Athanasius became the bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, in 328 A.D. at the age of 27, and held the position for 45 years though his tenure was periodically interrupted by 17 years of exile by four Roman Emperors. The Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D., judged Arius as a heretic for his teaching that Christ was only a created being. This belief, Arianism, is a main tenant of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Arius was opposed by Athanasius. He wrote, “We worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. There is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. The Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one…”
Some have claimed the doctrine of the Trinity began at the Council of Nicaea but consider. About 115 A.D., Ignatius, on his way to martyrdom in Rome, refers to Jesus Christ as theos (Greek for God) about fourteen times. About 165 A.D., Justin Martyr explicitly describes the Son as theos: “If you had understood what has been written by the prophets, you would not have denied that He was God, Son of the only, unbegotten, unutterable God.” About 170 A.D., Melito of Sardis, wrote; “He rose from the dead as God, being by nature God and man. . . This is Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” About 180 A.D., Theophilus of Antioch, used the term triad (Greek trias) to refer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. About 212/213 A. D., Tertullian, was the first writer to use the term Trinity (Latin trinitas).
When the battle between Liberalism and Fundamentalism took place in the first half of the 1900’s, Kirsop Lake, a liberal NT professor at the University of Chicago, wrote in 1926. “It is a mistake often made by educated persons who happened to have but little knowledge of historical theology, to suppose that Fundamentalism is a new and strange form of thought. It is nothing of the kind; it is the partial and uneducated survival of a theology which was once universally held by all Christians.” As Fundamentalists we hold to the deity of Christ as “once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).
When the battle between Liberalism and Fundamentalism took place in the first half of the 1900’s, Kirsop Lake, a liberal NT professor at the University of Chicago, wrote in 1926. “It is a mistake often made by educated persons who happened to have but little knowledge of historical theology, to suppose that Fundamentalism is a new and strange form of thought. It is nothing of the kind; it is the partial and uneducated survival of a theology which was once universally held by all Christians.” As Fundamentalists we hold to the deity of Christ as “once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).