Editing Trinity (section)

=== Before the Council of Nicaea ===
[[File:Dogmatic sarcophagus.JPG|thumb|right|Detail of the [[Early Christian art and architecture|earliest known artwork]] of the Trinity, the [[Dogmatic Sarcophagus|Dogmatic or Trinity Sarcophagus]], {{circa|350}} ([[Vatican Museums]]).

Three similar figures, representing the Trinity, are involved in the creation of [[Eve]], whose much smaller figure is cut off at lower right; to her right, [[Adam]] lies on the ground.{{sfn|Milburn|1991|p=68}}]]

While the developed doctrine of the Trinity is not explicit in the books that constitute the [[New Testament]], it was first formulated as early Christians attempted to understand the relationship between Jesus and God in their scriptural documents and prior traditions.{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=644–648}} According to Margaret Baker, Trinitarian theology has roots in pre-Christian Palestinian beliefs about angels.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baker |first=Margaret |title=The Great Angel: A Study of Israel's Second God |date=1992 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |isbn=978-0-664-25395-0 |page=3}}</ref>

An early reference to the three "persons" of later Trinitarian doctrines appears towards the end of the first century, where [[Clement of Rome]] rhetorically asks in his [[First Epistle of Clement|epistle]] as to why corruption exists among some in the Christian community; "Do we not have one God, and one Christ, and one gracious Spirit that has been poured out upon us, and one calling in Christ?" (1 Clement 46:6).<ref>Ehrman, Bart D. ''The Apostolic Fathers''. Vol. 1. Loeb Classical Library, 2003, 119. Ehrman further notes (fn. 97) Clement is alluding to Ephesians 4:4–6. Also see 1 Clement 58:2.</ref> A similar example is found in the first-century [[Didache]], which directs Christians to "baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit".<ref>Ehrman, Bart. ''The Apostolic Fathers'', Vol. 1. Harvard University Press, 2003, pp. 411, 429.</ref>

[[Ignatius of Antioch]] similarly refers to all three persons around AD&nbsp;110, exhorting obedience to "Christ, and to the Father, and to the Spirit".<ref name="ignatius" />

The pseudonymous [[Ascension of Isaiah]], written sometime between the end of the first century and the beginning of the third century, possesses a "proto-Trinitarian" view, such as in its narrative of how the inhabitants of the sixth heaven sing praises to "the primal Father and his Beloved Christ, and the Holy Spirit".{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=595–599}}

[[Justin Martyr]] (AD&nbsp;100&nbsp;– c.&nbsp;165) also writes, "in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit".<ref name="first-apology" /> Justin Martyr is the first to use much of the terminology that would later become widespread in codified Trinitarian theology. For example, he describes that the Son and Father are the same "being" ({{lang|grc-Latn|ousia}}) and yet are also distinct faces ({{lang|grc-Latn|prosopa}}), anticipating the three persons ({{lang|grc-Latn|hypostases}}) that come with [[Tertullian]] and later authors. Justin describes how Jesus, the Son, is distinguishable from the Father but also derives from the Father, using the analogy of a fire (representing the Son) that is lit from its source, a torch (representing the Father).{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=646}} At another point, Justin Martyr wrote that "we worship him [Jesus Christ] with reason, since we have learned that he is the Son of the living God himself, and believe him to be in second place and the prophetic Spirit in the third" (1 Apology 13, cf. ch. 60).
About the [[Baptism|Christian Baptism]], he wrote that "in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water", highlighting the liturgical use of a Trinitarian formula.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Church Fathers: The First Apology (St. Justin Martyr) |url=https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0126.htm |website=www.newadvent.org |access-date=24 May 2024 |archive-date=22 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180422130016/http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0126.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> Justin Martyr produced a rudimentary version of the Trinitarian doctrine.<ref name="v276">{{cite book | last=Lohse | first=Bernhard | title=A Short History of Christian Doctrine | publisher=Fortress Press | date=1966 | isbn=978-1-4514-0423-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-_SAE5-K_l8C&dq=justin+martyr+trinity&pg=PA43 | access-date=2025-04-12 | pages=43–44}}</ref><ref name="e267">{{cite book | last=Bucur | first=Bogdan Gabriel | title=Angelomorphic Pneumatology: Clement of Alexandria and Other Early Christian Witnesses | publisher=BRILL | date=2009 | isbn=978-90-04-17414-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VdmiRxSJ-OcC&dq=justin+martyr+trinity&pg=PA139 | access-date=2025-04-12 | page=139}}</ref>

Some authors state that Justin's texts were Binitarian, and the same applies to the texts of [[Tertullian]] and [[Eusebius|Eusebius of Caesarea]].<ref name="w106">{{cite book | last=Kim | first=Young Richard | title=The Cambridge Companion to the Council of Nicaea | publisher=Cambridge University Press | date=7 January 2021 | isbn=978-1-108-61746-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gxgXEAAAQBAJ&dq=Nicaea+binitarian&pg=PA139 | access-date=12 April 2025 | pages=137, 139, 206 fn. 13}}</ref>

[[File:Albrecht Dürer - Adoration of the Trinity (Landauer Altar) - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|left|The ''Adoration of the Trinity'' by [[Albrecht Dürer]] (1511)

From top to bottom: Holy Spirit (dove), God the Father and Christ on the cross]]
The first of the early Church Fathers to be recorded using the word "Trinity" was [[Theophilus of Antioch]], writing in the late 2nd century. He defines the Trinity as God, his Word ({{lang|la|Logos}}), and his Wisdom ({{lang|la|Sophia}})<ref name="theophilus2" /> in the context of a discussion of the first three days of creation, following the early Christian practice of identifying the Holy Spirit as the Wisdom of God.<ref>Theophilus, ''To Autolycus'', 1.7 Cf. Irenaeus, ''Against Heresies'', 4.20.1, pg. 3<br />''Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching'', pg. 5</ref>

The first defense of the doctrine of the Trinity was by [[Tertullian]], who was born around AD 150–160, explicitly "defined" the Trinity as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and defended his theology against [[Praxeas]],<ref name="tertullian" /><ref name="v466">{{cite book | last=Osborn | first=Eric | title=Tertullian, First Theologian of the West | publisher=Cambridge University Press | date=2003-12-04 | isbn=978-0-521-52495-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZW7O0D9E4xQC&dq=tertullian+trinity&pg=PA121 | access-date=2025-04-12 | pages=121–122}}</ref><ref name="p285">{{cite book | last1=McGowan | first1=Andrew Brian | last2=Daley | first2=Brian Edward | last3=Gaden | first3=Timothy J. | title=God in Early Christian Thought: Essays in Memory of Lloyd G. Patterson | publisher=BRILL | date=2009 | isbn=978-90-04-17412-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9bAyYn_QkbkC&dq=tertullian+trinity&pg=PA61 | access-date=2025-04-12 | page=61}}</ref> although he noted that the majority of the believers in his day found issue with his doctrine.<ref name="against-praxeas1" /><ref name="y421">{{cite book | last1=Still | first1=Todd D. | last2=Wilhite | first2=David E. | title=Tertullian and Paul | publisher=A&C Black | date=2012-12-20 | isbn=978-0-567-55411-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tXnQjPvrDZUC&dq=tertullian+trinity&pg=PA4 | access-date=2025-04-12 | page=4}}</ref> Tertullian confession although it implies a Trinity, is binitarian in structure.<ref name="w106"/>

[[File:Bartolomé Esteban Murillo - The Heavenly and Earthly Trinities - 1681-82.jpg|thumb|The "Heavenly Trinity" joined to the "[[Holy Family|Earthly Trinity]]" through the [[Incarnation (Christianity)|Incarnation]] of the [[God the Son|Son]]–''[[The Heavenly and Earthly Trinities]]'' by [[Bartolomé Esteban Perez Murillo|Murillo]] (c.&nbsp;1677)]]

St. Justin and Clement of Alexandria referenced all three persons of the Trinity in their [[Doxology|doxologies]] and [[St. Basil]] likewise, in the evening lighting of lamps.{{sfn|Mulhern|1967|p=205}}

[[Origen of Alexandria]] (AD&nbsp;185&nbsp;– c.&nbsp;253) has often been interpreted as [[Subordinationist]]—believing in shared divinity of the three persons but not in co-equality. However, some modern researchers have argued that Origen might have actually been anti-Subordinationist and that his own Trinitarian theology inspired the Trinitarian theology of the later [[Cappadocian Fathers]].{{sfn|Ramelli|2011a}}{{sfn|Barnard|1970|pp=172–188}}

The concept of the Trinity can be seen as developing significantly during the first four centuries by the [[Church Fathers]] in reaction to theological interpretations known as [[Adoptionism]], [[Sabellianism]], and [[Arianism]]. In 269, the [[Synods of Antioch]] condemned [[Paul of Samosata]] for his Adoptionist theology and also condemned the term {{lang|grc-Latn|[[homoousios]]}} ({{lang|grc|ὁμοούσιος}}, "of the same being") in the [[Modalistic Monarchianism|modalist]] sense in which he used it.{{sfn|Chapman|1913}}