That is correct, though if you read NT, then Paul told us that Jesus was with the Father from the beginning.
Jesus was fully man … this is something I can understand.
Jesus was fully God when he was on earth … this is something that need clarification of what it means to be fully God in the flesh.
Jesus tells his disciples to baptize…
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
You might notice that “name” is singular.
Thus the tension.
Thus the book is teaching algebra (among other things ; - ).
Now Dale, I am not at all against the doctrine of Trinity. I study about it, struggle with it and could not bring myself to comfortable hold it. if you hold it, that is fine. I have nothing against you there. However, since it is not explicitly taught in the bible, I believe that I have the freedom to not hold it even though it is part of the as considered “central doctrine” of christianity.
You certainly do.
I think it has something to do with the associative property. ; - ) (The doctrine, that is.)
Not to my mind. Not to the minds of Christian believers.
But there are plenty of low-Christology groups around–Jehovahs Witnesses, Unitarian Church, The Way International, Christadelphians, and more.
good for you.
The New Testament was not even canonized until 393-397. Before that it was in flux. The NT canon was another late development.
you are equating the bible NT with doctrines. NT was around in the early church especially the letters of Paul. It was used and acknowledged by the church fathers.
No. Individual books and letters were circulating, and some were lost, and some didn’t make it into the canon. But there was no New Testament in the early centuries of Christianity.
Are you saying that the NT is the late invention of the church? As far as I know, all the letters and the Gospels was accepted and circulating very early in church history (in the first century) while the writers of the letter and the gospels were still alive. There was nothing new added.
Yes and no. The texts that make up our New Testament were in circulation during the time of the Early Church. BUT so were many others, such as Paul’s ‘harsh letter’ referenced in 2 Corinthians and the Letter to the Laodiceans referenced at the end of Colossians. These letters are lost to history and we have no way of knowing whether these were treated as scripture too or not.
Also, what we see in 2nd century up until the fixing of the NT canon is that the catalogue of books has fuzzy edges. Some proto-canons excluded books (like Revelation, for example) others included texts which never made it into the final NT Canon, like the Shepherd of Hermas, for example.
So to say that the early church had the New Testament is somewhat anachronistic. It would be more accurate to say that they had the documents that would later be codified into what we call the New Testament.
S’pretty late here so I hope that makes sense 
.
No of course not. Try to understand. A church might have individual gospels and letters, but no church had a full set of what would become the NT. There were also apocryphal books (fan fiction!) making the rounds, accepted by some churches but not by others. Also writings that were solid but not considered inspired. Nobody had a full deck of cards. It wasn’t until the canonization process (happening at different times in the East and the West) that the church had an authoritative New Testament. If you want to learn more read The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin, Development, and Significance by Bruce Metzger
And it feels late here!
There was a forged letter to the Laodiceans making the rounds, as I recall.
Ah yes, but the canonisation is not about finding or confirming anything new. It was about selecting letters that are genuine or forged. Actually canonisation is about going back to the old and original (though extant and only copies). So, I am all for it. As for the late doctrine development that was later systematised, this is what I have a problem with.
perfectly said Liam
“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” -Colossians 4:6
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