The Trinity: A Fundamental of the Faith or a Fable?

Oct8 by Bruce Woodford

 (Since it may be possible that some could conclude, from the first paragraph below, that I am a heretic… I would appeal to you not to “write me off as a heretic” before reading this entire page and especially the scriptures referenced. Does a heretic wholeheartedly embrace all that scripture states about a subject and reject ideas of men which are contrary to scripture?…OR does a heretic embrace words of man’s wisdom and reject what scripture says?)

 As a child I was always taught and believed in the doctrine of the “Trinity”, i.e. that there is one God who has revealed Himself as “three persons” and that these three are “members” of the Godhead. However this teaching, which was developed by men and formulated in various creeds long after the Bible was completed, is foreign to scripture! The doctrine of the “Trinity”, although considered by most Christians to be a fundamental of orthodoxy, is never stated in the Bible but is rather contradicted by the inspired writings! It is for such reasons that I have had to reject it to embrace scripturally stated doctrine concerning the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

 Although I have read many articles and books about the Trinity, none that I have read have defined the word “person”!  Most dictionaries offer a wide variety of definitions of the word “person” but none of them is compatible with the God who is revealed in the Bible!  The scriptures do not teach that God is a “person” (which dictionaries define as “a human being”, “a living human body”, “a character, part or role in a play or story”, “one not entitled to social recognition or respect”, “an individual regarded slightingly, as one of a lower status”, “a body corporate having rights or duties before the law”, or “a mode of being” ) but rather that He is a spirit. The Lord Jesus speaking to the Samaritan woman (John 4:24) said, “God is a spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” Nor does scripture ever teach that the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit are “members” of anything!

 Thus the doctrine of the Trinity, rather than taking a high view of God as its adherents profess, actually presents a much lower view of Him than the scriptures teach. It fashions God into the image of His mortal creatures who are “persons” and “members”! Rather than taking a lower view of God than Trinitarians do, I maintain that we need to take the scriptural view. Such is a higher, a more accurate and a more God-honouring view than that which Trinitarian teaching has ever suggested!
 Scripture speaks …

– of the Spirit of the Father, (Matthew 10:20) who is the Father of Spirits (Hebrews 12:9)
– of Jesus’ spirit, the Spirit of God’s son or the Spirit of Christ whom God has sent  into our hearts (Luke 23:46, Galatians 4:6 & Romans 8:9) and
– of the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth whom the Lord Jesus, after He departed, sent to abide for ever with his disciples (John 15:26; 16:7-14)

 The most comprehensive single sentence statement about the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit which to date I have found in scripture is that recorded by Luke in Luke 1:67-75:  “And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; the oath which he sware to our father Abraham, that he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.”

 The shortest single sentence statement about the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit which to date I have found in scripture is Ephesians 2:18:  “For through him (Christ Jesus) we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.”

 And, in my opinion, one of the most powerful and practical of such statements is Hebrews 9:14:  “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

 Such statements given by the Lord Jesus, his prophets and apostles in the pure words of God, apart from words additional to His, apart from words which man’s wisdom teaches are…

– superior to,
– more accurate and authoritative than and
– far more profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and for
   instruction in righteousness than any creedal statements composed of words  which man’s wisdom teaches.

 Like all scriptural doctrines, the doctrine of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit…

(1) is stated in the pure words of  God,
(2) is stated apart from words additional to scripture,
(3) is stated in words which the Holy Spirit teaches rather than in words which man’s wisdom teaches,
(4) is taught by the Lord Jesus, His apostles and prophets and
(5) its source is Christ, the truth,  rather than Satan the deceiver; it brings those who embrace it into freedom in Christ rather than into bondage to men who with cunning craftiness lie in wait to deceive.
 
 Are you aware of any creed or doctrinal statement that states any Biblical doctrine better than the scriptures do?