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Christian Dogma

What are the earliest Trinitarian formulas?

Q178 · The Holy Trinity

The Lord Christ clearly and frankly proclaimed the divinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as being evident from their works for our salvation.

Before His ascension to the heavens, He commanded His disciples to baptize believers in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matt. 19:28). He gave them a simple formula for baptism that makes no mention of the term “Hypostases,” although His implicit purpose was to grant believers the grace of the divine Hypostases through baptism. The person being baptized accepts the Fatherhood of God (the Father) through baptism, membership in the body of the Lord Christ, and the indwelling of Holy Spirit in his inward being.

One of the most important expressions concerning Trinitarian doctrine in the Apostolic Age is that used by St. Paul: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:14). The apostle Peter attests to the Holy Trinity, proclaiming divine grace, love, and communion, which the faithful accept in God who works in them, that they might become partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:3).

It is clear that the chief goal of the Church organization in the Apostolic Age was to testify through its worship that God sent His Word, Jesus Christ, who died and rose from the dead on the third day, ascended into the heavens, and will return in glory to raise us with Him so we can delight in His Father's presence. He also sent His Holy Spirit into His Church to prepare His heavenly kingdom and to make the Church ready for the eternal wedding. In other words, the faith of the Apostolic Church was a purely Trinitarian faith that imbued its preaching, its worship, and its behavior; but was not proclaimed in any theological formula in the modern sense.

Scripture