Page "Tertullian" Paragraph 2

Though conservative, he did originate and advance new theology to the early Church.

He is perhaps most famous for being the oldest extant Latin writer to use the term Trinity ( Latin trinitas ), and giving the oldest extant formal exposition of a Trinitarian theology.

Other Latin formulations that first appear in his work are " three Persons, one Substance " as the Latin " tres Personae, una Substantia " ( itself from the Koine Greek " treis Hypostases, Homoousios ").

He wrote his trinitarian formula after becoming a Montanist ; his ideas were at first rejected as heresy by the church at large, but later accepted as Christian orthodoxy.

However, unlike many Church fathers, he was never canonized by the Catholic Church, as several of his later teachings directly contradicted the actions and teachings of the apostles.

( For example, Tertullian taught that Christians should never flee from persecution, and that widows who remarried were committing adultery ; both teachings contradicted the epistles and actions of the Apostle Paul.