Translating Passages on Which the Historic Doctrine of the Trinity Is Based

The problem: Throughout history, almost every branch of Christianity has endorsed the Nicene Creed, and most endorse the Chalcedonian Definition. Some contemporary denominations and translation organizations endorse equivalent statements of faith rather than the creed itself. Most churches expect Bible translations to be compatible with these commonly agreed doctrines of Christianity, since they are based on passages in the Bible. The problem is that translators don’t have a comprehensive list of these passages and their implications for Trinitarian theology. As a result, English translations fail to preserve the Christological implications of the singular Greek verbs in 1Thess 3:11 and 2Thess 2:16-17.

The solution: I present the theological conclusions and the passages on which they were based.
Background: These conclusions are the result of intense debate across the Christian world during the fourth century. By 379 these debates led to a general consensus. In 381 the second ecumenical council formalized this consensus through an expanded version of the Nicene Creed. Subsequent debates in the fifth century led to a supplement to the Nicene Creed, namely the Chalcedonian Definition. Centuries later, the Protestant Reformers re-evaluated the Scriptural basis for these ecumenical creeds, and they judged them to be sound.
The method: I have read almost the entire corpus of the fourth- and fifth-century debates, as well as works by the Reformers and by modern theologians. From the early debates I collected 493 biblical passages that were cited in support of 26 theological precepts about the Trinity. I present only the key passages, but the rest are in the paper.

Application: I believe an awareness of these passages and their theological significance can help translators and translation consultants ensure that these passages are translated in ways that are as supportive of Nicene orthodoxy as they were in the original languages.