Part 1 - Did Jesus and His Disciples Teach the Trinity Doctrine? - Conclusion of What Many Scholars Say

"In the New Testament there is no reflective consciousness of the metaphysical nature of God ('immanent trinity'), nor does  the New Testament contain the technical language of the later doctrine (hposasis, ousia, substantia, subsistentia, prosopon, persona). . . . It is incontestable that the doctrine cannot be established on scriptural evidence alone.'"

Regarding the historical facts on this matter, the New Encyclopedia Britiannica states:

"Neither the word Trinity nor the explicit doctrine appears in the New Testament . .  .

"The doctrine developed gradually over several centuries and through many controversies . . .

"It was not until the 4th century that the distinctness of the three and their unity were brought together in a single orthodox doctrine of one essence and three persons."

 "There is the recognition on the part of exegetes and Biblilical theologians, including a constantly growing number of Roman Catholics, that one should not speak of Trinitarianism in the New Testament without serious qualification.  There is also closely paralleled recognition on the part of historians  of dogma and systematic theologians that when one does speak of an unqualified Trinitarianism, one has moved from the period of Christian  origins to, say, the last quadrant of the 4th century. it was only then that what might called the definitive Trinitarian dogma  'one God in three  Persons' became thoroughly into Christian life and thought.

"The thought itself does not reflect the immediate consciousness of the period of origins; it was the product of 3 centuries of doctrinal development." 

Next time: Part 1 - Did Jesus and His Disciples Teach the Trinity Doctrine? Is it "Implied"? 

From the jw.org publications