

55. Athanasius of Alexandria
Contra Mundum

56. c AD

57. c AD

58. Arius ( AD)

59. Arius ( AD)

60. ‘...there was a time when he was not’
Arius ( AD)

62. Creed of Nicaea 325 AD
The Nicene Creed 381 AD

63. ‘In one Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, begotten as only begotten of the father, [that is of the substance (ousia) with the Father], God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of one [same] substance (homoousios) with the Father,

64. [But those who say: 'There was a time when he was not;' and ‘He was not before he was made;' and 'He was made out of nothing,' or 'He is of another substance' or 'essence,' or 'The Son of God is created,' or 'changeable,' or 'alterable‘ —they are condemned by the holy catholic and apostolic Church.]

65. ‘In one Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, begotten as only begotten of the father, [that is of the substance (ousia) with the Father], God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of one [same] substance (homoousios) with the Father,

66. Terminology
Homoousios
Same substance
Homoiousios
Like substance

67. Hebrews 1:3
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being (hypostasis)

68. Hebrews 1:3
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being (hypostasis)

69. Hebrews 1:3
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being (hypostasis)

70. Hebrews 1:3
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being (hypostasis)

71. Old Testament God

72. Old Testament God
New Testament God

73. Marcionism
Old Testament God
New Testament God

74. Terminology Hypostasis (cf. Heb 1:3) Ousia Distinct existence
Underlying reality
Ousia
Distinct existence
Underlying reality

75. Council of Alexandria 362 AD

76. Council of Alexandria 362 AD
Hypostasis
God is three (Persons)
Ousia
God is one (being)

78. Council of Nicaea 325 AD
‘We believe in the Holy Spirit’

79. Council of Constantinople 381 AD

80. Council of Constantinople 381 AD
‘I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the prophets.’

81. Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory of Nazianzus
The Cappadocian Fathers

86. John 14:10-11
‘Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.’

87. John of Damascus c AD

88. perichoresis
John of Damascus c AD

89. perichoresis
‘co-inherence in one another without any coalescence or commixture.’
John of Damascus c AD

91. ‘The “fellowship of the Holy Spirit” (2 Cor 13:14) revealed in God’s relating to us reflects that “fellowship” within the life of God…….The Spirit can be seen as the person who mediates, sustains and enables the love between the Father and the Son, so that by his personal action he both unites them in an inexpressibly close way but at the same time constitutes himself as “the space” between them so that they do not collapse into each other but remain in their distinct personal integrity over against each other.’

93. Background Video Torvill & Dean – no audio

102. Points for Home

103. Points for Home
Let us become what we worship

104. Points for Home Let us become what we worship
Build a Trinitarian community of love

105. Points for Home Let us become what we worship
Build a Trinitarian community of love
Seek to reflect heaven on earth

106. The Trinity in the Post-Apostolic Church
Creeds not Chaos
The Trinity in the Post-Apostolic Church
17th-century Russian icon illustrating the articles of the Creed