God Blog
Chris Gomez
Eternal Life Found in 1 John
Eternal Life Found in 1 John
God Blog
Chris Gomez
The Historical Development of the Trinity

The Trinity, one of the foundational and essential doctrines of Christianity, yet the word is not even found in the Bible (Grudem, 2004). There are thousands of books, articles, lectures, and sermons on the topic of the Trinity. However, one of the most helpful studies one can endeavor is the historical development of the Trinity. Studying the historical development of an essential doctrine of the church will help Christians become more familiar with Biblical doctrine. Also, it will encourage and equip them to defend their faith; it will shape them more into the image of Christ, and help them become better ministers of the Gospel (“Grand Canyon University,” 2019).

The Historical Development of the Trinity
God Blog
Chris Gomez
What is Original Sin?
What is Original Sin?
God Blog
Chris Gomez
What is the Point of Church Community?
What is the Point of Church Community?
Jesus
Chris Gomez
Did Jesus Exist?
Did Jesus Exist?

Apostolic Fathers

The Muratorian Fragment

The Muratorian fragment is a remarkable find to the Christian faith. Most Christians look to Athanasius (367 CE) or the councils in North Africa and Carthage (390 CE) to see a completed list of the New Testament (Ferguson, 2013). The Muratorian fragment, dated around 180 CE, gives believers an ancient record of 22 of the 27 New Testament books; this is a fantastic discovery (Caius, 1886)! This discovery means that, within just 150 years of Jesus’ death and resurrection, the core writings of the New Testament were already being circulated, accepted, and deemed authoritative within the universal catholic Church. In just these New Testament books, doctrines of Jesus’ deity, His human nature, His death for sinners, His resurrection, and forgiveness for sins found in Him alone can easily be justified (1 Cor. 15:3; Acts 1:3; 2:24-36; 13:38-39; Gal. 2:15-16; John 1:1-3; 6:47; Phil. 2:6-8; Romans 10:9). Furthermore, this fragment also shows us what the Church did not deem authoritative, and it warns believers to stay away from specific letters and teachers (e.g., Marcion, Arsinous, Valentinus, and Miltiades).

In addition to the Muratorian fragment, Apostolic Fathers quote the New Testament as well. For example, Clement of Rome (95 C.E.), uses material from almost all of the New Testament with the exception of Philemon, James, 2 Peter, and 2 and 3 John. Ignatius from Rome (110 CE), quotes Matthew, Luke, Acts, Ephesians, Romans, 1 Corinthians, Colossians, and 1 Thessalonians. Then there is Polycarp who is Ignatius’s successor, who quotes at least 17 N.T. books!

Christians should feel confident that God through the influence of the Holy Spirit, allowed the early Church to discover all the books that He wanted to be in the completed Canon of Scripture. It is no accident that some letters were included and some were left out, it all happened through the sovereign hand of God. From this fragment, we can see that God was already working in the hearts and minds of His children and that soon, the Canon would be finalized and completed so that the whole world would have no doubt who Jesus truly claimed to be, the Son of God/Man.

References

Caius, P. of R. (1886). Fragments of Caius. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), S. D. F. Salmond (Trans.), Fathers of the third century: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Novatian, Appendix (Vol. 5). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.

Ferguson, E. (2013). Church history: From Christ to the pre-Reformation (2nd ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. 

Roberts, A., Donaldson, J., & Coxe, A. C. (Eds.). (1885). The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Vol. 1). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.

St. Clement of Rome and St. Ignatius of Antioch. (1946). The Epistles of St. Clement of Rome and St. Ignatius of Antioch. (J. Quasten & J. C. Plumpe, Eds., J. A. Kleist, Trans.) (1st ed.). New York; Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press.