Quote:
Originally Posted by BobDylan
Let me help you out there a little Beleiver...
"the simple... who are always the majority of the faithful..."
The simple (monarchians) were the majority of the faithful (all believers), were startled at the "economy" (i.e. the three in one concept). Let's look grammatically at this. Who was "startled"? The subject of the sentence is "the simply". And then there is adjective clause that describes the simple as the majority of the believers. That means that the majority of believers at that time were startled at the concept of the "trinity".
It also seems that Tertullians "rule of faith" inclines him toward to world of a plurality of Gods. I don't even understand why trinitarians would appeal to Tertullian, he was a Montanists and was excommunicated from fellowship with the church.
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Alexander Souter 1873-1949
3. For all the simple people, that I say not the thoughtless and
ignorant (who are always the majority of the faithful), since the
Rule of the Faith itself brings <us> over from the many gods of
the world to the one only true God, not understanding that while
they must believe in one only <God> yet they must believe in
him along with his economy, shy at the economy.
Sorry friend, but your interpretation is invalid. Nowhere in this passages does it states that all the simple people were Modalist. The correct interpretation is saying that simple people are always the majority of the faithful or believers. It is NOT saying that all the simple people were Modalist.
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu...0160-ca.%20230
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