Tertullian is the primary author of Tertullian Trinity. He was born around 0160 AD, in Carthage, to pagan parents. His father was a centurion in the proconsular army. He acquired an extensive and varied culture, studying philosophy, literature, rhetoric, medicine, and law. He had a disordered youth, as he says himself. Tertullian practiced law and oratory for some time after his studies.
The origin of the Trinity dates back to Tertullian, who founded its roots. He also affirms that the Trinity expresses the third part of a whole, so its correspondent for the Godhead would represent only one of the three Persons of the Godhead. The dogma of the Tertullian Trinity includes not only the teaching about the unity of being and the equality of the three hypostases but also the teaching about the characteristics of each person.
Converted around 0195 AD, under the strong impression of the heroism of the Christian martyrs, Tertullian was the founding discoverer of the True Trinity. Tertullian immediately became a fighter and a first-hand defender of the adopted religion. It is from this time that most of his apologies date.
But the divine revelation of the Old and New Testaments, whose purpose was not to expound all the mysteries of the Godhead, but all the teachings necessary for man’s salvation, tells us of the original acts of the Triune Persons only so much as: The Son was born of the Father and that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father.
Who is Tertullian?
According to Jerome’s account, Tertullian was a married man and was ordained a priest, although some modern critics question his priesthood without being right. Once in Christianity, Tertullian, having, like few others, absorbed the saving teaching, did himself a duty of conscience and honor by defending his new religion against all opponents, pagans, Jews, and heretics and fighting with a vigor, fanaticism, and consistency uncommon to all that Christianity comprises.
According to apocryphal sources and philosophers’ accounts, Tertullian was a Christian philosopher-writer and a patriotic man. Thanks to his privileged position, the great apologist built an outstanding education. This was evident in his vast knowledge of philosophy, medicine, and law. He discovered Christianity in the context of pagan persecution. The unspeakable strength with which martyrs were penetrating to the point of death, unquestioningly accepting torment as divine redemption, shakes Tertullian, who irreversibly decides to become a Christian.
Considered one of the Church’s foremost apologists of the early ages, Tertullian, in 0196 AD, offered many insights. Into the understanding of natural revelation. The great Latin-speaking Christian confessor showed particular concern among his many apologetic arguments. For the presence, work, and care of the Creator for His creation.
Biography of Tertullian
| Full name: | Quintus Septimus Florens Tertullianus |
| Date of birth: | December 13, 0155 AD |
| Year of death: | 0220 AD |
| The thread of life: | 65 years |
| Place of birth: | Carthage, Turkey (The Nowadays Tunisia) |
| Father's name: | Quintus |
| Mother's name: | Quintus |
| Spouse: | Unknown Name (we only know that she was a Christian) |
| Children: | 1 |
| Physical appearance: | tall, sturdy and solid. With blue eyes and brown hair. |
| Nationality: | Turkish |
| Summary of life: | In the beginning it was pagan. Along the way he married a Christian woman and after a rebellion and the witness of the martyrs, he converted to the faith. And in 0196 AD he began writing books of Christian dogma. |
| Life lessons: | Don't delay coming to God, because you're wasting time you can use for the glory of Christ. |
| Life accomplishments: | Tertullian is declared one of the greatest founding fathers of Christianity. And he is considered to be a living flame of faith. |
| Death cause: | MARTYRDOM. Tertullian was also one of the martyrs of the faith, leaving valuable writings as legacy. |
Places from the times of Tertullian
- Ancient Turkey- Is Ancient Turkey the nowadays Tunisia?
- Carthage- Where is the exact location of Carthage?
- Phoenician Area- Is Phoenician Area a safe location?
What is Tertullian known for?
He was an enthusiastic defender of the truth, which he affirmed primarily in the presence and work of God in the world. To demonstrate and support this existential reality, the handiest was his rational arguments. Using the natural law argument, he attempts to justify a continuity and a confident presence of paganism’s good and noble elements.
Tertullian is known for his famous writings and his move from paganism to Christianity. Seeing his brethren defenseless, the now Christian rhetoric wrote three famous apologies: To the Martyrs, To the Nations, and The Apology. In these writings, he addresses the governors of the provinces in anger at the injustice they commit.
Tertullian has even ordained a priest, serving for a time for the brothers in Carthage. Although he remained undeniably a great apologist for the Church and one of the most prolific writers in Latin, Tertullian was a man of excess. Thus, although he criticized Gnosticism, he joined the Montanist sect.
Was Tertullian a Christian?
Throughout church history, Tertullian has been condemned for three main reasons: his Christianity, his association with the Montanist movement, and his alleged anti-intellectualism. However, most scholars agree that the Montanists were doctrinally orthodox, so the rejection of Tertullian’s contribution to theology because of his association with them is unfounded.
At first, Tertullian was not a Christian, but in 0195 AD, he discovered Christ and became a faithful Christian. And then, in 0196, he begins to write full of Christian texts. A Turkish African, Tertullian knew Greek but wrote in Latin for Roman speakers. Tertullian sought to unite the church’s faith with Jesus Christ and God through divinity. Thus discovering the Tertullian Trinity.
The value of Tertullian’s apologies rests on their extraordinary power and persuasion. More often than not, they become telling through the natural consistency of ontological data.
Was Tertullian a church father?
Papandulos emphasizes the controversial character of Tertulia’s work, strongly supported by his practical skills. Legal thought and rhetorical art, together with sophism, says Papadopoulos, are Tertullian’s primary weapons. All his argumentation has a legal-sophistic character because God is thought of more as the lawgiver and salvation as obedience to God.
According to history, Tertullian is considered to be one of the church’s founders and a father of the church. Tertullian is regarded as the church father who, more than any other, summed up the anti-intellectualism of the early church. Tertullian wrote: For philosophy is the stuff of the world’s wisdom, the unthinking interpreter of nature and God’s dispensation. Indeed, heresies themselves are instigated by philosophy. Our instructions come from the porch of Solomon, who taught us that the Lord is to be sought in the simplicity of the heart. So much for all attempts to produce a Stoic, Platonic, and dialectical Christianity. We don’t want minute debates about what it means to have Christ Jesus, nor inquiries after receiving the Gospel.
Stylianos Papadopoulos also elaborates on several aspects of the specificity of his work. Thus, as a leading representative of the Latin language vein, Tertullian provided the Apus with “the linguistic tool, the Christian Latin language, the Latin theological terminology, which was not entirely lacking, as previously thought, but was not sufficient for the needs of the Church.
Key Verse related to Tertullian
“We worship unity in trinity, and trinity in unity; neither confounding the person nor dividing the substance. There is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost; but the Godhead of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one; the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal.”
Read also: Persecution of Christians in Rome. First martyrs of the Church of Rome
What did Tertullian teach about the Trinity?
Even before the birth of Tertullian, the Saviour had promised the coming of the Holy Spirit before His passion, saying: It is expedient that I go, for if I do not go, the Comforter will not come. And again: I will pray for the Father, and another Comforter will send to you: The Spirit of truth, Who from the Father goeth forth.
Tertullian heard about the words of the Savior. And then began to teach people that the Trinity means three distinct persons in one. Which is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit came down in the form of tongues of fire to show that He is in connection with the living Word. Or because the Apostles were to teach the multitudes and bring them to Christ. And through the intercession of the Word. Then He came down in the form of fire to show, on the one hand, that God is a consuming fire. And on the other, for the need of cleansing, He divided Himself into tongues for graces.
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit reveals to men the third Person of the Holy Tertullian Trinity to show that the salvation of men from sin is the work of the Holy Tertullian Trinity, that is, of the Father, through the decision and promise of the Redemption, of the Son.
Where did the Trinity come from?
The teaching about the Holy Tertullian Trinity is the foundation of the Christian faith. This mystery of the divine Being is beyond human reason but is revealed to men through God’s care. It is received by faith. From heaven, man can enjoy the infinite love that links the three divine Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Trinity dates back to Tertullian, from when Jesus was on Earth. From Jesus came the Trinity. He prophesied in 0033 AD that he would send the Holy Spirit to Earth. The Holy Spirit came ten days after the ascension and not immediately after the ascension to make the Disciples wait for Him even more eagerly. Tradition says that every day one of the angelic bands came to worship the Body of Christ. So the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity.
After the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the first Christian community was established, and the visible Church came into being. The Church in which Jesus Christ is present through the Holy Spirit brings the Holy Tertullian Trinity to earth so people can enter communion with it.
When did the concept of the Trinity originate?
God is one according to His being. God’s revelation teaches us that according to his being, God is in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three persons or divine hypostases make up the Holy Trinity, teaching challenging for the human mind to understand and made known to us by divine revelation.
The concept of the Trinity originated in 0196 AD when Tertullian succeeded in giving a name to what Jesus had defined. The teaching about the Holy Trinity was not formulated from the beginning of Christianity. While in the Old Testament, we find only a few symbols of the Holy Trinity, in the New Testament, the Three Persons of the Holy Tertullian Trinity are revealed right from Christ’s baptism in the Jordan River.
Jesus often confessed to the Father and promised the Apostles that He would send the Holy Spirit to continue His work. Therefore, the earliest Christian confessions of faith focused on the teaching of a divine Being who is hypostasized in three Persons. Over time, heresies related to this teaching arose. Therefore, the need was felt for a dogma, a Symbol of Faith, which succinctly formulated the belief in the three Persons of the Holy Trinity.
Does the Bible teach the Trinity?
For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the things of man, except the spirit of man, which is in him? In the same way, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
According to Christianity, the Bible teaches the Trinity in the very words of Jesus in the New Testament Gospels. In the New Testament, on the occasion of the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ, all three persons of the Holy Trinity have been revealed: the Father showing the Son to the world and blessing Him, the Son receiving baptism from John, and the Holy Spirit descending upon the Son in the form of a dove. Sending the Holy Apostles to preach, the Saviour tells them: Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Even in the Old Testament, God the Father addresses the other persons of the Holy Trinity: Let us make man in Our image and likeness. In Isaiah’s vision, the angels cried out to one another and said: Holy Lord Sabaoth, complete is all the earth of His glory.
Map Legend
- Black star- the location from where the Trinity current started
- White stars- the places where the dogma of the Trinity spread
3 Beliefs that Trinity supports
No teaching is more controversial than the fundamental dogma of Christianity, which has been much attacked and chastised in the first millennium of Christianity. It reflects, as accessible as possible to the human mind, the reality of the Godhead who created the world and man.
The dogma initiated by Tertullian of the Trinity supports three main points of view:
- There is only one God, and that is Yahweh
- There are three distinct persons in the Holy Trinity
- All three entities in the Trinity have their origin in God
An essential thing to know is that the Mystery of the Holy Tertullian Trinity was revealed only to the scribes who had learned all they needed to know about the Kingdom of God. They continually bring old things and new things from their hearts. The three great ideas of the Trinity are shortly described in the following lines.
1. There is only one God, and that is Yahweh
It has been proven that God exists and that His being is incomprehensible. That there is one God and not many Gods is undeniable to those who believe in divine Scripture.
God Himself affirms that He is the only real God. God Yahweh. Isaiah says that Yahweh spoke and said: I am God from the beginning and I after these and besides Me, there is no God, before Me, there was no God, and after Me, there will be no God, and besides Me, there is no God.
The Divine God is perfect and lacks nothing in goodness, wisdom, and power; He is without beginning, without end, ever-abiding, uncircumscribed, and, to put it in a word, perfect in all things.
2. There are three distinct persons in the Holy Trinity
The most crucial Trinitarian text is in the following verse: Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In the act of Christian initiation, baptism, the equality of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is invoked. It is inconceivable that a supposed angelic being was mentioned in this baptismal formula along with the Father. This is even more evident when it is noted that both Father and Son and Holy Spirit share the same divine Name, not several.
Jesus says in Matthew 28:19 that there are three distinct Persons in the Holy Trinity:
- Father
- The Son
- the Holy Spirit
All three persons make up the Trinity, which is absolute faith’s power. Anyone who wishes to paint an accurate picture of God needs first to be filled with the Holy Spirit, who searches the deep things of the Father.
3. All three entities in the Trinity have their origin in God
Trinity is a simple unit because it is qualityless and uncompounded. But it is Tertullian Trinity in unity. God is sovereign overall. So He is in all and all.
All three entities originate from the beginningless One, the Alpha, and the Omega. In Yahweh. Elohim is a plural form that designates not two but three persons. The Spirit, who searches the depths of God, moved over the waters at the beginning of creation.
After His rapture to Heaven, John saw the Father on the throne, the Son as a Lamb on the throne, and the Holy Spirit as seven burning lamps. We must confess with godliness the Father as unborn and without beginning, the Son as begotten and together without beginning, and the Holy Spirit as proceeding from the Father, given through the Son and together eternal.
The Trinity: On the Nature and Mystery of the One God. I’d like you to see it on Amazon.
Primary Takeaways
- Tertullian is the originator of the Trinity, and he states that the true mystery of the Holy Trinity lies in the fact that God is Spirit. The Spirit is also his creative Word, and the Spirit is also his Spirit. All three are found in the glory of the Father.
- Opponents of the Holy Trinity challenge first the Divinity of Christ, then the personality of the Holy Spirit. For them, worshipping Christ is idolatry. This is why Tertullian was also martyred because he was declared to be an idol worshipper.
- Tertullian defines the Holy Spirit as a divine person. Who can be grieved and guides us on the path of repentance? And into all the truth of the Word of the Gospel, teaching us how to apply this word daily in our lives.
Conclusion
Tertullian remains a great apologist and missionary of the Church. He has a precise sense of the profound distinction between secular philosophy and the Christian faith. The science of faith is of a different order from material science. Compared to the latter, the science of faith is independent. The supreme criterion of Christian faith and life is the rule of faith.
Tertullian hates heresies and is declared the creator of Latin theology in the West. His profound faith, his vast culture. And his scientific and moral genius has developed a theology of the Tertullian Trinity of great depth, of overwhelming originality. And so to the incomparable spiritual horizon. This originality did not prevent Tertullian from agreeing with the broad lines of patristic theology in the East.
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Quizlet about Tertullian and his writings
Bibliography
- Augustine, S. (1991). the Trinity (Vol. 5). New City Press.
- Dunn, G. D. (2004). Tertullian. Routledge.
- Ferguson, E. (2009). Tertullian. The Expository Times, 120(7), 313-321.
- Osborn, E. (2003). Tertullian was the first theologian of the West. Cambridge University Press.
- Tanner, K. (2019). Trinity. The Wiley Blackwell companion to political theology, 361-375.
