The Trinitarian aspect of Christianity may be stated as:
The one true God exists as three distinct, transcendent, immanent, infinite, eternal, and immutable persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
- The one true God (Deut 4:35, 6:4; Isa 43:10, 44:6-8; I Cor 8:6; 1 Tim 2:5) exists as three distinct,
- transcendent (1 Kings 8:27),
- immanent (Acts 17:27,28; Col 1:16-17),
- infinite (1 Kings 8:27),
- eternal (Isa 57:15) and
- immutable (Mal 3:6) persons:
- God the Father (John 5:18, 10:29, 14:28, 17:1-3; 1 Cor 8:6; Phil 2:11),
- God the Son (Isa 7:14, 44:6; John 1:1-14, 5:18, 10:30, 20:28, 8:58 cf Ex 3:14; Rom 9:5; Phil 2:5-11; Col 1:15-18; Titus 2:13, Heb 1:8; 1 John 5:20; Rev 22:13-18) and
- God the Holy Spirit (Ex 17:7 cf Heb 3:7-9; Mat 28:19; Acts 5:3-4, 13:2 cf Gal 1:1 and 1 Tim 1:1; 1 Cor 3:16; 2 Cor 13:14; 2 Tim 3:16 cf 2 Pet 1:21; Heb 9:14).
Some have claimed the Holy Spirit is not a person. This claim is refuted by the following Scriptures: (John 14:26, 15:26, 16:7-11, 14; Acts 5:3, 13:2, 16:7; Rom 8:16, 26; 1 Cor 12:11; Eph 1:14, 4:30).
The Incarnation aspect of Christianity may be stated as:
Jesus Christ is God the Son. Jesus Christ is man. Jesus Christ is one person whose divine and human natures cannot be changed, divided, separated or mixed. Jesus Christ was resurrected bodily from the dead. Jesus Christ was born of a virgin.
- Jesus Christ is God the Son (Isa 7:14 cf Mat 1:23, 44:6; John 1:1-14, 5:18, 10:30, 20:28, 8:58 cf Ex 3:14; Rom 9:5; Phil 2:5-11; Col 1:15-18; Titus 2:13, Heb 1:8; 1 John 5:20; Rev 22:13-18).
- Jesus Christ is man (Mark 2:27,28; John 1:14; Rom 1:3; Phil 2:5-11; 1 Tim 2:5; 1 John 4:1-4).
- Jesus Christ is one person whose divine and human natures cannot be changed, divided, separated or mixed (John 1:14; Rom 1:3,4, 8:3, 9:5; Gal 4:4,5; Phil 2:5-7; 1 Tim 3:16; Heb 2:11-14; 1 John 4:2,3).
- Jesus Christ was resurrected bodily from the dead (Luke 24:36-47; John 2:19-21; Rom 8:11; 1 Cor 15:3-7; 1 John 3:2).
- Jesus Christ was born of a virgin (Isa 7:14; Mat 1:23).
According to these Core Beliefs, the uncreated, one true God has existed eternally as three distinct, divine persons (God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit –- the Holy Trinity). At the instant of the incarnation, God the Son became human as well as divine.
These are such fantastic beliefs that some opponents of Christianity have condemned them as blasphemy. In addition, well-meaning Christian leaders have periodically attempted to make these beliefs more palatable by tweaking some of the details. Finally, skeptics have claimed the Old Testament does not even support trinitarian theology. Do these arguments have merit?
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Some opponents accuse Christianity of being little more than a primitive polytheistic religion which is blasphemy to all monotheistic religions. However, the accusation of polytheism is refuted by both Old and New Testaments (Deut 4:35, 6:4; Isa 43:10, 44:6-8; I Cor 8:6; 1 Tim 2:5).
In the first half of the third century, Sabellius taught that God is merely one person who appears at different times as either Father, Son or Holy Spirit. Sabellianism was rejected by the ecumenical councils of Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon. (See Section 2.7 of Theology Corner).
- The modalistic view of Sabellius does not explain the prayers of Jesus and His speaking objectively of the Father and of the Holy Spirit.
- This view also does not explain the actions of God the Holy Spirit and God the Father during the baptism of Jesus (Mat 3:16-17).
- Finally, modalism cannot explain how each man and woman is capable of agape (unconditional) love for others. If each person is created in the image of God then agape love must one of God's attributes. But how can agape love be an attribute of God when, before the creation of heaven and the universe, nothing existed except God? Who would have been the object of God's agape love? The answer is simple for Christians. Each of the distinct, transcendent, immanent, infinite, eternal and immutable persons comprising the triune God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) has always loved the other two unconditionally. This quandary becomes unresolvable only for those who believe God exists as one person. The "agape love" dilemma besets non-Christian religions (e.g. Islam) as well as Christian spinoffs (Oneness Pentecostalism).
In the fourth century, the Arians taught that Jesus Christ was one person with two natures. One nature was human but the other nature was not divine. Jesus Christ was viewed as a creation of God and, therefore, not God himself. Jesus was, more or less, the physical incarnation of an angel. Arianism was condemned by the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD but was resurrected in the nineteenth century by Charles Taze Russell and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. (See Section 2.5 of Theology Corner)
- Church fathers of the fourth century, in the heat of the Arian controversy, took the word monogenes to be a union of mono, which means only, and the verb gennao, which means to generate or beget. Thus, the English words only begotten are derived from fourth century usage.
- As explained by Buswell, “When the orthodox church fathers were challenged by the Arians, who said that Christ was a created being and who pointed to the word monogenes for their evidence, the orthodox fathers did not have the facilities to prove that the word has nothing to do with begetting, but they knew that in the light of other Scriptures, Christ was not created: ‘There never was a time when He was not.’ They therefore accepted the word begotten but added the words not created.”
- However, careful lexicographical studies prove beyond question that the word monogenesis not derived from the root gennao (to generate or beget) but is derived from genos which means type or kind. The word monogenes, therefore, means one and only or unique! For example, the French Bible correctly reads son fils unique for the English his only begotten Son. (Buswell, p 111)
Also, in the fourth century, the Apollinarians reacted strongly to the Arians and flipped to the other extreme. They taught that Jesus Christ was one person with two natures. One nature was divine but the other nature was not human. They based this teaching on the belief that man consists of body, soul and spirit making the trichotomous assumption that soul and spirit are distinguishable substantive entities. Jesus was thought to have the body and soul of a man but the spirit of the pre-existing Logos. Apollinarianism is inconsistent with the teaching of Scripture and was condemned by the Council of Constantinople in 381 AD.
In the fifth century, the Nestorians taught that Jesus Christ was two persons, one the divine Jesus and one the human Jesus. Mary gave birth to the human Jesus but not the divine Jesus. Nestorianism is inconsistent with the teaching of Scripture and was condemned by the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD.
Also in the fifth century, the Eutychians perpetuated the monophysite heresy. They taught that Jesus Christ was one person with one nature. That nature was neither fully divine nor fully human but a mixture of the two. Eutychianism is inconsistent with the teaching of Scripture and was condemned by the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD.
Some scholars have claimed the concept of the Trinity is missing from the Old Testament. It is true that the Old Testament does not refer to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit by those specific names, but references abound, in the Old Testament, to each member of the Holy Trinity separately as well as all three members simultaneously.
- Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…” (Gen 1:26)
- And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. (Gen 3:22)
- The first person of the Trinity appears, by various names, throughout the Old Testament.
- The second person of the Trinity appears, by various names, in Gen 22:15-18, 32:24-30; Hos 12:4-6; Ex 23:20-21; Ps 2:2-7; Prov 8:22-31; Isa 7:14, 9:6, 44:6 and other locations.
- The third person of the Trinity appears, by various names, in Ex 17:7 cf Heb 3:7-9; Gen 1:2, 6:3, 41:38; Ps 139:7; Job 33:4; Num 11:25; Judges 14:6; 2 Sam 23:2; Micah 2:7; Isa 48:16; Joel 2:28 and other locations.
Neither the Trinitarian aspect nor the Incarnation aspect of Christianity can be refuted by reasonable arguments.
Neither the term Trinity, nor any that expresses the notion of Triunity is contained in Scripture. But the mysterious truth that these words represent is stamped upon the entire revelation of God.
(See also Sections 1.3, 1.9, 1.10, 1.23 and 1.26 of Theology Corner)
