Michael Servetus and the Restitution of Jesus Christ

Michael Servetus (Sp. Miguel Serveto Conesa, 1511-1553).1 Born in Villeneu(f)ve, Spain, to a devoted Catholic family of nobility, his father was a notary and his mother was a Jew. A child prodigy, he grew up in the early stages of the Spanish Inquisition, when the government forced adherence to Catholic Christianity and thus its doctrine of the Trinity. This religious persecution by the Roman Catholic Church aroused serious questions in Servetus’ youthful mind. While studying law at the French University of Toulouse at the age of seventeen, he became shocked at his first reading of the Bible, which he did in its original languages. He concluded that the Bible did not support the doctrine of the Trinity. He also asserted that Christians should not demand adherence to doctrines that are unessential to their faith, as was this doctrine, especially if unsupported by the Bible.

Consequently, at the youthful age of twenty, Servetus naively set himself to the daunting task of correcting this supposed theological error. As an assistant to Quintana, confessor of Emperor Charles V, Servetus became familiar with some of the inner workings of the Roman Catholic Church, and he was dismayed by it. Spurned of a requested hearing with his church and then denied interviews with Protestant leaders (except Oecolampadius), especially in France and Switzerland, he quickly wrote and published his first theological book. Entitled On the Errors of the Trinity (1531), it consisted of only 119 pages.2 Early Protestant leader Wolfgang Capito wrote that “the book became remarkably popular.”3 Even at that early age, Servetus was fluent in Spanish, Latin, Hebrew, and Greek, the last two being the original languages of the Bible. Servetus’ father apparently had trained him in these languages during his youth, and he later learned Arabic as well.

In his book, Servetus affirms the sole authority of the Bible in doctrinal matters and denies that it contains either the doctrine of the Trinity or its terminology. He lodges a scathing rebuke against the Church, asserting that its inclusion of the doctrine of the Trinity in Church creeds reveals that they are mere inventions of men. He contends that the Bible designates the Holy Spirit only as God’s “activity,” i.e., the power of God, and thus not a person. He alleges that the Trinity doctrine, as proclaimed in the Athanasian Creed, is an insuperable and unnecessary obstacle in the conversion of Jews and Muslims to Christianity. And he rightly insists that he believes in the Trinity as generally taught by the apologists. Finally, Servetus contends that the Protestant Reformation had not gone far enough and that he is attempting to reestablish pre-Nicene, biblical Christianity.

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Author: Kermit Zarley

Keywords: Servetism, Servetus, Michael Servetus, Unitarian, Unitarians, Nontrinitarianism, Socinian, Socinianism, Arian, Arianism, Heresy, Heretic, Trinity, Trinitarian, Trinitarianism, Triunity, Restitutio, Christianismi Restitutio, John Calvin, Calvin, tolerance, intolerance, religious tolerance, religious intolerance, racovian catechism

Bible reference(s): Rev 13:10, Rev 13:13, Rev 13:15, Rev 13:17, Rev 14:13

Source: The Restitution of Jesus Christ, 2008.

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