![\"giant-33507_1280\"](\"http:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/giant-33507_1280-e1436901693386.png\")
In ancient times, three lawless ruffians roamed the land: a giant, a long-haired man, and a swordsman. They wrought such havoc that their legend long survived them; generations passed down tales about \u201cThe Triple Threat,\u201d<\/strong> as they came to be called. ![\"Wenceslas_Hollar_-_Young_man_with_long_hair_(State_1)\"](\"http:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Wenceslas_Hollar_-_Young_man_with_long_hair_State_1-e1436901767602.jpg\")
<\/p>\nEventually, though, the legend was oddly transformed; the \u201cTriple Threat\u201d was now supposed to be a giant, long-haired swordsman – one guy, and not three. Whereas earlier story tellers had used \u201cThe Triple Threat\u201d as a plural referring term <\/strong>(a way of picking out the giant, the long-haired man, and the swordsman) later tellers used the phrase as a singular referring term<\/strong>, picking out (so they supposed) a giant with long hair and a sword. Something similar happened in the case of the Trinity. At first, there was no such word in the Christian vocabulary. \u201cTrinity\u201d (Greek: trias<\/em>) was coined some time in the second half of the second century<\/strong>. We don\u2019t know who coined it, but the earliest surviving mention of it is by Theophilus, bishop of Antioch (d. c. 185). Commenting on the Genesis days of creation, in his remarks on the fourth day, he says that<\/p>\n \u2026the three days which were before the luminaries [i.e. the stars], are types of the Trinity [Greek: triados<\/em>, a form of trias<\/em>], of God, and His Word, and His wisdom. (\u201cTheophilus to Autolycus,\u201d Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. II, p. 101)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n (How do we know that \u201cGod\u201d here means the Father<\/strong>, and not the three of them? It\u2019s clear from the sentence, and also from the whole rest of the work, especially book I and book II ch. 10, which describes the Father\u2019s (the one God\u2019s) \u201cbegetting\u201d of the Son before creation, so as to create through him.) The word triados<\/em> here would be better rendered as \u201ctriad\u201d or \u201ctrinity.<\/strong>\u201d This would help us to not anachronistically import later ideas into the passage. This triad or trinity is just a threesome, a group of three somethings, not necessarily of the same kind or status, and not necessarily parts of any whole. And God himself, Theophilus thinks, is the oldest and the primary, founding member of that threesome, that trinity. Theophilus doesn\u2019t betray any hint here that he\u2019s introducing a novel term, which leads us to think that he or someone else in his circles has previously introduced it. But he tells us what this trinity is<\/strong>: God, God\u2019s Word (i.e. the logos of John 1), and God\u2019s \u201cwisdom\u201d \u2013 evidently the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n This is the plural referring usage<\/strong> of trias<\/em> (and the Latin trinitas<\/em>) that one always sees in ancient catholics like Origen, Tertullian<\/a>, Irenaeus, and Novatian.<\/p>\n Because of this, some translators render terms like trias<\/em> and trinitas<\/em> as \u201ctrinity\u201d in Christian sources of the first three centuries. In other words, they use \u201ctrinity\u201d as the plural referring term<\/strong> (picking out Father, Son, and Spirit – whatever precisely those are, and however exactly they\u2019re related to one another), and \u201cTrinity\u201d for the one God in three \u201cPersons\u201d<\/strong> which catholic Christianity made mandatory in the last two decades of the fourth century.<\/p>\n I urge that all<\/em> Christians should recognize this convention of \u201ctrinity\u201d vs. \u201cTrinity.\u201d<\/strong> Not doing so regularly causes confusion. Scholars opine that \u201cThe Bible is all about the Trinity.\u201d<\/strong> But notice how much the ambiguity matters here. This claim is false if \u201cthe Trinity\u201d is read as a singular referring term. The Bible doesn\u2019t mention any tripersonal god as such. All occurrences of the words translated \u201cgod\u201d or \u201cGod\u201d or \u201cLord\u201d refer to the Father (a.k.a. Yahweh, \u201cthe Lord\u201d), or to Jesus, or to a spirit, a foreign deity, a ghost, a man, or an idol, and arguably once or twice to God\u2019s own Spirit (or spirit). But if \u201cTrinity\u201d in the \u201cThe Bible is all about the Trinity\u201d is a plural referring term, so that it\u2019s saying that the Bible is all about God, God\u2019s Son, and God\u2019s Spirit, this is surely true! The Old Testament focuses on God, and the New Testament on God\u2019s Son, and on the workings of God\u2019s Spirit. Yes, the Bible is, so to speak, all about the trinity<\/strong>.<\/p>\n How about \u201cIt has always been that nearly all Christians believe in the Trinity.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cTrinity\u201d? False. We don\u2019t see believers in a tripersonal God containing three equal \u201cPersons\u201d in the first three centuries.\u00a0But: \u201ctrinity\u201d? True. All Christians have always believed in God, in God\u2019s Son, and in God\u2019s Spirit (whoever or whatever that is).<\/p>\n How are you<\/em> using the term \u201cTrinity\u201d?<\/strong> Are you using singular or plural pronouns and verbs to go with the term? If singular, then you mean Trinity. (e.g. \u201cThe Trinity is the one God.\u201d) If plural, you mean trinity. (e.g. \u201cThe trinity cooperate together in all they do.\u201d) If it\u2019s a \u201cthey\u201d you mean trinity. If it\u2019s a \u201che\/He\u201d or an \u201cit,\u201d you mean Trinity.<\/p>\n Should a trinitarian even talk of \u201cthe trinity\u201d?<\/strong> There is no inconsistency in so doing. What is mentioned as three beings can also be mentioned as one, if the three in some sense compose the one. But it gets confusing, because unitarians can and have gladly talked about \u201cthe Trinity\u201d (meaning the trinity), and when they do, trinarians hear Trinity, and think those unitarians (people who think that Yahweh just is the Father) agree with them. But this is confusion.<\/p>\n Are such unitarians<\/strong>, like John Biddle<\/a>, Samuel Clarke<\/a>, or me<\/a> being tricky? We can say this much; they want to emphasize their agreement with other Christians<\/strong>. Both unitarian and trinitarian Christians believe in the trinity, but only trinitarians, following catholic tradition (and many would add, the Bible rightly understood) believe in the Trinity. Unitarians think there is no such being, no such god. Still, we unitarians are happy to emphasize the agreement of all Christians on the reality of the trinity, even though this sloughs over somewhat different understandings of each of the three, most seriously in the case of the third<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n So for trinitarians<\/strong>, \u201ctrinity\u201d refers to the Three as such, and \u201cTrinity\u201d refers to the one tripersonal God. For unitarians<\/strong>, \u201ctrinity\u201d refers to the Three as such, and \u201cTrinity\u201d doesn\u2019t refer; there is no tripersonal God, because (they think) the one God is the Father.<\/p>\n Some unitarians would rather be rid of both \u201cTrinity\u201d and \u201ctrinity,\u201d but I don\u2019t see why this must happen, given the pre-trinitarian usage of \u201ctrinity,\u201d (c. 185 – c. 380) and the fact this this plural-referring usage is still common. There is no problem with using non-biblical words (as all<\/em> English words are)<\/strong> so long as they are useful on the whole. But \u201ctrinity\u201d has been a useful plural referring term since the late 100s, and \u201cTrinity\u201d is useful for referring to God as conceived by trinitarians.<\/p>\n There is a temptation, yes, for trinitarians (particularly apologists) to pull a bait and switch<\/strong> here. They point out, correctly, the universal Christian belief in the trinity, and then act as if this shows universal Christian belief in the Trinity. But, as careful and honest scholars agree, this doesn\u2019t follow.<\/p>\n Capital letters are useful; let us fully exploit this technology for the sake of clarity and mutual understanding.<\/p>\n Many people sense a need for a plural referring term in this area, so the term \u201cGodhead<\/a>\u201d<\/strong> has come to be used, in English, as a plural referring term, meaning trinity. But this recent practice, I think, is confused and confusing<\/strong>. \u201cGodhead\u201d is the traditional English translation for words like the Greek theiotes and the Latin divinitas, and should mean the same thing as \u201cthe divine nature\u201d or \u201cdeity.\u201d (The KJV may be the culprit here; it uses \u201cGodhead\u201d three times<\/a>.) \u00a0So no, properly, \u201cGodhead\u201d doesn\u2019t mean the same thing as \u201ctrinity.\u201d The former is a singular referring term (referring to God\u2019s nature, or just to God), whereas the latter is a plural referring term. Really, \u201cGodhead\u201d in English is an archaic term that we should just retire completely.<\/p>\n In sum, \u201cthe trinity\u201d<\/strong> is just God (aka the Father), God\u2019s Son, and the Spirit of God, without prejudice as to whether or not they share a nature or are one god. (Some will use \u201cthe trinity\u201d presupposing such commitments, others not.) In contrast, \u201cthe Trinity\u201d<\/strong> is the tripersonal god of trinitarian theology. \u201cThe trinity\u201d is a plural referring term, while \u201cthe Trinity\u201d is a singular referring term. Keep them straight!<\/p>\n Linguistic reform is not<\/em> impossible. In my little fiction above, we can imagine later historians untangling the confusion<\/strong> that eventually entered into the tales of \u201cThe Triple Threat.\u201d These historians could just choose to reserve the proper-name-ish \u201cThe Triple Threat\u201d for the later one legendary man (the giant, long-haired swordsman) and use \u201cthe triple threat\u201d to refer to the actual three ruffians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two common uses of “Trinity,” but one came first…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37,21,6,58,14,55,9,13,3,43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apologetics","category-bible","category-complaints","category-creeds","category-history","category-holy-spirit","category-philosophy","category-theologians","category-theories","category-unitarianism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35688"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38693,"href":"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35688\/revisions\/38693"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"fencing-145458\"](\"http:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/fencing-145458-e1436901946254.png\")
<\/p>\n