Trinity is the only Gnostic concept to have ever remained and taken root in mainstream Christian thinking. The word does not exist in the accepted books of the current New Testament. It is something alluded to in concept by the reiteration of the 2nd and 3rd century AD Catholic formula: “Father, Son and Holy Ghost.” This is found, amazingly, in the end of Matthew where Jesus gives them his final instruction before ascending into heaven, and, lo and behold, the latter day Catholic benediction follows (Matthew 28): “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”

     However, in the book of Acts of the Apostles, penned by Luke who was an actual eyewitness to the early events of the Apostolic Age, the Apostles only baptized in the name of Jesus. (Acts 2:38) “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” This is true also of Paul, who in his epistles makes no references to the concept of trinity.  These are just a couple of examples of where actual application in the apostolic age shows that a supposed earlier (from their point of view) instruction (such as in Matthew 28) did not occur.

   The introductions and benedictions of the letters of Ignatius (circa 107 AD) and Polycarp (circa 130 AD) maintain the same formula as in all apostolic New Testament letters except inverting the precedence, now with Jesus Christ coming first instead of God the Father. This noteworthy change helps textual and Biblical students to date certain New Testament era writings, plus New Testament apocryphal writings. There is still no such mention of the “Holy Ghost” in any of the benedictions and salutations. Jews never regarded God’s own spirit as a separate entity. Just when that little ditty was added to Matthew no one knows, but it had to be toward the latter part of the 2nd century, if not later.

       As the church became an almost wholly Gentile institution there were clear problems encountered between the Jewish origin of the religion and the Greek Gnostic rationalizing that was entering the church. Many Greeks could not believe that corrupt flesh could be one with the Spirit of God, and therefore they rationalized a whole slough of ideas to make the Messiah conform to their Greek background and prejudices. Docetism was born to show Jesus was not born. Then there was Valentinus who even saw fit by esoteric means to describe Jesus’ pure digestive system. Fragment E of the Epistle to Agathapous reads: “He was continent, enduring all things. Jesus digested divinity; he ate and drank in a special way, without excreting his solids. He had such a great capacity for continence that the nourishment within him was not corrupted, for he did not experience corruption.”

   Already by the time of Cerinthus (circa late 1st century) there was an ongoing attempt to rationalize the divinity of Jesus, especially in light of the firm scriptural stance on “One God.” Coupled with Greek Stoic and Gnostic contempt for the flesh, several peculiar divisions between God and Jesus were proposed. 

   One was from the Naassene Gnostics who thrived during the time of Trajan and Hadrian. They clearly possessed the Gospel of John, which in its early days was first used exclusively by Gnostics because it was so Gnostic, often engaging, oratorical, and mystically Greek.  Hippolytus describes their unusual views of a Triethism— the earliest term discovered referring to a Trinity.

CHAP. VII.--THE SYSTEM OF THE PERATAE; THEIR TRITHEISM; EXPLANATION OF THE INCARNATION.

     There is also unquestionably a certain other (head of the hydra, namely, the heresy) of the Peratae, whose blasphemy against Christ has for many years escaped notice. And the present is a fitting opportunity for bringing to light the secret mysteries of such (heretics). These allege that the world is one, triply divided. And of the triple division with them, one portion is a certain single originating principle, just as it were a huge fountain, which can be divided mentally into infinite segments. Now the first segment, and that which, according to them, is (a segment) in preference (to others), is a triad, and it is called a Perfect Good, a Paternal Magnitude. And the second portion of the triad of these is, as it were, a certain infinite crowd of potentialities that are generated from themselves, (while) the third is formal. And the first, which is good, is unbegotten, and the second is a self-producing good, and the third is created; and hence it is that they expressly declare that there are three Gods, three Logoi, three Minds, three Men. For to each portion of the world, after the division has been made, they assign both Gods, and Logoi, and Minds, and Men, and the rest; but that from unorigination and the first segment of the world, when afterwards the world had attained unto its completion, there came down from above, for causes that we shall afterwards declare, in the time of:

       Herod—  a certain man called Christ, with a threefold nature, and a threefold body, and a threefold power, (and) having in himself all (species of) concretions and potentialities (derivable) from the three divisions of the world; and that this, says (the Peratic), is what is spoken: “It pleased him that in him should dwell all fulness bodily,” and in Him the entire Divinity resides of the triad as thus divided. For, he says, that from the two superjacent worlds— namely, from that (portion of the triad) which is unbegotten, and from that which is self-producing— there have been conveyed down into this world in which we are, seeds of all sorts of potentialities.

       What, however, the mode of the descent is, we shall afterwards declare.

       (The Peratic) then says that Christ descended from above from unorigination, that by His descent all things triply divided might be saved. For some things, he says, being borne down from above, will ascend through Him, whereas whatever (beings) form plots against those which are carried down from above are cast off, and being placed in a state of punishment, are renounced. This, he says, is what is spoken: “For the Son of man came not into the world to destroy the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” The world, he says, he denominates those two parts that are situated above, viz., both the unbegotten (portion of the triad), and the self-produced one. And when Scripture, he says, uses the words, “that we may not be condemned with the world,” it alludes to the third portion of (the triad, that is) the formal world. For the third portion, which he styles the world (in which we are), must perish; but the two (remaining portions), which are situated above, must be rescued from corruption.

     It is clear from the quotations that the Naasene Gnostics were attempting to philosophically interpret the Gospel of John and possibly Ephesians or Colossians. Because the gospel was so Gnostic, Hippolytus had to argue on behalf of its canonization at Rome since there was objection to its Gnostic overtones, and the rumors still circulating that the gospel was written by the Presbyter John and not by any apostle.  This triad mentality is seen in the 1st epistle of John, which today is more or less agreed to have been the presbyter’s commentary on the gospel. In 1 John 5, he writes: 5: “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? 6: This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. 7: For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Logos, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. 8: And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. 9: If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. 10: He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.”

     It is not always certain in John’s writings whether he actually does regard Jesus as the Logos or as the Son only, or as an incarnation of the Logos and then in the flesh this makes him the son of God. In no other books but those attributed to John is a foundation so clearly laid for the concept of a “trinity” yet a “unity,” a concept which, however, cannot be found in the actual apostolic books.

     It is also with Gnosticism, unfortunately, that many in the church saw the need to pen books in the name of apostles in order to give authority to their denouncement of Gnostic methodology and the tenets this methodology of “salvation by esoteric gnosis” gleaned from Scripture. Since these were penned at a late date, they contain a far less Jewish and Scriptural outlook on the Messiah, as the works of John prove. They contain the beginning of referring to the Spirit in a sense of an individual entity rather than as God’s own spirit. The Gnostic concept of 3 as a division within a totality seemed to require it. Certain amendments can be seen to have been made to books as well, as in the case of Matthew 28 mentioned above.

     On the whole, most scholars agree today that the following books are penned in response to Gnosticism: Ephesians, 2 Thessalonions, 2 Peter, Gospel of John, 1, 2 & 3 of John, Book of Revelation, plus elements within the Pastoral letters of Timothy and Titus, all of which are not regarded as genuinely apostolic anymore— and except for Ephesians and 2 Thessalonians all were at one point disputed as being inauthentic even by the ancients. All of the works of John are certain, since even the ancients maintained that John wrote these in response to Cerinthus’ Gnosticism at Ephesus.

   A factor that helped Gnosticism gain an ear was that the Parousia had not yet happened as all had suspected it would have. This led many to believe in the excessive “spiritualizing” of the Gnostic leaders like Cerinthus, Basilides, Valentinus and Marcion, to deny the Parousia and resurrection and to propose a much more metaphysical meaning to it all. The books above are noteworthy for stressing resurrection, that the time is at hand, and also warning that such false teachers as the Gnostics will spring up just before the Parousia is the happen, thus thwarting Christians from defecting into Gnosticism.

     Although Gnosticism was clearly the object of the attacks, the mixing of the solid doctrinal attacks with Gnostic concepts against Gnosticism helped create the Trinity. It was an inadvertent “fight fire with fire” mentality. Cerinthus had proposed something akin to a Quartinity by claiming there was the Supreme Power the Logos (a very Greek concept by Heraclitus and Protagorus, first begun circa 6th century BC), then the Creator God, the spirit of Christ and then Jesus. John’s prologue in the Gospel is noteworthy for combining the Supreme Power Logos of Heraclitus and Protagorus together with God. It was, however, considered to have been done rather too subtly, and the Presbyter Gaius in the late 2nd century even claimed that John’s Gospel was written by Cerinthus himself. The prologue itself does imply Cerinthus’ Quartinity. And as mentioned above, there is clear Naassene triad concepts in the 1st epistle along with the possibility that Jesus is the incarnation of the Logos. In John’s case, instead of separating the Logos from God, as Cerinthus did, he unites it as God’s wisdom and creative power, making Jesus the form of this attribute of God. It is average Christian innocence, their ignorance of actual Greek philosophy, and to the greatest measure God’s pure and true spirit, that has kept them from recognizing the actual philosophy being proposed.  

     John the presbyter was really in the hotbed of Gnosticism, being at Ephesus where the Nicolaitans and Cerinthus were starting their philosophizing. Instead of simply denouncing it, he must have seen that many Greeks were drawn to it. He was so Hellenized himself that he sought to christianize Gnosticism’s wilder philosophies rather than simply to denounce them entirely.  An early reflection of Gnostic Logos being Christ’s spirit can be seen in the book of Ephesians, penned possibly 15 or 20 years prior to John’s books. This can be seen in Ephesians not by overt statements but by the clear christianizing (by unifying) of Gnostic principles of separate entities.  A clear differentiation is always made between God and Jesus Christ while at the same time trying to link them in a duel way. In Ephesians there is found the comment  “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.” The last comment is more than a slight nod to the Logos concept of Jesus as the express image of God’s creative self and power. This is more bluntly stated in John’s prologue in his gospel.

     All right, but is this heresy? I doubt it. It is Christian counter-philosophy to explain to Greeks the actual unity of God while at the same time trumping Cerinthian Gnosticism, and explaining why Jesus is God but that he is also Jesus. It may not be accurate, and should not be regarded as holy oracle, but it was explaining to Greeks the things of  Hebrew writings they never had and Hebrew prophecy they had no cultural way of understanding. This must be remembered at all times by Jews and modern Christians— Gentiles back then had little knowledge of Scripture or Hebrew culture. They would naturally try and rationalize what they were being told. That neither makes their rationalizations heresy or the counter explanations by the church holy writ. Church leaders were trying to put Judaism and Christianity into Greek thought.

     This, however, opens the door on the problem today: that Jews are told that Trinity is holy oracle when it is not. It was passing counter philosophy to stop the separation that Gnostics were proposing. The Gnostics themselves were grappling with trying to understand how Jesus can be God if there is but one God. The omnipresence and omnipotence of God was not understood.

     The excessive overkill to link God to Jesus as the Christ, while yet not being able to explain how they are still separate, eventually had the Spirit added to it. The concept of Trinity was eventually ingrained until it became an article of faith, though it is proclaimed to be a mystery how God can be one but there are three entities to him. Many examples are used, like an egg or an apple; but none of those preachers trying to rationalize it know they are close to Naassene rationalizations for a Triethism. It is incomprehensible because it is irrational and opposed to the word of God. God is one and unique.

     Colossians is also considered to be a deutero-Pauline letter, and it is also regarded as the source for the Epistle of Ephesians, since both are so much alike. Not only is the latter 1st century supersessionism dominant in these books, there is the expression of a “Godhead” presented after the warning against Gnosticism. Colossians 2:

8: Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9: For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. 10: And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: 11: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 12: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. 13: And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14: Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15: And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. 16: Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. 18: Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.
 

   There is a genuine smack of combating Naassene theory of a triad cosmic order where there are independent principalities and powers. There is also the refutation of Cerinthian Quartinity.  Christ triumphs over them all in that he is the unifying element. “In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” . . .But then the concept of a “Godhead” started to circulate— two in one and eventually three in one.

     It seems clear that if Gnosticism’s rationalizing had not come up, that Christianity would have developed its image of Christ based on Scripture and not on counter-rationalizing the concept of a triad. The outcome would have been that God came to his people in a body that he prepared from the womb, as Moses sang, as David prophesied, and as Isaiah and so many other prophets declared. This is something Jews could better understand. After all, the Song of Moses spoke of such a time, and did the book of Job, the oldest books of the Bible. The redeemer would come upon that earth and cause the resurrection. Job 19: 25 “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.”

     Moses makes it clear the Redeemer already lives in his time and that he would come upon the earth in the latter time. He is neither speaking of a gifted human teacher, nor of some essence of God being given form like Logos. He speaks of the LORD. 

     The sad result of not remaining firmly based in Scripture was to create a Trinity, 3 in one, working in tandem. There were many examples of this in Roman religion, such as the Capitoline Triad of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. Trinity is a less “Gnostic” Naassene Tritheism, one meant in all good Christian Greek philosophizing to destroy it and show that all things are represented by the Christian trinity that is united in Christ. However laudable and understandable it was back then, it clung to a church that outlived the Gnostics, outlived Greek philosophy, and outlived the concept of gods being represented in varied forms to express incarnations of their various attributes. It is simply time that the church realizes it must outlive some of its counter rationalizing and realize it must stop calling some of this holy word.

     The upshot of it all was that Jews could no longer recognize the fundamentals of their own religion anymore in a sect that claimed to be its climax. It had become a strange Greek mixture, heretics on one side proposing ludicrous philosophies, and the orthodox on the other side trying to counter some of the attacks by Christianizing Gnostic statements that with time later became orthodox doctrine. Just as the church “christianized” so many elements of pagan Roman religion, so did Gnosticism paganize elements of Christianity. It is a fair judgment from God on those who compromise.

   The living God is One. And he did, as Moses sang, raised his right hand to heaven and declared “I live forever” and “there is no other god but me.”

   How the spirit of God can touch a human, and how the prophets could speak by God’s own pure spirit, and yet how we know God is in his heaven, in his glory where even the angels cannot bear him, is a mystery long recognized in the Scriptures. God is not limited to a body. He is everywhere, and he communicates with the spirit he breathed in man. But Jesus did not have a measure of God’s spirit given to a man, as the prophets did. His spirit is God’s spirit. As God can be everywhere, opening the mouth of the prophets, stopping armies, delivering and bringing judgment, so could he say his spirit was in his Temple at the same time. To this spot we prayed, as in Jonah: “By thy temple.” It was the symbol of God amongst us, though he is everywhere and his spirit cannot dwell in a house. So we pray now to him by that tabernacle that shall never be destroyed, that God built for himself that he might dwell with us, and that through eternity to come we might have affinity with him, our creator and father; for surely no creature shall ever see God as he is. No creature can bear such glory of the living God. He is ONE. And by that temple, Jesus, you will know him. And though there he dwell, more vitally than in the temple of stone, he is everywhere. His spirit can never be limited. That is what the God of all the universe raised up the Hebrews to proclaim: salvation of an incomprehensible God. Not a temple that cannot speak and love; but a tabernacle that can, so that God showed all mankind his express nature.

The Promise, Faith and Passover was before the Law. If you wish to consider three things that are intimately tied together, consider these in that order. He gave the promise, his faithfulness has maintained it and brought pass over of our sins and brought us out of death. While we remain in the wilderness of our sojourn, we are given laws to live by, so that we might live in a decent society and have the time therefore to learn more of God and all the beautiful things he has done.