10. The trinitarian reference work, The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, 1986, Zondervan, admits: "The NT does not contain the developed doctrine of the Trinity. `The Bible lacks the express declaration that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are of equal essence and therefore in an equal sense God himself. And the other express declaration is also lacking, that God is God thus and only thus, i.e. as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These two express declarations which go beyond the witness of the Bible, are the twofold content of the Church doctrine of the Trinity.'.... It also lacks such terms as `trinity' ... and homoousios which featured in the Creed of Nicaea (325) to denote that Christ was of the same substance as the Father." And "All this underlines the point that primitive Christianity did not have an explicit doctrine of the trinity such as was subsequently elaborated in the creeds [after 325 A. D.] of the early church." - p. 84, v. 2.
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