Today's biblical archaeology account....
Gathering Stones at the Peter's House.
14 ¶And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever.
15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.
Matthew 8:14-15
Charles Ryrie in his work, "A Survey of Bible Doctrine", identifies the Doctrine of the Trinity as
God as Three in One -- the Trinity
There is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4), but within that unity are three eternal and co-equal Persons, all sharing the same essence and substance, but each having a distinct existence.
The Bible states that there is only one true God. But it also states that there was a man named Jesus Christ who claimed to be God, and that there is Someone called the Holy Spirit who is also God.
The concept of the Trinity focuses on God's tri-unity: three persons/one God. The Father is recognized as God; Jesus Christ is recognized as God and claimed oneness with God (John 10:30-33); the Holy Spirit is recognized as God (Acts 5:304). See also Matthew 28:19, 2 Corinthians 13:14.
I want to focus on the statement, "Jesus Christ is recognized as God...."
There are certain attributes which assign deity to a specific moment or period of time. One of those attributes is the worthiness of praise.
"...Five gospels record the life of Jesus. Four you will find in books and one you will find in the land they call holy. Read the fifth gospel and the world of the four will open to you."( From the publisher," With Jesus Through Galilee: According to the Fifth Gospel,"Bargil Pixner)
So, what does the gospel of the land tell us about Jesus Christ being God and being worthy of praise?
If we travel to first-century Capernaum, we could go to the house of Peter and find that it has been converted into a house church, that the inside walls have been modified and plastered and beautiful mosaics cover the floors. A baptistery would be added and a seat would reach around the circumference of the main room. And what does this house church have to do with the determination that Jesus Christ is God?
Well, Peter walked with Christ for three years across Galilee, Samaria, and Judea. He was present at the transfiguration when the glory was restored for a while to the Living Word. He was one of the leaders of the early church in Jerusalem, and he was in Jerusalem at the crucifixion of Christ and the glorious resurrection three days later. Peter was in Jerusalem fifty days later when the Spirit of God would come as the Mighty Rushing Wind to empower the believers to equip them for the work for which they were called.
Again, what is the significance of Peter's house in Capernaum? It is believed to be the first house church (domus ecclesia) for Christians to worship, and eventually it became a point where most Christians visited on their pilgrimages to the Holy Land. And it is the house where 131 inscriptions were found during the excavations of Capernaum in 1905 and in 1921. One hundred thirty one inscriptions. That "fifth gospel" had a lot to say in Capernaum. That "fifth gospel" records the name of Jesus Christ
The Lady Egeria, a Spanish pilgrim, visited the site at some time between 381 and 384 AD during her pilgrimage to the Holy Land: "The house of the prince of the Apostles (St. Peter) in Capharnaum was changed into a church; however, the walls (of that house) are still standing as they were (in the past)." In fact, the pottery sherds in the plaster date many of the inscriptions to the first-century house church.
The glorious part and the point of the posting: Those inscriptions identify Jesus Christ, both by name and by character. "Lord" ... "Jesus," ... "Christ" ... "Amen" and "Kyrie Eleison." There is an inscription that identifies Jesus Christ as "the Most High God".
It seems that those who lived in the city where Jesus conducted his first-century ministry were certainly aware that Jesus Christ was the "Most High God", and nothing less.
One of the symbols on the wall of Peter's house in Capernaum is the inscription of the letter "rho" with the Christian markings. A sign for Christianity was to make the sign of "rho" in the ground, and if one extended the two lines of "rho" it changed the translation of the letter into the context of "the one who is and who is to come" This symbol was safely "stored" in the plaster walls of Peter's home in Capernaum until excavation in 1905 and again in 1921 resulted in the removal the inscriptions in Peter's house and relocating them in the control of the Catholic magistrate in Jerusalem. The early symbol of "Christ" was later replaced by the "chi-rho" symbol identified with Constantine and his conversion to Christianity.
~serapha~