The Trinity is a Church Doctrine

If we seek any reference to or declaration of the doctrine of the Trinity, which is widely accepted in Christianity today, we must look elsewhere, for the Bible is silent on this matter.

Even Trinitarianists admit this:

"It must be allowed that there is no such proposition as this, that one and the same God is three different persons, formally and in terms, to be found in the Sacred Writings, either of the Old or New Testament; neither is it pretended that there is any word of the same significance or importance as the word Trinity used in Scripture in relation to God." (Dr. South, "Considerations on the Trinity," p. 38).

If we explore the religious beliefs of ancient Egypt, we find trinities of gods. The Vedas of India affirm that Agni, Indra, and Surya are three gods who are yet one god. The Greek philosopher Plato "marvellously anticipated one of the most surprising discoveries of the Christian revelation" (Gibbon, "Decline and Fall") and "St. Augustine confesses that he was in the dark about the Trinity until he read some Platonic writings which the providence of God had thrown in his way" (Collected Charges, p. 130).

It was indeed fortunate for fourth-century Trinitarianists that a Greek philosopher had propounded a trinitarian doctrine four centuries before Christ, for the Bible did not. Consider the "history" of the Trinity. The first century passes with no mention of it. In the second century, the word "Trinity" is introduced by Theophilus in A.D. 169, but he did not apply this to God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, but to the attributes of God. Neither Tertullian (AD 192), Clement (AD 215), nor Origen (AD 230) were Trinitarians. Origen writes: "The Father alone is God, and greater than him who was sent."

By the fourth century, Trinitarian doctrines were on the rise. To oppose Arius, a presbyter in Alexandria who attacked these doctrines, the Council of Nicaea was convened by Constantine. There, after much debate and only by majority vote, the nucleus of the famous Nicene Creed was formulated. However, the Council of Nicaea mentioned the Holy Ghost only in general terms, not stating any relationship with God nor requiring any specific worship. So, the Council of Constantinople (AD 381) and later the Council of Toledo (AD 589) addressed these "deficiencies" and commanded a belief in the Holy Ghost "who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified."

We ask you to consider whether this doctrine, if it had been a Biblical doctrine that was so essential to salvation, would have taken nearly four centuries to evolve. And what about the salvation of those who were Christians prior to the development of the doctrine of the Trinity?

“It must be admitted by everyone who has the rudiments of an historical sense that the doctrine of the Trinity, as a doctrine, formed no part of the original message. St. Paul knew it not, and would have been unable to understand the meaning of the terms used in the theological formula on which the Church ultimately agreed.” (God In Christian Thought and Experience, Dr. W. R. Matthews, Dean of St. Paul’s)

“It was Constantine who by official edict brought Christianity to belief in the formal division of the Godhead into two – God the Father and God the Son. It remained the task of a later generation to bring Christianity to belief in the Triune God.” (A. F. Buzzard & C. F. Hunting, The Doctrine of the Trinity: Christianity’s Self-Inflicted Wound, 1988)

The Church acknowledges that the Trinity is not taught in the Bible but claims the authority to set doctrine.

"Roman Catholics . . often claim that the trinity is not a biblical doctrine and was first revealed through the ministry of the church centuries after the Bible was written. This is in keeping with the Roman Catholic belief that Christian doctrine may be based either on the Bible or on church tradition.“ (Why You Should Believe In The Trinity 1989, Robert M. Bowman)

“The result (of the controversy) was the doctrine of the Trinity, slowly worked out and formulated during the fourth century. Christian thought, working with the data of the New Testament and using Greek philosophy as its instrument, constructed the doctrine of Trinity in Unity.” (Christian Doctrine – Dr. J. S. Whale, formerly President of Cheshunt College Cambridge)

Adapted from “The Bible Today and You” by H W Hathaway