Steve Stanley’s Reviews > 40 Questions About the Trinity > Status Update

In sum, 'heresy' is not a term to be thrown around lightly. It does not apply to tertiary or even secondary matters of biblical interpretation. Instead, it connotes a willing departure from the clear teaching of the Bible on a matter of first importance.

[H]eresy is demarcated by its departure from Scripture on a primary doctrine. . . . Primary doctrines are those that, if they were denied, would change the very essence of the Christian faith. Therefore, denying the Trinity or the deity and humanity of Christ would be considered heresy.

Heresy ... requires some definition. Heresy is not just any disagreement among Christians regarding biblical interpretation. Heresy is sometimes too flippantly or hastily thrown out in theological debate. As we are using it here, *heresy is a willful departure from the clear teaching of Scripture, as it has been interpreted by a consensus of the church throughout space and time, on a matter of primary importance*.

We should also note that, in this text [Heb 1:8-12], the writer [of Hebrews] names the Son 'Lord' (*kyrios*), and in the OT text the term 'Lord' (*kyrios*) is clearly a reference to YHWH, God himself. This gives further credence to the idea that when we see 'Lord' used as a name for Jesus in the NT, it is no mere honorific—it is an indication of his shared divinity with the Father and the Spirit.

Paul also attributes the names of 'God' and 'YHWH' to Jesus in Romans 9:5 and Philippians 2:9-11, respectively. . . . Additionally, we could point to the fact that Paul's nearly constant use of *kyrios* ('Lord') as a title for Jesus appears to be a deliberate ascription of the Tetragrammaton ('YHWH') to Jesus.

In order to identify whether or not Jesus or the Holy Spirit stood on the divine or creaturely side of the equation, the early church commonly referred to four markers: appellations, attributes, actions, and adoration.

One helpful way of thinking through these questions is the so-called Wesleyan quadrilateral, which is associated with the founder of Methodism, John Wesley: Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience. Although Wesley himself never framed his thinking in this way exactly, it still summarizes a useful method that Protestant theology should aim for.