Trinity is Unbiblical

 

Is there any evidence that Matthew 28:19 (baptise in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit) was written by the author of Matthew's Gospel?

If originally Yeshua said that (baptise in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit)   than why it is not found in other other three Gospels?

Oh was it (baptise in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit) a later insertion into the Gospel?

The Gospel of Matthew is believed to have been composed between 80 - 90 AD.

This is an ongoing controversy since the fourth century. The Trinitarian belief and baptism in the Trinitarian formula has become an entrenched dogmatic belief amongst Christians. To even suggest otherwise, would have resulted in death at the stakes as an heretic in the middle ages and beyond.

No known manuscripts written in the 2nd, 3rd centuries are available today to make comparisons. There is an absence of 300 years between the original and the available manuscripts. Baptism in the three fold name appears in two of the earliest manuscripts, the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus of the 4th century.

It is believed by some that third century manuscripts of Matthew in the Greek, from which translations were made into Latin may be stored in the vaults of the Vatican. To what extent that may be true, I do not know.

An early church father Eusebius, the Bishop of Caesarea in his writings quotes Matthew 28:19 several times, but does not quote it as it appears in Matthew 28:19. He writes that Jesus said ‘baptise in my name”. .

Dr G. Reckart of the Apostolic Theological Bible College, claims that there is evidence which indicates that changes were made to Matthew 28:19.

The Hebrew Matthew Gospel is a manuscript that was preserved by the Jews from the third century. It is handwritten in Hebrew. It is referred to as the Shem Tov’s Hebrew Matthew’s Gospel. In the Shen Tov manuscripts, the text at Matthew 28:19 does not contain the trinitarian formula for baptism, and this raises the suspicion that this was a later addition.

In the Bible Catechism “Meaning for Man’s Existence” and the new Revised Vatican II Bible and Life Today edition, the Catholic Church declares that the baptismal formula changed from the name of Jesus to the trinitarian formula in the fourth century. It states that Christians in the first 300 years baptised in the name of Jesus.

The James Moffett New Testament translation, footnote on page 64 reads as follows: “It may be that this formula, so far as the fulness of expression is concerned, is a reflection of the (Catholic) liturgical usage was established later in the primitive community. It will be remembered that Acts speaks of baptising in Jesus’s name.

The New Revised Standard Version, regarding Matthew 28: 19 states as follows: “Modern critics claim this formula is falsely ascribed to Jesus and it represents later church tradition, for nowhere in the Book of Acts is baptism performed with the name of the Trinity formula”.

Dr. Peake in his Bible Commentary 1991, page 723, states as follows: “The command to baptise into the three fold name is a late doctrinal expansion. Instead of the words baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, we should probably read simply ‘into my name’”.

The Catholic Encyclopedia II, page 263 admits that the baptismal formula was changed from the name of Jesus Christ to the words Father, Son and Holy Spirit by the Catholic Church. This is also allegedly confirmed by the New Testament study guide number 5 of the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. in 1923.

The Tyndale New Testament Commentary 1, on page 275 states: “It is often affirmed that the words of Jesus in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, are not the ‘ipisissima verba’ of Jesus, but a later Liturgical addition”.

Personally, I believe baptism whether done in the name of Jesus or the Trinity formula is valid and acceptable. I believe that God looks at the heart of a Christian.

So this debate is purely academic. I am simply answering the question asked.

The Catholic Encyclopedia II, page 263 admits that the baptismal formula was changed from the name of Jesus Christ to the words Father, Son and Holy Spirit by the Catholic Church. This is also allegedly confirmed by the New Testament study guide number 5 of the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. in 1923.

The Tyndale New Testament Commentary 1, on page 275 states: “It is often affirmed that the words of Jesus in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, are not the ‘ipisissima verba’ of Jesus, but a later Liturgical addition”.

Personally, I believe baptism whether done in the name of Jesus or the Trinity formula is valid and acceptable. I believe that God looks at the heart of a Christian.

So this debate is purely academic. I am simply answering the question asked.

The first recorded use of this Latin word was by Tertullian in about 200, to refer to Father, Son and Holy Spirit, or, in general, to any set of three things. ( Theophile of Antioch - 115-181 - introduced the word Trinity in his Book 2, chapter 15 on the creation of the 4th day).

The first defense of the doctrine of the Trinity was by Tertullian, who was born around 150–160 AD, explicitly "defined" the Trinity as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and defended his theology against Praxeas, although he noted that the majority of the believers in his day found issue with his doctrine.

Introduction and background to Tertullian

Tertullian wrote Adversus Praxeam (Against Praxeas) in ca. 213 CE, therefore ante-Nicene (Evans 2019:18). This treatise is regarded as his best work on the Trinity (Litfin 2019:89). Many scholars - some of whom will be discussed in this article - have already commented on this treatise. The aim of this article is to shortly discuss Adversus Praxeam (AP) within the context of a 3rd-century Carthage, occupied by followers of the Catholic Church ('Christians'), the New Prophecy (a heresy), and Monarchianism (another heresy) (cf. Evans 2019:viii).

The destruction of Carthage by Rome took place in 146 BCE. A century later, Julius Caesar rebuilt it and populated it with Roman citizens. The flourishing Carthage then became the capital of Africa Nova, which was a Roman province and which included the provinces of Africa Vetus and Numedia (New Advent 2020a). Quintus Septimus Florens Tertullianus was born in 155/160 CE in Carthage and he also died there in 220/225 (Carl 2009:1). Tertullian was therefore a man from Latin Africa. He was able to write in both Greek and Latin. He first practised as an advocate cum legal consultant and became a Christian in ca. 197 after which he started writing treatises in defence of his faith (Evans 2019:2) - therefore being an apologist (cf. Litfin 2019:81). According to Jerome (De Viris Illustribus 53; ed. Schaff 1885c:883) he was also a presbyter.

While Christian Latin literature was not yet produced in Rome, it was Africa that started to produce the literature (Evans 2019:1). Johannes Quasten refers to Tertullian as 'the creator of ecclesiastical Latin' (Quasten 1950:249). Tertullian was the first to use specific theological terminology such as Trinitas (e.g. AP2 and 3; Migne 1844:157-158; ed. Schaff 1885a:1337-1338; cf. Hillar 2012:190-220; Quasten 1950:286) and unam substantiam in tribus cohaerentibus (only substance in three coherent and inseparable [Persons] - AP12; Migne 1844:168; ed. Schaff 1885a:1358) within the context of his debate with Modalism (Haykin 2017; cf. Carl 2009:1, 3; Holmes 2012:69-70), still being used by Latin-speaking churches today. Allison (2011:237; cf. McGrath 1998:62) argues that Tertullian's doctrine on the Trinity 'became the foundation for the church's definition of the Trinity'.1 However, it could be that he did not invent that terminology, but that he inherited it from a predecessor or even predecessors (Evans 2019:2).

Quasten states that '[e]xcept for Augustine, Tertullian is the most important and original ecclesiastical author in Latin' (Quasten 1950:247), called the 'Origen of the West' by Sellers (1953:187). He was more influenced by the later Roman Stoicism than by Platonism, which mostly formed the basis for the theology of that time (cf. Norris 1967:99; Tieleman 2020:163).

After almost two decades of being a Christian (ca. 213), he became part of the New Prophecy (McGowan 2006:437), a schismatic movement started in the 2nd century, first called the Phrygians (Phrygia was a kingdom in the central to western part of Anatolia, east of Philadelphia - currently Turkey), then the Montanists (because of its founder's name), then the Pepuzians, while they were also called the Cataphrygians ('those from Phrygia') in the West (New Advent 2020b). This movement was founded by the prophet Montanus.