Some Muslim teachers and apologist claim that the whole idea of the Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit began at the Council of Nicea in 325. The following quotes from varius documents show very clearly that the doctrine of the Trinity was the norm way before that council took place. In fact the council didn't meet to discuss that issue. Both sides of the council were in agreement on this issue. What they didn't agree on was the nature of Jesus as a man - not as a God.
The quote towards the bottom of the page from Bart Erhman is very enlightening. These are the comments of a man who is famous as an atheist and critic of the New Testament.
Lactantius
“He was made both Son of God in the spirit and Son of man in the flesh, that is, both God and man” (Divine Institutes 4:13:5 [A.D. 307]).
“We, on the other hand, are [truly] religious, who make our supplications to the one true God. Someone may perhaps ask how, when we say that we worship one God only, we nevertheless assert that there are two, God the Father and God the Son—which assertion has driven many into the greatest error . . . [thinking] that we confess that there is another God, and that he is mortal. . . . [But w]hen we speak of God the Father and God the Son, we do not speak of them as different, nor do we separate each, because the Father cannot exist without the Son, nor can the Son be separated from the Father”.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arnobius
“‘Well, then,’ some raging, angry, and excited man will say, ‘is that Christ your God?’ ‘God indeed,’ we shall answer, ‘and God of the hidden powers’” (Against the Pagans 1:42 [A.D. 305]).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gregory the Wonderworker
“There is one God, the Father of the living Word, who is his subsistent wisdom and power and eternal image: perfect begetter of the perfect begotten, Father of the only-begotten Son. There is one Lord, only of the only, God of God, image and likeness of deity, efficient Word, wisdom comprehensive of the constitution of all things, and power formative of the whole creation, true Son of true Father, invisible of invisible, and incorruptible of incorruptible, and immortal of immortal and eternal of eternal. . . . And thus neither was the Son ever wanting to the Father, nor the Spirit to the Son; but without variation and without change, the same Trinity abides ever” (Declaration of Faith [A.D. 265]).
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Cyprian of Carthage
“One who denies that Christ is God cannot become his temple [of the Holy Spirit]” (Letters 73:12 [A.D. 253]).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Novatian of Rome (210–280)
“For Scripture as much announces Christ as also God…Let them, therefore, who read that Jesus Christ the Son of man is man, read also that this same Jesus is called also God and the Son of God” (Novatian, On the Trinity, 11. ANF, V:620.)
“If Christ was only man, why did he lay down for us such a rule of believing as that in which he said, ‘And this is life eternal, that they should know you, the only and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent?’ [John 17:3]. Had he not wished that he also should be understood to be God, why did he add, ‘And Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent,’ except because he wished to be received as God also? Because if he had not wished to be understood to be God, he would have added, ‘And the man Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent;’ but, in fact, he neither added this, nor did Christ deliver himself to us as man only, but associated himself with God, as he wished to be understood by this conjunction to be God also, as he is.” (Treatise on the Trinity 16 [A.D. 235]).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hippolytus
“Only [God’s] Word is from himself and is therefore also God, becoming the substance of God” (Refutation of All Heresies 10:33 [A.D. 228]).
“For Christ is the God over all, who has arranged to wash away sin from mankind, rendering the old man new”.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Origen (c. 185–254):
“Jesus Christ . . .became a man, and was incarnate although God, and while made a man remained the God which He was.” (Origen, De Principiis, Preface, 4. ANF, IV:240)
“Although he was God, he took flesh; and having been made man, he remained what he was: God” (The Fundamental Doctrines 1:0:4 [A.D. 225]).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Caius (180–217)
“…there are writings of certain brethren older than the times of Victor, which they wrote…against the heresies of their time: I mean Justin and Miltiades, and Tatian and Clement, and many others, in all which divinity is ascribed to Christ. For who is ignorant of the books of Irenaeus and Melito, and the rest, which declare Christ to be God and man?” (Caius, Fragments, 2.1. ANF, V:601)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tertullian (c. 160–225):
For God alone is without sin; and the only man without sin is Christ, since Christ is also God.” (Tertullian, Treatise on the Soul, 41. ANF, III:221)
“The origins of both his substances display him as man and as God: from the one, born, and from the other, not born” (The Flesh of Christ 5:6–7 [A.D. 210]).
“That there are two gods and two Lords, however, is a statement which we will never allow to issue from our mouth; not as if the Father and the Son were not God, nor the Spirit God, and each of them God; but formerly two were spoken of as gods and two as Lords, so that when Christ would come, he might both be acknowledged as God and be called Lord, because he is the Son of him who is both God and Lord” (Against Praxeas 13:6 [A.D. 216]).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clement of Alexandria (c. 150–215): …
He alone being…both God and man…(Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Heathen, 1. ANF, II:173)
“The Word, then, the Christ, is the cause both of our ancient beginning—for he was in God—and of our well-being. And now this same Word has appeared as man. He alone is both God and man, and the source of all our good things” (Exhortation to the Greeks 1:7:1 [A.D. 190]).
“Despised as to appearance but in reality adored, [Jesus is] the expiator, the Savior, the soother, the divine Word, he that is quite evidently true God, he that is put on a level with the Lord of the universe because he was his Son”.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Irenaeus (120-202)
“Christ Jesus [is] our Lord, and God, and Savior, and King…”
“For the Church, although dispersed throughout the whole world even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and from their disciples the faith in one God, Father Almighty, the creator of heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them; and in one Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became flesh for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who announced through the prophets the dispensations and the comings, and the birth from a Virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the bodily ascension into heaven of the beloved Christ Jesus our Lord, and his coming from heaven in the glory of the Father to reestablish all things; and the raising up again of all flesh of all humanity, in order that to Jesus Christ our Lord and God and Savior and King, in accord with the approval of the invisible Father, every knee shall bend of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (Against Heresies 1:10:1 [A.D. 189]).
“Nevertheless, what cannot be said of anyone else who ever lived, that he is himself in his own right God and Lord . . . may be seen by all who have attained to even a small portion of the truth” (ibid., 3:19:1).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Melito of Sardis
“The activities of Christ after his baptism, and especially his miracles, gave indication and assurance to the world of the deity hidden in his flesh. Being God and likewise perfect man, he gave positive indications of his two natures: of his deity, by the miracles during the three years following after his baptism, of his humanity, in the thirty years which came before his baptism, during which, by reason of his condition according to the flesh, he concealed the signs of his deity, although he was the true God existing before the ages” (Fragment in Anastasius of Sinai’s The Guide 13 [A.D. 177]).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tatian the Syrian
“We are not playing the fool, you Greeks, nor do we talk nonsense, when we report that God was born in the form of a man” (Address to the Greeks 21 [A.D. 170]).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Justin Martyr (100-165)
“Permit me first to recount the prophecies, which I wish to do in order to prove that Christ is called both God and Lord of hosts.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Polycarp of Smyrna (69–155):
“…and to us with you, and to all those under heaven who will yet believe in our Lord and God Jesus Christ… (Polycarp, Philippians, 12:2. Holmes, AF, 295)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aristides
“[Christians] are they who, above every people of the earth, have found the truth, for they acknowledge God, the Creator and maker of all things, in the only-begotten Son and in the Holy Spirit” (Apology 16 [A.D. 140]).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ignatius of Antioch (c. 50–117):
“For our God, Jesus the Christ, was conceived by Mary according to God’s plan… (Ignatius, Letter to the Ephesians, 18.2. Translation from Michael Holmes, Apostolic Fathers, 197) (ibid., 18:2).
“Ignatius, also called Theophorus, to the Church at Ephesus in Asia . . . predestined from eternity for a glory that is lasting and unchanging, united and chosen through true suffering by the will of the Father in Jesus Christ our God” (Letter to the Ephesians 1 [A.D. 110]).
“[T]o the Church beloved and enlightened after the love of Jesus Christ, our God, by the will of him that has willed everything which is” (Letter to the Romans 1 [A.D. 110]).
Lucian of Samosata
The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day,--the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account.
(Lucian of Samosata 125 – after 180)
https://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/luc/wl4/wl420.htm
Pliny the Younger
Bart Ehrman
I have been discussing the Arian controversy over how to understand the relationship of the Father and the Son – the crucial element in establishing the doctrine of the Trinity. It led to the Council of Nicea. A lot could be, and has been, said about the Council. It is NOT when church Fathers decided which books would be in the New Testament and is NOT when they decided that Jesus was divine (even though that’s what you read in the Da Vinci Code !!). They did not discuss the first issue and everyone at the council already fully believed Christ was God.
https://ehrmanblog.org/the-council-of-nicaea-and-the-resulting-view-of-christ/
The purpose of this website is not about exposing the lies and deceit of your particular belief and then leave with no hope and nothing to believe in and no purpose in your life. While it may be a good thing to realise it if you have been lied to too or deceived, this does not mean there is no truth out there.
There is truth and something that you can believe in and commit to and it will change your life – not just for now but for all eternity. Now I am not saying all your problems and troubles will disappear while you are alive in this present world but what you can have is a peace that is greater than your worldly problems. I want to be clear on this – for some people, becoming a Christian could make your life a lot harder. But despite all this, you can have a purpose in your life despite what circumstances you find yourself in. You can have a real fellowship with the living God and actually have God himself dwelling inside you by His Holy Spirit. No one ever regrets becoming a Christian. In the end we will spend eternity with Jesus in paradise. As Paul said “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:17). If you read the book of Acts and see what Paul went through, it is remarkable that he would describe them as “light and momentary troubles.”
The good news is that free and available to all of mankind. You don’t have to be clever or rich or gifted or be from a certain family or country. Anyone can receive it.
The Bible tells you all you have to do is “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” That is taken from Acts 16:31. One of the most famous verses from the Bible has the same message, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16).
There are actually a lot of Bible verses that have the same message about salvation being free and simple but I will quote just one more on this which is Ephesians 2:8-9 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
It is a very important principle to grasp that we can bring nothing to our salvation. It is a gift from God by His grace and we can not add any of our own works to it.
So what to do now?
Of course you can simply just commit your life to Jesus by asking him to forgive all your sins, and asking Him into your life as your Lord. Making Him your Lord will mean that you allow Him to be the Lord of all your life, which means you seek his will in all you do. On occassions you will fail to obey him, but "If we confess our sins,he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1John1:9)." If you feel you are not ready to take that step but would like to know more, I would recommend getting hold or download the Bible and start reading it. I would suggest starting in the New Testament but all of the Bible is good for you. It would also be helpful for you to find a good church and go along and ask all those questions that you would love to get answers to.
Also you are very welcome to contact me on my email gospeljohn14verse6@gmail.com and I will help in anyway that I can.