11,153
edits
Individual Christians: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Top of Page}} | {{Top of Page}} | ||
{{Church History}} | {{Church History}} | ||
= | =The following Christians all believed in the doctrine of the Trinity= | ||
====Polycarp, d. ~ | If as William Branham said: " | ||
====Polycarp, d. ~156 A.D.==== | |||
With Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp is regarded as one of three chief Apostolic Fathers. A letter of his to the Philippians has been preserved, and is described by Irenaeus as a "forceful epistle". Polycarp travelled to Rome to correct heresies that had arisen in that church. He died a martyr, bound and burned at the stake, then stabbed when the fire failed to touch him. | With Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp is regarded as one of three chief Apostolic Fathers. A letter of his to the Philippians has been preserved, and is described by Irenaeus as a "forceful epistle". Polycarp travelled to Rome to correct heresies that had arisen in that church. He died a martyr, bound and burned at the stake, then stabbed when the fire failed to touch him. | ||
Polycarp (martyred c. 156) wrote this Trinitarian prayer: | |||
:''For this reason I praise thee for all things, I bless thee, I glorify thee through the everlasting and heavenly High Priest, Jesus Christ, thy beloved Child, through whom be glory to thee with him and the Holy Spirit both now and for the ages to come. Amen.<ref>J. Quasten and J. C. Plumpe, eds., Ancient Christian Writers (Westminster:MD: Newman Press, 1950), 14.3.</ref> | |||
====[[Irenaeus]], d. ~202 A.D.==== | ====[[Irenaeus]], d. ~202 A.D.==== | ||
Irenaeus was bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, which is now Lyon, France. He was a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of John, who was a disciple of Jesus Christ. Irenaeus wrote extensively on the nature and unity of God, fighting bitterly against heresies and the integration of paganism into Christianity. Irenaeus also corrected the church in Rome on occasion, and testified that supernatural signs accompanied his ministry and all the believing church, including the raising of the dead, healing of the sick, prophecies, and visions. | Irenaeus was bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, which is now Lyon, France. He was a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of John, who was a disciple of Jesus Christ. Irenaeus wrote extensively on the nature and unity of God, fighting bitterly against heresies and the integration of paganism into Christianity. Irenaeus also corrected the church in Rome on occasion, and testified that supernatural signs accompanied his ministry and all the believing church, including the raising of the dead, healing of the sick, prophecies, and visions. | ||
Iranaeus clearly believed in the triunity of God as expressed in his writings and stated that: | |||
The Church... believes in '''one God, the Father Almighty,''' Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; and '''in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God''', who became incarnate for our salvation; '''and in the Holy Spirit''', who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations of God.<ref>Irenaeus of Lyons, “Irenæus against Heresies,” in The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, vol. 1, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885), 330.</ref> | |||
====[[Martin]] of Tours, d. 397 A.D.==== | ====[[Martin]] of Tours, d. 397 A.D.==== | ||
| Line 43: | Line 49: | ||
====[[Martin Luther]], d. 1546==== | ====[[Martin Luther]], d. 1546==== | ||
[[Martin Luther]] was a German monk, priest, professor, theologian, and church reformer. His teachings inspired the Protestant Reformation and deeply influenced the doctrine and culture of the Lutherans and Protestants traditions, as well as the course of Western civilization. | [[Martin Luther]] was a German monk, priest, professor, theologian, and church reformer. His teachings inspired the Protestant Reformation and deeply influenced the doctrine and culture of the Lutherans and Protestants traditions, as well as the course of Western civilization. | ||
Against those Protestants who wished to discard the language of Trinity and possibly even the doctrine itself, Luther asserted that salvation depends on belief in it. Against all deniers of the Trinitarian faith (as expounded in the Nicene Creed) Luther declared “''This is the faith; so the faith teaches; here stands the faith. Naturally, I mean the Christian faith, which is grounded in Scripture. But he who does not want to believe Scripture but runs after reason—why, let him run… . This is a matter of either believing or of being lost.''” | |||
If Luther introduced any new element into the doctrine of the Trinity (besides rejecting over-rationalistic speculation) it would be an emphasis on the distinctness of the three persons. Luther was not afraid to emphasize that in the scriptural witness Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are “three different persons” even as they are of the same, identical divine essence. While admitting that no earthly illustration can possibly do justice to the heavenly reality of the Trinity, Luther used a “homely, simple illustration” to help people who struggled with the Trinity to understand it. “As a bodily son has flesh and blood and his being from his father, so the Son of God, begotten by the Father, has His being and nature from the Father from eternity.” Immediately after offering this analogy, the reformer admitted that it could not do justice to the unity of Father and Son within the eternal Godhead. However, together with other statements of the Trinity made by Luther, it illustrates his tendency to think of the three persons of God as distinct persons of love in community along the lines of Richard of St. Victor. It would be misleading to claim Luther as an example or advocate of the “social analogy” of the Trinity, but he certainly was not locked into the Augustinian psychological analogy that tended to reduce the persons of God to mere relations of origin.<ref>Roger E. Olson and Christopher A. Hall, The Trinity, Guides to Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2002), 68–69.</ref> | |||
====Menno Simons, d. 1561==== | ====Menno Simons, d. 1561==== | ||
| Line 61: | Line 71: | ||
====[[John Wesley]], d. 1791==== | ====[[John Wesley]], d. 1791==== | ||
[[John Wesley]] was an 18th-century Anglican minister and powerful field-evangelist who was an early leader in the Methodist movement. While never formally separating from the Anglican Church, John Wesley acted on his own even so far as to ordain ministers by the laying on of hands, which he had found to be a Biblical example. | [[John Wesley]] was an 18th-century Anglican minister and powerful field-evangelist who was an early leader in the Methodist movement. While never formally separating from the Anglican Church, John Wesley acted on his own even so far as to ordain ministers by the laying on of hands, which he had found to be a Biblical example. | ||
In his sermon ‘On the Trinity’, Wesley is clear where he stands. The Trinity, he says, ‘enters into the very heart of Christianity: It lies at the heart of all vital religion’. He places it at the centre of worship, and of the experience of God.<ref>Kenneth Wilson, Methodist Theology, Doing Theology (New York; London: T&T Clark, 2011), 64–65.</ref> | |||
====Francis Asbury, d. 1816==== | ====Francis Asbury, d. 1816==== | ||
| Line 76: | Line 88: | ||
====Dwight Lyman Moody, d. 1899==== | ====Dwight Lyman Moody, d. 1899==== | ||
Also known as D.L. Moody, was an American evangelist, setting up Sunday Schools, and preaching accross America, and visiting China and England. <ref name="Moody">(Sermons of D.L. Moody [http://www.apibs.org/class.htm#moody])</ref> | Also known as D.L. Moody, was an American evangelist, setting up Sunday Schools, and preaching accross America, and visiting China and England. <ref name="Moody">(Sermons of D.L. Moody [http://www.apibs.org/class.htm#moody])</ref> | ||
Moody was a clear Trinitarian: | |||
:Again, in the sixteenth chapter we find that Christ is saying, “Whom say men that I am?” and then He asked Peter, and Peter said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” This shows the power there was in confessing Christ. '''Peter was a true Trinitarian; he got square on the rock.'''<ref>Dwight Lyman Moody, New Sermons, Addresses, and Prayers (Cincinnati, OH: Henry S. Goodspeed & Co., 1877), 696.</ref> | |||
====James Hudson Taylor, d. 1905==== | ====James Hudson Taylor, d. 1905==== | ||