Required reading
Systematic Theology Volume 1 by Charles Hodge (Available from Amazon or free here) - Commence Chapter 6 (The trinity) by reading up to the heading '4. The church doctrine as presented by the Council of Nice'.
My summary
Today Hodge begins to examine the doctrine of the trinity.
Firstly Hodge explains the importance of the doctrine.
Secondly Hodge teaches us the form of the doctrine of the trinity by explaining:
(i) what the form is;
(ii) the scriptural proofs of the doctrine.
Thirdly Hodge gives a brief history of the transition that was made to a clear statement of the trinity. He includes an overview of the teachings of:
(i) the Gnostics;
(ii) the Platonizers;
(iii) Origen;
(iv) Sabellius;
(v) Arius.
What grabbed me
I appreciated Hodge's comments on the importance of the Trinity: ' It is a great mistake to regard that doctrine as a mere speculative or abstract truth, concerning the constitution of the Godhead, with which we have no practical concern, or which we are required to believe simply because it is revealed. On the contrary, it underlies the whole plan of salvation, and determines the character of the religion (in the subjective sense of that word) of all true Christians. It is the unconscious, or unformed faith, even of those of God's people who are unable to understand the term by which it is expressed. They all believe in God, the Creator and Preserver against whom they have sinned, whose justice they know they cannot satisfy, and whose image they cannot restore to their apostate nature. They, therefore, as of necessity, believe in a divine Redeemer and a divine Sanctifier. They have, as it were, the factors of the doctrine of the Trinity in their own religious convictions. No mere speculative doctrine, especially no doctrine so mysterious and so out of analogy with all other objects of human knowledge, as that of the Trinity, could ever have held the abiding control over the faith of the Church, which this doctrine has maintained. It is not, therefore, by any arbitrary decision, nor from any bigoted adherence to hereditary beliefs, that the Church has always refused to recognize as Christians those who reject this doctrine. This judgment is only the expression of the deep conviction that Antitrinitarians must adopt a radically and practically different system of religion from that on which the Church builds her hopes. It is not too much to say with Meyer, that "the Trinity is the point in which all Christian ideas and interests unite ; at once the beginning and the end of all insight into Christianity." '
The trinity is not a secondary issue in Christianity, it is a primary one!
Next week's reading
Continue Chapter 6 (The trinity) by reading up to the heading '6. Examination of the Nicene Doctrine'.
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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