438 Is God a Trinity of Persons? (Sean Finnegan)

The Trinity remains a massively popular theory to understand God in Christianity today as it has since the fourth century. Some go so far as to condemn any attempt to understand the concept while others are content to allow their faith to seek understanding (fides quarens intelectum). Nevertheless, most Christians have never honestly assessed this doctrine in light of scripture, reason, and history.

In what follows, we’ll begin by taking systematic theologian Wayne Grudem’s definition of the Trinity to build an understanding of this model of God (social Trinity). Next we’ll take a brief survey of the history of the idea from it’s antecedents in the second and third centuries to the full-blown understanding in the sixth century. Lastly, we’ll evaluate the concept based on scripture and reason.

Whether you believe in a Trinity theory or not, I hope this presentation will help you understand it better and see why an increasing number of people are questioning the idea.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

—— Notes ——

Definition

1. God is three persons
2. Each person is fully God
3. There is one God

History

1. Theophilus (184)
2. Tertullian (208)
3. Alexander (313)
4. Nicaea (325)
5. Constantinople (381)
6. Ephesus (431)
7. Chalcedon (451)
8. Athanasian Creed (500s?)

Bible

God is one person (Deuteronomy 4.35, 39; 6.4-5; Mark 12.28-34; John 17.3; 2 Kings 19.19), routinely referred to as “he” rather than “they.”  Since every time people in Scripture speak to or about God, they always use singular pronouns, we should be suspicious of affirming plural persons within God.

The Holy Spirit is not a different person from the Father or Son since it lacks a name, never sends greetings (Romans 1.7), is left out of fellowship (1 John 1.3), is intrinsic to the Father’s mind (1 Corinthians 2.11), is never prayed to, is left out of key Christian creedal statements (1 Corinthians 8.6; 1 Timothy 2.5-6; 2 Timothy 2.11-13), is left out of end times knowledge (Mark 13.32), and is never given a throne like the Father and Son (Revelation 3.21).

Jesus is not fully God because he is not the same substance (1 Timothy 2.5), not eternal (Matthew 1.18; Hebrews 1.5), not a se (John 6.57; Mark 10.18), not omnipotent (John 5.19, 30), not equal to God (John 14.28; 1 Corinthians 15.28), not omniscient (Mark 13.32), not immortal (1 Corinthians 15.3), not invisible (1 Timothy 1.17; 6.16), and temptable (Hebrews 4.15) unlike God (James 1.13).

Not only do the words “Trinity,” “same substance,” “eternal generation,” “three persons,” etc., fail to occur in the Bible, but Scripture likewise lacks any explanation of the concept of the Trinity.  Furthermore, if the apostles were teaching about the Trinity, why is it missing from their recorded sermons in Acts?  If the Apostle Paul taught the Trinity, why didn’t any of his opponents bring up that issue either during his missionary journeys or among the many issues he dealt with in his letters?  Furthermore, if Jesus were merely playing the role of a lowly human in his “incarnation,” why does the resurrected, ascended, and exalted Christ still refer to the Father as “my God” (Revelation 3.12) and remain in subjection to God for all of eternity (1 Corinthians 15.28)?

—— Links ——

• See Five Major Problems with the Trinity
• See The Trinity before Nicea
• more episodes about the Trinity
• Take a free class that builds a biblical unitarian theology from the ground up: 1 God Over All
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• Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library.
• Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here.