Monday, January 29, 2024

It is the 29th of January 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

A happy Monday to you- I do hope our friends in Baltimore and Detroit are happy after this weekend otherwise…ugh. All right- we head to the mailbag today- a message was sent to danv@151.org from Jessie in Paducah, Kentucky.

What a town- some fascinating Civil War history, some atomic energy history in the 50s, and it’s the home of Dippin Dots, my son's favorite ice cream treat at Angel Stadium (give me the sundae in the plastic batting helmet). Jessie wrote:

“I remember a professor telling us that the church developed doctrines like the Trinity, which isn’t mentioned in the Bible. What does this mean for Protestants who don’t believe in the authority of the church in the same way as Roman Catholics? Do we need to have the same beliefs as Catholics on the Trinity?”

Ooh boy. There is so much we could dig into here, Jessie. All right… first, when Protestants say “Scripture Alone,” we should say, “Scripture above all else.” It is our final authority, but that doesn’t mean we don’t listen to other voices- especially the treasures of centuries of Church History. Now, church leaders and councils can err, so we test them against Scripture, but we don’t ignore it.

The doctrine of the Trinity was, yes, developed by the early church, but make sure you don’t read that as “invented.” The New Testament tells us about God as Father, Jesus as God, and the Holy Spirit as God. “How that works” was part of the early church discussion, which can seem arcane to us moderns. The early councils were, in part, a conversation between a Jewish worldview and a Greek worldview. And so the creeds will use words like “substance” and “person” to straighten out and codify a theology that exists not only in the New Testament but in the early church Fathers.

The book of First Clement, not seen as authoritative by all churches, but dating back to the 1st century, notes that “do we not have one God, and one Christ, and one Spirit of Grace poured out upon us?” In the 2nd century, Polycarp prayed to God, the son Christ, and with him, the Holy Spirit, “be glory both now and for ages to come.” Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen…. They all attest to the idea that the Godhead is somehow both one and three. It’s not easy to understand! And that’s ok, and one of the reasons we can take solace is that the church has spoken in large part with one voice on this topic. If I asked someone to explain the Trinity and they flubbed it a bit, trying to get the one and three things right, I would excuse it, and we could have a conversation. If someone said, “I don’t need to follow the traditions of the church, and so I will understand these three characters in my own way…” that starts to look like willful heresy or at least a kind of ahistorical cockiness which I don’t find becoming.

NOW- one last point to make. If you are a King James reader you might say, “What about 1 John 5:7, which reads:

7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.”?

This is part of what is called the “Johannine Comma,” a note in the margins. If you go to most Bibles you will have a footnote claiming that this is a variant- most likely a marginal note from a scribe that was entered into the text- the text that Jerome made the Vulgate out of and that the King James committee did in the 1600s as well. But all ancient versions, besides the Latin, do not have it. The early Church Fathers don’t use it- and if it was in their texts, they certainly would have in the early debates with some anti-Trinitarians. This doesn’t affect the reliability of the Bible but instead helps us see that we can use the sciences of historical, and textual criticism- a science that has confirmed that our Bibles are remarkably unchanged from the original manuscripts.

I don’t know if it’s still in print, but for over 20 years, I have recommended Dr. Doctrine’s Christian Comix #3 on The Trinity by Fred Sanders- a delightful and soundly historical and orthodox quick picture of the doctrine. Thanks, Jessie, in Paducah; enjoy some Dippin’ Dots for me.

The last word for today is from A hymn attributed to St. Ambrose and translated by John Mason Neale.

1 O Trinity, most blessed light,

O Unity of sov'reign might,

as now the fiery sun departs,

come shed your light within our hearts.

2 To you our morning song of praise,

to you our evening prayer we raise;

our humble joy shall ever be

to praise your name eternally.

3 To God the Father, heav'nly light,

to Christ revealed in earthly night,

to God the Spirit let us raise

one heart and voice in ceaseless praise.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 29th of January 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man against the Johannine Comma, but pro Oxford, Gapping, and Bracketing Commas- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man on day 3 of the Single Dad experience- 6 to go. I’m Dan van Voorhis. 

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.