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Trinitarian Belief, Binitarian Monotheism, and the One God: Reflections on the Origin of Christian Faith in Affiliation to Larry Hurtado’S Christological Approach

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Trinitarian Belief, Binitarian Monotheism, and the One God: Reflections on the Origin of Christian Faith in Affiliation to Larry Hurtado’S Christological Approach TRINITARIAN BELIEF, BINITARIAN MONOTHEISM, AND THE ONE GOD: REFLECTIONS ON THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN FAITH IN AFFILIATION TO LARRY HURTADO’S CHRISTOLOGICAL APPROACH Jens Schröter 1. Triadic Formulae and the Belief in One God 1.1. Triadic Formulae in the New Testament The belief in the Trinitarian God belongs to the decisive characteristics of Christianity, developed in the course of its rst centuries. It distinguishes Christian faith in a distinctive manner from Jewish belief in the one God and departs in another way also from pagan veneration of many gods. At the same time, it has to be noted, however, that this particular view of God was developed in close a nity to Jewish belief in the one and only God. Christian faith in the Trinitarian God can therefore be described as a speci c modi cation of Jewish monotheism, based on the perception of Jesus Christ as God’s decisive revelation. In order to take this process into sharper focus, I will begin with a look at the earliest traces of faith in the Trinitarian God in New Testament texts. At the outset, it has to be noted that the term “Trinity” itself does not occur in earliest Christian confessions nor is there any explicit reection about a “Trinitarian God” in a conceptual or terminological way. At the ear- liest stages one nds instead individual formulae expressing the faith in God and Jesus Christ or Christological convictions about Jesus’ pre-existence, his resurrection and exaltation,1 some of them in hymnic style,2 indicating that 1 Cf. K. Wengst, Christologische Formeln und Lieder des Urchristentums (Gütersloh: Mohn, 1972). 2 Cf. already R. Deichgräber, Gotteshymnus und Christushymnus in der frühen Christen- heit: Untersuchungen zu Form, Sprache und Stil der frühchristlichen Hymnen (SUNT 5; Göt- tingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1967). For the more recent discussion about “hymns” or “epideictic passages” in earliest Christianity cf. G. Kennel, Frühchristliche Hymnen? 172 jens schrter they were used in the worship of the early communities.3 These formulae as well as the writings of the New Testament have therefore to be distinguished from concepts about the relationship of God and Jesus Christ and the Trini- tarian nature of God, developed by Christian theologians as e.g. Tertullian, Theophilus of Antioch or Origen4 from the middle of the second century onwards on the basis of biblical traditions and philosophical thoughts. They have also to be diferentiated from the elaborated creedal texts of the fourth and fth century, as e.g. the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed or the Creed of Chalcedon in which the consubstantiality of God and Jesus Christ and the emanation of the Holy Spirit from the father (and the Son) are expressed.5 Despite these diferences, in some passages of the New Testament God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are mentioned together, indicating that in Christian faith from its very beginning the three “persons” of what was later called the “Trinitarian God” were perceived as manifestations of the one God.6 It is therefore useful to start with a look at these passages to put the question into sharper focus how the relationship of “manifestations” of God can be interpreted. The earliest of these formulations appears in 1Cor 12:4–6: Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of efects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. (NIV) Paul deals here with the various gifts within the Corinthian community which have only one origin, namely “the same spirit, the same Lord, the same God”. Two observations are of special interest for our topic: First, Paul describes these gifts with the almost synonymous terms χαρίσµατα, Gattungskritische Studien zur Frage nach den Liedern der frühen Christenheit (WMANT 71; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 1995); R. Brucker, “Christushymnen” oder “epideiktische Passagen”? Studien zum Stilwechsel im Neuen Testament und seiner Umwelt (FRLANT 176; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1997). 3 Cf. M. Hengel, “Das Christuslied im frühesten Gottesdienst,” in Studien zur Christologie (ed. C.-J. Thornton; Kleine Schriften IV; WUNT 201; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006) 205– 258. 4 Cf. e.g. G. Kretschmar, Studien zur frühchristlichen Trinitätstheologie (BHTh 21; Tübing- en: Mohr Siebeck, 1956); C. Markschies, Alta Trinità Beata: Gesammelte Studien zur altchrist- lichen Trinitätstheologie (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2000). 5 For the origin and development of early Christian creeds cf. J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Creeds (London: Longmans, 1972 [GT: Altchristliche Glaubensbekenntnisse: Geschichte und Theologie; 2nd ed.; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1993]). 6 Cf. F. Hahn, Theologie des Neuen Testaments 2: Die Einheit des Neuen Testaments: Thematische Darstellung (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2002) 289–308..
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