Is the Doctrine of the Trinity Biblical?

My note to someone who was trying to save me from embarrassment over my "lack of understanding" about the trinity. Oh?

"Hi xxxxxx,

Thank you so much for taking the time to write the note explaining the reason that you were hesitant to post my response in the forum.....and save me from "public embarrassment", but what I shared was truthful in ascribing Creeds (Nicean & Athanasian which define and necessitate the belief in the Trinity) to early Catholicism, which is the basis for many statements of faith for membership to ministries that require attestation. These statements of faith have been adopted for 17 or so centuries now by mainstream Protestants and have become a litmus test of sorts of orthodoxy."

So, there are doctrines defined as “orthodox” and “non-orthodox” according to…....according to whom? Who is given the power to decide if something is orthodox or not? In the case of doctrines using words that are extra-biblical—and the word Trinity is not found in the Bible—one should find out where the doctrine originated, and why it is such an issue today.

The definition of the Godhead by those Christians who do not ascribe to the Catholic creedal confession of the Trinity (that would be millions of people beside myself) is generally as follows:

God: There is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4). He is the creator of heaven and earth, and of all living beings. He has revealed Himself to humanity as the Father (Creator), in the son (Savior), and as the Holy Ghost (indwelling Spirit).

Father: God is a Spirit (John 4:24). He is the Eternal One, the Creator of all things, and the Father of all humanity by creation. He is the First and the Last, and beside Him there is no God (Isaiah 44:6). There was no God formed before Him; neither shall be there any after Him (Isaiah 43:10).

Son: Jesus is the Son of God according to the flesh (Romans 1:3) and the very God Himself according to the Spirit (Matthew 1:23). Jesus is the Christ (Matthew 16:16); the creator of all things (Colossians 1:16-17); God with us (Matthew 1:23); God made flesh (John 1:1-14); God manifested in the flesh (I Timothy 3:16);He which was, which is, and which is to come, the Almighty (Revelation 1:8);the mighty God, everlasting Father, and Prince of peace (Isaiah 9:6). Jesus Himself testified of His identity as God when He said, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:7-11) and "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30). It took shedding of blood for the remission of the sins of the world (Hebrews 9:22), but God the Father was a Spirit and had no blood to shed. Thus He prepared a body of flesh and blood (Hebrews 10:5)and came to earth as a man in order to save us, for in Isaiah 43:11 He said, "Beside me there is no Saviour."

Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit is not a third person in the Godhead, but rather the Spirit of God (the Creator), the Spirit of the resurrected Christ. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in the hearts and lives of everyone who believes and obeys the gospel, as the comforter, Sustainer, and keeper (John 14:16-26; Romans 8:9-11).

I’ve noted below a brief history that I didn’t know as a new believer, but when I began studying historic Christianity while homeschooling our boys, I found fascinating.

The Nicene creed which was written at the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325 is well known for formally outlining Christian trinitarian thought but actually has its roots in pagan polytheism from thousands of years before and Greek philosophy and not in Biblical Christianity which we can see from early church history.

The concept of the Trinity was formally adopted during the 2nd and 3rd centuries as integral to orthodox Christianity (but to be adopted means the birth had to come from another source). The person credited with coining the term “trinity” was Tertullian, but like I said, triune worship goes back thousands of years before that. It was between A.D. 170-325 when early Christianity shifted from a strictly monotheistic view of God toward a form of trinitarianism which was really the birth of the Catholic age.

Records of early Mesopotamian civilizations show polytheistic religions although it has been proven that the earliest man believed in one God. (Abraham as opposed to his fellow citizens of Ur) The most interesting thing to note is that in polytheistic religions, the most common grouping of gods was a triad and this goes back thousands of years.

Consider this:

Ancient Sumeria (and later Assyria and Babylon) worshipped a trinity:
Anu – primary god of heaven, “father”
Enlil was the wind god and creator
Enki was the god of waters.

This Babylonian triad “consisted of three gods of roughly equal rank…whose inner-relationship is the essence of their natures”. Egypt also believed in a “transcendental, above creation and preexisting one, the god Amun” (Prof. George Hart, Univ. of London, professor of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics). Interesting: The god Amun was really three gods in one. Re was his face, Ptah his body and Amun, his hidden identity. These three were “combined as three embodiments or aspects of one supreme and triune deity.” A hymn written to Amun in the 14th century BC defines the Egyptian trinity “All gods are three: Amun, Re, Ptah; they have no equal.”

Will Durant, noted historian, along many others, have long noted that the idea of a divine trinity came from Egypt. The worship of the Egyptian triad Isis, Serapis and the child Horus probably accustomed the early church theologians to the idea of a triune god and was influential in the formation of the doctrine of the Trinity.

So, there were many trinities that the early Christians were exposed to. It’s key to note that the idea of the trinity was introduced later to the Romans but became so typical of Rome that it quickly spread as they worshipped Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. This is the culture that Christianity was birthed into.

It’s well known to many historians that Christianity did not destroy paganism, it adopted it. As homeschooling families, we have seen the debates surrounding pagan issues firsthand, as many aspire to a Christian walk that better resembles that of historic Christianity. They homechurch or attend churches which have homegroups, they decide not to celebrate Halloween or Easter (bunny/egg Easter) and opt for Reformation Day or Passover instead. Additionally, there is the great Christmas debate; many recognize the roots of this holiday to be rooted in Saturnalia. Wouldn’t it behoove us as believers to go to the root of the issue of paganism and not simply address the symptoms? The root is that the adoption of Christianity as the state religion by Constantine (himself a pagan priest) found it necessary to adopt the theology of the pagans to insure its widespread success. We know this from any homeschool history curriculum we use.

I thought you would find it interesting to note that worshipping a triune godhead is nothing new and has been around for millennia. The Jews however have always been commanded to worship the one true God, and have remained monotheistic. This is the primary issue that prevents them from accepting Jesus as the Messiah. Their children (orthodox Jews) are taught the Sh'ma from a very young age. They have not been able to comprehend a tritheistic view of God because it flies in the face of God as they know Him. Whereas a better understanding of the deity of Jesus, the sonship of Jesus and the nature of the Holy Spirit, being the indwelling Spirit of the one true God, would allow for their acceptance of Jesus as God.

So, if you’ve read this far, there are millions of Bible believing Christians (to not include such sects as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons or Islam) that believe in one God revealed in three manifestations. I well recognize that not worshipping God as three, is “not orthodox” according to the doctrines of man, but is absolutely scriptural. These non-Trinitarian believers are “orthodox” in every other facet of Biblical Christianity but differ in this one point. It’s not simply a matter of semantics but one of understanding the nature of God’s command in Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”

Sources:
The Trinitarian Controversy by David Bernard
The Godhead Revealed by Britt Prince
Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up by David Bercot
"The Origin of the Trinity from Paganism to Constantine" by Cher-El L. Hagensick