Skip to main content
Bible Q

Who first used the term Trinity?

Answered by .

The Trinity is not mentioned in the Bible and is a concept that originated in the Third Century and gradually developed among much resistance till Chalcedon 381AD.

.

Triads of gods and concepts in pagan religion

The term ‘triad’ had existed in Hellenistic philosophy, notably in Egypt, long before Christianity. A notable modern academic work in this area is the book Triads and Trinity by J. Gwyn Griffiths (1996) which examines the origins of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity by comparing it with early religious systems, specifically Egyptian, Greek, and Jewish traditions. Griffiths analyzes how the Graeco-Egyptian religious amalgam (such as the cult of Isis) influenced early Christian thinkers in Alexandria. He uses methods of comparative religion to study these “triads” (groups of three deities) and their connection to the development of the Trinity.

.

Theophilus of Antioch
The Greek word Trias (Τριάς , triad, later used for the Trinity also) first occurs in Christian usage in a letter by Theophilus of Antioch (c. 169–181 AD).

In To Autolycus 2:15, Theophilus describes the first three days of creation in Genesis as types of the Trinity, identifying them as “God, His Word, and His Wisdom”.
  • Greek text: Ὡσαύτως καὶ αἱ τρεῖς ἡμέραι πρὸ τῶν φωστήρων γεγονυῖαι τύποι εἰσὶν τῆς τριάδος, τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τοῦ λόγου αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς σοφίας αὐτοῦ.

However this reference serves to prove that Christians in Theophilus’ time (the late Second Century) clearly did not know the later creedal concept of a triad of Father, Son and Holy Spirit enshrined in the creed at Nicea in 325AD, and then in current form at Chalcedon in 381AD.

,

Tertullian

Tertullian (AD 160–225) was the first writer to apply the term Trinity (Latin trinitas) to God in a Latin letter Against Praxeus, written in 213 AD to argue a plural concept of God against the teaching of his contemporary Praxeus who held a unitarian view of God. Tertullian uses the term 10 times, throughout his letter.

Read online Against Praxeus, Schaff translation at https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0317.htm

Key excerpts from Adversus Praxean (Against Praxeas): 
  • On substance and persons: “…custodiatur oeconomia… Tres autem non statu, sed gradu, nec substantia, sed forma, nec potestate, sed specie, unius autem substantiae, et unius status, et unius potestatis…” (Adv. Prax. 2).
      • Translation: “…let the economy be guarded… They are three, however, not in rank but in degree, not in substance but in form, not in power but in kind, but of one substance, and one condition, and one power…”

  • Trinity: “….in quo est trinitas unius diuinitatis, Pater et Filius et Spiritus sanctus”  ..” (Adv. Prax. 21 ).
    • Translation: “…in which is a Trinity of one divinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

It is at this time that the development of what would later become the doctrine of the Trinity in Nicea 325AD, starts to be taught and resisted in the third Century church.

No Comments yet!