Is the Trinity a teaching of the Bible?
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#1: Is the Trinity a teaching of the Bible? Author: James_HLocation: London PostPosted: Thu May 06, 2021 1:02 pm
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The Trinity is not the God that the Bible teaches about. We do not find in Scripture the doctrine of one God in three persons. Nor does it contain the doctrine of the co-eternity of the Son with the Father as well as the doctrine of the equality of the supposed three persons.

Antitrinitarians defend what the Lord Jesus taught in Mark 12:29 BT

"Jesus answered, The first is: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one."

The chosen people believed in a one-person God according to the "shema" saying "Hear, O Israel! The Eternal is our God, the Eternal is one!" The teaching of God in three persons obscures many of the teachings in God's Word such as: "the mediation of the Lord Jesus between God and men", "the teaching of the sacrifice made to God", "the role of the Lord Jesus is God's purpose", and "calling the mother of the Lord Jesus Mary - the mother of God".

There is no word in Scripture for Trinity, Holy Trinity, Triune God, Trinity, or Triune God.  Nor do we find in the pages of God's Word the teaching that there are three persons in one God. There is no teaching that Jesus is co-eternal with the Father, that all three persons are co-eternal and equal to each other, as the doctrine of the Trinitarians assumes. This was well realized by Erasmus of Rotterdam, who pointed out that the word "Trinity" is unknown to Scripture.

This is also acknowledged by respected biblical scholars. The well-known Swedish theologian, Emil BrĂ¼nner in his book The Christian Doctrine of God wrote: (translated from English)

"It was never the intention of the first witnesses of Christ to set before us in the New Testament an intellectual problem - that of the Three Divine Persons - in order then to assert that we should worship the mystery of the 'Three in One' without a murmur. There is no trace of such an idea in the New Testament. This "mysterium logicum," that God is Three and yet One, lies entirely outside the message of the Bible. (...) None of the Apostles even dreamed that there are Three Divine Persons whose mutual relationship and paradoxical unity is beyond our comprehension."

Monotheism vs. Triads of Deities
Antitrinitarians believe that the concept of a Triune God goes beyond monotheism and derives from pagan beliefs in triads of deities that have nothing to do with the God described in Scripture.

We believe that Christianity should move toward restorationism or a return to the sources of original Christianity.

The search for the Trinity in Scripture contradicts what we read about in 1 Corinthians 8:6.

"For to us there is but one God the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through who are all things and through whom we also exist."

This is what the Lord Jesus, the apostles, and the early Christians taught. In the above verse, Paul did not mention anything about the Holy Spirit for a simple reason. Because he believed what the Lord Jesus preached in John 17:3

"And this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Him whom You have sent, Jesus Christ"

One God and One Mediator
The Bible teaches that there is one God and one mediator Jesus being the Christ sent to earth to sacrifice His life. Do you notice the absence of any mention of a supposed third person God in the verses quoted above and in the context of obtaining eternal life!

Similarly, if we examine the first three verses of the epistles we will also be puzzled. In them, the writers omit the Holy Spirit in whom they supposedly believed as part of the Trinity. In almost all of the greetings (the first words of the letters addressed to the churches), the alleged person of the Holy Spirit is not mentioned. For example, in Ephesians 1:2 we read:

" Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ".

What about the Holy Spirit? Right after that Paul wrote:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing of heaven"

See: Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians 1:2, 2Thessalonians 1:2, 1 Timothy 1:2, 2 Timothy 1:2.

This is because the phrase Spirit used by the writers of Scripture has nothing to do with the third person of God.  It is the equivalent of the Greek word "pneuma" used in the Bible as the life energy, power, manifestation of the life or work of God. The Holy Spirit is a space-filling power flowing directly from God, It is God in action.  It is by this power that God accomplished the work of creation, allowed people to speak prophecy, and transferred the life of his Son into the womb of Mary.

#2: Re: Is the Trinity a teaching of the Bible? Author: MSullivan65 PostPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2022 8:33 am
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The trinity is defined as "one God consisting of three different people." This is the traditional interpretation of the theory. They have three unique thoughts and so are three distinct people, but they are all made up of the same essence, God. There are scriptural texts that say unequivocally that God is one. Where does it say God has three unique personalities? Or is God made up of the first, second, and third persons of the trinity? We have scriptures that claim the Father, Word, and Spirit are one, but this does not imply different individuals because they are labels and expressions of the One God.



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