Page 9 - Countering Trinitarian Arguments With Historical Reference

on the Trinity to cite texts like Genesis 1:26, "Let us make humanity in our image, after our likeness" (see also Gn. 3:22, 11:7, Is 6:2-3) as proof of plurality in God.
Although the Hebrew Bible depicts God as the father of Israel and employs personifications of God such as Word (Davar), Spirit (ruah), Wisdom (hokhmah), and Presence (shekhinah), it would go beyond the intention and spirit of the Old Testament to correlated these notions with later Trinitarian doctrine.
Further, exegetes and theologians agree that the New Testament also does not contain an explicit doctrine of the Trinity. God the Father is source of all that is (Pantkrator) and also the father of Jesus Christ; "Father" is not a title for the first person of the Trinity but a synonym for God." "The language of the Bible, of early Christian creeds, and of Greek and Latin theology prior to the fourth century is "economic" (oikonomia, divine management of earthly affairs). It is oriented to the concrete history of creation and redemption: God initiates a covenant with Israel, God speaks through the prophets, God takes on flesh in Christ, God dwells within as Spirit. In the New Testament there is no reflective consciousness of the metaphysical nature of God ("immanent trinity"), nor does the New Testament contain the technical language of later doctrine (hupostasis, ousia, substantia, subsistentia, prosopon, persona). Some theologians have concluded that all post-biblical Trinitarian doctrine is therefore arbitrary. While it is incontestable that the (Trinity) doctrine cannot be established on scriptural evidence alone...”
“Dogmatic development took place gradually, against the background of the emanationist philosophy of Stoicism and Neo-Platonism (including the mystical theology of the latter), By the close of the fourth century the ORTHODOX teaching was in place: God is one nature, three persons (mia ousia, treis hupostaseis). In the West, Tertullian (d. 225?) formulated an economic Trinitarian theology that presents the three persons as a plurality in God."
Archaeologists Unveil Ancient Church Site By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI
”MEGIDDO PRISON, Israel (AP) - Israeli prisoner Ramil Razilo was removing rubble from the planned site of a new prison ward when his shovel uncovered the edge of an elaborate mosaic, unveiling what Israeli archaeologists said Sunday may be the Holy Land's oldest church.
The discovery of the church in the northern Israeli town of Megiddo, near the biblical Armageddon, was hailed by experts as an important discovery that could reveal details about the development of the early church in the region. Archaeologists said the church dated from the third century, decades before Constantine legalized (Catholic) Christianity across the Byzantine Empire.
“What's clear today is that it's the oldest archaeological remains of a church in Israel, maybe even in the entire region. Whether in the entire world, it's still too early to say,” said Yotam Tepper, the excavation's head archaeologist.
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