Posted by AU on 8/25/2001, 5:54 pm

Posted by Author Unknown on 7/2/2001, 5:51 pm , in reply to "Re: The Anointed One" THE HALLMARK OF CHRISTIANITY "But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things" (1Corinthians 8:6a). Apart from the Father exalting his firstborn son and giving him authority, the Bible emphatically states: "there is but one God." That God is the Father – the Father of all creation. The Old Testament, the New Testament, Paul and the early church believed in one God the Father. They also understood it was [The Father] “God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:18 NIV). The early church spoke of Jesus Christ as the Son of God not God the Son. But then the early leaders like Peter, Paul, James, and John, (to whom the Revelation came), died, and church doctrine was given over to councils of non Spirit-filled men, men who had no concept of the glory and the power of God. They conjured up a God in their own imagination who was akin to their lack of understanding. Also, when the pagans from Rome were forced into church membership, the church lost its holy zeal for the pure truth that can only come from seeking God and studying His holy Word. To make things worse, the church withheld the Bible from the people and brought in all kinds of false teaching, teaching that could not be questioned or verified, for there was no guide, or way to measure God's truth. After the people learned to believe in the lies and hundreds of years went by, then in what we now call the Dark Ages, the Church decreed the traditions were now equal with the Bible in importance. What they really dictated was, if the Bible gets in the way of tradition, cast the Bible aside! And so, false teaching remains in our ecclesiastical world wrapped up and presented to men as dogma. PROVE ALL THINGS "The greatest of all infidelities is the fear that the truth will be bad." [Herbert Spencer]. Many fear to question their faith’s origin. Multitudes of men and women never look into church history to examine their faith. Why? Why, are there so many Christians who refuse to look into the historical development of a faith they claim has been sanctioned by God? History exposes the truth! If we are determined to hold truth sacred, then we have nothing to fear. History records changes in orthodox church theology concerning the nature of God between the beginning of the church to 451 AD. There were various Greek and Roman philosophies that had an effect in peoples understanding. Also, during that time the Church came under the control of the world Emperor. Because orthodox doctrine was spelled out in creeds we can observe from two famous creeds that Church theology was still in a state of flux as late as the 4th century. For the first one hundred years from the start of the Christian Church – that is, from the day of Pentecost – there is no mention in church history of the word "trinity" to describe God’s nature. From a strictly historical point of view, it would be absurd to think that the doctrine of the Trinity was established and taught by the church in the first century. It would be impossible for the Apostolic Church to teach a doctrine that was formed hundreds of years later, amid church council debates and compromise. MONOTHEISM We do have in the history books records to show the new church accepted the monotheism of the Old Testament! The word mono meaning "one;" the word theism meaning "God-belief." The early church believed in one God. The apostolic church defended the Biblical teaching of Monarchianism, the understanding of one Ruler: “God” who revealed himself to man in various ways. The Apostle John warned the church in an epistle saying “Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is the spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world” (1 John4:3). GNOSTICISM John was warning against the philosophy called Gnosticism, which was sweeping through the church. “Gnosis” means knowledge; “isim” means belief. Gnosticism maintained that all physical things in this world were evil, and one could escape this evil through knowledge. Teachers of Gnosticism believed Christ was merely an apparition from an apparent virgin birth. They claimed Jesus never existed in the flesh, but was manifest as a spirit. Most common Christians did not posses this “higher knowledge.” They were not taught in the liberal schools of Egypt and Rome like many of the noted theologians. The Greek word Gnosis is translated science in English. The Apostle Paul warned the young pastor Timothy about Gnosticism calling it a false science. This doctrine was held by much of the liberal higher Christian society throughout the 2nd century. LOGOS CHRISTOLOGY Also, during the second century, "Logos Christology" became prevalent. It held that Jesus was the Son of God, called the Logos or "Word" in heaven. This teaching maintained that Jesus was preexistent, dwelling with the Father, as the Son, before Christ’s birth. ONE GOD IN THREE MASKS In the third century, Sabellius expressed that God is like an actor on a Greek stage. He is able to take different parts, at different times, by putting on a new face or mask. This view of God expressing himself in various ways – as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, yet only being one God – had a large following. This simple concept of God performing like an actor in a Greek play using three different masks left a lasting impression on people's minds. Sabellius expressed that the masks God put on were equal, and that Christ was fully God. The Latin term for masks back then was taken from the Greek “prosopon.” In modern English this could be better understood as personae, and the word was used to refer to a character an actor might portray. THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY In the 4th century, the masks or persons were – for no scriptural reason, but rather out of a lack of understanding – given separate personalities, so that instead of one actor, "God," playing different parts, we now had three actors! The Trinity doctrine was now in its infancy. As the creeds started to roll from the tables of such great thinkers as Augustine, the coequality, substance and origin of the Son, as well as the distinction of the persons in the Godhead were established. One initial problem with this Trinitarian understanding of God from a biblical point of view was that the Bible declares "there is but one God," not three! ONE PLUS TWO EQUALS ONE The originators of the creeds, understanding they needed to harmonize their viewpoint of God with the singular God of the Bible devised that mysteriously, “God the Father”, “God the Son”, and “God the Holy Spirit” were “but one God.” CHURCH CONTROL IN THE HANDS OF WORLD EMPEROR When Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity he decided to unite the empire so it would be strong. In the fourth century, Constantine held the office of Supreme Pontiff: Pontifex Maximus of the Pagan Mysteries of Rome. Many of his subjects worshipped Constantine as God. The once very simple worship of Christianity changed when Constantine took the office of Pope, biblical Christianity was replaced with church services that had all the magnificence of the heathen temples. Christians, strong in the faith understood that Constantine and the popes who followed were Antichrist in nature! These Christians had nothing to do with this compromised religion. Christians, contending for the true faith did so by withdrawing from the orthodox assemblies. The true followers of Christ often met behind closed doors for fear of persecution, leaving the distinguished church fathers to hammer out the fine matters of doctrine. That left the Catholic Church, in its foundation, the pope standing as head, without any sincere Bible believers to govern over church doctrine. UNITE THE EMPIRE Because of a quarrel that threatened the unity of the church, Constantine demanded a statement of faith from his council to try to stabilize his empire. He ordered the bishops to come up with a statement on the nature of God they could all agree on. The parties involved convened the first ecumenical council of Nicaea. FIRST COUNCIL OF NICAEA In the year 325 AD the council was opened by Constantine. He was clad in gold and covered with precious stones. A chair of gold laid waiting for him. Emperor Constantine addressed the council, expressing that religious peace should be re-established. The council of Nicaea drafted 20 laws ranging from, if penance should be imposed on defectors of the church, to the proper position in which Christians should pray during service. They also heavily amended the Caesarean creed. This creed was the basis for the "Nicene" creed that is with us to this day. Once that was done, Emperor Constantine himself signed it.