The Doctrine of the Trinity is it Scriptural?
Introduction
Tertullian, a church father from AD 160-225, coined the term Trinity in his defense against the heresy of his day. His work, Against Praxus, was an apologetics defense describing the Godhead as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The mystery of God's essence was revealed in the New Testament with the salvation of humanity. One can visibly see the persons within the Godhead through the works of salvation. Trinitarian heresies deny the doctrine of the Trinity, while Scripture affirms that one God exists as three Persons, with each member of the Trinity being God.
Biblical Foundation of the Doctrine of the Trinity
The Bible in the Trinity
The term "Trinity" is not found throughout the Biblical text, so how can it be a pivotal doctrine of the Christian Faith? Trinity is understood to mean tri-unity or three-in-oneness, attempting to explain the Scriptures' teaching that God is three persons but one monotheistic being.[1] The mystery of the doctrine of the Trinity is based on how it existed throughout eternity but only became apparent through God’s revelation.[2] Through the lens of salvation, one can understand the doctrine of the Trinity. God does not reveal his Triune essence through direct verbal revelation, as in other doctrines, but instead through the work of the Son and the Holy Spirit in the process of salvation. It is this mystery that Paul states,
“Now to Him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the Gentiles, leading to obedience of faith.” (Rom. 16:25-26, Legacy Standard Bible)
It is this understanding that the Trinity is considered a mystery due to its hidden nature in the Old Testament; God’s revelation through His work of salvation allows us to see and appreciate the Trinity. Through the redemption work of salvation, God not only saves but enlightens one to His Trinity.[3] The Doctrine of the Trinity has been communicated to humanity through the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit in the act of salvation, allowing the mystery of God to be known to all. Therefore, one must understand the Trinity is not one principle of the Bible but its ontological foundation of the Bible; the speaker of the Bible is the Trinity.[4]
To comprehend the Doctrine of the Trinity in the Bible, one must realize that the words of the Bible are within the Trinity. Scott Swain explains it, “We cannot fully appreciate how the Trinity is in the Bible without observing how the Bible is in the Trinity.”[5] The revelation of the Trinity is performed not through spoken words but through the acts or deeds by which God orchestrated His divine plan with the preparation established in the Old Testament and the product in the New Testament.[6] In the New Testament, the doctrine is visible, “God is one (Gal 3:20; James 2:19), but the Son (John 1:1; 14:9; Col. 2:9) and the Spirit (Acts 5:3-4; 1 Cor. 3:16) are also fully God.”[7] The Triune God revealed His essence when the Father sent His Son and Holy Spirit (John 14:26; Gal. 4:4).[8] By examining the works or actions within the concept of salvation, the relationship between God and his world can be evaluated through the doctrine of economic Trinity.[9] The term economy comes from the Greek word oikonomia, which means household management or various roles or jobs within the family.[10] So, how do these various roles reveal the Trinity?
Economic and Ontological Trinity
The economic and ontological trinity doctrine should be addressed to answer this question. Expanding on the above definition, the economic Trinity is the “manifestations of the three persons of the Trinity in relationship to the world.”[11] In contrast, the ontological, eternal, or immanent Trinity is the inter-Trinitarian relationship among the three persons of the Trinity.[12] Despite the surface appearance of these two terms as a dichotomy of understanding, one must comprehend that the economic Trinity and the ontological Trinity describe the same Triune God.[13] The mystery of the Triune God was revealed through His economy of salvation, and this relationship with this world shows us His nature of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.[14] Jesus proclaims God's monotheistic nature when he hyperlinks to Deuteronomy 6:4 and states, “The foremost is Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is One Lord.” (Mark 12:29, LSB)[15] In the context of the Logos (Word) Christology, one can examine the relationship of the Father to the Son, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1, LSB)[16] In connecting the salvation history to the Trinity, the Father is clearly sending His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit of Pentecost.[17] For Jesus said, “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me, he also will live because of Me.” (John 6:57, LSB) The deity of Jesus Christ is confirmed in John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the father, full of grace and truth.” (LSB) Scott Swain explains, “The relationship between the Father who begets and the Son who is begotten is a relationship between divine persons, not between a divine producer and a creaturely product.”[18] William Lane Craig explains, “On the view I prefer, the persons of the ontological trinity are equal and underived. In the economic Trinity, by contrast, there is subordination (or, perhaps better, submission) of one person to another, as the incarnate Son does the Father’s will and the Spirit speaks, not on His own account, but on behalf of the Son.”[19] Stuart Olyott explains the Trinity: “All that God is is the Father. All that God is is the Son. All that God is is the Holy Spirit. Each one is all that God is. Each one is God in the same sense-of the same essence, being or substance. And yet God is indivisible.”[20] This statement by Olvott implies the concept of divine simplicity, but how does this relate to the Trinity?
Divine Simplicity
The Doctrine of the Trinity is intertwined with the attributes of divine simplicity. This attribute means God is wholly unified or oneness, which cannot be divided; His divine attributes are without form or physical characteristics. Attributes identify Triune God must be understood as His whole essence, so when John states, “And this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all,” (LSB) he is declaring God to be nothing but light.[21] Human beings are composed of distinct physical body parts, consisting of organ systems that perform specific bodily functions; we are further divided into a soul and mind that encompasses the entire human experience. Scott Swain explains that God is a Spirit absent from metaphysical components. He’s a “pure and unmixed being, pure and unmixed wisdom, pure and unmixed goodness, pure and unmixed power (John 4:24).”[22] God’s transcendent, unique nature separates Himself from His creation and cannot be compared to anyone or anything, for Isaiah 40:18, “To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?” (LSB) The works of the Triune God from the creation to the end of the age are the works of the three divine persons with one power, will, and wisdom.[23] Therefore, the personal properties of the three persons of the Trinity are the only label related to God's oneness.
Tri-Person of the Trinity
The complete revelation of the Triune God is present in the baptismal commandment, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” (Matt. 28:19, LSB) Interpreting this verse, “the name” is a singular noun, not plural, which emphasizes the unity of God as a monotheistic God.[24] The doctrine of the Trinity contains the element of God’s unity, as it is proclaimed, “yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.” (1 Cor. 8:6, LSB) Further examining this verse, Matthew 28:19, he names the three persons of the Trinity: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Paul explicitly names the first person of the Godhead to be the Father as he relates to the second person, the Son, in Ephesians 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” (LSB) [25] Paul further expands on the Father of the Trinity when he states, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.” (Eph.3:14-15, LSB) In Greek, the word God is theos, in the New Testament theos is linked to the name Father such as in John 6:27; Rom. 15:6, 1 Cor. 8:6; 15:24; Eph. 4:6; James 3:9).[26] Murray J. Harris explains that whenever theos are used without any other nouns, by itself, to reference the Triune God, it is declaring the person of the Trinity, God the Father: two such examples are James 1:5; 1 Pet. 3:18.[27] This demonstrates the divinity of the Father as it relates to the Triune God.
As previously discussed, the second person of the Trinity, the Son, is the eternal Word or Logos. The divinity of Jesus Christ, who is begotten, not created but was eternal with God the Father, “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” (Col. 1:15, LSB) Jesus professes His divinity by declaring, “You yourself said it; nevertheless, I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the Right Hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” (Matt. 26:64, LSB) There are other verses where Jesus claims to be the “I Am” (John 6:35, 48; John 8:12; John 10:9; John 10:11, 14; John 11:25), a reference to Exodus 3:14, “And God said to Moses, I Am Who I Am; and He said, Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I Am has sent me to you.” (LSB) Jesus declares that the Father has sent Him to the world from heaven to do the works of the Father. (John 5:26-37) In addition to His divinity of being God, Jesus Christ is described as being linked to the Father, “Who is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power; who, having accomplished cleansing for sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” (Heb. 1:3, LSB) C. S. Lewis stated, “Either this man was, and is, the Son of God or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon, or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.”[28] In Jesus Christ, “The worship paid to Him is not merely that reverential respect offered to kings and others in authority, but such worship as was refused by the apostles with horror, because they were mere men (Acts 14:13-15), and against which, when offered to Him by John, even the mighty angel (Revelation 19:10; 22:9) earnestly protested.”[29]
The third person of the Trinity is identified as the Holy Spirit. As the other two persons of the Godhead are divinely identified in the New Testament, so is the Holy Spirit. Matthew 10:20 declares, “For it is not you who speak, but the spirit of your Father who speaks in you.” (LSB) It is the economic Trinity where the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:7)[30] John 16:12-15 describes the teaching of Jesus on the importance of the Holy Spirit,
“I still have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak from Himself, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.” (LSB)
Here, we learn the Spirit will guide us in all the truth, and so doing will glorify Jesus Christ. This truth that the Spirit will disclose (v.13) states what will come to be. In addition to guiding us in the truth, past, and future, these verses explain how the Holy Spirit is of the same essence as the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me,” and “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.” (John 15:26; 16:7, LSB) St. Augustine explains, “Who have written before me on the Trinity which God is, has been to teach that according to the scriptures Father and Son and Holy Spirit in the inseparable equality of one substance present a divine unity; and therefore there are not three gods but one God; although indeed the Father has begotten the Son, and therefore he who is the Father is not the Son; and the Son is begotten by the Father, and therefore he who is the Son is not the Father; and the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son, but only the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, himself coequal to the Father and the Son, and belonging to the threefold unity.[31] Therefore, one must re-read the Old Testament with knowledge of the Gospel to reveal the mystery of the Trinity throughout the Pentateuch, Major, and Minor Prophets.
Elements of the Doctrine of the Trinity
The Biblical understanding of the Trinity is summarized in three points, “(1) There is but one God, (2) the Father and the Son and the Spirit is each God, and (3) the Father and the Son and the Spirit are each a distinct person.”[32] B. B. Warfield’s three-point doctrine of the Trinity is considered complete, especially compared to Wayne Grudem’s five elements and Millard J. Erickson’s six elements.[33][34] Evaluating Wayne Grudem’s elements, he paraphrases B.B. Warfield’s statement: (1) “God is three persons,” (2) “Each person is fully God,” (3) “There is one God,” (4) “All analogies have shortcomings,” (5) “God eternally and necessarily exists as the Trinity.”[35] Millard J. Erickson confirms much of Grudem’s elements but expands it with the concept of subordination and the incomprehensibility of the Trinity.[36] The three-point doctrine of the Trinity, as described by B.B. Warfield, has been explained in-depth. Therefore, the remaining three elements will be discussed, beginning with subordination and eternity. The Triune God has existed as three persons throughout all of eternity; none came into being or were created (John 1:3; 1 Cor. 8:6; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2; Gen. 1:2).[37] The concept of subordinate must not be taken to mean inferior or less important in an ontological subordination but only in the economy of subordination. The subordination of the Son in the economy of salvation is a voluntary role or task to accomplish the unified Will of the Triune God.[38] Torey Teer combines these elements,
“Affirms that there are three divine persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) yet one God, and those persons exist as eternal subsisting relations (or relations of origin). The Father is unbegotten or unoriginated; he is characterized by paternity. The Son is eternally generated by the Father, he is characterized by filiation (or eternal generation). The Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from, or is eternally spirated (or breathed) by, the Father and the Son; he is characterized by procession (or passive spiration).” [39]
The final two elements—all analogies have shortcomings and incomprehensibility—are self-explanatory. Although analogies help understand portions of the Trinity, they may lead to heresy of the doctrine when one of the above elements is not adhered to.
Trinitarian Heresies
Unitarianism, Arianism, and Tritheism
The heresy of the Trinity can be divided into three categories: unitarianism, Arianism, and tritheism. Unitarian heresy has existed since the beginning of Christianity. Unitarianism, also referred to as Modalism, Monarchianism, or Sabellianism, was advocated by numerous theologians, including Praxeus, Noetus, and Sabellius.[40] The modern form of this unitarian sect is Oneness Pentecostalism.[41] According to the unitarian principles, it advocates for the divine monarchy but rejects the three persons of the Trinity by claiming God the Father assumed the roles of the Son and Holy Spirit in the salvation process.[42] The error of unitarianism/modalism is the belief that God’s unity is incompatible with the three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, within the Godhead of the Trinity. Arius, an Alexandrian presbyter in AD 319, promoted his doctrine that Jesus was not of the same substance as the Father but rather a created being prior to the creation of the universe.[43] This controversy led to the Council of Nicea, where Alexander of Alexandria and Athanasius opposed Arius, providing an apologetics for the doctrine of the Trinity.[44] This council did not invent or create the doctrine but defended it. In so doing, the Nicene Creed was created.
“We Believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God; who was begotten of the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, begotten, not made, having the same being as the Father, through whom all things came to be; who for us human beings and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became human, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried, and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures, and ascending into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father, and shall come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, of whose kingdom there shall be no end; and the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and from the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and co-glorified, who has spoken through the prophets; in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church. We confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins; we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the age to come. Amen.”[45]
Tritheism is a form of heresy that advocates that “God is three persons and each person is fully God.”[46] This form of heresy is more in line with pagan religions, and there are no current sects that advocate for this position, but one must be careful not to slip into this thinking. In considering the heresies, evangelical Christians must remain solid in understanding the key elements of the Doctrine of the Trinity to remain faithful to the Triune God.
Conclusion
While denying any element of the Trinity results in heresy, there is but one God because the Father, the Son, and the Spirit is each God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are each a distinct person, and God eternally and necessarily exists as the Trinity. In this Trinity, we all have a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:3) It is through this living hope we should re-read the entire Bible to unveil the mystery of the Scriptures. By doing this, we will not just confirm the Trinity is in the Bible but will proclaim the Bible is from the Triune God. Revelation 4-5 declares the doctrine of the Trinity when John describes the Father sitting on His throne, the Son worthy of opening the scroll, and the Holy Spirit who encompasses the throne.
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Bird, Michael F, and Robert E Shillaker. “Subordination in the Trinity and Gender Roles: A Response to Recent Discussion.” Trinity Journal 29, no. 2 (Fall 2008): 267–83. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLA0001691302&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Boyce, James Petigru. Abstract of Systematic Theology. Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1887.
Cary, Phillip. The Nicene Creed: An Introduction. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2023.
Craig, William Lane. “Is God the Son Begotten in His Divine Nature?” TheoLogica 3, no. 1 (2019): 22–32. doi:10.14428/thl.v2i3.16583.
Elwell, Walter A., ed. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Academic, 2001.
Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013.
Ford, Coleman M. “The Pro-Nicene Hymns of Ambrose: A Pastoral Response to Arianism.” Southwestern Journal of Theology 66, no. 1 (Fall 2023): 47–68. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLAiACO231218000231&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Grenz, Stanley, David Guretzki, and Cherith Fee Nordling. Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999.
Grudem, Wayne A. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Second edition. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2020.
Harris, Murray J. Jesus As God: The New Testament Use Of Theos In Reference To Jesus. Grands Rapid: Baker -Book House, 1992. Reprint, Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2008.
Hill, Edmund with Saint Augustine. The Trinity (De Trinitate). Edited by John E. Rotelle. Second Edition. Vol. I/5. The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century. Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2017.
Lee, Seung-Goo. “The Relationship between the Ontological Trinity and the Economic Trinity.” Journal of Reformed Theology 3, no. 1 (2009): 90–107.
Lewis, C. S. Mere Christianity: A Revised And Amplified Edition, With A New Introduction, Of The Three Books Broadcast Talks, Christian Behavior and Beyond Personality. Broadway, NY: An Imprint of Harper Collins Publisher, 1980.
MacArthur, John, and Richard Mayhue, eds. Biblical Doctrine : A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth. Wheaton: Crossway, 2017.
Moreland, James Porter, and William Lane Craig. Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview. 2nd edition. Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, an imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2017.
Olyott, Stuart. What the Bible Teaches about The Trinity. Darlington, England: EP Books, 2011.
Rice, Scott P. “The Immanent and the Economic: Rahner through Pannenberg on the Trinity.” Heythrop Journal 63, no. 4 (July 2022): 807–16.
Sanders, Fred. The Triune God. Edited by Michael Allen and Scott R. Swain. New Studies in Dogmatics. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016.
Swain, Scott R. “B. B. Warfield and the Biblical Doctrine of the Trinity.” Themelios 43, no. 1 (April 1, 2018): 10–24.
Swain, Scott R. The Trinity: An Introduction. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2020.
Swain, Scott R. The Trinity and the Bible : On Theological Interpretation. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Academic, 2021.
Teer, Torey J S. “Classical Versus Contemporary: Engaging Trinitarian and Pneumatological Models for Ongoing Theological Construction.” The Westminster Theological Journal 83, no. 2 (Fall 2021): 355–81. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLAiGW7220117000056&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
[1] Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2020), 269.
[2] Fred Sanders, The Triune God, Ed. by Michael Allen and Scott R. Swain (New Studies in Dogmatics, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016), 42.
[3] Ibid, 239.
[4] Scott R. Swain, The Trinity and the Bible : On Theological Interpretation (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Academic, 2021), 9.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Scott R. Swain, “B. B. Warfield and the Biblical Doctrine of the Trinity,” Themelios 43, no. 1 (April 1, 2018): 11.
[7] R. L. Saucy, “God, Doctrine of Trinity” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2nd ed., ed. Walter A. Elwell (Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Academic, 2001), 502.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Seung-Goo Lee, “The Relationship between the Ontological Trinity and the Economic Trinity,” Journal of Reformed Theology 3, no. 1 (2009): 90–91.
[10] Ibid, 92.
[11] Stanley Grenz, David Guretzki, and Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), s.v. Economic Trinity.
[12] Ibid, s.v. Immanent Trinity.
[13] Scott P Rice, “The Immanent and the Economic: Rahner through Pannenberg on the Trinity.” Heythrop Journal 63, no. 4 (July 2022): 807.
[14] Seung-Goo Lee, “The Relationship between the Ontological Trinity and the Economic Trinity,” Journal of Reformed Theology 3, no. 1 (2009): 92.
[15] John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue, eds. Biblical Doctrine : A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth (Wheaton: Crossway, 2017), 201.
[16] James Porter Moreland, and William Lane Craig, Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview, 2nd ed. (Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, an imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2017), 577.
[17] Fred Sanders, The Triune God, Ed. by Michael Allen and Scott R. Swain (New Studies in Dogmatics, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016), 144.
[18] Scott R. Swaim, The Trinity: An Introduction (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2020), 76.
[19] William Lane Craig, “Is God the Son Begotten in His Divine Nature?” TheoLogica 3, no. 1 (2019): 31, doi:10.14428/thl.v2i3.16583.
[20] Stuart Olyottt, What the Bible Teaches about The Trinity (Darlington, England: EP Books, 2011), 24.
[21] Scott R. Swaim, The Trinity: An Introduction (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2020), 55.
[22] Ibid.
[23] Ibid, 59.
[24] Ibid, 28.
[25] Ibid, 65.
[26] John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue, eds. Biblical Doctrine : A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth (Wheaton: Crossway, 2017), 202.
[27] Murray J. Harris, Jesus As God: The New Testament use of Theos in Reference to Jesus (Grands Rapid: Baker -Book House, 1992. Reprint, Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2008), 21-50.
[28] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity: A Revised And Amplified Edition, With A New Introduction, Of The Three Books Broadcast Talks, Christian Behavior and Beyond Personality (Broadway, NY: An Imprint of Harper Collins Publisher, 1980), 52.
[29] James Petigru Boyce, Abstract of Systematic Theology (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1887), 91.
[30] Seung-Goo Lee, “The Relationship between the Ontological Trinity and the Economic Trinity,” Journal of Reformed Theology 3, no. 1 (2009): 92.
[31] Edmund Hill with Saint Augustine, The Trinity (De Trinitate), Ed. by John E. Rotelle. 2nd Ed. Vol. I/5. The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2017), 70.
[32] Scott R. Swain, “B. B. Warfield and the Biblical Doctrine of the Trinity,” Themelios 43, no. 1 (April 1, 2018): 11.
[33] Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2020), 273-283.
[34] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology. 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 309-310.
[35] Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2020), 273-283.
[36] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology. 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 309-310.
[37] Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2020), 283.
[38] Michael F. Bird, and Robert E Shillaker, “Subordination in the Trinity and Gender Roles: A Response to Recent Discussion.” Trinity Journal 29, no. 2 (Fall 2008): 282, https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLA0001691302&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
[39] Torey J. S. Teer, “Classical Versus Contemporary: Engaging Trinitarian and Pneumatological Models for Ongoing Theological Construction,” The Westminster Theological Journal 83, no. 2 (Fall 2021): 355, https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLA0001691302&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
[40] James Porter Moreland, and William Lane Craig, Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview, 2nd ed. (Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, an imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2017), 578.
[41] David K. Bernard, “The Development of Modalism in Early Church History,” Journal of Early Christian History 9, no. 3 (2019): 70, doi:10.1080/2222582x.2019.1660905.
[42] James Porter Moreland, and William Lane Craig, Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview, 2nd ed. (Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, an imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2017), 578.
[43] Coleman M. Ford, “The Pro-Nicene Hymns of Ambrose: A Pastoral Response to Arianism,” Southwestern Journal of Theology 66, no. 1 (Fall 2023): 52, https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLAiACO231218000231&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
[44] Ibid, 51.
[45] Phillip Cary, The Nicene Creed: An Introduction (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2023), 14-15.
[46] Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2020), 290-291.