What is The Trinity?
Since The Trinity Doctrine is the foundational Doctrine of Christianity, it is important to understand this important doctrine of revealed truth. Christianity is the only religion on earth that teaches this doctrine, and that is because the Christian revelation which came with Jesus Christ is the very epitome, and apex of all revealed truth. God turned on the full light of truth in Jesus Christ. While the seeds of this doctrine were included in the Old Testament, Judaism, does not present this doctrine. This is exclusively Christian truth. It is the only true form of Monotheism in existence. All other religions worship false Gods, because they do not worship the Eternal One in Three.
The Trinity doctrine cannot be understood though any natural means or regular channels of observation or learning. Man cannot even imagine a doctrine quite like this. And because of this, it is one of the most maligned, and misrepresented doctrines of all of the Christian truths. The Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Muslims, are always misrepresenting the Christian doctrine, stating that Christianity teaches that there are three Gods. They falsely accuse us of polytheism, or Tri-Theism, and that is just plainly a dishonest lie. No Christian church, or theologian, believes or teaches that there are three Gods. To twist the Christian doctrine into that, is simply wicked, malicious and perverted. But you are bound to run into this bald misrepresentation sooner or later, and that's why we wanted to include this informational definition. We want you to at least be exposed to the true Scriptural teaching which is held by all branches of orthodox Christianity. Only the cult branches of Christianity reject this doctrine. And that in fact, makes it a good test for basic orthodoxy. Any group that teaches that the Father is not God, that Christ, the Son is not God, or that The Holy Spirit is not God, is in fact a cult, and not a Christian institution at all. Christianity embraces the Truth, teaches the truth, and defends the truth that These Three Persons are the one true God, and there is no other God besides this One True God. His name is indeed Jehovah or Yahweh, but it also Elohim, which is a plural name. Right from the earliest pages of Scripture God is revealed as a plural unity, or a unified plurality.
"God said, Let US make man in OUR image after our likeness" (Gen. 1:26). This is the one true God holding a conversation among the three persons of His essence, and there is no way to eliminate the plurality of the text. The only other possibility for explaining the text, is to make it read "the Gods said, let us make man in our image', and that makes a pantheon of Gods, or forms the basis for postulating that man was created by aliens in spaceships, as some form of colony from outer space (a belief by the way which is widely held, despite the fact that it is absolute rubbish and blasphemy).
The Plural/Unity Language continues in Gen. 3:22, but in a more pronounced way.
Gen 3:22 "And the LORD God (Jehovah Elohim) said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil"
One of who? One of us! Now look at the very next two verses: Gen 3:23 "Therefore the LORD God (Jehovah Elohim) sent him forth" and Gen 3:24 "So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned" Jehovah Elohim is clearly an Us (plural) He (singular) being. These verses at the very beginning of the Bible should make this doctrine known right from the start.
Later on at the tower of Babel, we read the same sort of thing, but the plural Elohim is not used, only the singular Jehovah. Look:
Gen 11:7-8 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 8 So the LORD (Jehovah) scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth.
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity is simply the formal theological statement of what is taught in these verses and in numerous other passages, such as Christ's clear words.
John 10:30 - "I and my Father are one."
and:
John 14:9 - "He that hast seen me hast seen the Father"
The Trinity doctrine cannot be understood though any natural means or regular channels of observation or learning. Man cannot even imagine a doctrine quite like this. And because of this, it is one of the most maligned, and misrepresented doctrines of all of the Christian truths. The Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Muslims, are always misrepresenting the Christian doctrine, stating that Christianity teaches that there are three Gods. They falsely accuse us of polytheism, or Tri-Theism, and that is just plainly a dishonest lie. No Christian church, or theologian, believes or teaches that there are three Gods. To twist the Christian doctrine into that, is simply wicked, malicious and perverted. But you are bound to run into this bald misrepresentation sooner or later, and that's why we wanted to include this informational definition. We want you to at least be exposed to the true Scriptural teaching which is held by all branches of orthodox Christianity. Only the cult branches of Christianity reject this doctrine. And that in fact, makes it a good test for basic orthodoxy. Any group that teaches that the Father is not God, that Christ, the Son is not God, or that The Holy Spirit is not God, is in fact a cult, and not a Christian institution at all. Christianity embraces the Truth, teaches the truth, and defends the truth that These Three Persons are the one true God, and there is no other God besides this One True God. His name is indeed Jehovah or Yahweh, but it also Elohim, which is a plural name. Right from the earliest pages of Scripture God is revealed as a plural unity, or a unified plurality.
"God said, Let US make man in OUR image after our likeness" (Gen. 1:26). This is the one true God holding a conversation among the three persons of His essence, and there is no way to eliminate the plurality of the text. The only other possibility for explaining the text, is to make it read "the Gods said, let us make man in our image', and that makes a pantheon of Gods, or forms the basis for postulating that man was created by aliens in spaceships, as some form of colony from outer space (a belief by the way which is widely held, despite the fact that it is absolute rubbish and blasphemy).
The Plural/Unity Language continues in Gen. 3:22, but in a more pronounced way.
Gen 3:22 "And the LORD God (Jehovah Elohim) said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil"
One of who? One of us! Now look at the very next two verses: Gen 3:23 "Therefore the LORD God (Jehovah Elohim) sent him forth" and Gen 3:24 "So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned" Jehovah Elohim is clearly an Us (plural) He (singular) being. These verses at the very beginning of the Bible should make this doctrine known right from the start.
Later on at the tower of Babel, we read the same sort of thing, but the plural Elohim is not used, only the singular Jehovah. Look:
Gen 11:7-8 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 8 So the LORD (Jehovah) scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth.
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity is simply the formal theological statement of what is taught in these verses and in numerous other passages, such as Christ's clear words.
John 10:30 - "I and my Father are one."
and:
John 14:9 - "He that hast seen me hast seen the Father"
Definition of the Doctrine
The Trinity of God is His tri-personal existence as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In the nature of the one God, there are three eternal distinctions which are represented to us under the figure of persons, and these three are one, sharing the same essence, and equal in perfection, glory power and might. This Tri-personality of the Godhead is exclusively a truth of Divine Revelation, and cannot be ascertained by human inginuity, wisdom, education or effort.
The Scripture evidence for this doctrine
1. There are three who are recognized and called God in the Bible.
A. The Father - John. 6:27; 1Pet. 1:2
B. Jesus Christ - John 1:1,18; Titus 2:13
C. The Holy Spirit - Acts 5:3-4
B. Jesus Christ - John 1:1,18; Titus 2:13
C. The Holy Spirit - Acts 5:3-4
2. These Three are One
1Jn. 5:7; Deut. 6:4; Matt. 28:19; Jn. 10:30
3. These Three are presented as distinct and individually identifiable persons.
A. Christ distinguishes the Father as "another"
Jn. 5:32,37
B. The Father and The Son are distinguished as "the begetter" and "the begotten"
Ps. 2:7; Jn. 1:14; Jn. 3:16
C. The Father and The Son are distinguished as "the sender" and "the sent".
Jn. 10:36; Gal. 4:4
D. Jesus distinguishes the Holy Spirit from Himself and From the Father.
Jn. 14:16-17
E. The Spirit proceeds from the Father.
Jn. 15:26
F. The Spirit is sent by the Father and The Son.
Jn. 14:26; Jn. 15:26; Gal. 4:6
Jn. 5:32,37
B. The Father and The Son are distinguished as "the begetter" and "the begotten"
Ps. 2:7; Jn. 1:14; Jn. 3:16
C. The Father and The Son are distinguished as "the sender" and "the sent".
Jn. 10:36; Gal. 4:4
D. Jesus distinguishes the Holy Spirit from Himself and From the Father.
Jn. 14:16-17
E. The Spirit proceeds from the Father.
Jn. 15:26
F. The Spirit is sent by the Father and The Son.
Jn. 14:26; Jn. 15:26; Gal. 4:6
4. These Three have existed together from all of Eternity, and are not merely different manifestations at different times.
A. The Word existed with the Father before Time Jn. 1:1-2; Phil 2:6
B. Scripture clearly asserts Christ's pre-existence.
Col. 1:15-17; Jn. 8:58; Jn. 1:18; Phil. 2:6-8
C. Christ is called the creator of the world.
Jn. 1:3; 1Cor. 8:6; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2,10
D. The Holy Spirit is likewise Eternal, with the Father and the Son.
Heb. 9:14; Gen. 1:2; Ps. 33:6
B. Scripture clearly asserts Christ's pre-existence.
Col. 1:15-17; Jn. 8:58; Jn. 1:18; Phil. 2:6-8
C. Christ is called the creator of the world.
Jn. 1:3; 1Cor. 8:6; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2,10
D. The Holy Spirit is likewise Eternal, with the Father and the Son.
Heb. 9:14; Gen. 1:2; Ps. 33:6
The Three Persons are Numerically One.
The three persons of the Godhead have a numerical essence of one. That means they equally share the same divine essence or nature. All the attributes of God belong to each of the three persons. Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each possess all the substance and all the attributes of deity. The plurality of the Godhead is therefore not a plurality essences, but a plurality of personal distinction. God is not Three and One, but Three in one.
The false teachers misrepresent this doctrine as tri-theism. They say 1+1+1=3 but this is the wrong mathematical formula. The correct formula is not addition but multiplication. 1X1X1=1.
The false teachers misrepresent this doctrine as tri-theism. They say 1+1+1=3 but this is the wrong mathematical formula. The correct formula is not addition but multiplication. 1X1X1=1.
Concluding thoughts
The doctrine of the Trinity is not self-contradictory. This it would be only if it declared God to be Three in the same numerical sense in which He is said to be one. The Christian doctrine does not assert this. What we assert is that the same God who is one with respect to His essence, is three with respect to the internal distinctions of that essence. He is one being with three person-hoods. The possibility of this is denied only by assuming that the human mind is the ultimate determiner of who and what God is. The reality however is that God is what He is, regardless of what we know or think about Him.
It is, in fact, quite natural to expect that the complexity of God should be infinitely greater than our own complexity. As is evident in all of creation, the higher the order of life on the ascending scale, the more complex it is in function and faculties. God who is at the top of all life, is the most complex being in the universe. He is the uncreated and self-existing one, and we should not expect Him to exist after the same manner or in the same modes as our own existence. There is no other being like God, and it is He who has revealed Himself in this manner. It is not up to us, to formulate our own opinions about God, but to simply believe and embrace what He is according to what He says that He is. He can be anything that He wants to be. And He can represent Himself to us, in whatever manner He chooses to so represent Himself. And in this case He has clearly represented Himself as the Eternal Three in One.
Your understanding of this doctrine is not required, because you cannot conceive of it with your mere human brain even if you try. But you belief of and defense of this doctrine is absolutely required, whether you understand it or not, because God said it, and that settles it.
It is, in fact, quite natural to expect that the complexity of God should be infinitely greater than our own complexity. As is evident in all of creation, the higher the order of life on the ascending scale, the more complex it is in function and faculties. God who is at the top of all life, is the most complex being in the universe. He is the uncreated and self-existing one, and we should not expect Him to exist after the same manner or in the same modes as our own existence. There is no other being like God, and it is He who has revealed Himself in this manner. It is not up to us, to formulate our own opinions about God, but to simply believe and embrace what He is according to what He says that He is. He can be anything that He wants to be. And He can represent Himself to us, in whatever manner He chooses to so represent Himself. And in this case He has clearly represented Himself as the Eternal Three in One.
Your understanding of this doctrine is not required, because you cannot conceive of it with your mere human brain even if you try. But you belief of and defense of this doctrine is absolutely required, whether you understand it or not, because God said it, and that settles it.
Use your Browser Back Button
to Return to The Page You Were On.
