The Trinity

I was recently presented with the thought of someone close to me that (Paraphrase) “Man I hope there isn’t just one God sitting up there all by themselves.” Their thought was generally negative to the idea that there is just one singular personality ruling over all things, and this thought gave them anxiety for the thought of some narcissistic person ruling over the world.

My answer to them that “It isn’t just one person, it is (the classic) three in one. There are three distinct personalities working as a unit”. This answer made them instantly feel better and more willing to accept the idea of God. Though I do personally have an opinion on this I will try to just present you, the reader, with the information required for you to consider the topic.

One of the most contentious questions I have heard people struggle with is the topic of “The Trinity”. It is often difficult for people to communicate and even understand their own belief in this subject, as in a way it is almost nonsensical. To keep it simple the belief is taught that God is “three in one”, the three being “The Father, Son (Jesus), and Holy Spirit”. To some this is enough and they accept it as I have just presented, but for me, those of Jewish, Islamic, and most agnostic/Atheistic belief systems…it is an unacceptable amount of description.

What does everyone else believe?

Ancient Religions: There are some examples of a “trinitarian” view of God (or the gods)in the ancient “pagan” or “heathen” religious structures, but typically those are described as a Male, Female, and Child being the trinity revered above the other gods. These structures are presented similarly to the Christian or more so the Catholic view of God, but include their vast array of different eternal beings. Babylon for example, called the child Tammuz (sometimes referred to as Nimrod). The Egyptians are at times associated with a “trinitarian” belief through Osiris, Isis, and Horus.

Judaism: Jewish tradition whole-heartedly dismisses the idea of the trinity, primarily on the belief that God the Father is the only deity in the cosmos, as well as their rejection of Jesus as anything of significance. This is usually founded from verses in the Torah (First 5 books of the Bible) and the Tanahk (Rest of the Old Testament). “Hear Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is one.” Deuteronomy 6:4

Islam: Similarly to Judaism, Islam rejects the trinity based off of the previously quoted verse from Deuteronomy. However for the most part the Muslim faith accepts Jesus as a prophet from God (Allah), revering him and the teachings of his as described in the Quran and through Islamic tradition. Technically, the Quran does affirm the authority of the Gospels as presented by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John but often dismisses them due to supposed contradictions between the gospels and the Quranic writings.

Jehovah’s Witness: The Jehovah’s Witnesses are a group of followers of Jesus that do not accept the deity of Jesus, but still actively participate in outreach to bring people to him. They believe Christianity was corrupted with the integration of Ancient Roman beliefs, and primarily point to the thought that “the Bible does not mention the word “Trinity.” as a reason not to believe in a trinitarian Christianity.

Catholism: The Catholic faith is often what people point to when they consider Christian beliefs and teachings. I will present their perspective in addition to a denomination that is in direct conflict with Catholism. The Catholic believe summarized is so: “In Catholic theology, we understand the persons of the Blessed Trinity subsisting within the inner life of God to be truly distinct relationally, but not as a matter of essence, or nature. Each of the three persons in the godhead possesses the same eternal and infinite divine nature; thus, they are the one, true God in essence or nature, not “three Gods.” Yet, they are truly distinct in their relations to each other.”

Seventh Day Adventism: Adventism is my selection here, because within Adventist eschatology the Catholic church is the representative of The Great Harlot Babylon mentioned in the book of the Apocalypse(revelation). Their view of the trinity is this: “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a unity of three coeternal Persons. God is immortal, all-powerful, all-knowing, above all, and ever present. He is infinite and beyond human comprehension, yet known through His self-revelation. God, who is love, is forever worthy of worship, adoration, and service by the whole creation.”

Jesus’ implications for the Trinity

Here’s the thing…we all have an opinion and stance on this particular topic, but I would wager to bet most of us don’t have a very good reason to believe what we say we do. The biggest ticket to whether or not one believes in the Trinity is based off of the question “Who does Jesus say he is, and is there reason to believe him?”. If Jesus is God, the trinity or at least a duality has great validity. If he is not, then there is no trinity. Today, I will simply address who Jesus says he is, and get to “is there reason to believe him” at a later date. As always I will have links to a series of sources to piggyback on what I have presented here.

Who does Jesus say He is?

John 10: “⁹I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.^[a] They will come in and go out, and find pasture. ¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” [I am the gate]

John 20: “²⁷Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.²⁸And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.²⁹Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” [Thomas says to Jesus “my Lord and my God, and Jesus praises him]

John 8: “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” [Before Abraham was, “I am”. God speaking to the Israelites after the exodus said “I am who I am. This is what you will say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you” If God says he is I AM, and Jesus claims the same…what can we conclude?]

Revelation 22: ““Behold, I am coming soon, and My reward is with Me, to give to each one according to what he has done. 13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” [In Isaiah 44, God says ““I am the first and I am the last and apart from me there is no God.”. John attributes Jesus to claiming this title as well]

Though many of the most significant examples of Jesus himself claiming to be God are in texts attributed to John, you would not be hard pressed to find examples of situations where the disciples either worship Jesus and He lets them, or he at the least hints at it. Many, especially those of the Islamic faith will dismiss these things for the argument that Jesus did not say word for word “I am God, Worship me”. I would ask, is it a requirement that God would say such a thing?

What do the Gospel Writers say about Jesus?

John 1: “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was with God in the beginning. ³Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind…¹⁴The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth…¹⁸No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God” [The Word was WITH and WAS God. The Word made all things, became flesh and lived among mankind.]

Mark 2: “⁵When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”⁶Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, ⁷“Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” [Jesus forgives sin. If this is not blasphemy from anyone other than God, I’m not sure what is]

Matthew 16:” ²⁷For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.” [Jesus claims the title Son of Man. He is also claiming to be the judge of mankind. 1 Samuel 2: ¹⁰The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.” God is the Judge of mankind” In Daniel 7, Daniel describes who and what the Son of Man does. This explains exactly who Jesus is saying that he is”

Conclusion

Obviously there is a large amount of disagreement on this particular topic, and now that I have presented information to consider I will give my best effort to explain the Trinity in the way I most understand it.

This makes the most sense to me, allowing me to continue on my personal journey of exploration:

I see great evidence for the Biblical text showing something akin to a family unit, the thought of “Three in one” is The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all three distinct persons with different purposes. This is similar to a family with a mother, father, and child. Each are distinct persons with different purposes, but are of one mind and family. This means their goals and ideals are the same, and they work together to attain an ultimate goal. The biggest evidence for this is in the very first book of the Bible, Genesis 1: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:” I do understand this particular verse is debated in terms of translation, but I have not been convinced that it has been translated incorrectly. Jesus seems to very clearly claim himself to be at least the Son of Man, and very likely as God. If Jesus is God, the trinity is a reality because Jesus claiming to be God at the same time as praying to God is nonsensical without a trinitarian belief.

Things to be concerned about for me. There is a thought that three distinct persons can be understood as three distinct “gods” who operate as a unit, and this is something for the seeker to consider. Personally, I find great pause when accepting something that the ancient Babylonians, Egyptians, Romans, and others believed, even if it is not exactly the same. The Catholic Church comes very close to the line in my opinion with their veneration of Mother Mary (Jesus’ Mother).