The Holy Spirit. The Son. God. History - Did early church fathers understand the doctrine of trinity? - Christianity Stack Exchange. The Apostles Creed dating from 390 A.D. quite clearly articulates an understanding of our faith revolving around the three persons we identify as the members of the Trinity as core to the faith. It makes up almost half of the total text. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord: Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; It is clearly understood both today and in it's time that this creed was affirming a belief in One God and at the same time identifying how he is revealed to us. While it doesn't use the term Trinity nor define the mixed natures as clearly as later creeds and confessions, It is unlikely that such a creed would have seen the near universal acceptance as articulating the core of Christian belief if it went against the teachings of the church fathers of the previous three centuries.
"O Lord God almighty... Commentary on what the early Christians believed about the Trinity. Commentary on what the early Christians believed about the Trinity: Apostolic Fathers, Apologists, Nicene Era, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Origen Apostolic Fathers B. Old Testament. -The early Fathers were persuaded that indications of the doctrine of the Trinity must exist in the Old Testament and they found such indications in not a few passages. Many of them not merely believed that the Prophets had testified of it, they held that it had been made known even to the Patriarchs. ... Some of these, however, admitted that a knowledge of the mystery was granted to the Prophets and Saints of the Old Dispensation ...The matter seems to be correctly summed up by Epiphanius, when he says: "The One Godhead is above all declared by Moses, and the twofold personality (of Father and Son) is strenuously asserted by the Prophets.
Apologists The Apologists were, in a sense, the Church's first theologians ... Nicene Era Ignatius Irenaeus Justin Martyr Tertullian Origen By Steve Rudd. Early Trinitarian Quotes | Doctrine of the Trinity Quotes. By Matt Slick There are cult groups (Jehovah's Witnesses, The Way International, Christadelphians, etc.) who deny the Trinity and state that the doctrine was not mentioned until the 4th Century until after the time of the Council of Nicea (325). This council "was called by Emperor Constantine to deal with the error of Arianism [see page 45] which was threatening the unity of the Christian Church.
" The following quotes show that the doctrine of the Trinity was indeed alive-and-well before the Council of Nicea: Polycarp (70-155/160). Bishop of Smyrna. Disciple of John the Apostle. "O Lord God almighty . . . Justin Martyr (100? "For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water" (First Apol., LXI). Ignatius of Antioch (died 98/117). "In Christ Jesus our Lord, by whom and with whom be glory and power to the Father with the Holy Spirit for ever" (n. 7; PG 5.988). Irenaeus (115-190).