مرتضی صانعی

Christians often appeal to the Gospel of John in discussions of the Trinity and maintain that this Gospel presents the divinity of Jesus. For this reason, the Gospel of John has long attracted the attention of researchers and scholars and has, seemingly, faced numerous challenges. A careful analysis of this Gospel based on the commentaries written on it by New Testament exegetes can clarify its position regarding the doctrine of monotheism or the doctrine of the Trinity and resolve existing ambiguities. Moreover, such a study may reveal the often unheard voice of the minority monotheistic current within Christianity in contrast to the dominant Trinitarian perspective. The present study aims to examine the issue of the Trinity and monotheism through a commentary based approach. The findings indicate that two categories of passages can be extracted from the Gospel of John. The first category consists of challenging passages from which the impression has been drawn that this Gospel emphasizes the divinity of Jesus Christ. These passages are critically examined and evaluated in light of existing biblical commentaries, demonstrating that such interpretations are open to challenge and reconsideration. The second category includes passages that clearly support monotheism and indicate that Jesus possesses a human nature rather than a divine one.

The relationship between God the Father and the Son has long been a point of contention among Christians. Arius is a significant figure in this regard; he believed in the created nature of Jesus Christ and denied that his essence was the same as the Father's. In contrast, Athanasius believed in the consubstantiality of the Father and the Son. The purpose of examining the controversy between the ideas of Arius and Athanasius is to identify the consequences it left on Christianity. Therefore, the main question of this research is ‘What results did Arius's thought have and what theological effects did it leave on Christianity?’ The present study, by a descriptive and analytical method, aims to answer the main question. The most important results obtained are that Arius's ideas provoked opposition, such as the reaction of Athanasius, and created controversy, which damaged the doctrines of the Trinity, Incarnation, and Salvation. In the field of conflict between unity and trinity, it somehow led to the development of the official Christian theology, namely the Trinity.