Dr. Bernard, anybody who has read your books, The Oneness of God and your books on church history,

which you certainly hope everybody has, they would have come across a name that, the name of a

historical figure that I'd like to ask you about today. The name is Turtullian. The question is, who was

Turtullian and why should modern Christians care who he was? Tertullian was a Christian writer who

lived around AD 200. He was a lawyer who converted to Christianity in middle age, and he became a

presbyter or local preacher. So he never was a

bishop, but he did write extensively on several things. And what he's significant because,

depending on which writer you consult, he's sometimes called the father of theology, but he's

considered the father of Trinitarianism, because he is definitely, without

question, the first writer to speak of God as three persons in one substance. He's also the first

writer to use the Latin term for Trinity, Trinitas. Now, there is one Greek writer before him

who used a Greek term that can be translated the same way.

But when you read that writer's thought,

he didn't talk about persons,

and it's unlikely that he meant anything like what Tertullian meant. So we can

justly say that Tertullian is the first Christian writer to use the term Trinity for God. So he is the

inventor of the terms. Now, Trinitarians will say their doctrine is in the text, but most of scripture,

but most church historians that are not of an evangelical persuasion that have to find everything

in the Bible, they will be honest to say, Tertullian was an important step in the development

of the Trinity. He's the first one to actually teach the doctrine

of the Trinity using the terms and the concept of three persons in one God or in one substance.

Now, even Catholic writers are very willing to say that because they believe in tradition as equal

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