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01 - Introduction
to the Trinity Doctrine.
Part 02 - The Father is the Supreme and Most High God.
Part 03 - Who is Jesus?
Part 04 - True meaning of the word 'God'.
Part 05 - Scriptures that are used to support
the Trinity doctrine.
Part 06 - What christians have said prior
to Nicea.
Part 07 - How
the Trinity doctrine came about.
Part 08 - Why
challenge the Trinity doctrine?
Part 09 - Trinity
doctrine conclusion.
Part 10 - How
can the Trinity doctrine be wrong?
Part
11 - 100
verses that show God and Jesus to be different.
Part 12 - Join a discussion on the Trinity
doctrine.
Part 02 (The Father is the Supreme and Most High God)
Have you ever been confused by the
following scriptures.
1 John 4:12 (English-NIV)
No
one has ever seen God; ....
Or
1
Timothy 1:17 (English-NIV)
Now to the King eternal,
immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever.
Amen.
Or
1 Timothy 6:15-16 (English-NIV)
15 which God will bring about
in his own time, God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord
of lords,
16 who alone is immortal
and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see.
To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
What does it mean that no one has seen God? Haven't countless people seen Jesus who is suppose to be God incarnate? Surely those who saw Jesus, saw God? This verse seems to contradict the understanding of many, but the word "God" in these verses are actually referring to the Father, and not a Trinity, as the following scriptures will prove.
John 6:46 (English-NIV)
No
one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen
the Father.
John 1:18 (English-KJV)
No
man hath seen God at any time, the only
begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
John 5:37 (English-NIV)
And the Father who sent me
has himself testified concerning me.
You have never heard his
voice nor seen his form.
So it is obvious that no one can see God, but only his son can reveal him to us.
This next scripture would have to be one of the most ignored verses in the Bible, because it does not fit in with most peoples theology.
1
Corinthians 8:5-6 (English-NIV)
5 For even if there are so-called
gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many
"lords"),
6 yet for us there is but
one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and
there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and
through whom we live.
This scripture plainly points out that
for us (believers) there is only one God the Father and Jesus is our
only Lord.
You cannot make this scripture say anything
else without misquoting it. It is very straight forward and to the point. The
amazing thing about this scripture is the fact that it is not isolated. The
Bible is full of scriptures that teach us that the Father is the one true
God and Jesus Christ is his Son.
James 2:19 (English-NIV)
You believe that there is
one God. Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder.
John 17:3 (English-NIV)
Now this is eternal life:
that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom you have sent.
This verse is actually telling us that Jesus is not the only true God. The only true God can only be the Father according to the above verse and Jesus Christ was sent by the only True God who is the Father. Again we cannot make this scripture say anything else without twisting it, it's message is clear. John said that this truth is eternal life, so we we shouldn't ignore or write this verse off if it conflicts with our current belief.
1 Corinthians 11:3 (English-NIV)
Now I want you to realize
that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and
the head of Christ is God.
The Head of Christ is God? This scripture
appears to teach a completely different structure or pattern to what the Trinity
does.
The word head in the Greek is the word "kephale" which literally means 'from',
'source' or 'position of authority'.
If God were a Trinity, how do we explain that the head of Christ is God. We
know that Jesus is the Christ, but so far the scriptures seem to say that God
is the head of Jesus. Is the Father the one and only God? Is the Father above
all, even above Christ?
1 Corinthians 3:22-23 (English-NIV)
22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas
{That is, Peter} or the world or life or death or the present or the future
all are yours,
23 and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God...
Ephesians 4:4-6 (English-NIV)
4
there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you
were called
5 one Lord, one faith,
one baptism;
6 one God and Father
of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
The scripture above shows us plainly that there is One Lord who we know to be Jesus and there is one God and Father of all.
The Trinity doctrine teaches that God manifests himself as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All are co-equal and co-eternal and all are God. But the scriptures above teach us that the Father is God. The next scripture reafirms this and shows us that the Father is greater than the Son. Instead of thinking about a circle divided into 3 parts that make up one God, think about what the following scripture is saying.
John 15:1-2 (English-NIV)
1
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that
does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
So God is the gardener, Jesus is the vine, and we are
the branches. This model indicates that we need Jesus like a branch needs a
vine. Yet the vine (Jesus) is tended to by the Father. It is should be clear
that any gardener is greater than the vine that he tends. So instead of a circle
divided into 3 equal parts, we see instead see different levels. Father >
Jesus > children of God. Remember that all scripture is useful for teaching,
rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. Keep reading for more scriptures
that shed light on this important subject.
2
Samuel 22:47 (English-KJV)
The LORD liveth; and blessed be
my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation.
If the rock of my salvation is Jesus, then who is the God of the rock of my salvation. He would have to be the Father himself, for no one else could fit that description. This scripture may be controversial as other translations render a slightly different meaning. I have included it anyway, but please bear in mind that the main thrust of this study is not affected in the slightest if we add or remove this scripture from this study.
Did you know that Jesus has a God, just like we do?
John 20:17 (English-NIV)
Jesus said, Do not hold on
to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers
and tell them,
`I am returning to my Father
and your Father, to my God and your God.
Romans 15:6 (English-NIV)
so that with one heart and
mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 1:3 (English-NIV)
Praise be to the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of
all comfort,
2 Corinthians 11:31 (English-NIV)
The God and Father of
the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying.
Ephesians 1:3 (English-NIV)
Praise be to the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms
with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Colossians 1:3 (English-NIV)
We always thank God,
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,
1 Peter 1:3 (English-NIV)
Praise be to the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new
birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
These scripture you have just read also teach clearly that our God is the Father and the Father is also God to Jesus himself.
Ephesians 1:17 (English-NIV)
I keep asking that the God of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom
and revelation, so that you may know him better.
The above verse confirms that the
Father is the God of Jesus. But some use this verse to support the Trinity doctrine.
But if we are honest we would see that this
verse is really teaching that the Glorious Father is God, and Paul is teaching
us that we can know the God of Jesus through his Spirit. It takes a huge stretch
of the truth to say that the Father, Son, Spirit are 3 persons that have co-existed
for eternity and are co-equal. To say such things is to add to what that verse
is teaching us.
Here are some commonly quoted scriptures that mentions the Father, Son, Spirit:
If we were to accept such logic as proof of the Trinity doctrine, then maybe we should be led to believe that Peter, James, and John are a Trinity because they are listed together in a similar fashion. (See Luke 9:28.) Also, 1 Timothy 5:21 says: "I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels." Does this make angels part of the Trinity?
It is hard to see what the scriptures are saying when we have been tainted with preconceived ideas. A common reaction to the all the scriptures we have looked at so far is to just simply ignore them and some proponents of the Trinity doctrine defend their doctrine by pointing out other scriptures that could be seen to back up the Trinity Doctrine. But the truth doesn't conflict with any scripture. Isn't it better to face all the scriptures, not just the ones that seem to backup what you believe in. If we only want to listen to what we want, then we are unfortunately fulfilling the following scripture:
2 Timothy 4:3 (English-NIV)
For the time will come when men
will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they
will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching
ears want to hear.
Many people explain away the scriptures that show Jesus Christ to be inferior to God, by arguing that these particular scriptures are referring to the fact that Jesus humbled himself as a man. They reason that these scriptures are not valid when talking about the exalted Jesus who resides in Heaven but only to the humbled Jesus who came to earth as a man. But is that a fair way to judge the context of the scriptures we have looked at so far? What if scriptures continued to teach that the Father is the God of Jesus Christ, even in the situation where Jesus is exalted in heaven. Let's start by looking at these 3 scriptures which are in the Book of Revelation. This book was written by John on the Isle of Patmos many decades after Jesus death. NOTE: The Revelation that was given to John was considered so important that there is a warning for all those that would try to add or take away from this book.
Revelation
22:18-19
18 I warn everyone who
hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them,
God will add to him the plagues described in this book.
19 And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take
away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are
described in this book.
Now read:
Revelation 1:1 (English-NIV)
The revelation of Jesus Christ,
which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place.
He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,
Revelation 1:6 (English-NIV)
and has made us to be a kingdom
and priests to serve his God and Father to him be glory and power
for ever and ever! Amen.
Revelation 3:12 (English-NIV)
Him who overcomes I will
make a pillar in the temple of my God.
Never again will he leave it.
I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of
my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my
God; and I will also write on him my new name.
As mentioned before, these scriptures were written many years after Jesus death and are valid today as Jesus is now in Heaven interceeding to God for us. So we cannot say that Jesus is God himself, or even equal to God. Either is not valid for Jesus the man on earth or the son exhalted in heaven.
This next scripture clearly shows us that Jesus is not God and confirms the identity of God as the Father. This important scripture shows us God's plan and how eventually God may be in all. It shows us clearly that God put all things under Jesus, but that he will give it back to God so that all (including Jesus) will be subject to God.
1 Corinthians 15:24-28 (English-NIV)
24 Then the end will come,
when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed
all dominion, authority and power.
25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
27 For he has put everything under his feet. Now when it says that everything
has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God
himself, who put everything under Christ.
28 When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who
put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.
John 16:27 (English-NIV)
No, the Father himself loves
you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.
Jesus showed us that the Father loves us because we love Jesus
and believe that he came from God.
This is very different from
believing that Jesus is God. Which one do you believe? That Jesus is God, or
that he came from God.
John
3:16 (English-NIV)
For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life.
The word begotten (monogenes) means
only child, single of its kind.
So we can see that God gave his only Son, so that those that believe in him
will have eternal life.
But doesn't God have other sons? After all are not those who believe amongst
mankind, called the sons of God. There are also some scriptures that refer to
the Elect Angels as the Sons of God. The difference is that Jesus is the only
one who came directly from the Father and we (creation) came from Jesus and
amongst mankind, woman came from the Man in the beginning and now man is born
through woman.
Remember earlier we read 1 Corinthians 11:3 (English-NIV)
Now I want you to realize
that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and
the head of Christ is God.
1 Timothy 2:5 (English-NIV)
For there is one God
and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
This scripture like all the scriptures quoted so far does not
make sense when compared with the Trinity doctrine.
Here it says that Jesus is
between God and Man. It also says that Jesus Christ is a man. Of course he is
much more than that. I am just pointing out that in addition to being the only
begotten son of God, the Christ, Messiah, and Lord, Jesus is also a man, even
the son of man.
In Heaven we will see Jesus in bodily form. See the following scripture:
Revelation 1:13-15 (English-NIV)
13 and among the lampstands
was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and
with a golden sash around his chest.
14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were
like blazing fire.
15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the
sound of rushing waters.
As quoted at the top
of this page, God is invisible and no one has seen him. Yet here we have Jesus
in bodily form. Not an invisible Jesus but a very visible Jesus Christ. Jesus
is the only one who can declare the invisible God to us. So if God is invisible
then a very visible Jesus is not God, rather he is God's image.
John 1:18 (English-KJV)
No man hath seen God at any time,
the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared
him.
Many men ignore
scripture as they would rather remain ignorant of certain things because they
do not want to change. One reason for this can be pride. I have quoted an unusual
amount of scriptures in this teaching because I want to show you that what I
am teaching is more than a doctrine, it is in fact the very essence of the Bible,
i.e., to declare God amongst men.
Just in case the scriptures I have quoted are not convincing enough for you then I have another 17 scriptures that prove that Jesus is a seperate identity to God. This is by no means an exhaustive list, rather the tip of the iceberg, infact there are hundreds of verses that identify God and Jesus as different identities. You can otherwise just skim over these scriptures and read a few at random.
Try replacing the word 'God' with 'Trinity' as you read them, to see how confusing this doctrine really is.
Acts 2:33 (English-NIV)
Exalted to the right hand
of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has
poured out what you now see and hear, would
read 'Exhalted to the right hand of the Trinity, he
has'...
As you can plainly see, it makes no sense whatsoever. Continue on with a few
of the scriptures below:
Acts
3:15 (English-NIV)
You killed the author of
life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.
1Corinthians 1:3 (English-NIV)
Grace to you and peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2Corinthians
1:2-3
2 Grace be to you and peace
from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
2
Corinthians 13:14
May the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with you all.
Ephesians 1:2 (English-NIV)
Grace and peace to you from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 6:23 (English-NIV)
Peace to the brothers, and
love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:2 (English-NIV)
Grace and peace to you from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians 4:19-20 (English-NIV)
19 And my God will
meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
20 To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Colossians 1:2-3 (English-NIV)
2 To the holy and faithful
brothers in Christ at Colosse: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray
for you,
1 Thessalonians 1:1 (English-NIV)
Paul, Silas and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ:
Grace and peace to you.
2 Thessalonians 1:1-2 (English-NIV)
1 Paul, Silas and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Timothy 1:2 (English-NIV)
To Timothy my true son in
the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus
our Lord.
Titus 1:4 (English-NIV)
To Titus, my true son in
our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus
our Savior.
Philemon 1:3 (English-NIV)
Grace to you and peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 John 1:3 (English-NIV)
Grace, mercy and peace from
God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father's Son, will be with
us in truth and love.
Jude 1:1 (English-KJV)
Jude, a servant of Jesus
Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been called, who are loved
by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ:
So if you are fair in your judgement you will plainly see that the God spoken of in the bible is not a Trinity.
The word Trinity was introduced centuries after Christ. Although the lack of certain words in the bible doesn't necessarily nullify the meaning of those words, rather it is the scriptures themselves that show us that the Trinity is an irrelevant man made doctrine. So if a term is not found in the bible then we only have the scriptures to prove that the word explains a teaching in scripture. However what we find when we look at the scriptures is that the Trinity doctrine is found wanting.
Do you think that it may be possible that
so many Christians can be deceived regarding the Trinity doctrine?
Do you think it is not possible for so many to believe in a doctrine that is
not true. Has this kind of mass deception happened before? Yes many times. One
such time predates the Reformation. This revolution re-establish many truths
back to the Church. Before the Reformation many obvious and simple truths were
hidden from the people, such as being saved by grace rather than works. What
about the theory of evolution. Perhaps most scientists believe it, yet it is
not true either. Evolution is a powerful deception for atheist. likewise the
Trinity doctrine is a powerful deception aimed at Christians.
The Catholic Church has many sacred doctrines such as
Mary being the mother of God. The Trinity is also a sacred doctrine to Catholics.
But it doesn't matter how sacred or taboo a doctrine is, it still could be wrong
and the only way we will find out is to question. If we ultimately seek truth,
then we will ultimately avoid deception. If we think it is bad to question,
then we will never seek and therefore we open ourselves up to deception and
we make it difficult for God to renew and change us.
Jesus even says in the following scripture:
Luke
11:9 (English-NIV)
So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek
and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
Jesus and Paul warned us about
deceptions that will come.
2
Thessalonians 2:3
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall
not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin
be revealed, the son of perdition;
2 Corinthians 11:3 (English-NIV)
But I am afraid that just as Eve
was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray
from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
Jesus warned us to watch out for deceivers.
In Acts 20:29 (English-NIV):
29 I know that after
I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flockI
know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare
the flock.
30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in
order to draw away disciples after them.
31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning
each of you night and day with tears. .
Jesus also warned us that offenses
will come in Matthew 18:7 (English-KJV)
Woe unto the world because
of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by
whom the offense cometh!
Perhaps it is time for another revolution. Perhaps it is time for a redefinition. Of course this must be God's will, otherwise it will only be a vain attempt. We must always be led by the Spirit of God. The scriptures tell us that Jesus is coming back for a Church without spot and blemish.
Ephesians
5:25-27
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the
church and gave himself up for her
26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,
27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle
or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
On the way to perfection there will be a lot of things that we christians will need to let go of. Surely the teachings of men will eventually be exposed for what they are and when the light gets brighter and the Morning Star arises in our hearts, there will be no room for carnal thinking. It will surely be a miracle when God purifies the Church of all the rubbish we have collected over the centuries. This task may seem impossible, but when we realize that God's motivation is love and that he is eternal, it certainly puts our mistakes and limitations into perspective. Remember that every day is as a thousand years to God and a thousand years as one day.
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