Analyzing trinity PT. 4.1: Polycarp

Assalamalaikum all!
This article will be continuing the analyzing trinity series just where the last one left off.
Recap:
For those who haven’t read analyzing trinity parts 1-3, I highly recommend you read those. Regardless, let’s recap what we’ve learned in this series so far.
We learned that the trinity contains a logical error, known as the logical problem of the trinity. We learned that this logical error wasn’t just randomly concocted by muslims and other skeptics, but rather it was first brought up by a Christian.
We also learned of the several philosophical issues the trinity has, and lastly, we learned that the trinity is not taught in the bible, the scriptures Christians accept as authoritative, divinely inspired, and the main source of their doctrine.
Part 4:
In this series, we will be examining if the earliest church fathers, fathers before 325 CE, believed in the doctrine of the trinity. As stated in the introduction to this series, the theological implications of the early church fathers not believing in the trinity would be like a mirror being rapidly, and repeatedly, being smashed with a heavy metal battle ax for the Christian position, especially so for the catholic, orthodox, or Coptic theological frameworks. Again, read the introduction to this series to find out why this is the case.
Now with that yapping over, let’s get into the first father of the series, 10 points alex, who is, Polycarp!
Who is Polycarp:
Polycarp (c. 69–155 AD) was the Bishop of Smyrna and is considered one of the Apostolic Fathers. Another thing to note is that according to apostolic tradition, he was a direct student of the disciple John, who wrote the gosple of John. Remember that the gospel of John is one with the highest Christology of the four, so it would have major theological implications if Polycarp didn’t teach the trinity.
Polycarp’s works:
Something very important here is that we do not have very much of Polycarp to critique, as only one of his letters survived. However, that doesn’t stop us from examining this letter to gage the theology of Polycarp from what we have with us.
The only letter we have of him is called Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians. With that out of the way, let’s get into some quotes!
Before we do that though, it is important to point out that nowhere in Polycarp’s letters is the holy spirit mentioned, much less given the title of co-equality with the father and the Son. So, this fact by itself is enough to establish that Polycarp himself was not a trinitarian. However, it gets worse for the christians than that!
1. Chapter 2:
"and believed in Him who raised up our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, and gave Him glory," 1 Peter 1:21 and a throne at His right hand."
Polycarp is saying that God gave Jesus glory, and a thrown, IE giving him dominion. But how can God already be given dominion?
2. Same chaptewr:
"But He who raised Him up from the dead will raise us also if we do His will and walk in His commandments, and love what He loved."
Again, notice that its about obeying the will of the father, and not anyone else.
3. Chapter 12:
"But may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ Himself, who is the Son of God, and our everlasting High Priest, build you up in faith and truth."
Within this passage, Polycarp is saying that Jesus has a god even in heaven. The tipical response would be that this is refering to the human nature of Christ, but this doesn’t work since the context is talking about the raised Christ, which is still described to have a God over him.
Answering objections:
To rap up, we will go through some objections and give them some answers.
1. Objection: Only one of Polycarp’s letters survived. You can’t gage someone’s theology properly based on only one work they have.
Answer: What we have does not support the case that Polycarp was a Trinitarian. It is better to critique the evidence we possess than to speculate about lost writings. Our claims must be grounded in the evidence available.
2. Objection: Chapter 12 says that Jesus is an everlasting high-priest, meaning God.
Answer: This is a fair objection, but not grounded in reality. Something being everlasting can be so in two different senses. The first is the one the objection describes, which can only be used for God alone. However, heaven, hell, angels, and even our souls can be described as everlasting without it meaning that they have the attribute of existing in eternity past.
And lastly, everlasting can be used in the connotation of rolls, which would be supported by the context. Polycarp didn’t say our everlasting lord, or everlasting God, but rather he said, our everlasting high-priest, meaning that Jesus will continue to have that roll. To make an example, let’s say that I was to say, the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, is the seal of the prophets forever. Does this mean that I’m saying the prophet, peace be upon him, is eternal? Of course not! I’m just saying that he will always have that roll even while dead, this is his roll and it cannot be removed from him.
Its important to understand that explicit readings should always take president over implicit ones. Since we know who God is based on Polycarp’s writings, and he never mentions the co-equality of the sun, we shouldn’t take the implicit statement over the explicit one, especially with regards to context.
3. Objection: Polycarp still believed that Jesus was God. Is that a problem for you as a muslim?
Answer: No, it isn’t. Just because someone believes that Jesus is God doesn’t mean their a trinitarian. If that were thee only criteria, than modalists, partialists and even subordinations would be perfect trinitarians, since they all believed this.
Conclusion and connecting the dots:
As we have seen, there is no evidence that even remotely comes close to hinting at the fact that Polycarp was a trinitarian. As we have also seen, the objections Christians make are problematic and do not resolve the issue at hand.
For us muslims, we do not have this issue. the sources of sound aqeeda, the quran, authentic sunnah, and the salaf, IE the best 3 generations, contain no disagreement. Every single one of those sources espouses the exact same beliefs about God. That he is one, incomparable to his creation, and of his attributes.
To anyone who wants a clear, logical, foundational belief system with no disagreements among the earliest generations, Islam is definitely the religion for you!