1989_Should You Believe in the Trinity.pdf

People often say they believe in

the Trinity, yet they difer in

their understanding of it.

What, exactly, is the Trinity?

Does the Bible teach it?

Is Jesus Christ the lmighty d

and pat of the Trinity?

Contents

Left: Egyptian sculpture of the second millennium (B.C.E.)

Triad of Amon-Ra, Ramses II, and Mut. Right: Fourteenth

century (C.E.) Trinity sculpture of Jesus Christ, the Father,

and the holy spirit. Note, three persons but only four legs.

How Is the Trinity Explained?

Is It Clearly a Bible Teaching?

How Did the Trinity Doctrine Develop?

What Does the Bible Say About God and Jesus?

Is God Always Superior to Jesus?

The Holy Spirit-Gad's Active Force

What About Trinity "Proof Texts"?

Worship God on His Terms

WAT C HT O WE R

BIBLE AND TRACT SCIEY

OF PENNSYLVANIA

ll ights Resevd

Publishers

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BIBLE AND TRACT SCIEY

OF CANDA

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206 Printing

This publication is provided

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by voluntary donations.

Should You Believe in the Trinity? English (ti-E)

Made in Canada

Unless otherwise indicated. Scripture quotations are from the moden-language

New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures-With References, 1984 Edition

3 Should You Believe It?

D o YOU believe in the Trinity? Most peo

ple in Christendom do. After all, it has

been the central doctrine of the church

es for centuries.

In view of this, you would think that there

could be no question about it. But there is, and

lately even some of its supporters have added

fuel to the controversy.

Why should a subject like this be of any

more than passing interest? Because Jesus

himself said: "Eternal life is this: to know you,

the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you

have sent. " So our entire future hinges on our

knowing the true nature of God, and that

means getting to the root of the Trinity contro

versy. Therefore, why not examine it for your

self?-John

created by God, and for this reason he must

have had a beginning. They teach that Jesus

has never been Almighty God's equal in any

sense; he has always been subject to God and

still is. They also believe that the holy ghost is

not a person but God's spirit, his active force.

Supporters of the Trinity say that it is

founded not only on religious tradition but also

on the Bible. Critics of the doctrine say that it

is not a Bible teaching, one history source even

declaring: "The origin of the [Trinity] is entire

ly pagan. "-

Paganism in Our Christianity.

If the Trinity is true, it is degrading to Jesus

to say that he was never equal to God as part

of a Godhead. But if the Trinity is false, it is

degrading to Almighty God to call anyone his

equal, and even worse to call Mary the "Moth

er of God. " If the Trinity is false, it dishonors

God to say, as noted in the book

17:3,

Catholic

Jerusalem Bible

(J B).

Various Trinitarian concepts exist. But gen

erally the Trinity teaching is that in the God

head there are three persons, Father, Son, and

Holy Ghost; yet, together they are but one

God. The doctrine says that the three are co

equal, almighty, and uncreated, having existed

eternally in the Godhead.

Others, however, say that the Trinity doc

trine is false, that Almighty God stands alone

as a separate, eternal, and all-powerful being.

They say that Jesus in his pre human existence

was, like the angels, a separate spirit person

Catholicism:

"Unless [people] keep this Faith whole and un

deiled, without doubt [they] shall perish ever

lastingly. And the Catholic Faith is this: we

worship one God in Trinity. "

There are good reasons, then, why you

should want to know the truth about the Trin

ity. But before examining its origin and its

claim of truthfulness, it would be helpul to

deine this doctrine more speciically. What,

exactly, is the Trinity? How do supporters of it

explain it?

How Is the Tiy Eplnd?

HE Roman Catholic Church states: "The

Trinity is the term employed to signiy

the central doctrine of the Christian re

ligion ...Thus, in the words of the Athana

sian Creed: 'the Father is God, the Son is God,

and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet there are

not three Gods but one God.' In this Trinity

. . . the Persons are co-eternal and co-equal:

all alike are uncreated and omnipotent. "-

dom agree. For example, the Greek Orthodox

Church also calls the Trinity "the fundamental

doctrine of Christianity, " even saying: "Chris

tians are those who accept Christ as God. " In

the book

the

same cburch declares: "God is triune....The

Father is totally God. The Son is totally God.

The Holy Spirit is totally God. "

Thus, the Trinity is considered to be "one

God in three Persons."Each is said to be with

out beginning, having exilted for eternity.

Our Orth odox Christian Faith,

The

Catholic Encyclopedia.

Nearly all other churches in Christen-

SHOUW YOU BEIEE N E Y?

Shold You Beieve It?

Each is said to be almighty, with each neither

greater nor lesser than the others.

Is such reasoning hard to follow? Many sin

cere believers have found it to be confusing,

contrary to normal reason, unlike anything in

their experience. How, they ask, could the Fa

ther be God, Jesus be God, and the holy spirit

be God, yet there be not three Gods but only

one God?

ing theological terms and explanations, inves

tigators still come away unsatisied.

In this regard, Jesuit Joseph Bracken ob

serves in his book

Wh at Are Th ey Saying

"Priests who with consid

erable efort learned .. . the Trinity during

their seminary years naturally hesitated to

present it to their people from the pUlpit, even

on Trinity Sunday....Why should one bore

people with something that in the end they

wouldn't properly understand anyway? " He

also says: "The Trinity is a matter of formal

belief, but it has little or no [efect] in day-to

day Christian life and worship." Yet, it is "the

central doctrine " of the churches!

Catholic theologian Hans Kung observes

in his book

"Beyond the Grasp of Human Reason"

HIS confusion is widespread.

Th e Encyclo

notes that the doctrine

of the Trinity is conside r ed to be "beyond the

grasp of human reason."

Many who accept the Trinity view it that

same way. Monsignor Eugene C " lark says: "God

is one, and God is three.Since there is nothing

like this in creation, we cannot understand it,

but only accept it." Cardinal John O'Connor

states: "We know that it is a very profound

mystery, which we don't begin to under

stand." And Pope John Paul II speaks of "the

inscrutable mystery of God the Trinity."

Thus,

pedia Americana

Christianity and the World Reli

that the Trinity is one reason why the

churches have been unable to make any sig

niicant headway with non-Christian peoples.

He states: "Even well-informed Muslims sim

ply cannot follow, as the Jews thus far have

likewise failed to grasp, the idea of the Trinity.

. . . The

made by the doctrine

of the Trinity between one God and three

hypostases do not satisfy Muslims, who are

confused, rather than enlightened, by theolog

ical terms derived from Syriac, Greek, and

Latin. Muslims ind it all a word game. . . .

Why should anyone want to add anything to

the notion of God's oneness and uniqueness

that can only dilute or nulliy that oneness and

uniqueness? "

distinctions

A Dictionary of Religious nowledge

says: "Precisely what that doctrine is, or rath

er precisely how it is to be explained, Trinitar

ians are not agreed among themselves."

We can understand, then, why the

New

observes: "There are

few teachers of Trinitarian theology in Roman

Catholic seminaries who have not been bad

gered at one time or another by the question,

'But how does one preach the Trinity?' And if

the question is symptomatic of confusion on

the part of the students, perhaps it is no less

symptomatic of similar confusion on the part

of their professors."

The truth of that observation can be veri

ied by going to a library and examining books

that support the Trinity. Countless pages have

been written attempting to explain it. Yet, af

ter struggling through the labyrinth of confus-

INot a God of Confusion"

claims:

"A dogma so mysterious presupposes a Divine

revelation." Catholic scholars Karl Rahner and

Herbert Vorgrimler state in their

OW could such a confusing doctrine origi

nate?

Th e Ca tholic Encyclopedia

Theological

"The Trinity is a mystery .. . in

the strict sense ..., which could not be known

without revelation, and even after revelation

cannot become wholly intelligible."

The disciples of Jesus were

the humble common people,

not the religious leaders

About the Trinity?:

gions

Catholic Encyclopedia

Dictionary:

However, contending that since the Trinity is

such a confusing mystery, it must have come

from divine revelation creates another major

problem. Why? Because divine revelation itself

does not allow for such a view of God: "God is

not a God of confusion."-l Corinthians 14:33,

Revised Standard Version (RS).

In view of that statement, would God be re

sponsible for a doctrine about himself that is

so confusing that even Hebrew, Greek, and

Latin scholars cannot really explain it?

Furthermore, do people have to be theolo-

If that

were the case, why did so few of the educat

ed Jewish religious leaders recognize Jesus as

the Messiah? His faithful disciples were, in

stead, humble farmers, ishermen, tax collec

tors, housewives.Those common people were so

certain of what Jesus taught about God that

they could teach it to others and were even

willing to die for their belief.-Matthew 15: 1-9 ;

21:23-32, 43; 23:13-36; John 7:45-49; Acts

4:13.

JB)

Is It Clearly a Bble Teacng?

F THE Trinity were true, it should be clear

ly and consistently presented in the Bible.

Why? Because, as the apostles airmed, the

Bible is God's revelation of himself to mankind.

And since we need to know God to worship him

acceptably, the Bible should be clear in telling

us just who he is.

First-century believers accepted the Scrip

tures as the authentic revelation of God. It was

the basis for their beliefs, the inal authority.

For example, when the apostle Paul preached

to people in the city of Beroea, "they received

the word with the greatest eagerness of mind,

carefully examining the Scriptures daily as

to whether these things were sO."-Acts 17:

10, 11.

What did prominent men of God at that time

use as their authority? Acts 17:2, 3 tells us:

"According to Paul's custom ... he reasoned

with them from the Scriptures, explaining and

proving by references [from the Scriptures]."

Jesus himself set the example in using the

Scriptures as the basis for his teaching, repeat

edly saying: "It is written." "He interpreted to

them things pertaining to himself in all the

Scriptures. "-Matthew 4:4, 7; Luke 24:27.

Thus Jesus, Paul, and irst-century believers

used the Scriptures as the foundation for their

teaching. They knew that "all Scripture is in

spired of God and beneicial for teaching, for

reproving, for setting things straight, for disci

plining in righteousness, that the man of God

may be fully competent, completely equipped

for every good work."-2 Timothy 3:16, 17; see

also 1 Corinthians 4:6; 1 Thessalonians 2:13;

2 Peter 1:20, 21.

Since the Bible can 'set things straight,' it

should clearly reveal information about a mat

ter as undamental as the Trinity is claimed

to be. But do theologians and historians them

selves say that it is clearly a Bible teaching?

ITrinity" in the Bible?

PROTESTANT publication states: "The

word Trinity is not found in the Bible ...It

did not ind a place fornally in the theology of

the church till the 4th century."

(The llustrated

And a Catholic authority says

that the Trinity "is not ... directly and immedi

ately [the] word of God."-New

Catholic Ency

also comments:

"In Scripture . there , is as yet no single term by

which the Three Divine Persons are denoted

together. The word

tptn; [tri "a s]

(of which the

is a translation) is irst found in

Theophilus of Antioch about A. D. 180. . . .

Shortly afterwards it appears in its Latin form of

trinitas

in Tertullian."

However, this is no proof in itself that Tertul

lian taught the Trinity.The Catholic work

Trin

itas-A Th eological Encyclopedia of the Holy

Trinity,

for example, notes that some of Ter

tullian's words were later used by others to

SHOW YOU BEUEE N E Y?

gians 'to know the only true God and Jesus

Christ whom he has sent'? (John 17:3,

Bible Dictionary)

clopedia.

The Catholic Encyclopedia

Latin

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