Is the Trinity a biblical doctrine?
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Verses that prove that Christ is NOT God

By Dexter T. Manglicmot

This is an article that appeared in the July 2002 issue of the God's Message Magazine

The belief in the Trinity or that one God is allegedly composed of three divine persons, namely God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, is upheld by many professing-Christians nowadays. But the question is, is the belief in the Triune God truly Christian?

To answer this question, we must know whom Christ and the early Christians recognized and taught as the true God. Moreover, we must understand how the Trinity doctrine came about.

Not in the Scriptures

The doctrine of the Trinity cannot be found in the Holy Scriptures. There is no mention of the term Trinity and there is no teaching that God is composed of three divine persons. Those uphold the Belief in the Trinity know well that the Trinity doctrine cannot be found in the New Testament.

"The word Trinity does not appear in the New Testament" (The Teaching of Christ, p.177)

Neither can it be found in the Old Testament as Joseph Pohle, author of The Divine Trinity: A Dogmatic Treatise, declares:

"It cannot therefore be seriously maintained that the mystery of the Divine Trinity was clearly revealed in the Old Testament". (p. 20)

And because of this, Pohle concludes this doctrine to be unscriptural:

"Though the exact terms in which the Church has formally defined the dogma of the Blessed Trinityare not in the Bible, and may therefore, in a sense be called unscriptural." (Ibid., p.22)

Further investigation of the Trinity doctrine would reveal that proponents of the belief that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are also God admit that these teachings are not found in the Bible. Raymond E. Brown, in his book, Jesus: God and Man, states:

"Jesus is never called God in the Synoptic Gospels, and a passage like Mk. 10:18 would seem to preclude the possibility that Jesus used the title of himself. Even the fourth Gospel never portrays Jesus as saying specifically that he is God. The sermons which Acts attributes to the beginning of the Christian mission do not speak of Jesus as God. Thus, there is no reason to think that Jesus was called God in the earliest layers of New Testament tradition. This negative conclusion is substantiated by the fact that Paul does not use it in the title in an epistle written before 58." (p. 30)

In fact, the teaching that Christ is God was only made by the Catholic Church in 325 A.D. at the Council of Nicaea, years after the Lord Jesus Christ had ascended to heaven and after the death of the apostles:

"Thus, for example, it was not until 325 A.D., at the Council of Nicaea, that The Church defined for us that it was an article of faith Jesus is truly God." (Discourses on the Apostles Creed, p.30)

The teaching that God has a third person in the form of the Holy Spirit cannot also be found anywhere in the Bible. Joseph Pohle admits this fact in his book, The divine Trinity. He said:

"THE NAME GOD APPLIED TO THE HOLY GHOST.-Although the Bible nowhere expressly calls the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity God".

The teaching that the Holy Spirit is God was also made by the Catholic Church in the 381 at the Council of Constantinople. Clement H. Crock says:

"In 381, at the Council of Constantinople, it was defined that it is an article of faith that the Holy Ghost is God." (p. 206)

After these two proclamations of faith by the Catholic Church, the stage was set for them to teach the unbiblical Trinity doctrine. The most complete formulation of the Trinity doctrine can be traced back to the seventh century. Ludwig Ott attests to this in his book, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma:

"The most complete formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity in a Creed since the times of the Fathers is found in the Symbol of the 11th Synod of Toledo (675), which is composed mosaic-like out of the texts from the Fathers (above all St. Augustine, St. Fulgentius, St. Isidore of Seville) and the former Synods (especially that of the 6th Synod of Toledo, 638). D 275-281." (p. 53)

Ironically, thought the Catholic Church openly admits that the teaching that Christ and the Holy Spirit are the second and third persons, respectively, cannot be found in the Holy Scriptures, they continue to uphold the belief that there is one God with three divine persons. If the Trinity doctrine were really taught by the Lord Jesus Christ and the apostles, it wouldnt have taken two councils and many years to formulate this doctrine.

It amusing to know that even Catholic authorities themselves are baffled by their own doctrine and cannot explain why the one God would be composed of three persons-and how three persons can only equal one, and how one can be composed of three. Martin J. Scott, author of God and Myself, has this to say:

"The Trinity is a wonderful mystery. No one understands it. The most learned theologian, the holiest Pope, the greatest saint, all are as mystified by it as the child of seven. It is one of the things which we shall know only when we meet God face to face." (p. 118)

Thus, the belief in the triune God is not only not found in the Scriptures but a direct opposition to the teachings of the Bible concerning God.

Who the Bible teaches as the true God

In the Old Testament times, we can read word for word from the Holy Scriptures that the prophets of God recognized the Father as their one and only God:

"Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us?" (Mal. 2:10, New King James Version)

The apostles also taught that the true God is the Father who is the creator of all things:

"Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we for him. (I Cor. 8:6, I bid)

The teachings of the prophets and the apostles are in accord with the teaching of Christ that the Father in heaven is the one true God:

"Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, "Father, the hour is come; Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You.

"And this is eternal life, that they might know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (Jn. 17:1, 3, I bid)

Above all, God Himself left no doubts that there is no other God besides Him. This He declared through Prophet Isaiah:

"Tell and bring forth your case; yes, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this from ancient time? Who has told it from that time? Have not I the Lord? And there is no God else besides Me, a just God and a Savior; there is none beside Me. (Is. 45:21, I bid)

Let us take note that the belief of those who uphold the Trinity doctrine cannot be found anywhere in the Holy Scriptures. On the other hand, the belief that there is only one true God, the Father in heaven, is proven time and again by the Bible. The father in heaven, not the Son or the Holy Spirit, is the God who should be recognized by all as the one true God.

Let us reject the Trinity doctrine and any religion that professes this belief since the belief in the triune God is both unchristian and unbiblical.

References

Brown, Raymond E. Jesus God and Man modern Biblical Reflections. Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1967

Crock, Rev. Clement H. Discourses on the Apostles Creed. New York: Joseph F. Wagner, Inc., 1960

Ott, Dr. Ludwig. Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma. Illinois: Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., 1960

Pohle, Ret. Rev. Msgr. Joseph. The Divine Trinity. n.p.: Preuss, B. Herder Books Co. 1911

Scott, Martin J. God and Myself. New York: P.J. Kenedy & Sons, 1917

The Teachings of Christ. U.S.A.: Our Sunday Visitor, Inc. 1977