A PATRISTIC STUDY OF THE
KINGDOM OF GOD AND THE
DEVELOPMENT OF THE TRINITY

1.Greek Philosophies
2.Names to know
3.Apostolic Fathers
4.The Church Fathers
5.A Brief History of the Church After Nicaea
6.Summary

The purpose of this paper is to show that the Doctrine of the Trinity is not something that was taught by Jesus and the Apostles, but that it was, in fact, a doctrine that slowly developed throughout several centuries due to the heavy influence of Greek philosophy. It is also intended to show the early Christian leaders\u2019 beliefs on the nature of Jesus, the kingdom of God, and what happens to Christians when they die. Finally, it is for the reader to see the gradual change in Christian theology (for the worse) on these topics as time wore on.

One of the oldest and least credible arguments that proponents of the Trinity try to pass off as fact is that the Apostles taught the Trinity in the New Testament.

Council of Constantinople in 381 AD., the Holy Spirit was added to the formula, bringing to life the modern day Trinity. One can easily see that even at Nicaea the Trinity was not an established doctrine by the absence of the Holy Spirit. Trinitarians will argue that the belief in a triune God was there from the Apostles, and that it was formalized as dogma at Nicaea and Constantinople. But the fact is that the New Testament does not anywhere teach the doctrine of the Trinity. The Doctrine of the Trinity, as we shall see, was not an established doctrine from Apostolic times, but a slowly developing idea that took over three hundred years to formalize.

Just to clear up the claim that the Apostles taught the Trinity in the New Testament, we will conduct a careful analysis of Patristic writings from the days of the Apostles all the way to Nicaea. The logic is, that if the Apostles did indeed teach the Trinity, then it would stand to reason that the early Christian leaders of the church would also be Trinitarians, and their letters should reflect that teaching. The problem that Trinitarians will find is that these early Christian leaders (until the late second century) had no idea of any Trinity. The latter part of the second century is when we start hearing for the first time of a Trinity of any kind, and even then, it is not very similar to the Trinity that Christianity has today. If the Apostles had actually taught the Trinity, then the Doctrine of the Trinity should be a constant teaching from the Apostles all the way to Nicaea. The problem with this thought is that the Christian leaders which came right after the Apostles, and who in some cases were appointed by the Apostles, are strangers to the thought of a triune God. As we get farther and farther away in time from the Apostles, we begin to see changes in the writers\u2019 Christology and their overall theology. This is almost completely due to the incredible influence of Greek philosophies such as Platonism, Neo-Platonism, Stoicism, and Gnosticism on early Christianity. There are probably a few more isms, but these are the major culprits. Greek philosophy not only created the Doctrine of the Trinity, but it was also responsible for several more near fatal changes to true Christianity which we will also be examining.

You must realize that in those days Greek philosophy was the major thought pattern of the civilized world. Anyone who was anyone was educated in Greek philosophy. Another reason why these philosophies were so quick to influence early Christianity is that in the beginning of the church, the leaders were for the most part Jewish, with the Jewish concept of God.

When Christianity started spreading, the leaders of the churches were now Gentiles who had converted to Christianity. These people, for the most part, had been educated in Greek philosophies in their schools and universities. As educated persons, they of course wanted to find a place for their new religious beliefs within the philosophical framework they had already acquired. So when they read Hebrew Scriptures, they could not help injecting Greek philosophical meanings into them. The Encyclopedia Britannica says concerning Christian Platonist:

"They did not believe that truth could conflict with truth and were confident that all that was rationally certain in Platonic speculation would prove to be in perfect accordance with the Christian revelation. Their unhistorical approach and unscholarly methods of exegesis of texts, both pagan and Christian, facilitated this confidence."

There was also the felt need of some Christians with Greek philosophical training to express Christianity in those terms, both for their own intellectual satisfaction and in order to convert educated pagans.

What is needed today is to remove all the Greek influence from what is called modern day Christianity, and return to the Christianity that was preached by Jesus and his Apostles.

This paper will cover almost all the major Patristic writings leading up to Nicaea. Some writings have been left out because they had nothing to contribute to the topics at issue.

many of these individuals were priests. It also does not exactly mean"fat hers" in the sense of "founding fathers." It means"teach ers." This was a standard usage in ancient and early Christian times. In the first few centuries, the term

primary teaching role within the church. Gradually, the word was extended to include all early Christian writers who were taken as representing the authentic tradition of the church. We will be concerned only with the Church fathers up to the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD.