"The Spirit of the Apostles is not a guide equal or greater than the Lord, thus Paul within his letters does not have as much authority as has Christ" (Carlstadt, Canonicis Scripturis (1520)
"The Spirit of the Apostles is not a guide equal or greater than the Lord, thus Paul within his letters does not have as much authority as has Christ" (Carlstadt, Canonicis Scripturis (1520)
|
Search
|
|
Questions?
Click Here to Send Us an Email.
|
|
Recommendations
Only Jesus (great song by Big Daddy) What Did Jesus Say? (2012) - 7 topics None above affiliated with me |
Books:
Jul 31, 2022
The trinity doctrine which Tertullian advanced in 200 AD was reformulated in about 381 AD at the Council of Constantinople to specifically refute monotheism. This was confessed by the author of the confession adopted at the Council -- Bishop Gregory of Nyssa. The video shows the texts of his book post conference saying this multiple times.
Gregory of Nyssa (born 335 A.D., died 385 A.D.) in 372 A.D. was appointed by his brother Basil as the Catholic Bishop of Nyssa. After losing that post, Emperor Gratian reinstituted Gregory as bishop in 378. ("St. Gregory of Nyssa," Catholic Encylopedia.) In 379 A.D., Gregory was suddenly elevated to assist at the Council of Antioch. In 381, Gregory again assisted at the Council of Constantinople convened by Emperor Theodosius to "assert the faith of Nicea...to put an end to Arianism...." (Id.) Once again this Council "accepted the Nicene teaching." (George Herbert Dryer, History of the Christian church (1896) at 155.)
But the Council of Constantinople did more than that. What Gregory did at the Council of Constantinople is take the Nicean Creed that does not mention a trinity and this time the church would affirm three persons are each God separate and apart from another. Gregory explained in a treatise at the same time that his intent was to destroy the supposed myth of monotheism. These details are rarely recounted, so here they are from the most scholarly sources.
Gregory wrote the Catechismal Treatise which was retitled by his empirical benefactors as The Great Catechism. It was "the most significant dogmatic work of the fourth century." (George Herbert Dryer, History of the Christian church (1896) at 155.)
Gregory in the first chapter of his book The Great Catechism, according to Schaff, teaches the "absurdity of Jewish monotheism." (A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church (edited by Philip Schaff, Henry Wace)(1893) at 471.) Gregory in the text alludes to monotheism as "the beliefs of the Jews" and then castigates that view as an "absurdity." Id., at 476 col. 2. Schaff explains Gregory's text in a footnote snipes at monotheism again when Gregory says in effect "an argument against Dualism would only confirm the Jew in his stern monotheism." (Id., at 474 fn. 7.)
In chapter 3, Gregory acknowledged that "neither does the statement [of the Trinity] harmonize with the Jewish dogma" nor endorse multiple gods as it proposes a 'unity' instead. Yet, Gregory continues by saying that as a result of the Trinity doctrine as he formulated it, Jewish monotheism is ended: "the Jewish dogma is destroyed by the acceptance of the Word and by belief in the Spirit." He pointedly said "the number of the triad [i.e., three] [is] a remedy in the case of those who are in error as to the One." (Gregory of Nyssa, The Great Catechism, ch. 3.)
The full context makes clear that Gregory calls monotheism a heresy and is destroyed by the Trinity doctrine. Yet, Gregory insists incoherently that a trinity as he formulated it is not polytheistic. He imagines an in-between realm where you can have more than one being who is God (i.e., you must reject monotheism) - where some "others" who are "God" by nature are yet subservient to a "First cause" -- and yet somehow you still do not have polytheism. The truth is there is no third position between "one" and "many" despite these fine-sounding words -- clearly filched from Platonic philosophy and not the Bible. Gregory wrote:
"But when you have gained the conception of what the distinction is in these, the oneness, again, of the nature admits not division, so that the supremacy of the one First Cause is not split and cut up into differing Godships, neither does the statement harmonize with the Jewish dogma [i.e., NOTE: He means Monotheism] but the truth passes in the mean between these two conceptions, destroying each heresy, and yet accepting what is useful to it from each. The Jewish dogma is destroyed by the acceptance of the Word, and by the belief in the Spirit; while the polytheistic error of the Greek school is made to vanish by the unity of the Nature abrogating this imagination of plurality. While yet again, of the Jewish conception, let the unity of the Nature stand; and of the Hellenistic, only the distinction as to persons; the remedy against a profane view being thus applied, as required, on either side. For it is as if the number of the triad were a remedy in the case of those who are in error as to the One, and the assertion of the unity for those whose beliefs are dispersed among a number of divinities." (Gregory of Nyssa, The Great Catechism ch. 3 in Schaff, Ante-Nicene, supra, at 477.)
===================================================
Please sign up for a free monthly newsletter to get notice of all videos in a database, using this link:
Please sign up for a free Airtable account to use for Bible study -- best app to keep notes. https://airtable.com/invite/r/YR97e41t
---------------------------------------------------------------
Click Here for the Complete List of JWO Videos
