There Is No Trinity; There Is Christ!

In Jesus Christ, God manifested Himself to us in human form.

Churches will tell you that God exists in a trinity: “three Persons in One being,” they say. “The Triune God,” or “The Trinity,” they call Him. This is, however, nothing but double-talk. It is usually well- intended…but double-talk nonetheless. God is either one or He’s more than one – He can’t be both. God is not illogical, nor is He contradictory.

Three persons co-existing as one being is a nonsensical concept. Among human beings, multiple or split personalities are rightly considered disorders or aberrations. In the Bible, the only example we find of multiple personalities are when a person was a victim of demon possession – and Jesus cured every person like that He encountered. How could God be like something so troubling?

Beings with more than one head are the stuff of mythology…and nightmares. We naturally recoil at the image of Cerberus, the hideous three-headed dog of Greek lore. And today, when we see conjoined twins, our hearts are broken…and we pray for healing. None of these are true analogies to the trinity – they are just as close as can be found. The paucity of analogies shows just how far removed from reality the concept of trinity is!

The trinity is not a biblical concept, it is a philosophical one. Can you find any analogy to the trinity in the visible universe? In the Bible, God constantly uses aspects of the visible creation as analogies for the truths He would teach us about Himself and the invisible dimension of creation. Rest assured that if the trinity were a true description of the way God is, He would have put analogies to it in the physical creation.

By contrast, the Bible is constantly comparing Jesus to things we do see in creation: He’s the Lamb of God, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the good Shepherd, the bread of life, the light of the world, the stone that the builders rejected, the King of Israel, and so on.

The reason that church leaders who came after the apostles originally developed and continue to perpetuate the doctrine of the trinity is that it is a way for them to acknowledge the deity of Christ while they deny they He has come again in glory as God the Father of all. If church leaders were to acknowledge that the kingdom of God has come, they would have to let go of their parishioners in order to let them each seek the kingdom. (I know firsthand because I was a pastor and I learned that to truly seek the kingdom of God means the abandonment of man-made church. Human beings are overseers in the churches, but Jesus is the overseer in the kingdom of God.) Who wants to serve God as part of a human-led organization when there’s an organization that God Himself leads?

An essential aspect of why God appeared to us as a human being (that is, as Jesus of Nazareth) is so that we could more easily relate to Him. The concept of God being a trinity of persons frustrates that purpose. If God truly was a trinity, He was only manifesting one-third of Himself through Jesus Christ – and what would be the point of that?

Christ explains God; the trinity concept mystifies Him. Christ gives us a way to relate to God; the trinity concept removes Him farther from our understanding. If God wants us to obey Him (and, of course, He does), Christ moves us toward that goal; the trinity concept puts that goal out of practical reach.

Jesus Himself famously said, “No one can serve two masters.” If that’s the case, why would anyone think we could serve three?

The trinity therefore is both an illogical and an unbiblical idea. It fails to meet either standard.

What is the correct way to think of God? Just as the Bible portrays Him: Jesus Christ our Lord. God became flesh and dwelt among us. We – in our sinfulness – rejected Him to the point of murder by crucifixion. However, He was raised from the dead and ascended back to heaven. From there He eventually returned to His rightful place as head of all creation.

When you call upon God, you’re calling upon Jesus – a person. He has lived a life like you are living. He knows the difficulties; He has experienced them firsthand.

Call today – and every day – upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. He is our God. He is our Father. And His Holy Spirit will make you to know His thoughts in the depths of your heart for as long as you seek Him in sincerity and truth.

Comfort yourself always with this truth: If you turn your thoughts toward the Lord Jesus, it cannot and will not escape His notice.

Once Again…from the Beginning

The doctrine of the trinity has falsely portrayed God as if He was in a state of suspended animation. On the contrary, here’s the reality: He accomplished His mission. It’s done! We are not still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

God knew from the beginning what He had to do to solve the problem of evil. He created the heavens and the earth with humans as the supreme beings on earth – subject only to Him. Thus, when Adam and Eve sinned, it did not spoil God’s plan. Rather, He knew this would happen because sin had preceded the creation of the heavens and the earth. The serpent was merely the agent of Satan, the angelic evildoer with whom the problem of evil had originated. In other words, we human beings were created to solve the problem of sin and evil which actually had preceded us. It had taken place in heaven before the earth came into being.

God knew that we were weak and that He Himself would have to become one of us to ultimately solve the sin problem. When He came to earth as Jesus of Nazareth, creation was operating according to all the instructions He had given. As an Israelite and descendant of King David, He had only to rely on the promises in the Scriptures (that is, the writings of Moses and the Prophets). Thus, when Jesus died, He was raised from the dead. The promises would have allowed as much for any other descendant of Abraham, but none of the rest had been sinless and thus hadn’t qualified for the full extent of the promises.

When Jesus was on earth, He talked of God in a “Father-Son” metaphor. He was playing the role of the Son, relying on the promises He had previously made as God. When He ascended into heaven, and especially when the kingdom of God came as the apostles were passing away, He came as the Father. Since the kingdom’s coming, all of us are sons. God Himself had lived the role of a son Himself to show us how it ought to be done. Selflessly.

The Holy Spirit has been the personal agent of God in the earth ever since creation. He was the connection between God’s throne and Jesus. And He is the connection between the resurrected Jesus and us. He always represents God, but if references to the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament didn’t result in the Jews talking about a binity (two Gods in one), why should the appearance of Jesus in the New Testament prompt us to talk about a trinity (three Gods in one)? Moses and the Prophets were right not to infer from the existence of the Holy Spirit that God was two persons in one God.

The trinity concept portrays God as if He’s three persons in one God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). The reality is that God is one – just as God had made clear to Abraham, and just as He had impressed upon the Israelites through Moses and the Prophets. In fact, that God is one is the signature doctrine of Jews and He had them make adamantly make that point to the world. If He was going to later on significantly modify the concept, He would have laid groundwork for it in the Old Testament prophecies – but there’s no such groundwork there. Over and over, He presents Himself in singular fashion.

In its earliest context, Christianity was an entire Jewish enterprise. Jesus was a Jew. The apostles were all Jews. Even when Gentiles were accepted into the movement, its leadership remained Jewish. However, the Jewish population has always been a small percentage of the entire human race (probably never more than 5% at any one time), and it was only a matter of time until Jewish Christians were in the minority and Gentiles replaced them in leadership – especially once all the apostles died. It was in this context that the trinity concept developed – that is, in the 2nd and following centuries. Gentiles, being polytheistic, were more willing to accommodate a three-in-one God than Jews would have been. This is why the trinity concept could only take root after the apostles were gone from the scene.

Summary

God was God throughout all time before Jesus appeared. He emptied Himself of all Divine privilege to live the life of Jesus the Christ. He was raised from the dead and became the Father of all through His ascension into heaven and His coronation in the kingdom of God.

The Christians have been right all along about the supremacy of Christ, but they stop short of the full supremacy He deserves by subordinating Him to “another person of God” in their trinity doctrine. It’s a convoluted image but has helped them keep people coming to church. They should be called churchians or trinitarians – not Christians. Unfortunately for them, neither churchgoing nor the trinity is anything God is promoting these days. His interest in the kingdom of God – which means each of us submitting to the rule of Jesus in our hearts. If we were to all do this, the earth would look like heaven. (By contrast, if everyone went to church, the earth would look like church. Which outcome would you prefer?)

Here’s the review: God was over all, became the Son, and now is the Father over all forevermore. The suspense is over. Jesus Christ was God in the flesh. He’s not coming back in the flesh anymore. He had been God exalted on high. He descended to earth to be human. And He has ascended on high again for all eternity. Let’s be done with the vain imagination of suspended animation…and serve one God in clarity of mind!

If you want more on this subject than just this essay, here’s a short list and a book:

A Short List of Incompatibilities between Christ and Trinity

300 Reasons to Worship Christ and Not a Trinity.