Of all the theological questions that evoked controversy in the ancient "universal church," none was more hotly debated than the question "Who, and What, is God?" Today, the debate continues. Some claim that Jesus Christ is "very God of very God," while others claim that He was an archangel in His preexistence state, or that He didn't preexist at all. Just what does the Bible say about this? Did Jesus preexist? Does He have the right to the names and titles of divinity? And what about the Holy Spirit? Does the Bible present the Spirit as the Third Person of a Trinity?

       From the beginning of human history to the present, men have believed in the existence of a supreme, eternal, Spirit Being known as "God," "Theos," "Elohim," "Allah," and countless other names and titles. God has been described as everything from the supreme Personage who dwells "out there" someplace to the omnipresent, impersonal "Force" that binds all things together; from the supernatural Creator whose existence transcends the space-time universe to the divine Presence who is the universe.

       Pantheists believe God and the universe are identical, while Panentheists believe that the universe is part, but not all, of God. Polytheists believe there are many gods, while Monotheists believe in only one God.

       Of the three great Monotheistic religions—Christianity, Islam and Judaism—Christianity is unique in that it teaches that the one God exists as more than one Person. Mainstream Christians have for centuries believed that the one God is three Persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. However, Christians have not been unified in their beliefs about how the three Persons of the Godhead relate to each other; nor has belief in the truine nature of God gone unchallenged.

       In fact, of all the doctrinal issues that threatened the unity of the pre-Reformation church, none was more divisive of more threatening than the debate over the nature of God. From the fourth century, A.D., through several succeeding centuries, bishops of the historic, visible church convened in "ecumenical councils" to resolve such issues as whether Christ was a creature or Creator; whether the Father, Son, Holy Spirit were co-equal and co-eternal; whether Christ had one or tow natures; and whether Christ had one of two wills.

       On the fringes of the historic church were the sectarians who denied the co-equality and the co-eternity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Some accepted the miraculous conception of Christ, but denied His deity. Others rejected the Virgin birth, claiming that Jesus was a natural son of Joseph and Mary. And still others accepted the deity of the Son but believed the Holy Spirit to be an angel, or created entity.

       While the doctrine of the Trinity as we know it today did not emerge in its fully developed form until the latter part of the fourth century, belief in the Trinity (or a form of it) pre-dated the fully developed Trinitarian creeds by at least two centuries. The Ante-Nicene "Church Fathers"—the theologians of the pre-Nicean Council (A.D. 325) period whose works (in whole or part) have been preserved—spoke of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three distinct Persons, while maintaining that there exists only one God. They generally described Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in vertical order, with the Father at the top, the Son second, and the Holy Spirit third, therefore differing from later Trinitrianism, which presents Father, Son, Holy Spirit on a horizontal plane—each said to be "co-equal" and "co-eternal."

       Obviously, as the availability of the New Testament increased, the difficulty of reconciling the biblical assertion that "God is one" with scriptural passages attributing Godhood to both the Father and the Son would produce differing interpretations. It was this difficulty that led to so much controversy in the fourth century over the nature of God. However, Christological controversies developed much earlier in the history of Christianity.

Early Controversies

       First, there were the various Gnostics sects, which taught that the Christ had not come in the flesh. They believed in the existence of only two realities, good and evil. God and His spiritual realm were equated with "good," and all the material things, including the physical universe, were equated with "evil," and were attributed to the activity of an evil god. Therefore, they concluded that the Christ could not have come as a flesh-and-blood (physical) human being, for then He would have been evil. While some Gnostics, or Docetists, believed that Christ was a "phantasm" who had only the appearance of flesh, others apparently believed that the material Jesus was distinct from the spiritual Christ. They held that Jesus was an ordinary human being born to human parents, but "the Christ" was the spiritual entity that descended upon Jesus at His baptism and departed from Him during the crucifixion.

       The term "Gnosticism" is used of a fairly large number of sects holding a mixture of Christian and pagan philosophical views. (The terms Gnosticism and Docetism are often interchangeable, though beliefs among sects described with these terms varied.) Perhaps some could be described as "Unitarian." (Unitarians deny the deity of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, believing the Father to be the sole Personage of the Godhead.) However, all early Unitarians probably did not owe their Christological concepts to Gnostic influence.

       The first Unitarian sects appeared early, perhaps before the end of the first century. At least one Jewish sect believed in the miraculous conception and virginal birth of Jesus, but denied His preexistence and deity. At least one other Jewish sect denied the virgin birth, believing Jesus to have been the righteous son of human parents. However, all Jewish Christians of that period did not share these views. Evidence indicates that the Nazarenes, whose history can be traced to the original church at Jerusalem, believed in the deity of Jesus Christ and in the Virgin Birth.

       Monarchianism, similar to Unitarianism in some respects, arose in the second century. Two forms of Monarchianism emerged. One asserted that Jesus was a created being whom God had adopted as His Son. The other, called Modalism, held that "Father, Son, Holy Spirit" are three forms through which God operates, but not three Persons.

       Some of the early Unitarians sects seems to have posed little threat to Christianity in general, and were always regarded as "outsiders." The Gnostics were far more influential, but their influence was overshadowed by the influence of the developing "universal church." Gnosticism was vigorously and successfully opposed by the early church "Fathers," particularly Irenaeus (A.D. 130-200) and Tertullian (A.D. 160-220).

       Tertullian, the famous "Father of Latin Theology," accused the Monarchians of having "crucified the Father" by claiming that the Father and the Son as the same Person. He used the word "Trinity" (Latin:Trinitas) in his description of God as one God existing in three Persons. His works were an important contribution toward the later development of Trinitarian dogma.

       While Christological heresies appeared early, the most threatening controversy over the nature of Christ and His relationship with the Father did not come about until the fourth century.

Arianism

       In 319, Arius, an Alexandrian theologian, began teaching that Jesus Christ is a spiritual being who does not share the essential nature of the Father, but was made before the foundation of the world. To Arius and his followers, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit were second and third,respectively, in the spiritual hierarchy headed by the Father. Both the Son and the Spirit were regarded as personal beings, but neither were considered "God" in the absolute sense.

       "Arianism" and other controversial issues resulted in the first "ecumenical council," known in history as the Council of Nicea. The council was summoned in 325 by the Roman Emperor Constantine, who had granted full toleration to the formerly persecuted Christian church in 313, and had become emperor of the East as well as the West in 324. The Nicean Council, consisting of about 220 bishops, formulated a creed condemning Arianism and affirming that Jesus Christ "is God from God, light from light, true God from true god, begotten, not made, of one substance with the Father." The creed contained the single statement, "And in the Holy Spirit," but made no statements regarding the Spirit's personality or relationship to the Father and the Son.

       Thus, the foundation for later Trinitarian creeds was laid at the Council of Nicea. While the "holy catholic apostolic church" officially stated its position in the form of a creed, the teachings of Arius continued to be widely held until the latter part of the fourth century.

       During the church's struggle with this issue, Arianism took several forms. The "Semi-Arians" held that Christ was similar in substance ("essence," "being," or "nature") with the Father, but was not of the same substance. The "Anomoeans" held that the nature of the Son was completely dissimilar to that of the Father. The "Homoeans" held that Christ was like the Father, though different in substance.

       At first, the controversy centered on the nature of Christ, but by 359, Athanasius, who fought so vigorously against the Arian heresy, was faced with the challenge of defending the doctrine of the Holy Spirit as the Third Person of the Godhead who is co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Son. Athanasius' writings on the Holy Spirit was in response to the views of the Tropici, an Egyptian group who held that the Father and the Son are co-equal and co-eternal but the Holy Spirit is a created being inferior to the Father and Son. Athanasius was the first to present Trinitarian dogma in its developed form.

Trinitarianism

       The Trinitarian dogma that developed in those early centuries has remained the official teaching of the "holy apostolic and universal church" to this day. Trinitarians believe that there is one God, and that the one God exists eternally in three Persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The three Persons of the Godhead are not three Gods (Tritheism), but one God; neither are they three "parts" of God, for God cannot be divided into parts. To Trinitarians, "Persons" does not mean "Beings," but "personal distinctions." In fact, some Trinitarians point out that God can be described as a Person or as three Persons, depending upon the definition of "person." Thus God is "one God in three Persons," or "a Person with three personal distinctions."

       While agreement on the truine nature of God developed early and has been made maintained among "orthodox" churches to this day, Christological disputes continued for some time to send ripples of controversy across the sea of Christendom.

       In the fifth century, "Monophysitism" made its debut. The word comes from the Greek monos ("single") and phusis ("nature"). The Monophysites believed that Christ has only one nature—the divine nature. They held that Christ's human nature either never existed or was absorbed by His divine nature. The Council of Chalcedon (451) declared that Christ has two natures, human and divine, and that the two natures co-exist in perfect unity. Monophysitism was finally condemned at the Third Council of Constinople (680-681), but is to this day the official teaching of the Armenian, Coptic, Jacobite, and Syrian churches of the East.

       The controversy over whether Christ has one or two natures was not only dispute that divided Trinitarians. The "Monothelites" held that Christ has only one will. The Third Council of Constinople asserted that Christ has two natures as well as two wills, and that the human will is in subordination to the divine.

       While Monophysitism and Monothelitism threatened the unity of the "universal church" during the fifth century, the most devastating controversy came much later when the Western church added the Latin phrase filioque ("and the Son") to the creed. The original creed, sanctioned by the church councils, stated that the Holy Spirit proceeds the Father. With the inclusion of the filioque clause, the creed states that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father "and the Son." The Byzantines objected to the West's adding the clause without consulting them, and claimed that "and the Son" suggests that the Holy Spirit has two sources of procession rather than one. To them, such suggestion was heretical.

       The dispute over the inclusion of "and the Son" in the creed, along with other controversies between the East and the West, resulted in the "Great Schism" of 1054. No longer was the "universal church" a united body, and to this day the Eastern and Western divisions—the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox churches—have yet to resolve their differences.

       The Protestant Reformation, beginning in the sixteenth century, brought no changes to Trinitarian dogma as defined by the West, and the Reformers proved themselves no more tolerant than their Romish opponents in dealing with those who held contrary views.

The Protestant Reformation

       While the Reformers challenged the Roman Catholic Church on many points of doctrine, the doctrine of the Trinity retained its place of prominence among the proponents of the new "orthodoxy." However, as in the Christendom of earlier centuries, Trinitarian dogma did not go unchallenged. And like earlier times, those who challenged the dogma found themselves relegated to the ranks of the apostates. In fact, some of the Reformers resorted to methods of purging the church of heretics that the theologians of the fourth century never dreamed of.

       John Calvin, the famous Swiss Reformer who established a theocracy in Geneva in the sixteenth century, is highly esteemed by modern leaders of the Reformed church, but his brand of "righteousness" left no room for those he and his followers regarded as heretics, idolaters, blasphemers, and infidels. While Calvin denounced the Roman Catholic hierarchy, his methods of dealing with apostasy were no less chilling than the methods employed by the Catholic Inquisitors.

       One unfortunate victim of Calvin's "justice" was Michael Servetus, who has escaped the cruel hands of the Catholic Inquisitors in Lyons, but met his fate in Calvin's Protestant Geneva. Servetus was strapped to a stake and burned, an act Calvin attempted to justify in his tract, The Defense of the Orthodox Faith in the Sacred Trinity. Servetus' crime? He denied the doctrine of the Trinity.

       Throughout the Reformation period, various individuals and groups challenged Trinitarian dogma. Among them were the "radical Reformers" such as the "Anabaptists," or "re-baptizers." Not all Anabaptists, however, rejected Trinitarianism. Of all the individual theologians who denied the Trinity, perhaps the most influential was F.P. Sozzini (1539-1604), better known as Faustus Socinus.

Socinianism

       Like his modern Unitarian counterparts, Faustus Socinus held that human reason is foundational to Christianity. Socinus, an Italian theologian, wrote several books challenging the main tenants of the Protestant mainstream. He denied the Trinity, claiming Christ did not preexist His human birth, and rejected the traditional views of Redemption and the Atonement, among other things.

       Socinus' teachings were adopted by the Minor Reformed Church of Poland, and were expressed in the Racovian Cathechism, composed in 1605. His teachings, though opposed by the Reformers, have survived the centuries, and form a part of today's Unitarianism.

       In fact, virtually all of the non-Trinitarian views of the past are expressed in one form or another in the various sects of our time.

Modern Beliefs—Nothing New

       The present-day counterparts of Arius, Socinus, and Athanasius are found within churches and sects throughout the professing Christian world.

       Jehovah's Witnesses hold a form of Arianism, believing that Christ was created at some point in time. The Witnesses believe that Christ is "a god" (note the lower-case g), but is not God in the absolute sense. They teach that Christ, in His preexistent

       Jehovah's Witnesses hold a form of Arianism, believing that Christ was created at some point in time. The Witnesses believe that Christ is "a god" (note the lower-case g), but is not God in the absolute sense. They teach that Christ, in His preexistent state, was Michael the Archangel. Many of the "Sacred Names" sects hold the same teaching.

       The Unitarian Universalist Church rejects the belief in the preexistence and deity of Christ, as do several smaller sects, such as the Megiddo Church of Rochester, N.Y., the Christadelphian Church, and a few of the Sacred Names sects. These groups hold teachings similar to those of Fautus Socinus.

       Christian Scientists and various spiritualistic sects hold concepts similar to those of the Gnostic groups of the early centuries of Christian history.

       Several "Jesus only" groups, such as the United Pentecostal Church, teach a form of Modalism, also known as Sabellianism, Monarchianism, and modalistic Monarchianism. They claim that God is a single Personage, and that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three "modes" or "titles" God has used in revealing Himself to man.

       Most non-Trinitarian groups believe that the Holy Spirit is the power of God at work in the natural world, but is not a person distinct from the Father and the Son. These groups, though generally described as "Arian" in belief, differ with Arius on this point.

       Of course, Trinitarianism is the prevailing view. It is the official teaching of the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant churches throughout the world, and is usually considered essential to true Christianity. However, even these churches are not in full agreement on every point relative to the relationships within the Godhead. For instance, to this day Eastern Orthodox theologians continue to express their disapproval of the addition of the filioque clause "and the Son) to the Trinitarian creed. Unlike their Western counterparts, they insist that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, or from the Father through the Son, but not from the Father and the Son.

       Moreover, many modern theologians, even within the clergy of Catholic and Protestant churches, have publicly declared their rejection of Trinitarian dogma. While the rightly point out that the scriptural writers never thought of God as a Trinity, they deny the inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible. Their arguments are largely founded upon the "scholarly" assumption that the Bible is a compilation of myths reflecting the world view of the ancients, and that the ancient theologians who formulated the creeds interpreted the Scriptures without the benefit of the interpretational skills of today's "higher critics." Thus, such "mythical" ideas as the Virgin Birth, Vicarious Atonement, the bodily Resurrection and Ascension of Christ, miracles, healings, and so forth, reflect an inferior world view, and therefore are rejected by today's "enlightened" theologians.

       Modern theologians are not alone in calling for revision in their church's long-held beliefs. Clergymen within smaller groups have also revised their opinions in recent years.

       Historically, the Church of God (Seventh Day) has been regarded an "Arian" sect for its teaching that Christ was created at some point prior to the foundation of the world. However, in more recent years, many of that church's leaders have adopted a more or less "Binitarian" view. They now believe that God exists as two Persons, the Father and the Son, while affirming their faith that the Holy Spirit is the spiritual power, activity, and influence of God, but is not the Third Person of the Trinity.

       The Worldwide Church of God has also altered its view of the nature of God. Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of that organization, taught that God is a Family presently composed of the Father and the Son, and that the Holy Spirit is not the Third Person of the Godhead, but is the power, influence, and the spiritual extension of God. In recent times, however, the WCG has adopted a concept resembles Trinitarianism. The leaders of that organization now speak of the Father and the Son as "consciousness" within God, but are unclear as to whether they believe the Holy Spirit is a distinct "consciousness." They claim that the word "person," when used of one of the "consciousness" within God, is a weak metaphor, and have renounced their long-held belief that God is a Family.

       Several ex-WCG affiliates have altered their views on the nature of God and Christ since departing the organization. Some now believe in a for of Arianism, while others have embraced something similar to Socinianism, and still others have returned to the mainstream and accepted Trinitarianism.

       We of the Church of God, International affirm our long-held belief that God is a Family presently composed of the Father and the Son, and that the Holy Spirit is the spiritual presence, activity, and influence of God in the natural world. We do not believe that the Father and the Son are "consciousness" within the one Being known as God; rather, we believe the Father and the Son are distinct Persons, and that describes each with all the attributes of Being. We believe that the Son is of the same Kind, or Family, as God the Father, and is therefore God. Our belief regarding the godhead differs from the modern forms of Arianism in that we find no scriptural support for the belief that the divine Logos (Christ, the Son) was a created being.

        We firmly believe that this was the understanding of the apostles and of the church of Christ founded through them. In the pages that follow, you will see proof positive that this is indeed the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, and was the understanding of the apostolic church.