The teaching of the Trinity is this....
We worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither confounding the persons; nor dividing the substance. For there is one Person of the Father; another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit.
But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is all one: the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal. Such as the Father is, so is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit.
The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Spirit uncreate. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet there are not three eternals, but one eternal. Also there are not three incomprehensibles, not three uncreated:but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible.So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty and the Holy Spirit Almighty. And yet there are not three Almighties, but one Almighty.
So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet there are not three Gods: but one God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord. And yet not three Lords but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every person by himself to be God and Lord; so we are forbidden by the Catholic religion to say, There be three Gods, or three Lords.
The Father is made of none; neither created, nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone: not made, nor created, but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons: one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirit. "And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other, none is greater or less than others; but the whole three persons are co-eternal together; and co-equal. So that in all things as is aforesaid: the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.
He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity".
The New Testament is clear and explicit in identifying the one true God as three distinct, but inseparable, coetemal and coequal persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This manifestation is given in visible and audible form at the baptism of Jesus, where the Word made flesh stands in the Jordan, the Father speaks from heaven, proclaiming Him as His beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased, and the Holy Spirit descends upon Him in the form of a dove (Matt. 3:16, 17). In the baptismal formula, commanded for the use of His disciples until the end of the world, our Lord tells them to baptize "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," Matt. 28:19, thus naming the three Persons of the one God ("name," not "names") in the customary order.In that benediction, however, which we commonly call the Apostolic Benediction (2 Cor. 13:14), the order of naming the Father and the Son is reversed, thus showing the complete equality, the one Essence or Being, of the three Persons: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all." On this and other passages of Holy Scripture is based the admirably clear statement of our "Athanasian Creed:" "And in this Trinity none is before or after other; none is greater or less than another; but the whole three Persons are coeternal together and coequal, so that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshiped." Of this faith the concluding sentence of the Athanasian Creed correctly states: "which except a man believe faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved."
One simple argument was presented by Arius is that Jesus cannot be equal to God because Jesus says...My father is greater than I John 14:28. This alone should be proof of the falsity of the belief.
The Bible clearly espresses the three Persons of the Godhead. One of the clear examples of the existence of three Persons is the baptism of Jesus recorded in Matthew 3:16-17. Here the Father speaks from heaven, the Son is being baptized, and the Spirit is descending as a dove. Jesus is not speaking to himself here. No matter what the cults may try to say this Jesus was not a ventriloquist.
Jesus, according to the more sure written word of God, is spoken to by the Father. There is no confusing of the Persons at the baptism. The transfiguration of Jesus in Matthew 17:1-9 again demonstrates the separate personhood of the Father and the Son. The Father spoke to the Son at another time, recorded in John 12:28. The Bible distinction of person of the Father and the Son is clear.
Trinitarianism is the belief that there are three persons in one God. This has been stated in various ways, such as "one God in three Persons" and "three persons in one substance." It holds that in God are three distinctions of essence, not just of activity. The names given to these three persons are God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.Orthodox trinitarian teaching, as it has developed through the centuries, also holds that these three persons are co-equal in power and authority, that they are co-eternal in the past, present, and future, and that in each the same divine nature is fully contained. However, each person is given a unique characteristic when viewed in relation to the others: the Father is unbegotten, the Son is begotten or generated, and the Spirit is proceeding. Trinitarians sometimes say that the uniqueness of the Father is displayed in creation, that of the Son in redemption, and that of the Spirit in sanctification, yet all three actively share in each work, with varying stress of functions. Since each participates in the work of the others, there is no clear distinction on that basis.
Trinitarians call these three persons the trinity or the triune God. One trinitarian scholar describes the trinity as follows: "The Trinity must be thought of neither as one God in three manifestations nor as a symmetrical triad of persons with separable functions; instead the Trinity signifies one God in three modes of existence; Father, Son, and Spirit, and each of these participates in the activity of the other." Trinitarians frequently use the diagram of a triangle to explain their doctrine. The three corners represent the three members of the trinity, while the complete triangle represents God as the whole trinity. Thus, the Father is not the Son is not the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, neither Father, Son nor Spirit is completely God without the others.
1 Corinthians 14:33 in the NIV states in part, For God is not a God of disorder but of peace. In the spurious New World Translation of the [name withheld], the verse similarly states, For God is (a God), not of disorder, but of peace. Many people will frequently cite this verse when arguing against the Trinity. After all, the concept of a triune God can be confusing. They argue that such a confusing doctrine must come from Satan, since God is not a God of confusion or disorder. Yet such an argument is illogical. That humans cannot fully understand the nature of God simply means that we are finite created beings who do not possess the mind of God. The Bible is clear that such confusions are to be expected:
Supporters of the trinity often quote the words of Jesus "I and the Father are one" as proof for Jesus' being God in the flesh. Once again they take the words of Jesus completely out of context. If one examines Jesus' own words later on in the very same gospel of John, he explains this oneness.
On the night of his arrest our Lord prayed in the garden of Gethsemane. He prayed vehemently for the well being of his Apostles. He asks God that "they all may be ONE, as you Father, are in me, and I in you; that they also may be ONE in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And the glory which you gave me I have given them, and that they may be ONE just as we are ONE." (John 17:21-22)
Clearly Jesus was not asking his Father to make his apostles one in the same person. He was requesting that they be one in thought, purpose, and deed. Jesus Christ and Jehovah, his God and our God, are indeed one, but it is a oneness in their mission. This oneness of purpose can be compared to having a President and a Vice President. They are not the same literal persons, but they are one in representing the office of the presidency.
The Holy Scripture has taught us the worship of one true God, saying these words: There is one God, and one faith, and one baptism; one God, and the Father of all things, who is over all things and through all things and in us all. From him are all things, and through him are all things, and in him are all things; to him be glory forever, amen. The almighty Father conceived a Son from himself without the company of woman, and through the Son he made all of creation, both visible and invisible. The Son is as old as the Father, because the Father was always without beginning and the Son was always conceived from him without beginning, as mighty as the Father.
The Holy Spirit is not conceived, but rather is the will and love of the Father and the Son, from them both equally, and through the Spirit are endowed with life all of the creatures that the Father created through the Son, who is his wisdom. This holy Trinity is one almighty God, always without beginning and without end. They are three in name--Father, Son and Holy Spirit--and they are not three gods, but the three of them are one indivisible God, for the three of them have one nature, and one mind,and one deed in all things.
The Trinity doctrine is not taught anywhere in scripture, but trinities were common in Paganism and were prominent in Egypt and Babylon. The beginnings of recognition of this doctrine started at the Council of Nicea approximately 325 AD.Hundreds of years after the last book in the Bible was written. The Council of Nicea was organized by the Roman Emperor Constantine and he had the final say on matters that he had little understanding of. Creed followed creed, and eventually idols were accepted as forms that we can worship God through, and Mary was exalted to be the Mother of God and worship of the saints was sanctioned. The organized church was built on top of these creeds. The creeds were and are the foundation for many of today's churches/denominations. These denominations are different to the Body of Christ spoken of in the scriptures. This shows us that most denominations are still rooted in a creed and in particular the Trinity doctrine.Most denominations still have the Trinity doctrine as a foundation and this doctrine originally came from Babylon. The mother of these denominations the Roman Catholic Church murdered approximately 50 million people, had armies and banned access to scripture to Christians. This time is known today as the Dark Ages. Some relief came during the Reformation where the teachings and authority of the Catholic Church were challenged. The Reformation restored many truths back to the Body of Christ. As a result many new denominations started up and unfortunately they held onto some of the creeds and in particular the Trinity doctrine.
The word "trinity" is not found in the Bible. But this does not mean that the concept is not taught there. The word "bible" is not found in the Bible either, but we use it anyway. Likewise, the words "omniscience," which means "all knowing," "omnipotence," which means "all powerful," and "omnipresence," which means "present everywhere," are not found in the Bible either. But we use these words to describe the attributes of God. So, to say that the Trinity isn't true because the word isn't in the Bible is an invalid argument.
Great apostate pagan trinity teaching has infiltrated the Christian Churches. Trinity or polytheism came from Babylon. The infiltration of this great apostate pagan doctrine has cause a great deception by Satan in theology. Most churches are teaching this great apostasy and worship the Trinity, which in actuality is pagan. Most Churches have departed from the true teaching that was given unto the church by Jesus Christ and the Apostles.
The Trinity is clearly revealed in the New Testament. In the formula of Christian baptism it is clearly exhibited. We are baptised into one name, because God is one; but that is the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, because it belongs alike to each of these divine persons. Here, this doctrine meets us, at our very entrance on the profession of the Christian religion. If Christ was not God, he was justly condemned to death, and his religion is false; and the Holy Spirit, the Comforter whom he promised, is as little entitled to regard as he was. If Christ and the Holy Spirit are not God, the form of baptism should be rejected, as of a piece with the false religion into which it introduces us. No man can consistently receive Christian baptism, without believing the doctrine of the Trinity.
Proof that the doctrine of the trinity is false lies in the book of 1st John. Trinitarians have used the words of 1st John 5:7-8 as a key argument for the trinity. "For there are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one." There is an enormous problem however in using these verses to bolster the trinity doctrine. The passage is not authentic! These words only appear in five later manuscripts and are not found in any of the earlier New Testament texts. These verses are such obvious forgeries that even staunch Trinitarian scholars have been forced to admit as much. Among them are the publishers of the New King James translation and various study bibles.
Most Bible dictionaries point out the Nicene Creed's doctrine of the Trinity as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit -- all constituting the same, one God -- is not found in the New Testament. It is a theological doctrine first articulated near the end of the 2nd century A.D. That trinitarian doctrine was first codified and enforced in the church via the Constantine-sponsored Nicene Creed in 325 A.D. Even after that the issue continued to be hotly debated, until such debate ultimately was brutally suppressed.
In an effort to validate their own bias towards the trinity doctrine, it appears that the translators have ignored an obvious distinction between the Logos and the Heavenly Father in John 1:1. The Greek word that is used for god in the passage is theos. In the two uses of the word "god" there is a difference in its usage. In the first use "the Word was with God" the word is ho theos meaning THE God." In the second usage of this verse it is simply theos. Given this, the proper reading of John 1:1 should be "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the God, and a god was the Word." Verse 2 goes on to say, "He was in the beginning with the (ho theos) God."
The Bible clearly espresses the three Persons of the Godhead. One of the clear examples of the existence of three Persons is the baptism of Jesus recorded in Matthew 3:16-17. Here the Father speaks from heaven, the Son is being baptized, and the Spirit is descending as a dove. Jesus is not speaking to himself here. No matter what the cults may try to say this Jesus was not a ventriloquist. Jesus, according to the more sure written word of God, is spoken to by the Father. There is no confusing of the Persons at the baptism. The transfiguration of Jesus in Matthew 17:1-9 again demonstrates the separate personhood of the Father and the Son. The Father spoke to the Son at another time, recorded in John 12:28. The Bible distinction of person of the Father and the Son is clear.
All Pagan religions from the time of Babylon have adopted in one form or another a Trinity doctrine or a triad or trinity of gods. In Babylon it was Nimrod, Semiramas, and Tammuz. In Egypt it was Osiris, Isis, and Horus. Within Israel paganism it was Kether, Hokhmah, and Binah. In Plato's philosophy it was the Unknown Father, Nous/Logos, and the world soul. In the book, A Statement of Reasons, Andrews Norton says of the Trinity: We can trace the history of this doctrine, and discover its source, not in the Christian revelation, but in the Platonic philosophy....The Trinity is not a teaching of Christ and his Apostles, but a fiction of the school of the later Platonists.
The teaching of the Bible concerning the Trinity might be summarized thus. God is a Tri-unity, with each Person of the Godhead equally and fully and eternally God. Each is necessary, and each is distinct, and yet all are one. The three Persons appear in a logical, causal order. The Father is the unseen, omnipresent Source of all being, revealed in and by the Son, experienced in and by the Holy Spirit. The Son proceeds from the Father, and the Spirit from the Son. With reference to God's creation, the Father is the Thought behind it, the Son is the Word calling it forth, and the Spirit is the Deed making it a reality. We "see" God and His great salvation in the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, then "experience" their reality by faith, through the indwelling presence of His Holy Spirit.
Critics of orthodox Christianity and liberal Bible scholars have alleged that many elements of Christianity are of pagan origin, including the doctrine of the Trinity. It is ironic that some who claim to be the only true heirs of biblical Christianity, would use these allegations about the Trinity, because the same allegations are made about the Noahic flood, the creation story of Genesis, and the Gospels. It is well known, for example, that flood stories similar to the one in Genesis can be found in the literature and legends of many peoples all over the world, e.g., in the The Epic of Gilgamesh. Many scholars have thus argued that the Noahic flood account finds it origins in pagan mythology. Many will also, no doubt, reject this conclusion, but they will unwittingly use the same kind of reasoning against Trinitarianism.For example, Mankind's Search for God states: Postate Christians of the second century took on the trappings of the pagan Roman religion. They moved away from their pure biblical origins and instead clothed themselves with pagan Roman garb and titles and became imbued with Greek philosophy....
Such an attitude left the way open for Greek philosophy and terminology to infiltrate Christendom's teachings, especially in the fields of Trinitarian doctrine and the belief in an immortal soul.
There are a few verses that many would try to show to support the Trinity doctrine. Many of these scriptures happen to name 3 things in one sentence such as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They are used extensively by trinity believers. But those scriptures that name 3 things (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) do not prove what the position or role of the Father, Son or Holy Spirit is. It does not make them co-equal. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were mentioned many times in the Law and Prophets. Are they triune also? Peter, James and John are three names often used together in the NT, but this does not make them 3 in 1.
Every Christian believes in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He finds this triune God (three Persons in one divine Being) revealed on the very first page of his Bible, where God is said to create all things through His Word, that Word being explained in the first chapter of St. John's Gospel as being in the beginning with God, and as being Himself God, through whom all things were made, "and without Him was not any thing made that was made" (John 1:1-3). The same Word, we are told in the fourteenth verse of this chapter, "was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth." That is our Lord Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary.As for the Spirit, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, the first chapter of Genesis tells us that "the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters," thus participating in the work of creation.
Later in this chapter (v. 26), in connection with the plan of the Holy Trinity to create man, we are told that God said: "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness." Of such testimonies to the Christian teaching of the Holy Trinity the Old Testament Scriptures are full, so that to give a mere listing of them would exceed the limits of this summary. One very familiar passage is the Trinitarian benediction customarily pronounced at the close of our Morning Service, taken from the Book of Numbers, ch.6, vv. 24 - 26.
Why is it that Trinitarians teach that God came in the flesh and that we must believe that Jesus is God or we are of the antichrist. Are not such teachings false? This Trinity doctrine teaches us that God is triune, not one as scripture says. This false doctrine teaches us that God came in the flesh and it teaches us that God became a man and that God died and God took sin on himself. This is not only false, but it is truly stupid. You would do very well to keep away from this false teaching. Instead we should heed the words of the following scripture: John 14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.
Those who oppose the Trinity have assertions that the Trinity is false, from Satan, and comes from paganism. However, if one is willing to see what the Bible teaches, then these assertions will be seen to be inaccurate and mistaken.
To define the Trinity belief, one must apply three terms: godhead, trinity, and person to the deity. The first two are entirely absent from the Bible, the third present only as applied to men: It has its origin in the Athanasian - Arian controversy in the early Fourth Century and was stated first at the Council of Nicea, three hundred years after Jesus introduced the complete gospel. Athanasius made it clear, at the Council, that if Christ and the Holy Spirit were not of one substance with the Father, Polytheism would triumph, thus indicating that it was intended as a means of distinguishing Christianity from Polytheism, lest the Christians be found to worship three gods and be no better than the competition.
The sayings of Jesus are the fount of all spiritual Truth.He said: If you continue in my word ... you will know the truth....(Jn 8:31,32). The Trinity can't be found there and thus has no place in Truth. The few words of the Lord that men have cited to support the Trinity teaching fail to do so but are read back to support what Jesus did not teach. One such saying is the phrase from Matt. 28:19:. . baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, with focus on the singular of name. This is a forced idea that need be no more mysterious than that of a man giving his name to his wife and children.
Christians often use phrases like "Holy Trinity", "Blessed Trinity", "Triune God" and "the three Persons of the Godhead", none of which appears in the Bible. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all both holy and blessed. "Triune God" means literally "Three-in-one God" and implies that God consists of three Persons - and three Persons only. Yet this is something that is never stated in the Bible and it seems that by the use of such terms we might be somehow diminishing or limiting God. Because is it not possible that the Beings of Father, Son and Holy Spirit are but three of the aspects or facets of his personality which the infinite God has chosen to reveal plainly to humankind!
The Bible does not teach "trinity". This is false doctrine. God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are three separate personages. They are the same in spirit and purpose but they are three distinct personages. Jesus appeared to his apostles and said, "Behold, it is I myself, handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have".Thus we see that Jesus also has a body of flesh and bones. The Trinity as taught by most Chrisian Churches is a manmade doctrine.
An important point about the Trinity is that it can be a difficult concept to grasp. But this does not necessitate an argument against its validity. On the contrary, the fact that it is difficult is an argument for its truth. The Bible is the self revelation of an infinite God. Therefore, we are bound to encounter concepts which are difficult to understand, especially when dealing with an incomprehensible God who exists in all places at all times. So, when we view descriptions and attributes of God manifested in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we discover that a completely comprehensible and understandable explanation of God's essence and nature is not possible. What we have, however, done is derive from the Scripture the truths that we can grasp and combine them into the doctrine we call The Trinity. The Trinity is, to a large extent, a mystery. After all, we are dealing with God Himself.
Trinitarian doctrine that is biblical and historically orthodox, absolutely affirms that there is only ONE True God. The Father, Yahweh, is not just one third of God - He is fully God, just as the Son, Jesus, Yeshua, and the Holy Spirit is each and together fully God. The Biblical evidence for monotheism unquestionable. The Shema finds no problem in orthodox trinitarian doctrine. Israel's famous confession of the oneness of God, reads in Hebrew: "Shema yisroel adonai elohenu adonai echad" (Deutronomy 6:4).
Notice the word is ECHAD not yachid. Echad is plural one. Compound unity. Yachid is singular. Moses did not make a mistake. The word of God says ECHAD. God is One God beyond our understanding. He has both Unity and Diversity. He is revealed as a compound One God, whose being is manifest in The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.
During the Apostolic Age of the early Church the Doctrine of the Trinity was unheard of. The early church did not believe in three persons in the Godhead. They believed in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; simply believing that each was a despensational manifestation of One and the same God. But with organized religion came intellectual theologians, without Spiritual revelation.
They took it upon themselves to take the understanding of the Word out of the hands of the Holy Ghost and place it in the hands of the 'clergy' of the organized church. Until finally, during the dark ages, the organized anti-christ church forbid the ordinary person to read the Scriptures, causing them to depend entirely on the clergy for spiritual guidance or rather, mis-guidance.
The term "Trinity" is not a Biblical term, and we are not using Biblical language when we define what is expressed by it as the doctrine that there is one only and true God, but in the unity of the Godhead there are three coeternal and coequal Persons, the same in substance but distinct in subsistence. A doctrine so defined can be spoken of as a Biblical doctrine only on the principle that the sense of Scripture is Scripture. And the definition of a Biblical doctrine in such un-Biblical language can be justified only on the principle that it is better to preserve the truth of Scripture than the words of Scripture.
The teaching of the Trinity lies in Scripture in solution; when it is crystallized from its solvent it does not cease to be Scriptural, but only comes into clearer view. Or, to speak without figure, the doctrine of the Trinity is given to us in Scripture, not in formulated definition, but in fragmentary allusions; when we assemble the disjecta membra into their organic unity, we are not passing from Scripture, but entering more thoroughly into the meaning of Scripture. We may state the doctrine in technical terms, supplied by philosophical reflection; but the doctrine stated is a genuinely Scriptural doctrine.
The use of these passages rests on a misunderstanding of the nature of Christ's incarnation. When God became man in Christ Jesus God the Son did not "give up" his divine attributes, but simply took on a human nature and denied his human mind access to his divine mind. Consequently, when he said he did not know something he was speaking truly since in the incarnation he willingly gave up access to omniscience, though he remained omniscient, since God cannot give up any of his attributes and still remain God. Therefore, when Jesus said "the Father is Greater than I" (John 14:28), he was referring to his current incarnate position in relation to the first person of the Trinity.
This also counts against Oneness, because to say that the "Father" is greater than "I" is to imply two different persons. If they were the same person, one could not be greater than the other; they would be equal. The incarnation, since it involves the Son taking on human nature and thus becoming positionally inferior to the Father, explains how the Father can be greater than the Son and yet the Father and Son share the same nature of deity. The Oneness view can't do that.
Amazingly when some Bible readers arrive at Genesis 1:26 and they read that God said "Let us make", they leap to the conclusion that God is more than one Person. There is no logical reason for this. Scripture describes God as "I"..."He"..."Him"..."Me" thousands of times. When on a very rare occasion God says, "Let us", it means that God, who is one person, involves others with Him. How is it that Bible readers imagine "Let us" to mean "Let us THREE" The verse says nothing about three members of a Godhead.
Christian theology, particularly its concepts of divine triunity and divine incarnation, far surpasses Greek theology. Aristotle, for example, taught that all objects seek to actualize their potential, i.e., they seek to fulfill the potential of their nature. Seeds seek to become plants, acorns seek to become trees, and so forth. Since God's nature is complete, He has no potential to actualize; He is pure actuality. As such, God is at complete rest; He does not move, and He does not act or interact with creation. Hence Aristotle called God the "Unmoved Mover." The Christian teaching of the incarnate logos sharply contrasts with Aristotle's concept of a God who does not move or act. Aristotle's theology could never incorporate the concept of God becoming a man, because he conceived of God as being utterly beyond the material universe.The same is true of Plato, who in the famous "Allegory of the Cave" (see book IX of the Republic) taught that the material universe is only a shadow of the true reality. Plato likened our sense perceptions to shadows thrown on to the wall of a cave by puppets, pale reflections of what Plato called the forms, i.e., the ideal objects that cast their reflections on the wall. In contrast, Christianity teaches that the material universe, though fallen, is real and that God, though He is omniscient and transcendent, can become flesh. Greek theology simply cannot incorporate these Christian concepts of God. Hence the claim that Greek thought "infiltrated" Christianity, particularly regarding Trinitarianism is patently false. As Miethe notes, Christian theology is far richer than Greek theology.
Christians agree with Greek thinkers that God is the One in whom "we live and move and have our being," but we do not agree that He is an Unmoved Mover, a being who cannot act, a being so beyond the universe that He cannot interact with it. As Paul told the Greek philosophers of Athens: "what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you" (Acts 17:23 New International Version)
Of all the doctrines listed as being major Christian teachings none is more controversial than the subject of the Godhead. For many centuries wars, persecutions, and debate have raged as to who and what is God? In looking at the subject of the Godhead there are two ways uncover what the truth is, concerning the Godhead. One is religious history and the other is the Scriptural Harmony Process. To fully comprehend the scope of the subject of the Godhead one should look closely at both approaches. The reason being, the Scriptural Harmony Process and religious history are in full agreement and harmony with each other.
The two systems also form a check and balance system for each other. Between the two study systems of greatest importance is the Scriptural Harmony Process. This is because of the power and importance of the word of God. Anytime one has a wrong interpretation of any of the scriptures a contradiction will pop up somewhere else in the scriptures. When one has correct interpretation of the scriptures the scriptures will be in total harmony with each other. This basic fact about the Scriptural Harmony Process must be kept in mind when doing a study on any subject in the Word of God.
The harm in believing in a trinity is: it gives you a false idea of what the Kingdom of God is. It limits the Kingdom of God to three "persons". It clouds the human ability to know the purpose of life. To find out the purpose of life, go to The Purpose of Life. The other harm that is done is: your prayer life and your study of God's word impinge upon your ability to worship God in the manner in which he commands. In studying the Bible you will constantly be running into principles that conflict with the false concept of the trinity. Believing in the trinity is harmful for a third reason. A tradition of man should never take priority over the Word of God (Colossians 2:8, Matthew 15:9 and Mark 7:9).
The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed... I believe in one God the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
and of all things visible and invisible;
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God,
begotten of his Father before all worlds,
God of God, Light of Light,
very God of very God,
begotten, not made,
being of one substance with the Father;
by whom all things were made;
who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven,
and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary,
and was made man;
and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered and was buried;
and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures,
and ascended into heaven,
and sitteth on the right hand of the Father;
and he shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead;
whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life,
who proceedeth from the Father*;
who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified;
who spake by the Prophets.
And I believe one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church;
I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins;
and I look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Long before the Christian era, numerous variations of the trinity existed, and they were found in a host of pagan religions and mythologies. As with so many other pre-Christian traditional customs and practices, the revival of this doctrine in the Christian era was predictable. It was essential that followers be able to see Christianity, their "new" religion, in familiar terms.
Triad deities (the worship of a three-in-one god) first appeared in ancient Egypt about three centuries after the Great Flood of Noah's time. These Egyptian deities came to be worshiped as Osiris, Isis and Horus. Some facts of very early history: After the destruction of the Tower of Babel, Nimrod and his mother-wife Semiramis, the first rulers of Babylon, fled to Egypt.
There, Nimrod (known as Ninus or Athothis, among numerous other names) shared rulership with his father Cush (Menes) in the first dynasty. After Nimrod's death, Semiramis claimed his son Horus to have been Nimrod reincarnated. These three, Osiris (Nimrod), Isis (Semiramis) and Horus (the son), came to be exalted as a triad of deities (Exploring Ancient History, The First 2500 Years, Schulz, ch. 11, 24).
In Babylon, these same three were known as Ninas, Ishtar and Tammuz. With the passage of time, this triad became well- known in many nations. Even in ancient Rome, a triad of deities was worshipped, Jupiter, Fortuna and Mercury, bearing similarities with the above-mentioned triads.
Virtually all ancient religions possessed deity "triads." Notice: Though it is usual to speak of the Semitic tribes as monotheistic; yet it is an undoubted fact that more or less all over the world the deities are in triads. This rule applies to eastern and western hemispheres, to north and south. Further, it is observed that, in some mystical way, the triad of three persons is one, applied to the trinities of all heathen religions
Copyright © 2003 - 2005 K2Lministry.com All Rights reserved
