The Core Doctrines of the Christian Faith: The Trinity
The Bible teaches that there is one God (Deuteronomy 6:4, Isaiah 43:10-11) in three persons (Matthew 28:19, Luke 3:22 and numerous other passages). I will not try to explain the doctrine of the Trinity because it is impossible to do so, but I will show from both the Old and New Testaments that the doctrine exists (all Scripture quotations will come from the New King Version unless otherwise indicated).
First of all, the word trinity is not found anywhere in Scripture. That does not mean the doctrine is taught in the Bible. The word rapture isn’t in the Bible, yet the Bible clearly teaches that doctrine in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-54. The phrases original sin and total depravity are not found in Scripture, either, however, those doctrines are also taught (more on those in later posts as they are closely related doctrines).
The word trinity comes the Latin word trinitas. It was the early church father Tertullian who came up with this term to describe the nature of God being triune. Tertullian was dealing at the time with the heresy of adoptionism (more on that heresy later), also known as Dynamic Monarchianism.
What exactly does the Bible teach about the doctrine of the Trinity? First, the Bible teaches that the Father, Son (Jesus) and Holy Spirit are all God. In several of Paul’s epistles he states “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”, indicating the deity of both the Father and Son (Lord Jesus Christ indicates the divinity of Jesus). The Holy Spirit is explicitly called God in Acts chapter 5 in the situation with Annias and Sapphira.
Second, the Bible teaches a distinction of the persons in the Trinity. This is clear from Scripture. Jesus refers to God many times in the Gospels as His father, which means the Father and Jesus are different persons. Jesus said in John 14 that He would send the Holy Spirit and that the Holy Spirit would indwell believers, which indicates that the Holy Spirit is not the Father nor the Son.
The Bible teaches what is known as the ontological Trinity and economic Trinity. The ontological Trinity refers to the roles that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit play. In creation, the Father created the world (Genesis 1:1) through the Son (John 1:3) and the Holy Spirit hovered over the waters (Genesis 1:2). In salvation, the Father sent the Son, the Son completed the work that the Father sent Him to do when died on the cross (in John’s gospel, Jesus is quoted as saying “It is finished” just before He died), and the Holy Spirit convicts a person of their sin and of their need for a savior and leads that person to Christ, assuming that person does not resist the conviction of the Holy Spirit (grace can be resisted unlike what Calvinists say).
Going back to creation, the apostle Paul in Colossians 1:15-16 states about the role of Christ in creation (quoting from the New King James Version)
He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation (the word firstborn there means that Christ has preeminence over all creation, not that He was created). For by Him all things were created that are in Heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
Speaking of the Holy Spirit, the apostle Paul states in Romans 8:10-11 (quoting from the New King James Version)
And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
This passage is quite clear about the deity of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus in John 14:26 refers to the Holy Spirit as a counselor, helper or advocate (the Greek word that is used there can be translated in different ways; the King James translates it as counselor). Jesus said of the Holy Spirit
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring back to your remembrance all things I said to you.
This passage is a clear indication that the Holy Spirit is a person. Only a person can teach another person something. Another passage that indicates the personhood of the Holy Spirit is Ephesians 4:30 in which the apostle Paul writes (quoting from the New King James Version) “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” How can the Holy Spirit be grieved if He is not a person?
I am a Pentecostal, and we had to deal with the doctrine of the Trinity very early in the movement. My denomination, the Assemblies of God, was nearly destroyed by the debate over the Trinity. The Assemblies of God was founded in Hot Springs, Arkansas in 1914. Initially, there was no doctrinal statement. However, the debate over the doctrine of the Trinity became too great for the early leaders of the Assemblies of God to ignore. In 1916, the Assemblies of God came out with the original Statement of Fundamental Truths affirming the doctrine of the Trinity. About 25% of the ministers in the Assemblies of God left as a result.1 Unfortunately, the ones who left were in the ancient heresy of Modalism, which is what the Oneness Pentecostals teach on the doctrine of the Trinity (I’ll deal with Modalism later; I have distant relatives who are United Pentecostals, which is the largest of the Oneness denominations).
The best way to describe the doctrine of the Trinity comes from the Athanasian Creed which states
Whoever wants to be saved should above all cling to the catholic faith. Whoever does not guard it whole and inviolable will doubtless perish eternally. Now this is the catholic (universal) faith:
We worship one God in trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the divine being. For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Spirit is still another. But the deity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory, coeternal in majesty. What the Father is, the Son is, and so is the Holy Spirit. Uncreated is the Father; uncreated is the Son; uncreated is the Spirit. The Father is infinite; the Son is infinite; the Holy Spirit is infinite. Eternal is the Father; eternal is the Son; eternal is the Spirit: And yet there are not three eternal beings, but one who is eternal; as there are not three uncreated and unlimited beings, but one who is uncreated and unlimited. Almighty is the Father; almighty is the Son; almighty is the Spirit: And yet there are not three almighty beings, but one who is almighty. Thus the Father is God; the Son is God; the Holy Spirit is God: And yet there are not three gods, but one God. Thus the Father is Lord; the Son is Lord; the Holy Spirit is Lord: And yet there are not three lords, but one Lord.
As Christian truth compels us to acknowledge each distinct person as God and Lord, so catholic (universal) religion forbids us to say that there are three gods or lords. The Father was neither made nor created nor begotten; the Son was neither made nor created, but was alone begotten of the Father; the Spirit was neither made nor created, but is proceeding from the Father and the Son. Thus there is one Father, not three fathers; one Son, not three sons; one Holy Spirit, not three spirits. And in this Trinity, no one is before or after, greater or less than the other; but all three persons are in themselves, coeternal and coequal; and so we must worship the Trinity in unity and the one God in three persons. Whoever wants to be saved should think thus about the Trinity. It is necessary for eternal salvation that one also faithfully believe that our Lord Jesus Christ became flesh.
For this is the true faith that we believe and confess: That our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son, is both God and man. He is God, begotten before all worlds from the being of the Father, and he is man, born in the world from the being of his mother—existing fully as God, and fully as man with a rational soul and a human body; equal to the Father in divinity, subordinate to the Father in humanity. Although he is God and man, he is not divided, but is one Christ. He is united because God has taken humanity into himself; he does not transform deity into humanity. He is completely one in the unity of his person, without confusing his natures. For as the rational soul and body are one person, so the one Christ is God and man.
He suffered death for our salvation. He descended into hell and rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. At his coming all people shall rise bodily to give an account of their own deeds. Those who have done good will enter eternal life, those who have done evil will enter eternal fire. This is the catholic faith. One cannot be saved without believing this firmly and faithfully.”
I would disagree with the final statement that person cannot be saved if the person does not believe in the doctrine of the Trinity. However, denial of the doctrine of the Trinity distorts the doctrine of salvation (Arianism, which will be discussed in later post puts a person completely out of the faith). As Kerry McRoberts in the Assemblies of God systematic theology (McRoberts at the time was an assistant professor of Bible and Theology at Trinity Bible College, and Assemblies of God school in North Dakota) writes
Non-Trinitarian views, such as Modalism and Arianism, reduce the doctrine of salvation to a divine charade. All of the basic Christian convictions centering on the work of the Cross presuppose the personal distinction of the three members of the Trinity. In reflection, one may ask whether it is necessary to believe in the doctrine of the Trinity to be saved. In response, historically and theologically, the Church has not usually required an explicit declaration of faith in the doctrine of the Trinity for salvation. Rather, the Church has expressed an implicit faith in the triune God as essential to one’s relating to the distinctive roles of each of the divine Persons in the Godhead in the redemptive work in behalf of humanity.2
As Christians, we have to defend the doctrine of the Trinity, as the doctrine of the Trinity is what separates biblical Christianity from Islam, and groups such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons. Yes, the doctrine of the Trinity is hard to understand as many things in the Bible are hard to understand, but it can be defended from Scripture.
Allen Tennison. “What We Believe About the Trinity: A Series on the AG Statement of Fundamental Truths.” Influence. March 1, 2003. Accessed on July 4, 2003. https://influencemagazine.com/en/Practice/What-We-Believe-About-the-Trinity
Kerry McRoberts. “The Holy Trinity.” Chapter 3 in Systematic Theology: Revised Edition, edited by Stanley M. Horton. Logion Press, Gospel Publishing House, Springfield, MO. Copyright 1994, 1995, and 2007. iBooks edition