The centerpiece of the religion of the Old Testament and the teaching of Jesus was the absolute oneness of God. However, this posed a major challenge to Pagan Christians regarding how to reconcile their beliefs with monotheism with their belief in Jesus as divine.
The declaration of there being only one God in the Old Testament is best articulated in Deuteronomy 6:4-9, which is known as the Shema (שְׁמַע).
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”
Deuteronomy 6:4
שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד
She-ma yisrael, adonai eloheinu, adonai echad
This declaration of God’s oneness is central to Jewish monotheism. Following the declaration of God’s oneness, the Shema continues with commandments regarding loving God with all one’s heart, soul, and might; the importance of these words being kept in heart; teaching them to one’s children; speaking of them at home and away, when lying down and when rising; binding them as a sign on the hand and forehead; and writing them on the doorposts of the house and on the gates.
5 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 6 And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; 7 and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:5-9
וְאָ֣הַבְתָּ֔ אֵ֖ת יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ֥ וּבְכָל־נַפְשְׁךָ֖ וּבְכָל־מְאֹדֶֽך
וְהָי֞וּ הַדְּבָרִ֣ים הָאֵ֗לֶּה אֲשֶׁ֨ר אָנֹכִ֧י מְצַוְּךָ֛ הַיּ֖וֹם עַל־לְבָבֶֽךָ
וְשִׁנַּנְתָּ֣ם לְבָנֶ֔יךָ וְדִבַּרְתָּ֖ בָּ֑ם בְּשִׁבְתְּךָ֤ בְּבֵיתֶ֙ךָ֙ וּבְלֶכְתְּךָ֣ בַדֶּ֔רֶךְ וּֽבְשָׁכְבְּךָ֖ וּבְקוּמֶֽךָ
וּקְשַׁרְתָּ֥ם לְא֖וֹת עַל־יָדֶ֑ךָ וְהָי֥וּ לְטֹטָפֹ֖ת בֵּ֥ין עֵינֶֽיךָ
וּכְתַבְתָּ֛ם עַל־מְזוּזֹ֥ת בֵּיתֶ֖ךָ וּבִשְׁעָרֶֽיךָ
The Shema, therefore, encapsulates the essence of Jewish devotion and commitment to God, emphasizing the importance of remembering and observing God’s commandments throughout daily life. It reflects both a theological affirmation and a call to action, guiding the faithful in their relationship with God and the practice of their faith.
This was also the declaration of Jesus when a scribe asked him what the greatest commandment was.
28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32
Mark 12:29-34
And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that he is one, and there is no other but he; 33 and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any question.
Despite these clear teachings, Pagan Christians still insisted that Jesus was divine. Yet they struggled to articulate how Jesus could be God and still maintain that only one God exists. This led to numerous complex theological debates and councils in the early church that spanned hundreds of years until the doctrine of the Trinity was established in the fourth century.
Pagan Christian Response to Monotheism
Some Pagan Christians thought that the God of the New Testament was irreconcilable with the God of the Old Testament.
For example, Marcionites were a group of early Christians who believed that the God of the New Testament and the Old Testament were different entities. This belief system was founded by Marcion of Sinope around the middle of the 2nd century AD. Marcion advocated for a theology that sharply distinguished between the God of the Old Testament, whom he saw as a just but wrathful deity concerned with law and justice, and the God of the New Testament, whom he identified as a God of love and mercy revealed through Jesus Christ.
Yet other Pagan Christians, who did not want to break completely from the Old Testament, came up with many theories to try to reconcile their understanding of the divinity of Jesus with the monotheism preached in the Old Testament. They broke into a number of factions, forming different arguments to try to overcome the dissonance between their beliefs and monotheism.
Their ideologies can be split into two camps. One group viewed Jesus as God, while the other viewed Jesus as subordinate to God.
Modalism: God = Jesus
Modalism, an early Christian doctrine, posited that God manifested Himself in different forms at different times, rather than existing simultaneously as different persons. Modalists thought that God manifested Himself to mankind using the body of Jesus as a kind of mask. So, under this paradigm, it was always God. Modalists used passages like the following to justify their claim.
“I and the Father are one.”
John 10:30
Subordinationism: God > Jesus
Subordinationism is a theological view that posits the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit are subordinate to God the Father in nature, status, or role. This was the predominant view among early Pagan Christians.
Origen of Alexandria (c. 184 – c. 253 CE) was an early Christian scholar, theologian, and one of the most influential figures in early Christian theology. Origen is often associated with a form of subordinationism, a belief that within the Trinity, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are subordinate to the Father in nature and being. He viewed the Father as the supreme source and the Son as subordinate to the Father.
There were a number of groups that were subordinatist but varied in exactly how Jesus was subordinate to God. For example, in 185, Bishop Irenaeus of Lyons proposed a metaphor that “Son and Spirt are the two ‘hands of God.’1 This allowed him to say that there is still only one God while attempting to preserve Jesus’s divine nature and the Holy Spirit.
Two of the major groups of subordinationists were Arianism and Adoptionism.
Arianism was a doctrine named after a priest from Alexandria named Arius, who denied the full divinity of Jesus Christ. Arius argued that Jesus, while unique and divine, was created by God and thus not co-eternal or co-equal with God the Father. Arius argued that Jesus being “begotten” signifies he was created and that the son is always subordinate to the father. Arianism was a prominent understanding among Christians in the early church and was one of the main issues addressed at the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD.
Adoptionism in Christianity is a belief that Jesus was born as a mere human and was elected or adopted as the Son of God at a specific point in time, such as his baptism (Mark 1:11) or resurrection (Romans 1, 1 Corinthians 15:28), due to his fidelity and righteousness. Adoptionists use the following verses for their claims.
Multiple Gods problem
The fundamental problem with subordinationist ideology was that it postulated multiple gods. By emphasizing a hierarchical relationship within the Godhead, Subordinationism faced challenges reconciling their theology with strict monotheism. This theological stance suggested degrees of divinity or authority not only between the Father and Son but also between the Holy Spirit, the Word (Logos), and Wisdom (Sophia), which implied multiple divine beings rather than a single, unified God.
Jewish-Christians
The Jewish Christians, on the other hand, did not face such a problem because, to them, Jesus was just the human messiah. Among these groups were the Ebonites, Nazoreans, and Elksaites, who, unfortunately, not much is known about except what the pagan Christians wrote about them in their arguments against them.
Ebionitism: Jesus was a human Messiah
The Ebionites were a Jewish Christian movement that existed during the early centuries of the Christian Era. They show strong similarities with the earliest form of Jewish Christianity, and their specific theology may have been a “reaction to the law-free Gentile mission” propagated by Paul. They regarded Jesus as the Messiah while rejecting his divinity and his virgin birth, and insisted on the necessity of following Jewish law and rites. They used the Gospel of the Ebionites, one of the Jewish–Christian gospels. They also relied upon the Hebrew Book of Matthew, starting with chapter 3, removing the narrative of Jesus’ immaculate conception. They also revered James, the brother of Jesus, and rejected Paul the Apostle as an apostate from the Law. Their name (Greek: Ἐβιωναῖοι, translit. Ebionaioi, derived from the Hebrew אביונים, meaning ‘the poor’ or ‘poor ones’) suggests that they placed a special value on voluntary poverty.
Nazoreans: Jesus was a human Messiah
The Nazoreans, also spelled as “Nazarenes,” were an early Christian group, often considered to be one of the Jewish Christian movements. Similar to the Ebionites, the Nazoreans were Jews who accepted Jesus as the Messiah but continued to observe Jewish law and traditions. They are distinct from the term “Nazarene,” which was used as a title for Jesus and his followers in the New Testament. The Nazoreans are primarily known from references in early Christian writings, including those of Church Fathers such as Eusebius, Epiphanius, and Jerome.
Elkesaites: Jesus was a human Messiah
Elkasaites were an early Christian sect, often associated with Jewish Christianity, that emerged around the 2nd century AD. They are named after their founder, Elxai (or Elchasai). They are known primarily through the writings of early Christian heresiologists, such as Hippolytus of Rome and Epiphanius of Salamis, who wrote about them from an opposing viewpoint. Due to the scarcity of primary sources, our understanding of the Elkesaites is limited and largely based on these external accounts. The Elkesaites are often described as having a syncretic belief system, combining elements of Christianity, Judaism, and possibly other religious traditions, including Gnostic and Essene influences. They are known to have rejected the writings of Paul the Apostle and emphasized the observance of Jewish law. The Elkesaites’ view of Jesus is not well-documented. Still, based on what is known about Jewish-Christian sects of the time, they likely had a view of Jesus that focused on his role as a prophet or a messianic figure, rather than a divine being co-equal with God.
Jewish-Christianity vs. Pagan-Christianity
It is interesting that, for the most part, the challenge of reconciling Christianity with Monotheism only plagued Roman Christians. This is not surprising because they predominantly subscribed to Pauline theology that abolished the law of the Old Testament, instead telling people to use the law written on their hearts.
12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) 16 This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
Romans 2
The problem with Paul’s theology, to follow the law inscribed on one’s heart, was that the Romans were pagans through and through. So, the law they were to follow, according to Paul, would be paganism.
“Paganism” in this context refers to the polytheistic and nature-based religions practiced in ancient Rome. Roman religion included the worship of a pantheon of gods and goddesses, such as Jupiter, Juno, Venus, and Mars, among others, as well as the veneration of the emperor and the ancestral spirits. Roman paganism was characterized by rituals, sacrifices, festivals, and a variety of cult practices dedicated to different deities.
Romans didn’t even have a concept of Monotheism in their language or culture. In all their practices, even if they were to accept a single supreme deity, they never objected to denying the existence of other divine beings. This is why they struggled to reconcile their beliefs with monotheism.
Roman Paganism & Christianity
Roman paganism impacted early Christian theology in many ways, primarily through the context in which early Christians sought to define and differentiate their beliefs within the religiously pluralistic environment of the Roman Empire. This interaction influenced Christian theology, practices, and its development in the following aspects:
Adaptation of Terminology and Concepts: Early Christians adopted and repurposed pagan terminology and concepts to explain Christian beliefs. For example, the term “logos,” used in the Gospel of John to describe Jesus as the Word, was a concept with deep philosophical roots in both Greek and Stoic thought. So it is not surprising that Theophilus of Antioch, one of the early Church Fathers, who is credited with being among the first to use the term “Trinity” (“τριάς” in Greek), explained that the Trinity, according to him, consisted of God the Father, His Word (Logos), and His Wisdom (Sophia). In his work “To Autolycus” (Ad Autolycum), Theophilus writes:
“In like manner also the three days which were before the luminaries, are types of the Trinity, of God, and His Word, and His wisdom
Festivals and Calendar: Some Christian holidays were set in alignment with or in replacement of pagan festivals. The timing of Christmas, celebrated on December 25th, for instance, is thought by some scholars to be chosen to coincide with the Roman festival of Saturnalia or the birthday of Sol Invictus, the unconquered sun god, to facilitate the transition from paganism to Christianity.
Art and Iconography: Early Christian art and iconography borrowed elements from Roman pagan culture, adapting them to a Christian context. This includes the use of symbols such as the fish (ichthys), which was previously associated with pagan practices, and architectural forms like the basilica, originally a Roman public building type, repurposed for Christian worship.
Theological Development and Apologetics: The need to defend Christianity against pagan criticisms pushed early Christian writers and theologians to articulate their beliefs more clearly. This led to the development of Christian apologetics and theological works by figures like Justin Martyr and Augustine of Hippo, who engaged with pagan philosophy and rhetoric in their explanations and defenses of Christian doctrine.
Concept of Martyrdom: The valorization of martyrdom in Christianity, emphasizing the triumph of the spirit over bodily death, paralleled some aspects of Roman paganism’s honor culture. However, Christian martyrdom placed a unique emphasis on passive suffering and witness to faith, contrasting with pagan notions of heroic action.
Monotheism and Exclusive Worship: The Christian insistence on monotheism and the exclusive worship of the Christian God presented a direct challenge to the polytheistic and inclusive nature of Roman paganism, leading to periods of persecution. This confrontation necessitated theological clarifications on the nature of God, Christ, and salvation which was the entire basis for coming up with the concept of the Trinity.
Through these interactions, early Christian theology was shaped both by its opposition to and its integration of elements from Roman paganism, leading to a distinct Christian identity that was capable of incorporating converts from a pagan background while maintaining its core monotheistic and salvific teachings.
[5:17] Pagans indeed are those who say that GOD is the Messiah, the son of Mary. Say, “Who could oppose GOD if He willed to annihilate the Messiah, son of Mary, and his mother, and everyone on earth?” To GOD belongs the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth, and everything between them. He creates whatever He wills. GOD is Omnipotent.
لَّقَدْ كَفَرَ ٱلَّذِينَ قَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ هُوَ ٱلْمَسِيحُ ٱبْنُ مَرْيَمَ قُلْ فَمَن يَمْلِكُ مِنَ ٱللَّهِ شَيْـًٔا إِنْ أَرَادَ أَن يُهْلِكَ ٱلْمَسِيحَ ٱبْنَ مَرْيَمَ وَأُمَّهُۥ وَمَن فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا وَلِلَّهِ مُلْكُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَآءُ وَٱللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
[5:72] Pagans indeed are those who say that GOD is the Messiah, son of Mary. The Messiah himself said, “O Children of Israel, you shall worship GOD; my Lord* and your Lord.” Anyone who sets up any idol beside GOD, GOD has forbidden Paradise for him, and his destiny is Hell. The wicked have no helpers.
لَقَدْ كَفَرَ ٱلَّذِينَ قَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ هُوَ ٱلْمَسِيحُ ٱبْنُ مَرْيَمَ وَقَالَ ٱلْمَسِيحُ يَـٰبَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ ٱعْبُدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ رَبِّى وَرَبَّكُمْ إِنَّهُۥ مَن يُشْرِكْ بِٱللَّهِ فَقَدْ حَرَّمَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ ٱلْجَنَّةَ وَمَأْوَىٰهُ ٱلنَّارُ وَمَا لِلظَّـٰلِمِينَ مِنْ أَنصَارٍ
[5:73] Pagans indeed are those who say that GOD is a third in a trinity. There is no god except the one god. Unless they refrain from saying this, those who disbelieve among them will incur a painful retribution.
لَّقَدْ كَفَرَ ٱلَّذِينَ قَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ ثَالِثُ ثَلَـٰثَةٍ وَمَا مِنْ إِلَـٰهٍ إِلَّآ إِلَـٰهٌ وَٰحِدٌ وَإِن لَّمْ يَنتَهُوا۟ عَمَّا يَقُولُونَ لَيَمَسَّنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ مِنْهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ
- A Brief History of the Doctrine of the Trinity in the Early Church, Franz Dunzl p.17 ↩︎
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