HISTORY
OF THE DOCTRINE CONCERNING THE NATURE OF GOD
IN THE EARLY CENTURIES OF CHRISTIANITY
Part 14
ANTI-TRINITARIANS IN THE LATER CHRISTIAN CENTURIES
MICHAEL SERVETUS (1511-1553), A SCHOLAR, PHYSICIAN, AND SCIENTIST OF NOTE;
DEEPLY RELIGIOUS AND DEVOTED TO CHRIST, WISHING TO RESTORE WHAT HE CALLED TRUE
CHRISTIANITY, WOULD NOT CONFORM TO THE ACCEPTED DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. HE
ALSO DENOUNCED PREDESTINATION AND INFANT BAPTISM. HE WAS ARRESTED, PRESUMABLY
AT CALVIN'S INSISTENCE. SERVETUS WAS CONDEMNED ON THE CHARGE THAT HE DENIED
THE TRINITY AND REJECTED INFANT BAPTISM, OFFENSES PUNISHABLE BY DEATH UNDER
THE JUSTINIAN CODE. [20] (Luther and Calvin consented to his death). IN
SPITE OF CALVIN'S PLEA FOR A MORE MERCIFUL FORM OF EXECUTION, SERVETUS WAS
BURNED AT THE STAKE. HENCEFORTH, CALVIN'S POSITION IN GENEVA WAS NOT TO BE
SERIOUSLY CONTESTED. [20] (The Reformed Church later put up a monument,
repenting).
(Trinitarians are usually quite silent about such things -- the reformers,
being classed as heretics for dissenting from the Roman Catholic Church and
being hunted down and murdered -- should have been sympathetic to those, who
in all good conscience, differ from them).
SOME WHO FOUND REFUGE AT GENEVA SYMPATHIZED WITH SERVETUS, AND TO THE
DISTRESS OF CALVIN, TENDED TOWARD ANTI-TRINITARIANISM. SIMILAR TRENDS
DISTURBED THE REFORMED CHURCHES IN BERN AND ZURICH. ANTI-TRINITARIANISM HAD A
MARKED DEVELOPMENT IN POLAND, called SOCINIANISM from LELIO SOZINI who was
COURTLY IN MANNER, MODEST, DEEPLY RELIGIOUS, OF IRREPROACHABLE MORALS. HIS
SPIRITUAL PILGRIMAGE NEVER LED HIM TO A FORMAL BREAK WITH THE SWISS AND GENEVA
REFORMERS. HOWEVER, HE DEPLORED THE BURNING OF SERVETUS.
OTHERS OF THE REFORMATION WERE INCLINED TO BE ANTI-TRINITARIANS. SOME OF
THE ITALIAN ANABAPTISTS (those who rebaptized after conversion people who were
sprinkled while infants) BEGAN TO DEVELOP ANTI-TRINITARIAN CONVICTIONS and
MULTIPLIED having CONGREGATIONS AND PASTORS, and holding A COUNCIL IN VENICE
IN 1550.
ANOTHER CENTER OF ANTI-TRINITARIAN VIEWS WAS IN THE GRISONS, A REPUBLIC
BETWEEN ITALY AND SWITZERLAND. IN 1553 THE SYNOD OF THE GRISONS ATTEMPTED TO
IMPOSE A TRINITARIAN FAITH; BY 1575 ANTI-TRINITARIAN MINISTERS HAD BEEN
LARGELY ROOTED OUT.
IN TRANSYLVANIA, AN ANTI-TRINITARIAN FORM OF PROTESTANTISM WAS MAKING
RAPID PROGRESS. IN POLAND (in the end of the 15th c.) THE REFORMED CHURCHES
were ANTI-TRINITARIANS, to which SOCINUS GAVE LEADERSHIP (called Socinians).
THE SOCINIANS HAD OPPORTUNITY IN RUSSIA AND THE UKRAINE. MANY others had
SIMILAR VIEWS, INCLUDING THE REMONSTRANTS AND SOME OF THE MENNONITES IN
HOLLAND. IN 1659 THE SOCINIANS WERE BANISHED FROM POLAND BY DECREE OF THE
DIET. The anti-Trinitarian's CHIEF GAINS ON THE CONTINENT WERE AMONG THE
REFORMED; IN ENGLAND IT WAS from THE PRESBYTERIANS; IN THE U.S.A. FROM THE
PURITANS.
IN THE 1780'S THE OLDEST CONGREGATION IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, IN NEW
ENGLAND, OFFICIALLY ABANDONED BELIEF IN THE TRINITY. [20] (Some of these
anti-Trinitarians held Modalistic Monarchian views, some Dynamic Monarchian
views, and others the modern Unitarian views of a completely human Christ.)
For example, IN 1815 E. CHANNING BECAME AN EXPONENT OF ARIAN VIEWS AND HE
ACCEPTED THE NAME UNITARIAN FOR THE MOVEMENT. (The term "UNITARIAN" had been
APPLIED earlier to THE SZKLERS IN TRANSYLVANIA and to others, even those
believing in the Deity of Christ). [20] The Campellites or Disciples of
Christ of the 1800's were an undenominational fellowship of devout Christians
who were anti-Trinitarian but who believed in the Deity of Jesus.
CONGREGATIONALISTS WERE DEEPLY STIRRED BY THE GREAT AWAKENING WHICH BEGAN
IN 1790 AND SOME OF THE CLERGY AS WELL AS THE LAITY WERE AFFECTED BY
ARMENIANISM AND SOCINIANISM. SOME OF THE GENERAL BAPTIST MOVED IN THAT
DIRECTION, AS DID A NEW ANGLICAN CLERGYmen. [20]
(Nor was the Oneness doctrine confined to the late middle ages; IN 1115
A.D., ABELARD CANON OF NOTRE DAME WAS CHARGED WITH SABELLIANISM. [5] HE WAS
POSSESSED OF A RAPIER-LIKE INTELLECT, was CHARMING, KEEN, A STIMULATING
TEACHER; A SINCERE CHRISTIAN. HE WENT TO VARIOUS CENTERS, IN SOME PLACES,
WORSTING HIS TEACHERS, AND EVENTUALLY BECAME THE MOST POPULAR OF THE LECTURERS
IN PARIS. ABELARD ANTAGONIZED MANY. HIS ENEMIES HAD HIM HAILED BEFORE THE
COUNCIL AT SOISSONS IN 1211 FOR HERESY. IN 1140 he WAS CONDEMNED BY A COUNCIL
AT SENS because HIS VIEWS ON THE TRINITY and other subjects were REGARDED AS
SUBVERSIVE TO THE FAITH. [20]
ABOUT THE TIME OF WORLD WAR 1, A DOCTRINAL CONTROVERSY SWEPT THROUGH THE
HEARTLAND OF THE UNITED STATES. THE "NEW ISSUE", ONENESS, CONTENDED THAT TRUE
BAPTISM MUST BE "IN THE NAME OF JESUS" ONLY, RATHER THAN EMPLOYING THE
TRADITIONAL FORMULA. FURTHERMORE, THE PROPONENTS OF THIS VIEW DENIED THAT
THERE ARE THREE PERSONS IN THE GODHEAD. FOR A TIME, THIS TEACHING THREATENED
TO TOPPLE THE ASSEMBLIES OF GOD, BECAUSE MANY OF ITS LEADERS -- MEN LIKE H.G.
RODGERS, EUDORUS N. BELL, HOWARD A. GOSS, AND DANIEL C. O. OPPERMAN --
SUBMITTED THEMSELVES FOR REBAPTISM IN "JESUS' NAME." THE MINISTERIAL ROLL OF
THE ASSEMBLIES OF GOD WAS DECREASED BY MORE THAN 150. ITS GENERAL COUNCIL IN
ST. LOUIS (1916) PREPARED A "STATEMENT OF FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS." THE RIGHT TO
DRAFT SUCH A STATEMENT WAS CHALLENGED BY THE "ONENESS" CONTINGENT ON THE
GROUNDS THAT THE FORMATIVE SCRIPTURES <ALONE> WERE TO BE THE "ALL-SUFFICIENT
RULE FOR FAITH AND PRACTICE," AND HERE WAS A MAN MADE CREED BEING PROPOSED.
THEY ARGUED THAT THIS WAS A DEPARTURE FROM THE LIBERTY WHICH HAD CHARACTERIZED
EARLIER PENTECOSTALISM. THE ASSEMBLIES OF GOD WITHSTOOD THE CHALLENGE AND
ARTICULATED A POSITION THAT WAS STAUNCHLY TRINITARIAN. Men LIKE J. ROSWELL
FLOWER AND JOHN W. WELCH REMAINED STAUNCHLY TRINITARIAN, CRITICIZING THE NEW
REVELATION ON THE GROUND THAT IT WAS TOO DEPENDANT UPON THE SUBJECTIVE
FEELINGS OF THE INDIVIDUAL AND NOT ENOUGH ON <TRADITIONAL HISTORICO-
THEOLOGICAL> PRINCIPLES. 156 MINISTERS WITHDREW FROM THE ASSEMBLIES OF GOD,
AND A NEW PENTECOSTAL BODY WAS ORGANIZED -- THE PENTECOSTAL ASSEMBLIES OF THE
WORLD. [9]
THE UNITED PENTECOSTAL CHURCH IS THE LARGEST "ONENESS" GROUP OF
PENTECOSTALS. IN 1965 IT NUMBERED 200,000 (Spiritfilled, adult) MEMBERS. [9]
(Many times a division, or split, develops when one preaches the truths of
God's Word that are in opposition to that of the established church teachings.
In such cases, those who reject the truth of the Bible, substituting instead
the traditions of men, would be held accountable for the division in the
church -- not those who are faithful and bold enough to reinstate the truths
of Scripture.) For example, it was the Jews that refused the truth that Jesus
was the Messiah, that were to blame for the split in the synagogues that Paul
preached in, not Paul -- they should have accepted it! The same holds true,
to a lesser degree, between the reformers and the Roman Catholic Church. The
Assembly of God ministers who were honest and open enough to search the
Scriptures to see if the Oneness is true, and found it to be so, should not be
castigated by those who are not open enough to search out these things.
(After) PENTECOST, THE CHRISTIANS CONTINUED TO BELIEVE IN ONE GOD, BUT
THEY ALSO BELIEVED THAT IN JESUS THEY HAD SEEN GOD, THAT JESUS WAS GOD
HIMSELF BECOME FLESH. THEY LIKEWISE WERE CONVINCED THAT THE POWER WHICH THEY
FOUND AT WORK WITHIN THEM WAS ALSO GOD. CHRISTIANS NURTURED ON THE GREAT
CENTRAL AFFIRMATION OF JUDAISM, "HEAR, O ISRAEL, THE LORD THY GOD, THE LORD IS
ONE," WERE CONSTRAINED TO THINK OF GOD AS FATHER, SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT, THREE
IN ONE.
<A PROBLEM WHICH LONG VEXED THE CHURCH, AND WHICH EVEN NOW HAS NOT BEEN
SOLVED> TO THE SATISFACTION OF ALL WHO BEAR THE CHRISTIAN NAME, IS THAT OF THE
<TRINITY>. <THE FIRST CHRISTIANS WERE SURE THAT GOD IS ONE>. MOST OF THEM
WERE ALSO CONVINCED THAT IN SOME UNIQUE WAY, IN CHRIST WAS BOTH MAN AND GOD
AND THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT WAS FROM GOD AND IS GOD. [20].
Continue to part 15
Part 1, Part 2,
Part 3, Part 4,
Part 5, Part 6,
Part 7, Part 8,
Part 9 Part 10,
Part 11, Part 12,
Part 13, Part 14,
Part 15, Part 16,
Part 17 |
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