Few doctrines are more generally accepted by the Christian world than that concerning the Godhead, known as the doctrine of the Trinity. Roman Catholics, the Greek Church, and almost all denominations of Protestants, however they may differ on some points, agree on this, and believe that ‘ the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God, and yet there are not three Gods, but one God’. They further believe that all three are co-equal and co-eternal.

Is this a true doctrine? If so, while we may not understand it, must we accept it? How are we to know? Obviously only by what God has been pleased to reveal in His word, the Bible.

But we soon discover that there is no support anywhere in its pages for this popular doctrine, but quite the reverse.

God
The Scriptures always teach the unity of God, not the trinity. The following quotations clearly show this:

“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord” (Deuteronomy 6v4; Mark 12v29)

“I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me” (Isaiah 45v5)

“To us there is but ONE GOD, the Father, of whom are all things” (! Corinthians 8v6)

There are not isolated passages, but examples of many more that might be quoted, all teaching that God is one, not three.

The last of the above passages is strikingly significant. Christ had appeared, had died, been raised from the dead and exalted to the Father’s right hand. Yet Paul says there is ONE GOD! And who is this? The triune God of orthodoxy – the Father, Son and Holy Ghost? No! It is THE FATHER. He was the God whom Paul worshipped.

Jesus Christ
What, then, of Jesus Christ? Was he not ‘God the Son’? In view of the frequent use of the expression today, it is remarkable that such a phrase is not to be found in the Bible. We read of the “Son of God”, but not ‘God the Son’. The natural inference is that the doctrine involved by that expression is not a scriptural one.

The Athanasian Creed says of the Father and Son that they are co-equal and co-eternal. Passing over the remarkable idea that a Father and Son can be co-eternal, what does the Bible say concerning the co-equality? It speaks most plainly on the matter. Was Christ the equal of the Father when he was here 2000 years ago? Let Jesus answer for himself:

“I can of mine own self do nothing” (John 5v30)

“My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me” (John 7v16)

“My Father is greater than I” (John 14v28)

The very fact that he was sent by the Father (John 5v24,37) negates the theory of co-equality, while his want of knowledge concerning the time of the second coming is an additional evidence against the popular belief, for one cannot imagine the Second Person of the Trinity being ignorant of anything.

Not only was there this absence of equality in the past, it is the same now. Ponder the words of Paul when he speaks of the “God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 11v31), even as Jesus himself after his resurrection referred to the Father as “My God” (John 20v17). The further fact that “there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (I Timothy 2v5) is another testimony to the same effect.

This line of evidence can be carried further. Looking forward to the time at the end of Christ’s reign of one thousand years, the Bible says:

“Then cometh the end, when the Son shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God, even the Father…He must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet…When all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son himself be subject unto Him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.” (1 Corinthians 15v24-28)

So in the past, the present and the future, high as the position assigned to Jesus Christ is, the Father is supreme, and co-equality is never even suggested.

Who, then, is Jesus Christ? The Son of God, born of a virgin mother, as recorded in Matthew and Luke:

“The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1v35)

Jesus lived, as recorded in the scriptures, was tempted, suffered, and died, but was raised from the dead by the Father, and exalted to the Father’s right hand as High Priest and Mediator. There he will remain until the time when he shall return to the earth to establish the Kingdom of God.

Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit
Orthodoxy says that the Third Person of the Trinity is the Holy Ghost, but the Bible teaches nothing of the kind. The word Ghost as used by the translators of the Bible is now obsolete. Being a translation of the Greek word ‘pneuma’ it simply means ‘spirit’.

The Spirit of God:

• It is God's power, irradiating or flowing forth from Him, filling all space.
• By it, God performs all his works (Acts 17v27-28).
• It is everywhere (Psalms 139v6-12);
• By it we exist (Job 33v4);
• When it is taken away we die (Job 34v14-15).

The word ‘Holy’ means separate. The term Holy Spirit describes the power of God when set apart for particular purposes. In apostolic days the preaching was supported by miracles which were performed by the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 2v4). The same power settled on Mary, the virgin-mother of Jesus (Luke 1v35). It moved “holy men of God” to speak infallibly the words of God (2 Peter 1v21).

The importance of a correct understanding of God
The fact that the doctrine of the Trinity is clearly not found in the Bible should be of great concern to every Christian. But the Bible itself goes even further by saying that our hope for the future depends on a correct knowledge of God:

“This is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent” (John 17v3)

Every reason, then, to use the Bible as the only source of instruction upon this vitally important subject.