The word “trinity” appears nowhere in the Bible. The first person to ever mention the word, “trinity” was the early church father, Tertullian and that wasn’t until the end of the 2nd century. Why then do so many Bible based Christians believe in the trinity? Let’s start with some basic questions, look at God’s Word, and see where it takes us.
Where did God come from?
- Psalm 90:2 “From eternity to eternity, you are God.”
- Colossians 1:16-17 “For in him (Jesus) all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
The God of our universe is the first being to ever exist. Nothing and no one existed before Him. He has always existed as God and He has never been anything less than God.
Is there more than one God?
- Isaiah 44:6-8 “I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God…Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other God; I know not one.”
There always has been and always will be one God. He doesn’t even know of any other Gods. If your mind is pushing back on this point and going to Psalms 82:6 “ye are gods,” check out this other article, “How Many Gods Are There?” (https://jllds.org/2023/12/15/how-many-gods-are-there/)
How then do we make sense of passages that appear to have multiple figures of deity?
John 1:1-2 “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.”
- From the very beginning of eternities past, Jesus has always been God and he has always been with God. How is this possible if there is only one God?
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Premise 1 – Jesus calls the Father: God
- John 20:17 “Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
- Matthew 27:46 “About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”)
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Premise 2 – The Father calls the Son (Jesus): God
- Hebrews 1:8 “But about the Son he (the Father) says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever;”
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Premise 3 – The apostles call the Holy Spirit: God
- Acts 5:3-4 “Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”
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Premise 4 – The Father, Son and Spirit are separate consciousnesses (persons) and separately interact with each other.
- Matthew 3:16-17 “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
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Summary:
- There is only one God who has ever existed throughout all of time
- The Father, Son and Spirit are each called God
- All three of them separately interact with each other
Trinity: 1 in “being” but 3 in “person”
After understanding this, we can look back at John 1:1-2 and understand that in the beginning, Jesus was with God (the Father & God the Holy Spirit) and He was God (the Son). All 3 have always existed together as God.
What is the difference between a “being” and a “person”?
- A being is the nature of “what” you are. A person is the consciousness of “who” you are.
- Example: I am a human. That is “what” I am. I am made of bones, organs, skin, and muscle. That is the nature of “what” I am but that is not the identity of “who” I am. I am Paul. That I am an accountant who enjoys basketball and having fun with friends. I also have a wife and kids. That is WHO I am…but that is not WHAT I am. With these distinctions in mind, let’s ask the two big questions:
- WHAT is our creator? He is a God (the one and only true God).
- WHO is our creator? He is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
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Common Objections:
- 3 in 1 is a contradiction and doesn’t make any sense.
- Response: I have a wife and 3 kids. Therefore, I have 1 family that is made of 5 family members. That is 1 family but 5 members. Each member separately interacts with each other, but we are not 5 separate families. We are still together 1 family. 5 in 1 is not a contradiction in the same way that 3 in 1 is not a contradiction.
________________________________________________________ - Skeptics of the trinity will often give this math equation and demand an answer:
1 + 1 + 1 = ?
But in order to accurately answer this, we need to break down what each number is. Here is the equation one more time:
1 person + 1 person + 1 person = 3 persons
And we can’t forget that a “being” is different from a “person” in the similar way that a family “member” is different than a family “unit.”
1 dad + 1 mom + 3 children = 1 Family
Taking this into consideration, here is the equation one more time applying it to the Trinity:
1 person (Father) + 1 person (Son) + 1 person (Holy Spirit) = 1 being (God)
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3. Jesus is called the Son of God and the firstborn of all creation. Clearly Jesus and the Father are two separate God’s and two separate beings.
- Response: Take a look at this article that breaks down these titles of Jesus: Who Is Jesus Really? (https://jllds.org/2024/01/26/who-is-jesus-really-2/)
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LDS Godhead VS Biblical Trinity
Even though the word “trinity” is not in the Bible, the concept of the trinity is everywhere, both Old and New Testament. Please let me know your thoughts, things you appreciated or things that you disagreed with in the comment section below. Thank you for reading and God bless!
JLLDS Ministries 
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