All so-called Church Fathers before Nicea, in 325 AD., did not teach the one God was a Trinity. Like the biblical writers, they all identified the one God as the one Father alone, the Creator Almighty.

* 2nd c. AD., Polycarp calls the Father: “O Lord God Almighty, the Father of your beloved and blessed Son Jesus.”

NOTE: The Son is never called Lord God Almighty by any church father before Nicea!

* Irenaeus identifies the Father as “the One God Alone, the Creator….the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

* Justin Martyr: “The most true God, the Father and Creator of all….men and gods.”

Add to this the historical fact that all known early church council creeds, starting with the Nicene creed of 325AD., begin with the biblical confession: “We believe in one God, the Father Almighty.”

NOTE: what these early ecumenical creeds do not say: We believe in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!

Even the so-called Cappadocian Fathers, architects of the Trinity following Nicea, had “a general view of the Father as the absolute God, the divine ousia.” According to the noted Catholic scholar Karl Rahner.

This was the standard view up to the so-called Athanasian Creed, the first official trini creed of the church adopted by Rome as late as the 11th century AD.

In the introduction to The Trinity book Rahner adds:

“Despite their orthodox confession of the Trinity, Christians are, in their practical life, almost mere monotheists. We must be willing to admit that, should the doctrine of the Trinity have to be dropped as false, the major part of religious literature could well remain virtually unchanged.”