THE TRINITY - PLATONISM
Platonism
PLATO, it is thought, lived from 428 to 347 before Christ. While he did not teach the Trinity in its present form, his philosophies paved the way for it. Later, pohilosophical movements that included triadic beliefs sprang up, and these were influenced by Platos ideas of God and nature.
The French Nouveau Dictionnaire Iniversel (New Universal Dictionary) says of Plato’s influence: “The Platonic trinity, itself merely a rearrangement of older trinities dating back to earlier peoples, appears to be the rational philosophic trinity of attributes that gave birth to the three hypostases or divine persons taught by the Christian churches…This Greek philosopher’s conception of the divine trinity…can be found in all the ancient [pagan] religions.”
The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge shows the influence of this Greek philosophy: “The doctrines of the Logos and the Trinity received their shape from Greek Fathers, who…were much influenced, directly or indirectly, by the Platonic philosophy…that errors and corruptions crept into the Church from this source can not be denied.”
The Church of the First Three Centuries says: “The doctrine of the Trinity was of gradual and comparatively late formation;…it had its origin in a source entirely foreign from that of the Jewish and Christian scriptures;…it grew up, and was ingrafted on Christianity, through the hands of the Platonizing Fathers.”
By the end of the third century C.E., “Christianity” and the new Platonic philosophies became inseparably united. As Adolf Harnack states in Outlines of the History of Dogma, church doctrine became ‘firmly rooted in the soil of Hellenism' [pagan greek thought]. Thereby it became a mystery to the great majority of Christians.”
The church claimed that its new doctrines were based on the Bible. But Harnack says: “In reality it legitimized in its midst the Hellenic speculation, the superstitious views and customs of pagan mystery-worship.”
In the book A Statement of Reasons, Andrews Norton says of the Trinity: “We can trace the history of this doctrine, and discover its source, not in the Christian revelation, but in the Platonic philosophy…The Trinity if not a doctrine of Christ and his Apostles, but a fiction of the school of the later Platonists.”
Thus, in the fourth century C.E., the apostasy foretold by Jesus and the apostles came into full bloom. Development of the Trinity was just one evidence of this. The apostate churches also began embracing other pagan ideas, such as hellfire, immortality of the soul, and idolatry. Spiritually speaking, Christendom had entered its foretold dark ages, dominated by a growing “man of lawlessness” clergy class.-2Thessalonians 2:3.7.
Why Did God’s Prophets Not Teach it?
Why, for thousands of years, did none of God’s prophets teach his people about the Trinity? At the latest, would Jesus not use his ability as the Great Teacher to make the Trinity clear to his followers? Would God inspire hundreds of pages of Scripture and yet not use any of this instruction to teach the Trinity if it were the “central doctrine’ of faith?
Are Christians to believe that centuries after Christ and after having inspired the writings of the Bible, God would back the formulation of a doctrine that was unknown to his servants for thousands of years, one that is an “inscrutable mystery” beyond the grasp of human reason,” one that admittedly had a pagan background and was “largely a matter of church politics”?
The testimony of history is clear: The Trinity teaching is a deviation from the truth, an apostatizing from it.
Next: What Does The Bible Say About God and Jesus? Watch out for Chapter 11, Post number 11.
The French Nouveau Dictionnaire Iniversel (New Universal Dictionary) says of Plato’s influence: “The Platonic trinity, itself merely a rearrangement of older trinities dating back to earlier peoples, appears to be the rational philosophic trinity of attributes that gave birth to the three hypostases or divine persons taught by the Christian churches…This Greek philosopher’s conception of the divine trinity…can be found in all the ancient [pagan] religions.”
The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge shows the influence of this Greek philosophy: “The doctrines of the Logos and the Trinity received their shape from Greek Fathers, who…were much influenced, directly or indirectly, by the Platonic philosophy…that errors and corruptions crept into the Church from this source can not be denied.”
The Church of the First Three Centuries says: “The doctrine of the Trinity was of gradual and comparatively late formation;…it had its origin in a source entirely foreign from that of the Jewish and Christian scriptures;…it grew up, and was ingrafted on Christianity, through the hands of the Platonizing Fathers.”
By the end of the third century C.E., “Christianity” and the new Platonic philosophies became inseparably united. As Adolf Harnack states in Outlines of the History of Dogma, church doctrine became ‘firmly rooted in the soil of Hellenism' [pagan greek thought]. Thereby it became a mystery to the great majority of Christians.”
The church claimed that its new doctrines were based on the Bible. But Harnack says: “In reality it legitimized in its midst the Hellenic speculation, the superstitious views and customs of pagan mystery-worship.”
In the book A Statement of Reasons, Andrews Norton says of the Trinity: “We can trace the history of this doctrine, and discover its source, not in the Christian revelation, but in the Platonic philosophy…The Trinity if not a doctrine of Christ and his Apostles, but a fiction of the school of the later Platonists.”
Thus, in the fourth century C.E., the apostasy foretold by Jesus and the apostles came into full bloom. Development of the Trinity was just one evidence of this. The apostate churches also began embracing other pagan ideas, such as hellfire, immortality of the soul, and idolatry. Spiritually speaking, Christendom had entered its foretold dark ages, dominated by a growing “man of lawlessness” clergy class.-2Thessalonians 2:3.7.
Why Did God’s Prophets Not Teach it?
Why, for thousands of years, did none of God’s prophets teach his people about the Trinity? At the latest, would Jesus not use his ability as the Great Teacher to make the Trinity clear to his followers? Would God inspire hundreds of pages of Scripture and yet not use any of this instruction to teach the Trinity if it were the “central doctrine’ of faith?
Are Christians to believe that centuries after Christ and after having inspired the writings of the Bible, God would back the formulation of a doctrine that was unknown to his servants for thousands of years, one that is an “inscrutable mystery” beyond the grasp of human reason,” one that admittedly had a pagan background and was “largely a matter of church politics”?
The testimony of history is clear: The Trinity teaching is a deviation from the truth, an apostatizing from it.
Next: What Does The Bible Say About God and Jesus? Watch out for Chapter 11, Post number 11.
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