God

Father, Son, and Spirit

29 passages, 6 quoted here · Against: Modalism, Adoptionism

How the writers before Nicaea spoke of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, in their own words and before the later creeds.

Where they stood

Each row is one claim. Each name is a writer, placed at the date of the passage. Select a name to read what they said.

4 of the 4 writers here teach: “Father, Son, and Spirit are named together.” They answer a rival view: “Calling the Son God makes two Gods.”

teaches it partly rejects it later writer, summary only

Father, Son, and Spirit are named together4 teach

Didache Justin Athenagoras Novatian

The Son is not the Father1 teach

Novatian

Calling the Son God makes two Gods1 reject

Novatian

What each writer said, earliest first

The Didache Teaches: Father, Son, and Spirit are named together

c. 100 AD · Didache 7

Now about baptism, this is how you are to baptize: after saying all these things beforehand, baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in living water. If you do not have living water, baptize in other water; and if you cannot do it in cold water, use warm.

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Greek

Περὶ δὲ τοῦ βαπτίσματος, οὕτω βαπτίσατε: ταῦτα πάντα προειπόντες, βαπτίσατε εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἐν ὕδατι ζῶντι.

Justin Martyr Teaches: Father, Son, and Spirit are named together

c. 100–c. 165 AD · First Apology 6

From this we are also called atheists. We confess that we are atheists with regard to the gods that people consider real, but not with regard to the truest God, the Father of justice, self-control, and the other virtues, a God completely unmingled with evil.

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Greek

Ἔνθεν δὲ καὶ ἄθεοι κεκλήμεθα· καὶ ὁμολογοῦμεν τῶν τοιούτων νομιζομένων θεῶν ἄθεοι εἶναι, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχὶ τοῦ ἀληθεστάτου καὶ πατρὸς δικαιοσύνης καὶ σωφροσύνης καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀρετῶν ἀνεπιμίκτου τε κακίας θεοῦ· ἀλλ᾿ ἐκεῖνόν τε καὶ παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ υἱὸν ἐλθόντα καὶ διδάξαντα ἡμᾶς ταῦτα, καὶ τὸν…

Athenagoras Teaches: Father, Son, and Spirit are named together

fl. c. 177 AD · Plea for the Christians 10

I have sufficiently demonstrated that we are not atheists, for we worship one God who is unbegotten, eternal, invisible, impassible, incomprehensible, and uncircumscribed. He is apprehended only by mind and reason, and encompassed by light, beauty, spirit, and indescribable power.

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Greek

Τὸ μὲν οὖν ἄθεοι μὴ εἶναι, ἕνα τὸν ἀγένητον καὶ ἀΐδιον καὶ ἀόρατον καὶ ἀπαθῆ καὶ ἀκατάληπτον καὶ ἀχώρητον, νῷ μόνῳ καὶ λόγῳ καταλαμβανόμενον, φωτὶ καὶ κάλλει καὶ πνεύματι καὶ δυνάμει ἀνεκδιηγήτῳ περιεχόμενον, ὑφ᾿ οὗ γεγένηται τὸ πᾶν διὰ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου καὶ διακεκόσμηται καὶ…

Novatian Teaches: Father, Son, and Spirit are named together

fl. c. 250 AD · On the Trinity 29

The logic of reason and the authority of faith, built on the Lord's own words and writings, urge us to believe in the Holy Spirit as well. The church was promised this Spirit long ago, but he was given at the appointed times. He was promised through the prophet Joel (Joel 2:28-29), but given through Christ.

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Novatian Rejects: Calling the Son God makes two Gods

fl. c. 250 AD · On the Trinity 30

We have spoken briefly about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, keeping our statement concise and avoiding lengthy debate, though we could have expanded far more and argued at greater length because the entire Old and New Testament bears witness that the true faith stands exactly as we hold it.

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Novatian Teaches: The Son is not the Father

fl. c. 250 AD · On the Trinity 9

The same rule of truth teaches us to believe, after the Father, in the Son of God as well — Christ Jesus, our Lord and God, yet still the Son of God. This God is both one and alone, the Creator of all things, as I have already stated above.

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Other passages filed here (23)