Questions
about the Trinity
(Monotheism
Versus Tritheism)
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Many Christians have
different perspectives about the
Trinity and the role of the Holy
Spirit, so I decided to dedicate this
Wake Up Report! To my
understanding of this topic.
Questions regarding the Trinity have
long roots in Christian history and
Christian views are widely divided on
the nature and properties of the
Godhead! As I discuss this topic,
please understand that my conclusions
may be different than your own. My
goal is for you to take this
information and use it as a stepping
stone for your own personal study.
Monotheism versus
Polytheism
To be clear and direct
as possible, I believe the Bible
teaches that Jesus Christ is a
separate, distinct, co-eternal member
of the Deity. Jesus is not the Father
and the Father is not Jesus. Both
Deities are separate persons having
separate wills. They are also equals
in substance. By definition,
this understanding makes me a
polytheist, an individual who
believes there is more than one
deity. I also believe the Holy Spirit
is a separate, distinct, co-eternal
member of Deity. The Holy Spirit is
not the Father or Jesus. The Holy
Spirit is a Deity who can hear and
speak on His own. He has a will of
His own. He is equal with the Father
and Jesus. As you can see, I believe
the Bible teaches there are three
distinct, separate, co-eternal beings
that make up the Godhead and this
makes me a tritheist. (A tritheist
believes there are three separate
deities.) I believe the Bible teaches
these three Gods are so closely
united in purpose, plan, and
action that they function and/ or
speak singularly as one God.
Their role, separateness, and perfect
union make the Godhead a fascinating,
yet controversial, study.
To me, separate Gods
functioning as one deity is
similar to a husband and wife (to
separate individuals) functioning as one
flesh. (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:
4-6) many Christians believe in God
the Father, God the Son, and God the
Holy Spirit without serious
consideration. Hopefully, this
presentation will help you think
through this topic and decide what
you believe based on Scripture. In an
effort to be as fair as possible, I
should mention that many Christians
disagree with tritheism. They
believe the Bible upholds the
doctrines of monotheism, that is,
there is one God who manifests
Himself as three persons. In
doing so, they deny that Jesus and
the Holy Spirit are separate and
distinct members of deity. Therefore,
they reason that if a person worships
Jesus or the Holy Spirit, he or she
is actually worshipping the Father
because the Father is in Jesus and
the Father is in the Holy Spirit and
all together, they are the Father.
This discussion dates back to the
beginning of the Christian Church:
Are there three separate
co-eternal Gods or is there one
God manifesting Himself as three
persons?
The Nature of Jesus
in Church History
During Christ’s
ministry on Earth, the Pharisees
found His teachings to be blasphemous
because Jesus claimed to be the Son
of God and they viewed His claim as
being equal with God to be blasphemy.
The Pharisees were incensed because
Judaism is strictly a “one
God” religion which rejects the
possibility of three separate
co-eternal Gods. Judaism also rejects
the possibility of a Godhead in which
one God manifests Himself as three
persons. Therefore, when Jesus
appeared in A.D. 27, He seriously
challenged Israel’s monotheistic
tradition.
The first converts to
Christ’s teachings were Jews
(His disciples). Then, during His
ministry, the number of Jewish
believers grew, but the number of His
followers remained small. Then, a few
days after Christ’s ascension,
3,000 Jews were baptized at
Pentecost. (Acts 2) As the number of
Jewish converts swelled, they became
divided over the nature of Jesus.
Some Jewish converts believed that
Jesus was a separate God, separate
and distinct from the Father. Others
believed that God created Him and
still others believed that Jesus was
an incarnation of the Father. Later,
after Paul converted to Christianity,
Gentiles joined the Christian Church
in increasing numbers and seeds of a
stubborn controversy began to sprout.
Gentiles generally came from
polytheistic backgrounds and
arguments between monotheistically
biased Jews and polytheistically
biased Gentiles began over the
nature of Jesus. The core of their
argument was whether Christians
should be monotheistic or
polytheistic.
Conflict over the
nature of Jesus roiled the body of
Jesus for several centuries and many
ideas and divisions followed. During
the fifth and sixth centuries A.D.,
the church at Rome gained religious
and political powers. Once the
Catholic Church held sufficient
standing within the Holy Roman
Empire, the church moved to
“settle forever and end”
the argument over the nature of Jesus
and the Godhead. The Eleventh Synod
of Toledo (in Spain) in A.D. 675
formally declared the Church’s
position on the trinity. In brief,
church leaders said: “We confess
and we believe that the holy and
indescribable Trinity, Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit is one only God in
His nature, a single substance, a
single nature, a single majesty and
power…. The three are
one, as a nature, that is, not as
person. Nevertheless, these
three persons are not to be
considered separable, since we
believe that no one of them existed
or at any time effected anything
before the other, after the other, or
without the other.” (Source: Fr.
John A. Hardon, S.J., Catholic
Doctrine on the holy Trinity, http://www.therealpresence.org/archives/Trinity/Trinity
001.htm, emphasis
mine)
With this declaration,
the Roman Catholic Church modified
the strict monotheism of the Jews.
Later, Abbot Joachim (1135-1202), who
was an influential monk, promoted the
idea that the Trinity was made up of
three separate, distinct Gods.
Because Joachim was widely respected,
his views gained some traction. After
he died, the church silenced
Joachim’s teaching during the
Fourth Lateran Council (1251). The
council affirmed that there is one
God, manifested in the Bible as three
persons. Nearly 200 years later at
the Council of Florence (1445), the
church reaffirmed monotheism: The
Trinity is One God who
manifests Himself as three persons.
This position remains unchanged and
many protestant churches embrace this
understanding today.
Textual Conflict
Sometimes, the Bible
presents a topic that seems to have
opposing views. For example, the
Bible indicates in one place that
Hell will burn forever and in another
place, that Hell will not burn
forever. When the Bible presents an apparent
conflict a controversy can
occur because people will typically
sample some of the evidence a
reach a premature conclusion. Human
nature loves to magnify what it wants
to believe and diminish the
importance of what it does not
understand or wants to believe.
The doctrine of the Godhead has been
controversial for centuries because
the Bible appears to present
conflicting ideas on this topic.
However, the honest and heart, an apparent
conflict in the Bible is an
invitation for careful and thorough
study because the mature Christians
know there is no internal conflict
within God’s Word. The Godhead
is true and changeless and the Word
of God accurately reflects their
character. Therefore, an apparent
conflict in the Bible means there
is a lofty solution that, when found,
will harmoniously encompass all the
apparent conflicts. The Bible has
to make sense just as it reads or it
cannot speak for itself. With
this promise in mind, please consider
these seven issues:
1. If the
Catholic position on the Trinity,
“One God manifesting Himself as
three persons,” is valid, how
can one God have two wills?
Did Jesus petition another
manifestation of Himself in the
Garden? “Father, if
you are willing, take this
cup from me; yet not my
will, but yours be done.”
(Luke 22:42, emphasis mine)
2. Did the
Father send a manifestation of
Himself to earth or did He send
another Deity who had a will of His
own, a Deity who was separate and
distinct from Himself? Jesus told the
Jews, “For I have come down
from Heaven not to do My
will but to do
the will of Him who sent Me.”
(john 6: 38, emphasis mine
3. Did the
Father speak about His love for
Himself when Jesus was baptized or
did the Father speak about His love
for another member of Deity? “Then
a cloud appeared and enveloped them,
and a voice came out from the cloud: ‘This
is my Son, whom I love.
Listen to him!’” (Mark
9:7. emphasis mine)
4. During His
final moments on the cross, did Jesus
cry out to another manifestation of
Himself with a question? “And
at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in
a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama
sabachthani?’ – which
means, ‘My God, my
God, why have you forsaken me?’”
(Mark 15:34, emphasis mine)
5. Paul said
that God the Father raised Jesus from
the dead. Did the Father raise up a
manifestation of Himself or did the
Father restore life to a member of
Deity who willingly gave up eternal
life so that sinners could have it? “Paul,
an a apostle, (not of men, neither by
man, but by Jesus Christ, and God
the Father, who raised him
[Jesus] from the dead ;)”
(Galatians 1:1-KJV, insertion
mine)
6. Jesus said
that He was once dead and now is
alive forever more. (Revelation 1:18)
If Jesus is a separate member of
Deity who willingly gave up His
eternal life so that sinners could
have it, the price of redemption
exceeds calculation. On the other
hand, If Jesus is a mere
manifestation of the Father,
God’s sacrifice for our sins
amounts to just suffering. Said other
way, if the penalty for sin is death,
God did not pay the penalty
for our sins because God Himself did
not die on the cross.
7. Finally, I
have to ask this question. If there
is one God who manifests
Himself as three persons, why did the
Father search through the whole
universe only to determine that
another manifestation of Himself
(Jesus) was worthy to receive the
book sealed with seven seals? (See
Revelation 5.) This prophetic story
highlights the core issue
between the doctrine of monotheism
(one God) and tritheism (three Gods).
What would be the point of the Father
searching throughout the universe for
someone worthy to take the book
sealed with seven seals only to give
it to Himself? If monotheism is true
and there is only one God, then
Revelation 5 becomes a divine sham
and we know this is not possible! “..Let
God be true and every man a
liar…” (Romans 3:4) God
is honest and always above any hint
of reproach.
When considering the
previous seven issues, the idea of
one God manifesting Himself as three
persons creates several textual
problems for which there is no
solution. The greatest problem I
have with monotheism and the
Catholic’s modification of that
monotheism is that the Bible is put
into a position where it cannot be
understood just as it reads.
If a Bible student is
willing to consider the idea that the
Godhead (the Trinity) is made up of
three separate Gods who are united as
one Deity, serving creation as one
God in purpose, plan, and action, the
entire Bible will make perfect
sense just as it reads. When
people reach or support conclusions
built on religious bias, insufficient
samples, inadequate knowledge, or
maligned opinions, they create many
insurmountable problems and questions
resulting in confusion and more
division.
A Good Question
At this point, you may
be asking yourself, “If the
Godhead functions as one in purpose,
plan and action, What difference
does it ultimately make if there
is one God or three separate Gods?
Let me emphasize why I believe this
topic is important by listing four
reasons.
1. When
people know the truth about the
Godhead, the Bible will make sense just
as it reads. Every truth is a
stepping stone for understanding
greater truth. For example, Paul
said the Father is “King of
kings and Lord of lords.” (1
Timothy 6:15) However, when Jesus
appears at the Second Coming, John
sees Him wearing the title, “king
of kings and Lord of lords.” (Revelation
19:16) Can the Father and the Son be
the same person or is there much more
to this story? I believe Jesus was
found worthy in 1798 to receive
sovereign power. (For further study
on this topic, please see Prophecies
3 and 6 in my book, Jesus’ Final
Victory.) In essence, the Father gave
His throne and power to Jesus and
this is how Jesus became “King
of kings and Lord of lords.”
Paul tells us that once Jesus has
accomplished everything that needs to
be done, Jesus will return the
sovereign power and throne to the
Father. (1 Corinthians 15: 25-28) At
the end of sin’s drama, the
Father will reveal to everyone that
Jesus is the Father’s equal in
every way!
2. The
behavior of three separate but equal
deities is defining. Three separate
co-eternal Gods living in perfect
harmony define what love is and is
not to all observers. They live and
function according to the laws of
love, thus their lives are a
comprehensive demonstration, a
living laboratory for all
creation to study.
3. If we
understand that Jesus is deity, a
separate, distinct co-eternal member
of the Godhead, then the enormous
price which our salvation required is
shocking. Think about this: A
co-eternal member of the Godhead was
willing to cease to exist forever so
that we might have His eternal life.
Because Jesus was willing to forfeit
His life for sinners and willing to
fulfill the Father’s will
perfectly for our salvation, the
Father, by His own authority, raised
Jesus from the dead so that He could
later exalt Jesus as His equal! (Why
is this important to know? The
character of Jesus mirrors the
character of the Father. Thus, Jesus
said, “…Anyone who has
seen me has seen the
Father…” (John 14:9)
4. The
presence of three independent members
of deity and an expanding universe of
created beings requires government.
Three Gods and billions of free moral
agents having the power of choice
could not live together harmoniously
without a government based on the
laws of love. This is why monotheism
is a deficient doctrine: If there is
one God as Judaism claims or one God
having three manifestations as
Catholicism claims, then what is
love? If Lucifer and his followers
had to wait for “a manifestation
of God” to die on the cross in
A.D. 30 to see what love is, then
their complaints against God before
the Earth was created could be
justified. If there is only one God,
there is no example of love to
emulate and no definition of love
other than what God says. On the
other hand, if there are three
distinct, separate, co-eternal
members of the Godhead, their daily
submission to each other is a
divine example which created
beings can study and emulate
throughout eternity. God never
asks His children to do or experience
something that He has not first
experienced.
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