In the second century, AT ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT, WITH ITS GREAT UNIVERSITIES, LIBRARIES, LEARNED PROFESSORS AND THRONGS OF EAGERLY INQUIRING AND ACTIVE- MINDED STUDENTS -- WHERE THE HEBREW PHILOSOPHY OF PHILO AND THE GREEK TEACHING OF PLATO HAD BLENDED WITH THE DOCTRINE OF MOSES AND THE PROPHETS FOR A MODIFIED TEACHING OF CONTEMPORARY THOUGHT -- THE FIRST SERIOUS ATTEMPT WAS MADE BY CHRISTIANS TO ADJUST THE FACTS AND TRUTHS OF THE GOSPEL AND THE RELATIONS OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE TO REASON AND PHILOSOPHY. [2]
This modified philosophy which resulted in a concept of a human Christ, called "LOGOS-CHRISTOLOGY," RAN TO SEED IN WHAT IS KNOWN AS "ARIANISM" -- and was IN OPPOSITION TO THE DOMINANT SABELLIAN TENDENCIES. [4] AND YET LOGOS- CHRISTOLOGY WAS ALSO TO BE DEFINED AS A DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY -- NOT THE ANATHANASTAN TRINITARIANISM, to be sure, but the forerunner of it. [5]
THE HISTORIC DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY CONTAINS TWO ELEMENTS,
REPRESENTING TWO
TERTULLIAN'S MOST INFLUENTIAL WORK WAS THE DEFINITION OF THE
His successor, KALLISTOS (CALIXTUS) (217-222), THE MOST
ENERGETIC AND ASSERTIVE BISHOP THAT ROME HAD YET SEEN, EXCOMMUNICATED SABELLIUS
(who continued Monarchianism previously defended by Noetus). He also CHARGED
HIPPOLYTUS WITH BEING A WORSHIPPER OF TWO GODS. KALLISTOS,
TERTULLIAN, a converted Stoic lawyer, was THE FIRST TO APPLY
THE WORD "TRINITY" TO THE CONCEPTION OR REVELATION (FROM HUMAN LIFE)
OF THE TRIUNE GODHEAD. [2] HE DECLARED THAT IN HIS SUBSTANTIA, OR SUBSTANCE,
GOD IS ONE. "FATHER, SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT", SO TERTULLIAN SAID,
"ARE THREE PERSONAE, OR PERSONS. IN "PERSONAE" TERTULLIAN SEEMED
TO HAVE IN MIND THE USE OF THAT WORD IN ROMAN LAW WHERE IT MEANT A PARTY IN A
LEGAL ACTION. [6] TERTULLIAN said that THE FATHER, THE SON, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT
were THREE, NOT IN SUBSTANCE BUT IN FORM: NOT IN POWER BUT IN APPEARANCE, FOR
THEY ARE OF ONE SUBSTANCE AND ESSENCE AND ONE POWER, INASMUCH AS HE IS ONE GOD
FROM WHOM THESE
THIS DOCTRINE WAS TO REMAIN UNTIL THE TIME OF AUGUSTINE [5], A CENTURY LATER, WHEN IT RECEIVED ITS MOST COMPLETE ELABORATION AND MOST CAREFULLY GROUNDED STATEMENT -- UNTIL A REAL DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY AT LENGTH CAME INTO EXPRESSION, PARTICULARLY IN THE WEST. [4] TERTULLIAN SAID THAT THE MAJORITY OF BELIEVERS ARE STARTLED AT THE DISPENSATION OF THE THREE IN ONE, ON THE GROUND THAT THEIR VERY RULE OF FAITH WITHDRAWS THEM FROM THE WORLD'S PLURALITY OF GODS TO THE ONE ONLY TRUE GOD. IT WAS DIFFICULT FOR THEM TO SEE IN TRINITARIAN CONCEPTIONS AUGHT ELSE BUT AN ASSERTION OF TRI-THEISM (three Gods). [5] To Tertullian, THESE PERSONAE (persons), OR PARTIES, HAVE THEIR PLACE IN THE "OIKONOMIA" (ECONOMY), OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIVITY OF GOD, SINCE GOD IS RATIONAL, THERE WAS IN HIM REASON, THE GREEK LOGOS. THIS REASON WAS GOD'S OWN THOUGHT. THE REASON EXPRESSED ITSELF IN THE WORD, WORD WHICH CONSISTS OF REASON. YET, THERE WAS A TIME WHEN THE REASON HAD NOT YET EXPRESSED ITSELF IN WORD, WHEN, NAMELY, THE SON WAS NOT. [6] THE SON WAS CONCEIVED BY TERTULLIAN AS BEING SUBORDINATE TO THE FATHER, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT PROCEEDED FROM THE FATHER THROUGH THE SON. [5]
Tertullian, once a Stoic and for a while a Montanist, was not an advocate of Logos-Christology, for he admitted that Jesus was God. He was not a Trinitarian of the later Nicean school of thought, for he admitted that there were not three personalities but rather three manifestations in the Godhead. He was not a Monarchian because he taught that the Son and the Holy Spirit emanate from the Father by an eternal process of generation. It seems that he welded the teaching of Logos-Christology and Monarchianism together and remolded them toward a stepping stone toward Trinitarianism. He is regarded by many historians as holding of Trinitarianism. [11] Although he FOUNDED THE NOMENCLATURE OF THE ORTHODOX DOCTRINE, HE KNEW AS LITTLE OF AN ONTOLOGICAL TRINITY AS DID THE APOLOGISTS. [16] TERTULLIAN EMPLOYED TERMS WITH WHICH HE WAS FAMILIAR IN THE LAW COURTS. HE WAS POLEMICAL AND, LIKE AN ADVOCATE (lawyer), NOT ALWAYS FAIR TO HIS OPPONENTS. HE WAS AT TIMES BETRAYED INTO INCONSISTENCIES. HIS IDEAS WERE SOMETIMES MOLDED BY STOIC THOUGHT. LIKE THE MONARCHIANS, WHOM HE ATTACKED, TERTULLIAN BELIEVED IN THE MONARCHIA, OR SOLE GOVERNMENT OF GOD. AS TO THE MONARCHIANS, SO TO HIM, GOD IS ONE. [20] TERTULLIAN BLUNTLY CALLS THE FATHER THE WHOLE DIVINE SUBSTANCE, AND THE SON A PART OF IT, ILLUSTRATING THEIR RELATION BY THE FIGURES OF THE FOUNTAIN AND THE STREAM, THE SUN AND THE BEAM. HE WOULD NOT HAVE TWO SUNS HE SAYS. THE SUNBEAM, TOO, IN ITSELF CONSIDERED, MAY BE CALLED SUN, BUT NOT THE SUN A BEAM. [11].