The Assumed Trinity
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Is the Trinity Implied in the Bible?
Is the Trinity Implied in the Bible?
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1. There is One True God
1. There is One True God
How many is God?
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Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah:
In regard to Deut 6:4 "one" means that Jehovah is a single person, a single being, a single entity. Not a complex Unity, or a Tri-unity this speaks of him in all aspects as a 1 and never any other number not ever a 3. This verse in no way teaches a Trinity of Persons.
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Read Isa 43:10-11 who is the servant in this Text?
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“You are My witnesses,” declares the LORD,
“And My servant whom I have chosen,
So that you may know and believe Me
And understand that I am He.
Before Me there was no God formed,
And there will be none after Me.
“I, even I, am the LORD,
And there is no savior besides Me.
The Servant in Isaiah 43:10 is Christ so this verse is not advantageous to the Trinity Doctrine because Christ himself is said to testify that before the Uncreated God was there never a God like YHWH createdequal in rank, in eternal existence, equal as the first cause. There are others called God but no GOD is like YHWH Uncreated. Yes there is no other GOD created and no other God uncreated none exists none besides the one Uncreated Person The Only True God the Father of All. Notice that the witnesses are plural indicating a group of witnesses. And then the continuation of the verse indicates a singular servant. It could be assumed that collectively the witnesses are referred to as the servant but then it would be servants plural rather than servant singular. This servant is the Messiah the suffering servant well known in the book of Isaiah. As we will see in the following verses the servant is the Messiah.
Jesus is the Servant of the YHWH
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According to Matt 12:1721 who is the chosen servant?
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This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet:
“BEHOLD, MY SERVANT WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN;
MY BELOVED IN WHOM MY SOUL is WELL-PLEASED;
I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT UPON HIM,
AND HE SHALL PROCLAIM JUSTICE TO THE GENTILES.
“HE WILL NOT QUARREL, NOR CRY OUT;
NOR WILL ANYONE HEAR HIS VOICE IN THE STREETS.
“A BATTERED REED HE WILL NOT BREAK OFF,
AND A SMOLDERING WICK HE WILL NOT PUT OUT,
UNTIL HE LEADS JUSTICE TO VICTORY.
“AND IN HIS NAME THE GENTILES WILL HOPE.”
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How does the verse change due to Jesus being the Servant in the verse and not God Almighty?
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How would Jesus testify that someone else is the only God?
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“Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold;
My chosen one in whom My soul delights.
I have put My Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth justice to the nations.
“He will not cry out or raise His voice,
Nor make His voice heard in the street.
“A bruised reed He will not break
And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish;
He will faithfully bring forth justice.
“He will not be disheartened or crushed
Until He has established justice in the earth;
And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”
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Listen to Me, O islands,
And pay attention, you peoples from afar.
The LORD called Me from the womb;
From the body of My mother He named Me.
He has made My mouth like a sharp sword,
In the shadow of His hand He has concealed Me;
And He has also made Me a select arrow,
He has hidden Me in His quiver.
He said to Me, “You are My Servant, Israel,
In Whom I will show My glory.”
But I said, “I have toiled in vain,
I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity;
Yet surely the justice due to Me is with the LORD,
And My reward with My God.”
And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,
To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him
(For I am honored in the sight of the LORD,
And My God is My strength),
He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also make You a light of the nations
So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and its Holy One,
To the despised One,
To the One abhorred by the nation,
To the Servant of rulers,
“Kings will see and arise,
Princes will also bow down,
Because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You.”
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The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of disciples,
That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word.
He awakens Me morning by morning,
He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.
The Lord GOD has opened My ear;
And I was not disobedient
Nor did I turn back.
I gave My back to those who strike Me,
And My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard;
I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting.
For the Lord GOD helps Me,
Therefore, I am not disgraced;
Therefore, I have set My face like flint,
And I know that I will not be ashamed.
He who vindicates Me is near;
Who will contend with Me?
Let us stand up to each other;
Who has a case against Me?
Let him draw near to Me.
Behold, the Lord GOD helps Me;
Who is he who condemns Me?
Behold, they will all wear out like a garment;
The moth will eat them.
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Behold, My servant will prosper,
He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.
Just as many were astonished at you, My people,
So His appearance was marred more than any man
And His form more than the sons of men.
Thus He will sprinkle many nations,
Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him;
For what had not been told them they will see,
And what they had not heard they will understand.
Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?
His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
But the LORD was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors.
So this shows That Jesus is the servant of God and Thus is the Servant who bares witness that There is no other God but the Father and Maker of all. This is not a text of trinitarianism but a text showing how fundamentally Jesus is not GOD Almighty himself nor part of him. This scripture is fullilled in John 17:3
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“This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
By Jesus's own definition of who God is to him, Jesus refers to someone else as "you the only true God" this explicit explanation by Jesus excludes himself about his definition of who the only true God is. Therefore Isaiah 43:10 and the words of Jesus here explain not trinitarianism but an Arian view that the Only true God is someone other than Jesus. Although Jesus is called God in different places by Jesus his own admission he is not the one true God.
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Why would Jesus eternally exclude himself from the identity of who the "Only True God" is?
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Is there Any other true God besides the Unbegotten God?
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‘Do not tremble and do not be afraid;
Have I not long since announced it to you and declared it?
And you are My witnesses.
Is there any God besides Me,
Or is there any other Rock?
I know of none.’ ”
As with the other verse of Isaiah 43:10 because of Jesus's admission that he is not the one true God. This verse can only be talking about the only true God and that would be the father according to Jesus. There is no other God besides the uncreated God. And the uncreated God testifies that there is none other besides him. In the context here it is not talking about how many are called God but who is truly God Almighty. There is no other true God but one, if there were a Trinity God this could not be said, because there would be to others besides the speaker. If Jesus were the one speaking here he would have to testify that the Father and the Holy Spirit are also God besides him and literally beside him. As we ponder on this verse we must eventually come to the realization that unless your a modalist this is not the Trinity Speaking. In Arianism this is very easy to explain because the only true God is one person and that is the father of Jesus.
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Should a Trinity God mention his triune nature here and the fact that he was one if he was so? Why? or Why not?
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Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
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Is it ever proper to call God the Father begotten? Why or why not?
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If God is immortal how could he also die? Would that be just a false death if no one really died?
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If God is invisible why is Jesus Visible?
Here we see a very beautiful verse about the only God. Because it says the word "only" here shows that there is only one that can be spoken for, the rest of the characteristics of this God is described also. The most important of these in regard to the topic of the only God is the word invisible. The uncreated always existent God is invisible and that means that he cannot be seen. John 1:18 explains that no one has ever seen God at any time. That means that at any time someone is said to have encountered God or the God had appeared to them that it was not God. But that it was the only born God who was revealing him. Now as we said about the verses above that there is only one God and that there was none created before or after him, We must understand that the Bible still uses the term God for other beings. So in order to have balance because we acknowledge that the Bible uses the word God for other beings and they are all created beings we must assume that the Scripture is referring to who is truly God and that there is not a created/begotten being at the same rank and authority as the uncreated God. So because Jesus is visible and is also said to be the image of God. The only true God is the one that is eternal that is has always existed and did not come into existence like a said of Jesus. This only God is immortal and incapable of dying this also excludes Jesus from being the only God. This God according to this verse is invisible and cannot be seen Jesus by virtue of him being the image of God must be able to be seen and therefore must not be the true God. And also to be noted is that to be the image of God inherently means that you are not the original but the image of the original, that again distances Jesus from being the only true God.
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For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
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If you are a negotiator can you be one of the 2 parties negotiated? wouldnt that just be direct conversation with no negotiator?
Here we see the number one being used for God previously we saw the verse that said only God, and the quote from Jesus calling the father the only true God. Here we see one God as a numerical whole one. One of the deepest things that we can learn about this verse is that God can exist as one whole without Jesus in this verse. Jesus is described as someone else other than the one God and it also uses the term mediator. What's striking about using the word mediator is that it is describing Jesus as not the one God but a Negotiator who is trying to work for the best interests of two different parties. Jesus is being explained in a very explicit way how he is not the one God and he is not the men who need salvation but is a negotiator between these two parties. It is very clear according to this verse the Christology of the apostle Paul that Christ is not part of the one God like trinitarianism would say but is a negotiator between the one God and sinful man. So although this verse does describe only one God it is not including Jesus as part of who that one God is.
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You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
Believing that God is one something even the demons understand. God has not allowed the demons nor the devil a way of salvation. Although they know the truth that God is one and as another devil said that Jesus is the holy one of God they understand that Jesus is not God Almighty but the holy one from God. But we are not going to be taking the testimony of demons, but I do point out one thing no matter what the demon does with his knowledge of who God is and who his son is none of that will bring him to salvation. The salvation through Jesus is only applicable to humans.
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yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.
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Who does this verse call the One God the Father or Jesus?
This last verse on the topic of the one true God, the concept that is at the heart of the Trinitarian theology. Along with the very explicit explanation by Jesus on who in his opinion God is, decided to exclude himself and call the Father "the only true God". In this verse we see in no uncertain terms that the Father is the one God . In all of the controversy concerning the doctrine of the Trinity this verse stands as a testament that has stood 2000 years explaining who the one God is very clearly and that is only the Father. So if we look back at all the verses that we have been examining and the testimony of Jesus himself. We must come to the conclusion that the only true God the eternal, invisible, immortal uncreated Almighty God is only God the Father.
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Jesus is not the One God
In conclusion there are very many verses that explained that there is only one God who is true, although we know that there are other verses where created beings are called God also. We must have a clear understanding that none of those that are called God are uncreated, nor eternal, nor invisible. Jesus Christ is created, He is created before time but still has a beginning, he is visible and he did truly die thing that the true God cannot do. So all of these evidences point to their being one God but also that Jesus is not him. Although we can point to very awesome and miraculous things that have happened through Jesus like the creation of the world's even those things do not make him the one who created him and gave him his power.