Where did substance language enter the Trinity debate?
Upvote:0
Where did substance language enter the Trinity debate ?
Since the belief in both God and his Son is a basic Christian tenet, the question naturally arises as to what exactly is meant by it:
- Is God Christ's father in the same sense in which He is also ours, namely as creator ?
- Or is He his father in the fullest sense of the word, namely as procreator ?
Since the difference between actual offspring, and metaphorical ones, is that the former literally share one's flesh and blood (or DNA, in modern parlance), a concept had to be sought to express the same idea in more abstract terms, as the divine is ultimately immaterial.
The Wikipedia page Sabellianism states that the Gnostics...
Sabellianism and Gnosticism are not (meaningfully) related to one another.
the generator and the generated have the same substance
They don't. In Gnosticism, the emanated is (ontologically) inferior to the emanator, the last (and therefore most inferior) emanation being the physical (and therefore intrinsically evil) world (this represents the fundamental Gnostic belief).
Were these people also Christians ?
Gnosticism was a highly syncretic, but ultimately independent, belief system, interacting with various other ancient religions, such as Platonism, Judaism, Christianity, or Zoroastrianism. At its roots, however, it was no more Christian than either pagan Platonism, or Judaism proper (which also interacted with one another, as evidenced by both the Septuagint Apocrypha, as well the writings of Philo, for instance).
Sabellius used the word h*m*ousi[os].
Technically true, but its meaning was diametrically opposed to Nicaea's usage of the same term. It is like I were to tell you that English and German are related languages, and that both use the term Gift, but I would conveniently omit to inform you that, in German, it means poison, not present, as it does English.
Is it possible that [Praxeas] was one of the Gnostics [?]
No. Unitarianism is not Gnosticism.
The closest thing, within Christianity itself, that I could (meaningfully) compare Gnosticism with, is Pseudo-Dionysius' system of angelic hierarchies.
Upvote:1
The term ὁμοούσιον (h*m*ousion) predates Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria (r. 247-265 A.D.), who wrote in response to a c. 262 A.D. letter to him by Pope St. Dionysius (259-268 A.D.):
I have not found this term (ὁμοούσιος τῷ Θεῷ) any where in Holy Scripture, yet my remarks which follow, and which they have not noticed, are not inconsistent with that belief
cf. Pohle The Divine Trinity: A Dogmatic Treatise pt. 1, ch. 2, §1, a. 2. "Its [Sabellianism's] Condemnation."
Tertullian [b. c. 160 A.D.] had already used the Latin equivalent of Homoousion, conceding to [his contemporary] Praxeas the Sabellian that the Father and the Son were unius substantiæ, of one substance, but adding duarum personarum, of two persons (Adv. Prax., xiii).
[…]
Origen [b. 185, d. c. 253-4], who is, however, inconsistent in his vocabulary, expressed the anti-Sabellian sense of Dionysius of Alexandria by calling the Son "Heteroousion".
—Bridge, J. (1910). Homoousion. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
More post
- 📝 What is the Little Office of Our Lady in connection to the Scapular Devotion?
- 📝 How do Old Earth Creationists use 2 Peter 3:8 to support the "day-age" theory?
- 📝 What is the argument supporting that there is a break between the 69th and 70th week in the book of Daniel?
- 📝 Does the Bible support slavery and (white) superiority in the context of American slavery?
- 📝 What was the Early Church's view on slavery?
- 📝 What does it mean to magnify or glorify the Lord?
- 📝 Peter's hypocrisy?
- 📝 Is there any concept of angel numbers in Christianity?
- 📝 According to traditional Catholicism, what is the spiritual solution for the divorcee who hasn't had their marriage annulled?
- 📝 What does it mean that "many parts which are plain have been taken away"?
- 📝 How is the view of guaranteed salvation for infants justified?
- 📝 Why not directly confess our sins to God?
- 📝 According to Catholicism and/ or Protestantism, how many times was Jesus of Nazareth, whether pre-incarnate or incarnate, begotten?
- 📝 Resources in Helping Choose an Orthodox Patron Saint
- 📝 Into whose name should Christians be baptised?
- 📝 Is there a dogmatic or theological (yet not dogmatic) justification for kneeling before a statue/icon of the Virgin Mary?
- 📝 Are there any complete tables that can accurately pinpoint the year of the flood?
- 📝 According to Protestantism, can the dead in Christ affect this world?
- 📝 Where to find the up to date catholic missals for each languages?
- 📝 What's the biblical basis for Dominionism?
- 📝 Is Mary Our Mother? Evangelicals please explain John 19:26–27
- 📝 Does any version of the Anglican church associate 'confirmation' with the Baptism of the Holy Ghost?
- 📝 What does Catholic Church teach about the interpretation of the metaphor of "salt of the earth?"
- 📝 Psalm 14 and psalm 53 are similar?
- 📝 Are we living with Angels in flesh?
- 📝 How much money does the Christian Church save because of religious tax exemption in the United States?
- 📝 To what extent should the Apostles' speech be considered infallible?
- 📝 Who were the non-gentiles implied in Matthew 6: 32?
- 📝 Why did Christ need to be the first person to be resurrected?
- 📝 Why do Catholics believe transubstantiated host may still affect the gluten sensitive?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Where did substance language enter the Trinity debate?
- 📝 Where did the idea of the Trinity come from?
- 📝 Where did the trinity concept come from?
- 📝 When did Arabic enter into usage as a liturgical language among Christians?
- 📝 Where did the idiom "asking Jesus into your heart" come from?
- 📝 Where did the notion that Adam and Eve ate an APPLE come from?
- 📝 Did Saint Patrick actually explain the Trinity using a shamrock?
- 📝 Where does the Catholic tradition that Mary did not have pain giving birth to Jesus come from?
- 📝 Why did the people believe that no one would know where the Christ came from?
- 📝 Where did the "humans become angels" tradition come from?
- 📝 What is the basis for King Melchizedek actually being Jesus? Where did this idea come from?
- 📝 Where did the Young Earth Creationist doctrine originate?
- 📝 Where did the belief that Saul fell from a horse come from?
- 📝 Where did the ecclesiastical offices go?
- 📝 Where did the religious symbol of the 'halo' come from?
- 📝 From where did Mary get the attribution of "Full of Grace"?
- 📝 Where did the concept of Christians attending a church building come from?
- 📝 Where did the dates at the bottom of the pages in the Book of Mormon come from?
- 📝 Where did the idea that Cherubs were baby Angels originate?
- 📝 Where did the artistic rendering of Jesus originate?
- 📝 When and where did the Catholic tradition of first communion at 7 years old start?
- 📝 Where did the account of Veronica originate?
- 📝 Where did the idea of the inerrancy of the King James Bible come from?
- 📝 Where did the hierarchical designations of priest, cardinal, bishop, and pope come from in the Catholic church?
- 📝 Where did the Petrine title of "First Among Equals" originate?
- 📝 Where did the translators of the New World translation study the Biblical languages?
- 📝 Where and/or when did the tradition that Methuselah died seven days before the Flood (for a period of mourning) originate?
- 📝 Where did Roman Catholicism connect modern heresies with the Reformation?
- 📝 Where did Augustine say that the same fire that tortures the damned purifies the elect?
- 📝 From where did the Pearl of Great Price come and how did it become recognized as Scripture in the LDS church?