2. Philosophy Which Most Affected Christian Doctrine: The secular philosophies which exerted most influence upon Christian doctrine, were Platonism and Aristotelianism. It is said of them that "they have exerted more influence upon the intellectual methods of men, taking in the whole time since their appearance, than all other systems combined" (History Christian Doctrine—Shedd—Vol. I, p. 52); and further, that they contain more of truth than all other systems that do not draw from them, or are opposed to them" (Ibid, p. 53). It is conceded that neither of these philosophers is free from error; but it is claimed by Christian writers that the "Greek theism as represented in these two systems, notwithstanding its defects, affirmed the existence of God, and of one supreme God, and taught a spiritual theory of man and human life." (Ibid, p. 55-56). It is also held that upon this point of the Divine Existence, or "Being," however much the two philosophers differ in their methods of thought and explanation, there is really no great difference between them (Ibid, pp. 56-58; and foot notes where a number of authorities are quoted to the same effect with Shedd). It should be remembered, that for myself, I limit the practical concurrence of the two simply to the existence of the Supreme Being; and in this conclusion I find the support of Maurice, who, in describing the efforts of Pico (15th century) to reconcile the Metaphysics of Plato and Aristotle, says:
"Those who professed themselves Platonists pure and simple, insisted that Unity [Oneness] had been distinguished from Being by Plato, and had been exalted above Being; that on the contrary Being, according to Aristotle, is identical with Unity. This was the point on which the philosophers were supposed to disagree. . . . . . Dealing only with the ontological, or as we call them, the metaphysical treatise, of the great master [Aristotle], he [Pico] has little difficulty in showing that he was no disparager of Unity, any more than Plato was a disparager of Being . . . . . . . . . . He is able to maintain with great plausibility and force, that Aristotle, no less than Plato, regarded Being and Unity as meeting in God, and as vital objects for human search because they meet in him." (Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy—Maurice—Vol. II, pp. 80-81).
3. The Christian Doctrine of God: In order to understand the Patristic conceptions of God, I find it necessary to state, even if ever so briefly, the doctrine of God as taught by the Messiah and the Apostles; and for this purpose I use a statement of that doctrine from Year Book II; Lesson XXXVI.
"The existence of God both Jesus and the Apostles accepted as a fact. In all the teachings of the former He nowhere seeks to prove God's existence. He assumes that, and proceeds from that basis with His doctrine. He declares the fact that God was His Father, and frequently calls Himself the Son of God.[2] After His resurrection and departure into heaven, the Apostles taught that He, the Son of God, was with God the Father in the beginning; that He, as well as the Father, was God; that under the direction of the Father He was the Creator of the world; that without Him was not anything made that was made.[3] That in Him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily;[4] and that He was the express image of the Father's person.[5] Jesus Himself taught that He and the Father were one;[6] that whosoever had seen Him had seen the Father also;[7] that it was part of His mission to reveal God, the Father, through His own personality; for as was the Son, so too was the Father.[8] Hence Jesus was God manifested in flesh—a revelation of God to the world.[9] That is, a revelation not only of the being of God, but of the kind of being God is.
"Jesus also taught (and in doing so showed in what the 'oneness' of Himself and His Father consisted) that the disciples might be one with Him, and also one with each other, as He and the Father were one.[10] Not one in person—not all merged into one individual, and all distinctions of personality lost; but one in mind, in knowledge, in love, in will—one by reason of the indwelling in all of the one spirit, even as the mind and will of God the Father was also in Jesus Christ.[11]
"The Holy Ghost, too, was upheld by the Christian religion to be God.[12] Jesus ascribed to Him a distinct personality; as proceeding from the Father; as sent forth in the name of the Son, as weeling love; experiencing grief; as forbidding; as abiding; as teaching; as bearing witness; as appointing to work; and as interceding for men. All of which clearly establishes for Him a personality." (Mormon Doctrine of Deity—Roberts—Ch. iv.).
4. The Trinity of the Christian Doctrine: "The distinct personality of these three individual Gods (united however into one Godhead or Divine Council), was made apparent at the baptism of Jesus; for as He, God the Son, came up out of the water from His baptism at the hands of John, a manifestation of the presence of the Holy Ghost was given in the sign of the dove which rested upon Jesus, while out of the glory of heaven the voice of God the Father was heard saying, 'This,' referring to Jesus, 'is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' The distinctness of the personality of each member of the Godhead is also shown by the commandment to baptize those who believe in the Gospel equally in the name of each person of the Holy Trinity. That is, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. (Matt. xxviii, 19-20.) And again, also in the Apostolic benediction, viz., 'The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.' (II Cor. xiii, 14.)
"These three Personages constitute the Christian Godhead, the Holy Trinity. In early Christian theology they were regarded as the Supreme Governing and Creating Power in heaven and in earth. Of which Trinity the Father was worshipped in the name of the Son, while the Holy Ghost bore record of both the Father and the Son. And though the Holy Trinity was made up of three distinct persons, yet did they constitute but one Godhead, or Supreme Governing Power.
"The foregoing doctrine of God, taught to the Christians in Apostolic times, awakened their pious reverence without exciting their curiosity. They dealt with no metaphysical abstractions, but were contented to accept the teachings of the Apostles in humble faith, and believed that Jesus Christ was the complete manifestation of Deity, and the express image of God His Father; and hence a revelation to them of God; while the Holy Ghost they accepted as God's witness and messenger to them." (Ibid, Ch. iv.).
5. Patristic Arguments for the Divine Existence: The main argument of the Christian Fathers for the Divine Existence, as already stated (Lesson 3, note 11), rested upon the innate consciousness of the human mind. "But," says Shedd, in his History of Christian Doctrine (Vol. I, p. 230):