Friday, April 6, 2007

1 Peter 1:1-2—Trinitarian writing

Sometimes anti-Trinitarians have raised the objection that the doctrine of the Trinity is never found in the Bible. If by that one means that the word "Trinity" does not appear, there will be no answering denial. But the doctrine of the Trinity is found, in my view, throughout both Old and New Testaments, providing more than enough building material for the rich Trinitarian theology that the godly have developed through the millennia.

While no formal announcement can be found, it is clear that the thinking of the apostles was so thoroughly Trinitarian that it fairly bubbled up in their wording, almost no matter what they wrote.
Πέτρος ἀπόστολος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐκλεκτοῖς παρεπιδήμοις διασπορᾶς Πόντου, Γαλατίας, Καππαδοκίας, Ἀσίας καὶ Βιθυνίας, 2 κατὰ πρόγνωσιν θεοῦ πατρὸς ἐν ἁγιασμῷ πνεύματος εἰς ὑπακοὴν καὶ ῥαντισμὸν αἵματος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη πληθυνθείη.
There it is in verse two: Father, Spirit, Son. Once one begins to notice this, he discovers it unconsciously all throughout the apostles' writings, and many times in one breath, just as here (cf. Ephesians 2:18—ὅτι δι᾽ αὐτοῦ [sc. through Christ] ἔχομεν τὴν προσαγωγὴν οἱ ἀμφότεροι ἐν ἑνὶ πνεύματι πρὸς τὸν πατέρα).

3 comments:

Turretinfan said...

Dear brother, why not turn to Matthew 28:19 and the use of onoma (clearly singular) there for the doctrine?

Is it only because you are working your way through 1 Peter, or do you view this passage as stronger Trinitarian support for some reason?

-Turretinfan

DJP said...

If my purpose were to prove the doctrine of the Trinity, that would have been one of many great places to go.

However, Matthew 28:19 would not have been an example of how "the thinking of the apostles was so thoroughly Trinitarian that it fairly bubbled up in their wording, almost no matter what they wrote."

Turretinfan said...

I see what you mean, and agree!