Quote:
Originally Posted by Believer
A.D. 180 Church apologist Theophilus, bishop of Antioch, first uses the term Trinity to describe God: In like manner also the three days which were before the luminaries, are types of the Trinity (triados) of God, and His Word, and His Wisdom. (Theophilius, To Autolycus 2.15)
Tertullian of Carthage A.D. 213 "As if in this way also one were no All, in that All are of One, by unity (that is) of substance; while the mystery of the dispensation is still guarded, which distributes the Unity into a Trinity, placing in their order the three Persons. (agaist Praxeas 2, in ANFm vol 3)
Both are before the 3rd century.
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So, the term trinity wasn't even coined until late in the 2nd century, almost the third century. I can show you several manuscripts that were prior to that that used the term "one God" exclusively, and NEVER alluded to a "trinity"....