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Samuel Eddy (1768-1839) was at the height of his career Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the state of Rhode Island. He was also a prominent member of the First Baptist Church in Providence. Like others, he’d just assumed that the doctrine of the Trinity is both true and taught in the Bible. Yes, he’d heard talk of unitarians, but those aren’t Christians, right? So he never bothered to hear their side of the argument. He tells us that what finally caused him to investigate these matters were faulty arguments he encountered on the trinitarian side for the underived power and full deity of Christ.
Not having read any unitarian literature, he decided, like a good Protestant, that the answer to these debates must be in Scripture, so he went through the whole New Testament and wrote out every text that was relevant to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He tells us that the “result was a full conviction that the Father was the only true God, and that Christ was not the Father, that is, that being whom Christ asserts to be the only true God.”
In this episode you’ll hear a statement Eddy presented to the leadership committee of his church when they demanded an account of his theology, which later became a widely-read and often-reprinted tract called: Reasons Offered by Samuel Eddy, LL. D., Late Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, for His Opinions to the First Baptist Church in Providence, from which He was Compelled to Withdraw for Heterodoxy.
On both theology and procedure, he confronts his Baptist brethren for choosing post-biblical traditions over clear biblical teachings. Eddy makes what are at first glance some radical claims about what the New Testament teaches. Are you persuaded? Why or why not?
Links for this episode:
The text presented here is my modernized version of the 1855 reprint of Reasons Offered in this interesting book.
The First Baptist Church in America
First Unitarian Church of Providence
Samuel Eddy’s tombstone in Providence
podcast 357 – Seminary student takes Trinity class, becomes unitarian – Part 2
podcast 356 – Seminary student takes Trinity class, becomes unitarian – Part 1
podcast 191 – Ware’s Outline of the Testimony of Scripture Against the Trinity
podcast 309 – Channing’s “Unitarian Christianity” – Part 2
podcast 308 – Channing’s “Unitarian Christianity” – Part 1
podcast 201 – Kermit Zarley on Reformation – Part 2
podcast 200 – Kermit Zarley on Reformation – Part 1
podcast 349 – Craig-Tuggy dialogue on trinitarian vs. unitarian theologies
podcast 168 – The Death of Unitarian Congregationalism
podcast 167 – Lamson’s History of The Unitarian Congregationalists
Luke 4:16; 1 Peter 2:21; John 16:2; Acts 18:21, 24; Acts 11:3; Acts 1:5, 12, 21, 27; 1 Corinthians 15:12, 34; 1 Corinthians 1:2, 6, 11, 15, 34; Acts 8:37; Romans 10:9, 14; Romans 4:17-18; Philippians 3:15-16; Romans 15:7; 1 Corinthians 7:19; Ephesians 5:20; Colossians 3:16-17; Hebrews 13:15; John 18:37; 2 Timothy 1:10; John 17:3; Acts 19:2; Matthew 3:11; Acts 24:14, 18, 13; John 17:3; 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10; Luke 10:21, 23, 46; John 20:17; Matthew 27:4; Mark 9:36; Mark 12:29, 32; John 5:18-19, 30; John 10:30, 36; Mark 12:32; Mark 10:18; 1 Corinthians 8:4, 6; Ephesians 4:5-6; Ephesians 1:17; 1 Corinthians 11:3; 1 Corinthians 3:23; Romans 6:10; 2 Corinthians 13:4; John 6:57; 1 Corinthians 15:28; 1 Timothy 6:15-16; Jude 4; Acts 4:24, 26-27; Acts 17:24, 29; Luke 10:21; Mark 13:19; Isaiah 44:24; Isaiah 44:12; 1 John 5:20; Hebrews 1:2, 4 ,6 ,9; Hebrews 2:9, 17; Colossians 1:15, 19; John 1:18; John 4:10; Matthew 16:16; Revelation 3:4; Acts 2:36; Acts 5:31; Acts 17:31; Ephesians 1:22; Philippians 2:9; Jude 4; 1 Timothy 6:15-16; 1 John 2:22-23; Matthew 9:8; John 20:23; Exodus 23:20-21; Luke 5:17; Luke 2:40; Acts 2:22; Acts 10:38; Matthew 12:28; Luke 21:20; John 14:10; Matthew 6:6, 9; John 16:23; John 4:22, 24.
This week’s thinking music is “Bluenotation” by Ezra Skull.
Fantastic episode Dale, and thank you so much for going though all the work of modernizing the words of the book. How would one go about obtaining a copy of your updated version? I’d personally prefer an ebook version if that’d be possible at all. Please let me know!
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