Answers to common trinity arguments

Answers to common trinity arguments

Following are some of the Bible texts which are quoted as supposedly supporting the Trinitarian doctrinal view together with explanations. Please note that Topic 2 of this series deals with the deity of Jesus Christ so many relevant quotes will be included in that section.

Following are some of the Bible texts which are quoted as supposedly supporting the Trinitarian doctrinal view together with explanations. Please note that Topic 2 of this series deals with the deity of Jesus Christ so many relevant quotes will be included in that section.

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” Genesis 1:26
Advocates of the Trinity doctrine point out that the verse reads, “God said”, yet the plurals “us” and “our” indicate a plurality within a unity. It is argued that this refers to the Trinity since Jesus at the time of the creation was a spirit creature.

1. The Jews, of all people, have been fiercely monotheistic. The Hebrew word “elohim” translated “God” and the plurals “us” and “our” never suggested trinitarian ideas to them. Nor is there any New Testament allusion to indicate that in their interpretation of this passage they were mistaken.
2. It is only an inferred argument that the “us” and “our” refer to either Jesus or to the Holy Spirit.
3. The plurals in the passage refer to God performing his creative work through his angels. Divine activity is said to be done by God, although actually executed by the angels. Note the following examples:

a. Exodus 3:4-8 says The LORD appeared to Moses in the burning bush but Stephen says Moses was with “the angel which appeared to him in the bush” (Acts 7:35 cf vs 30). The Exodus account also reveals that it was an angel (Exodus 3:2).

b. God gave the ten commandments to Moses (Exodus 20:1, note “me” vs 3; “for I the LORD thy God” vs 5 etc). But Stephen says it was the angel “which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers; who received the lively oracles to give unto us” (Acts 7:38).

“His name shall be called…The mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace” Isaiah 9:6
This passage is quoted to prove the deity of Christ.

1. Isaiah states that he “shall be called” (ie, in the Kingdom Age, v 7), not that he is now “The mighty God, The everlasting Father.” Although the work of this kingdom is executed by Christ, it is the zeal of the LORD (Yahweh) of hosts (which) will perform this” (Isaiah 9:7). As Christ said: “I can of mine own self do nothing” (John 5:30).
2. “Mighty God” – Jesus Christ will be the “mighty God” in the Kingdom Age when he comes with the power and glory of his Father (Matthew 16:27). Christ is altogether worthy of this title. This does not imply he is “Very God” any more than it did for the angel who bore the divine name before the children of Israel.
3. “Everlasting Father” – Christ in his reign as King will bear the title, “everlasting Father” for at least the following two reasons:

a. He will be a father to the mortal nations in the Kingdom Age (Isaiah 22:21-24).

b. Christ is the father of the believers sometimes termed “children”. For example: “I and the children which God hath given me” (Hebrews 2:13 cf Isaiah 8:17,18).

1. 1 Corinthians 15:22-28 is a commentary on Isaiah 9:6. The Father gives the Son delegated authority and power for a limited duration of time. “For he (God) hath put all things under his (Jesus’) feet…And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him (God) that put all things under him (Jesus), that God may be all in all” (v 27,28). Since the Son is to be subject unto the Father, then he is clearly not “co-equal” with the Father, and by implication not a person within the Godhead.

In the beginning was the Word…” John 1:1
This passage is usually the chief reference on which the Trinity doctrine is based.

1. Christ was not literally the Word. He was the word “made flesh” (v 14). The Greek word “logos” translated “Word” expresses the divine intention, mind, or purpose. Young defines “logos” as “a word, speech, matter, reason.” In the AV “logos” is translated by more than 20 different English words and is used for utterance of men (eg, John 17:20) as well as those of God (John 5:38).
2. “In the beginning was the Word…all things were made by him.” “Logos” does not in itself denote personality. It is personified by the masculine gender in the AV, The Diaglott avoids confusion by translating the pronouns in the neuter – “through it every thing was done.” An Old Testament parallel to the personification of logos is the personification of wisdom: “The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning or ever the earth was” (Proverbs 8:23,23). In this passage, wisdom is personified as a woman (Vs 1, 2).
3. All things were made by him” – John is apparently alluding to the creation recorded in Genesis. God spoke, and it was done (eg, “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light” Genesis 1:3. Notice another allusion – John 1:7,8). This creation was not accompanied by Christ, but by the “logos” of God. This is indicated by several passages:

a. “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.” “For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast” (Psalm 33:6,9). See also Psalm 107:20, 147:15, 18, 19; Isaiah 55:11.

b. “…by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water…But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:5,7).

c. See also Hebrews 11:3, cf Jeremiah 10:12, 13.

1. Angels, prophets and Christ have been vehicles by which God has expressed his logos. Christ is the complete manifestation of the logos – “in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” (Colossians 2:9). It was the “logos” which was in the beginning with God, not Christ. When the “word was made flesh” (John 1:14) then, and then only, Christ became the “Word”. Christ is called the Word (Revelation 19:13 cf 1 John 1:1, Luke 1:2) since his doctrine and words came from his Father (John 7:16, 17:14) He was the logos lived out in speech and action, not merely written on scrolls.

“Before Abraham was, I am” John 8:58
Since Christ says “I am” it is considered that he is alluding to the divine name, thereby in effect telling the Jews that he is “Very God”.

1. Christ’s reference to Abraham is to affirm his (Christ’s) pre-eminence, not pre-existence. The Jews had claimed that Abraham was their father (vs 39) and so Christ establishes his pre-eminence in the divine purpose by stating that before Abraham was, “I am”. He did not say “before Abraham was, I was” as it is frequently misread. But the Jews, like modern-day trinitarians, misunderstood Jesus. He was not claiming to be literally older in years than Abraham. This is indicated by his prior remark: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad” (v 56). Abraham, to whom the gospel was preached (Galations 3:8), “saw” the day of Christ through the eye of faith. Christ was “foreordained before the foundation of the world, but manifest in these last times”. (1 Peter 1:20). He was foreordained in the divine purpose, but not formed. Similarly in the divine purpose he was the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8) but literally he was not slain until his crucifixion in the time of Pilate.
2. There is no proof that Christ alludes to the divine name (imperfectly rendered by the AV “I am that I am”). Jesus simply uses the present tense of the verb “to be”. Even if this verse were intended to be read as an allusion to the divine name, this is not proof that Christ was claiming to be “Very God”. The divine name declared, “I will be what I will be” (Exodus 3:14 RSV mg). The name was a prophetic declaration of the divine purpose. Jesus Christ was “God manifest in the flesh” (John 1:14). As such, he was the expression of the divine character, “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14 cf Exod 33:19), and became the “firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29). Christ was the result of the word made flesh, not the originator of the divine plan. As he himself said, “I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me” (John 8.42).

“I and my Father are one” John 10:30

1. Jesus said “I and my Father are one” but the Jews misunderstood him, thinking he was claiming to be equal to God (vs 33). Trinitarians make the same mistake. The oneness referred to, is not a declaration by Christ that he is “Very God”, but rather unity of purpose. Consider the evidence:

a. Jesus subsequently prayed for his disciples, “that they may be one as we are” (John 17:11, 21). These words require that the unity referred to, be also extended to the disciples. Obviously the unity is not that of the powers of the Godhead but unity resulting from sanctification through the word of God (John 17:14, 17, 18).

b. See also John 17;23, 23: “…that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one…” Likewise, these words require a relationship between the disciples and Christ which exists between the Son and his Father – a unity, or perfection with the divine purpose.

1. Elsewhere in John’s gospel, Jesus clearly affirms that he is not co-equal with the Father: “The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do” (John 5:19); “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgement is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me” (John 5:30). “My Father is greater than I” (John 14:28).

“My Lord and my God” John 20:28

1. Thomas’ confession is an acknowledgement that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead, but it is not a declaration that Jesus is “God the Son”. Thomas, a Jew, used a mode of expression common to the Old Testament in which accredited representatives of God are referred to as “God”. Angels are called “God” in the following passages: Genesis 16:7 cf vs 13; 22:8, 11, 15 vs 16; Exodus 23:20, 21. Moses is referred to as a “god” to Pharaoh. (Exod 7:1, “god” is translated from the Heb. “elohim”). “Elohim” translated “God” in Genesis 1:26 (and in many other passage) refers to the judges of Israel in Psalm 82:1,6 cf John 10:34. It is also translated “judges ” in Exodus 21:6; 22:8,9 and “gods” (mg “judges) in Exodus 22:28.
2. Earlier in this chapter, Jesus told Mary, “I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God and your God” (vs 17). Since Jesus was to ascend to his God, then clearly he was not himself “Very God”.

“Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever” Romans 9:5

1. The punctuation of the RSV translation reads as follows:
   “They are Israelites…to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ. God who is over all be blessed for ever. Amen.”
2. Christ is over all, God blessed for ever: because this power and authority has been delegated to him (John 5:19,30; 1 Corinthians 15:24-28). Those who act for God are referred to as “God” in the Old Testament (See Exodus 23:20,21). Paul elsewhere makes it clear, however, that “the head of Christ is God” (1 Corinthians 11:3). The Son is not “co-equal” therefore, with the Father.