A perfect example of misinformation online is the everlasting lie that the Council of Nicaea invented the doctrine of the Trinity in 325 A.D. This myth simply refuses to die, yet so many nails have been hammered into its coffin that if they were melted down, they could construct a full sized model of the Death Star.
Of course, the ultimate proof that this isn't the case is that the Bible, which by any reasonable account was finished by 95 A.D. at the absolute latest, clearly presents the doctrine of the Trinity. Anti-Christians will dispute this, of course, claiming that the word "Trinity" does not appear in the Bible. And about that part, they are correct. It is vital to understand that there is a difference between a concept and its terminology. As Shakespeare wrote, "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet". Or, as I once wrote, you do not have to use the word "tiger" to describe a tiger.
Entire games have been designed around this concept! For example, there is one game in which you wear a word on your head so you can't see it, and you have to guess your word based on what your teammate says. Now, let's imagine I have the word "Trinity" on my head. My teammate then begins to read from the Bible.
First, they read some of the many verses which state, rather explicitly, that there is one God. They read Deuteronomy 6:4: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!" They read Isaiah 43:10: "“You are My witnesses,” says the Lord, “And My servant whom I have chosen, That you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, Nor shall there be after Me." They read 1 Timothy 2:5: "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,".
So how many Gods are there? Just one. Always has been, always will be. They could also read a number of statements that show God has no equal, that there are some attributes and titles unique to Him, and that basically there are some things not even a prophet could say without blaspheming, but for sake of brevity, I shall refrain from mentioning them all in this article.
Next, my friend begins to describe the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Regarding the Father, they might read 1 Corinthians 8:6: "yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him...". Regarding the Son, they might read John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Regarding the Holy Spirit, they might read Acts 5:3-4: "But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit (...) You have not lied to men but to God.”"
So there we have three verses that establish the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are God, respectively. The word "Trinity" has not actually come up, but we can already see only 3 possibilities:
1. There are three Gods, because there are 3 wholly distinct beings that claim to be God, and so the Bible is wrong about there being only one.
2. There truly is only one God, and the Bible is wrong about at least two of the contenders being God.
3. The Bible is 100% right about both there being one God, and the divine identity of all 3 members of Godhead (bonus points: "Godhead" genuinely is found in Romans 1:20 and Colossians 2:9).
In order for the Bible to be right about both of these facts, the Trinity is inescapable. No other view allows these otherwise conflicting facts to be reconciled. You see, then, that with absolutely no reference to the Council of Nicaea, nor any source that came afterwards, the doctrine of the Trinity has been firmly established, using Scripture alone. This simple fact demolishes the lie that Nicaea invented the doctrine.
But then what did happen at Nicaea? To illustrate two important points, consider three other important councils: The First Council of Constantinople (381 A.D.), The Council of Ephesus (431 A.D.), and the Council of Chalcedon (451 A.D.). These 4 Councils (and the Second Council of Constantinople, which affirmed the conclusions of the first 4 councils in 553 A.D.), all addressed the doctrine of the Trinity, to some degree or another, over the course of 228 years!
Now, the first important point is that unless you're historically literate, you've probably never heard of any of these Councils. If you're of the "Nicaea invented the Trinity" crowd, you almost certainly haven't. In fact, I'm willing to bet most people who claim Nicaea invented the Trinity would not be able to name even one other Council that has ever happened (except, perhaps, Trent).
The second important point is that they can't all be responsible for inventing the Trinity. It would have been better to at least blame it all on Chalcedon, but no, anti-Christians chose Nicaea as their scapegoat. But if Nicaea invented the Trinity in 325 A.D., yet Constantinople re-opened the issue in 381, something else must have happened. What was it?
The answer is the same heretic who made Nicaea necessary. While the Church, following Scripture, had always regarded Christ as God, one famous heretic by the name of Arius (250 A.D. - 336 A.D.) served as presbyter in Alexandria, Egypt. He taught a heresy known as "Arianism" (1). Arianism, in stark contrast to Scripture, denies the Deity of Christ, claiming that Christ is merely the first created being, of separate essence to the Father. While possessing some divine attributes, Christ is not divine, being neither eternal, nor inherently divine.
In short, rather than inventing anything new, the Council of Nicaea rejected Arianism, and sought to define and refine the pre-existing doctrine of the Trinity. Most critically, it included the term "homoousios" (ὁμοούσιος) into its creed (2), which, in English, translates to "of one substance".
Just as Nicaea was primarily a response to Arius (among a few other issues, such as a failed attempt to establish a uniform date for Easter), the other Councils were reactions to other heresies. Constantinople re-affirmed that Arianism is heretical. Ephesus condemned Nestorianism and Pelagianism. Chalcedon affirmed the "hypostatic union" (how Christ took on a fully human nature, yet retained His fully divine nature) and condemned Monophysitism and Eutychianism. All of these Councils, without exception, were responses to rising heresies. At best, one can claim they invented new Trinitarianism terminology, and creeds which included it. All this did, however, is take beliefs that already existed, and gave them new clarity.
To make it obvious that such beliefs did exist, consider that some of them are still written down. An excellent example is "Against Praxeas", an early 3rd century work written by Tertullian of Carthage (155 A.D. - 220 A.D.). Though written more than a century before the Council of Nicaea allegedly invented the doctrine of the Trinity, Against Praxeas actually uses the very word! For example, in chapter 3, Tertullian writes "The simple, indeed, (I will not call them unwise and unlearned,) who always constitute the majority of believers, are startled at the dispensation (of the Three in One), on the ground that their very rule of faith withdraws them from the world's plurality of gods to the one only true God; not understanding that, although He is the one only God, He must yet be believed in with His own οἰκονομία . The numerical order and distribution of the Trinity they assume to be a division of the Unity; whereas the Unity which derives the Trinity out of its own self is so far from being destroyed, that it is actually supported by it. They are constantly throwing out against us that we are preachers of two gods and three gods, while they take to themselves pre-eminently the credit of being worshippers of the One God; just as if the Unity itself with irrational deductions did not produce heresy, and the Trinity rationally considered constitute the truth." (3).
Here, we not only see that Tertullian believed the doctrine of the Trinity, which he very explicitly mentions by name, but that he directly rejects the idea that Trinitarianism is the worship of three Gods.
So we see that not only does the Bible teach the Trinity, but that the Church recognised it long before the Council of Nicaea. What's particularly interesting, however, is that the Jews themselves recognised a sort of "Binity" even before Christ! As Daniel Boyarin notes, "The ideas of Trinity and incarnation, or certainly the germs of those ideas, were already present among Jewish believers well before Jesus came on the scene to incarnate in himself, as it were, those theological notions and take up his messianic calling." (4).
And he's not wrong. Historically, apparently surviving even up to medieval times, the Jews had a concept of "Two Powers in Heaven", a doctrine in which two beings, one spiritual, the other physical, were coequally Yahweh. Ancient rabbis would even discuss who this second Yahweh was, with theories ranging from exalted angels to even exalted humans. In light of Christ, it all makes sense: Physical manifestations of Yahweh were "theophanies". That is, pre-incarnate manifestations of Christ Himself.
Clearly, therefore, it is a myth of unforgivable proportions that the Council of Nicaea invented the doctrine of the Trinity. Pre-Nicene Christian writers believed in the Trinity. Pre-Christian Jews had a concept of plurality within the Godhead. The Bible, from start to finish, clearly portrays the doctrine of the Trinity. How can this lie be maintained? Simply because the Trinity is actually a key element in our salvation.
By this, I do not mean one has to actually know the doctrine of the Trinity to be saved. It is entirely possible to have a "baby faith" and still enter the Kingdom of Heaven, so long as that faith is indeed true. However, Christ Himself says "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”" (John 8:24).
With this in mind, we can say that to reject the doctrine of the Trinity is to reject Christ Himself! This has always been a feature of our faith, as surely as the cross itself. So of course Satan wants to make it only as sure as the Council of Nicaea. If Satan can give you the option to believe a damning lie, or reject a saving truth, he will do so. But with what we have learned in this article, we have full permission to reject his lies. Nicaea did not invent the Trinity, the Trinity ordained Nicaea.
References
1. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Arius". Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Jan. 2024 (link)
2. Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. "homoousios." Encyclopedia Britannica, July 30, 2019 (link)
3. Tertullian of Carthage - Against Praxeas, Chapter 3, ~ 210 A.D. (link).
4. Boyarin, Daniel - The Jewish Gospels - The Story of the Jewish Christ, The New Press, July 11th 2013