The Essence of Faith and the Formulation of Doctrine

Nasser Elias Khoury

From time to time, someone comes forward questioning the authenticity of the Christian faith, claiming that it has deviated from the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, they claim that fundamental Christian doctrines, such as the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Crucifixion, and Redemption, are products of later centuries in the history of Christianity. The truth is that the best approach to responding to such claims is a historical examination of the texts of the New Testament. In this regard, the First Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians holds a unique and exceptional position. It is not merely a pastoral letter of encouragement written to a community of believers; rather, it is a decisive historical document demonstrating that the essence of Christian doctrine was not the product of later theological development or of Ecumenical Councils convened centuries afterwards. Instead, it was already present and alive in the heart of the Church from the middle of the first century AD, that is, in the first generation of the history of the Christian Church.

Historical and critical research, across its various schools of thought, agrees that the First Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians is the earliest written document in the New Testament. It was written between AD 49 and 51, less than twenty years after the events of the Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension. This early date carries decisive apologetic and historical significance, since the period separating the historical events of Christ’s life and Crucifixion from the composition of this Epistle is extremely short by the standards of ancient history. This brief interval entirely rules out the hypothesis of mythical development or the gradual corruption of the text or doctrine. In the fields of sociology and the history of religions, myths or substantial alterations require successive generations, separated by considerable periods of time, in order to develop and transform facts. By contrast, the existence of a firm, established, and coherent faith less than two decades later is conclusive evidence that what was written was precisely what the early Christians had experienced and lived, without alteration.

Anyone who reads the First Epistle to the Thessalonians carefully will notice the absence of familiar theological and philosophical terms that emerged later, such as “Trinity,” “Person” (Hypostasis), and “Essence.” This absence is, in fact, a point of historical strength and credibility. These terms were formulated and developed beginning in the fourth century at the Ecumenical Councils in order to define the faith and refute heresies through the use of the tools of Greek philosophy. However, the absence of a term does not in any way mean the absence of the doctrine itself. The Epistle contains the essential foundations of all the principal Christian doctrines that were formulated at a later stage. These truths appear in it as spontaneous and established theological practices in the life of the Church, before they were given theological formulation, whether at the Ecumenical Councils or in the writings of the Fathers.

Upon examining the text of the Epistle as a whole, we find that the great doctrines upon which the Christian faith rests are strongly present and interwoven, demonstrating how naturally and unquestioningly they were accepted by believers at that time. With regard to the divinity of Christ and the Incarnation, the Apostle Paul places the “Lord Jesus Christ” on an equal footing with God the Father as a matter of course. He opens his Epistle with the words, “in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,” and uses the title “Lord,” which is the title used to translate the divine name in the Old Testament, to refer to Christ. This reflects a firmly established belief in the Incarnation: that this divine Lord became man and lived among them.

The Trinitarian features are also clearly evident through the repeated references to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as one divine reality acting in relation to humanity. In the first chapter, Paul states that the Gospel did not come to them in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction.

As for the doctrines of the Crucifixion, Redemption, and Resurrection, they form the central theme and foundation of Paul’s consolation to the believers in Thessalonica. He states clearly and emphatically: “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” Here, we see a complete theological connection between Christ’s actual death on the Cross and His historical Resurrection from the dead, as the guarantee of the believers’ resurrection and redemption.

There is no doubt that the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church is the true guarantor of preserving the deposit of faith intact, as it was received from the holy Apostles. Nevertheless, the Epistle to the Thessalonians constitutes compelling evidence and a strong defense against any claims alleging corruption of the Holy Scriptures. It indeed contains the faith in the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, the Incarnation, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and His Second Coming. This fundamental correspondence between the faith of the Church in AD 50 and its unchanging teaching throughout the ages to this very day leaves no room for the claim that the doctrine was falsified. Thus, this Epistle stands as a firm and living cornerstone, demonstrating that the Orthodox Christian doctrines were not the product of a gradual intellectual development, but were, and remain, in their essence, the foundation of the teaching of the early Universal Church and the cornerstone in affirming the continuity, steadfastness, and authenticity of the Apostolic Tradition.