Some of my friends have called the doctrine of the Trinity, the triune Godhead, an invented doctrine by the Catholic church at the Council of Nicea of AD 325.
The standard Catholic Nicene Creed which I learned when a child says:
We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
and of all that is, seen and unseen.We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation,
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered, died, and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in fulfillment of the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge
the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he
is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic
and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism
for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.
I agree with all of the above if we define “one holy catholic and apostolic church” as the spiritual Body of Christ founded on the Bible, not that man-made religion of Rome, the Pope and the cardinals, bishops and priests of the Roman Catholic church today.
The Nicene Creed expresses a triune God, the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Does the Bible teach this?
Genesis 18:1 ¶And the LORD appeared unto him (Abraham) in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;
2 And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,
The all-capitals “LORD” of Genesis 18:1 is number H3068 in Strong’s concordance. In the KJV it is the same as the Name Jehovah, the Latinization of the Hebrew יְהֹוָה (YHWH), the proper name of the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible. Clearly, LORD in Genesis 18:1 is God, and yet there appeared three men!
Some Christians think that YHWH should be pronounced Yahweh, not Jehovah. For sure there was no J sound in Hebrew. It was a Y sound or Yehovah. Take your pick.
The all-capitals “LORD” appears 9 more times in Genesis chapter 18:
Genesis 18:13 And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?
Genesis 18:14 Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
Genesis 18:17 And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;
Genesis 18:19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
Genesis 18:20 And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
Genesis 18:22 And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.
Genesis 18:26 And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.
Genesis 18:33 And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.
It’s interesting that the all-capitals LORD appears 10 times in Genesis 18. “In Genesis 1 we find the phrase “God said” 10 times, which is a testimony of His creative power. God gave the 10 Commandments to man. Ten therefore represents man’s responsibility to keep the commandments. A tithe is a 10th of our earnings and is a testimony of our faith in the Lord. ” – (quoted from https://www.biblestudy.org/bibleref/meaning-of-numbers-in-bible/10.html)
There is also a first-letter-only capitalized word in Genesis 18, “Lord”. In Strong’s concordance, it’s designated number H136. In Hebrew, it’s pronounced Adonay. The name Lord in the verses below are all Strong’s H136.
Genesis 18:3 And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:
Genesis 18:27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:
Genesis 18:30 And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.
Genesis 18:32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.
Genesis 18:31 And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake.
These verses are clearly referring to the Godhead.
There is yet one more case of the word in Genesis chapter 18, and it’s written in all lower case “lord”. In Strong’s concordance, it’s H113, adonadon, meaning master.
Genesis 18:12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?
Sarah was clearly referring to her husband Abraham who she called lord.
To sum up Genesis 18, the word LORD appears 10 times and the word Lord appears 5 times. Both LORD and Lord refer to God. In each case Abraham was talking to 3 people when he was talking to God! This indicates to me the first proof of a triune God, the Trinity, after Genesis 1:26 in which God is referring to Himself in the plural!
Genesis 1:26 ¶And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Are there other examples in the Bible that indicate a triune God? The KJV uses the word Godhead exactly 3 times!
Acts 17:29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.
Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Colossians 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
The Gospel of Matthew tells us we are to be baptized in three Names:
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
The clincher Scripture for me that proves the Trinity is
1 John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
The Word is of course referring to Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Yes indeed, the doctrine of the Trinity, the triune God, is certainly biblical!
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Thank you James.Strong and solid is The Biblical teaching of the Trinity. We believe the Word of GOD and we have the GOD of the Bible as our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ.
James, Jesus is begotten. That means he had a starting point. God is eternal which means he always existed. Jesus actually died on the Cross. God is eternal and cannot die.
Luke 23:46
And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last.
Jesus actually died and committed his spirit to His Father. He had to die to make the payment for sin.
I’d google and read God’s Plan For All. The trinity limits God to 3 people but some claim the scriptures say Elohim is the surname (family) name of God and that God is adding to His family daily. The idea of a trinity makes you think God stops at 3 people. Personally, I am starting to think the RCC is trying to limit or control the idea of spiritual birth so they could promote a false ecclesiatical elite over people and control what they think. Isn’t that what an antichrist wants to do. Rule the thoughts of God’s people who are suppose to have their own minds of Christ independent of human natural interference? Christ is suppose to build that mind in us. We follow him so why do humans insert themselves so much trying to dominate and control people’s thinking. Transformation requires a free mind doesn’t it? Most of “organized relgion” seems to want Christians to continue as milkfeds instead of letting them think for themselves and let God manifest through them. A man controlling another person’s spiritual growth? Doesn’t the RCC do…
Jesus was the “only begotten”.
https://www.bibleversestudy.com/acts/acts13-begotten-meaning.htm says:
What is the meaning of “have begotten” (Acts 13:33)?
γεγεννηκα (gegenneka), the original Greek word translated “have begotten,” has several meanings, including “having brought forth,” “having engendered,” “having caused to arise,” and is different from μονογενης (monogenes), the original Greek word translated “only begotten” in John 1:18 and John 3:16, which describes Jesus as “one of a kind” – i.e., “unique” or “incomparable.”
Christ ALWAYS existed with the Father. He did not have a starting point. Christ IS God, the second person of the Godhead. 1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
Wiki continued:
Early Christianity[edit]
The first baptisms in early Christianity are recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. Acts 2 records the Apostle Peter, on the day of Pentecost, preaching to the crowds to “repent and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission (or forgiveness) of sins” (Acts 2:38). Other detailed records of baptisms in the book of Acts show the first Apostles baptising in the name of Jesus.[2][3][4][5] The Apostle Paul also refers to baptism into Christ Jesus.[6][7]
Over time the Trinitarian formula from Matthew 28:19 became popularized. This was further supported by the Didache, which most scholars date to around the year 100.[citation needed] Although the Didache instructs the baptism to be done in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, in the portion that gives instruction of the eucharist it states “But let none eat or drink of your Eucharist except those who have been baptised in the Lord’s Name.” This could be a reference to early century “Jesus Name”.
Father, Son and Holy Ghost are not names they are titles.
If Jesus isn’t the Son of God then the Bible isn’t true. God gave His son not Himself cf. John 3:16. Some say certain of the ancient language prepositions were changed to make the Holy Spirit into a person when he’s a spirit from God. Jesus never says he is equal with God. On the contrary he says God is greater than him. Also Jesus says he is the son in John 10. He never says He is God…
Susan, I sure wouldn’t get my theology from Wikipedia if I were you! You trust the research from unknown people just because they are supposed to be academics? I don’t!!! My theology comes from my King James Bible, the Bible I trust that changed my life.
Hope you are not making an idol out of that Bible version. I believed in God as a small child long before reading anything about Him. God bless!
Christian is your bible an idol?
http://unfundamentalists.com/2017/11/christian-bible-idol/
Can the Bible Be An Idol?
https://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/can-the-bible-become-an-idol/
Susan, my research tells me that the KJV is based on Textus Receptus which was compiled by Erasmus, the man of God who gathered all known manuscripts used by faithful churches. Modern translations are based on manuscripts found in a trash can in Alexandria Egypt and compiled by Westcott and Hort in the 19th century. It was only yesterday evening at the Bible study of the Baptist church my wife and I attend that the preacher talked about this very subject! There are entire verses missing in modern translations. I’m gonna post a list of the differences between the KJV and modern translations
I am researching into the Trinity now and increasingly feel it is an add to the Word of God and an unnecessary doctrine. See 1 John 4. A Christian is only required to believe that Jesus came in the flesh and rose from the dead.
I am increasingly thinking systematic theology evolved so that certain groups could seize authority over the body of Christ and insist on interpreting the scriptures because when people disagree it gives the asserting group the right to assert it’s spiritual pride over others through persecution. If you can deceive a big enough group into believing a false doctrine some of those people might be led into engaging in evil work like working for the Inquisition.
The word trinity is not to be found in the Bible. Also it ‘s a “mystery” that certain organizations claim to explain but they never explain it coherently. You have to assume certain things which makes it look more and more like a doctrine of men. People were not originally baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit which the Catholics changed to Holy Ghost. The Bible never uses the word “Holy Ghost”. They were only baptized in the name of Christ.
Wiki on Baptism in the Name of Jesus:
Early Christianity[edit]
The first baptisms in early Christianity are recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. Acts 2 records the Apostle Peter, on the day of Pentecost, preaching to the crowds to “repent and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission (or…
It’s not that the Trinity is an add to the Word of God, it was there from the beginning. Three men appeared to Abraham, and yet they were ALL called LORD, YO HE WA HE, the very Name of God in Hebrew. Modern English translations are all based on corrupt manuscripts. Those translations take away the trinity from the Word of God!