Sometime ago someone emailed me a copy of the following article. This article was actually taken from a book written on the subject of the Trinity, and in this article the author attempts to explain the Trinity. We have reprinted the article here, because it brings out some of the inconsistencies of the doctrine and illustrates the illogical arguments which must be used when one attempts to justify the doctrine of a Trinitarian God. Ironically this article was written by a man named (of all things) James White!! We have taken the liberty of numbering the paragraphs for easy reference.
A Brief Definition of the Trinity
by James White
1. I know that one of the most oft-repeated questions I have dealt with
is, “How does one explain, or even understand, the doctrine of the
Trinity?” Indeed, few topics are made such a football by various groups
that, normally, claim to be the “only” real religion, and who prey upon
Christians as “convert fodder.” Be that as it may, when the Christian is
faced with a question regarding the Trinity, how might it best be
explained?
2. For me, I know that simplifying the doctrine to
its most basic elements has been very important and very useful. When we
reduce the discussion to the three clear Biblical teachings that
underlie the Trinity, we can move our discussion from the abstract to
the concrete Biblical data, and can help those involved in false
religions to recognize which of the Biblical teachings it is denying.
3. We must first remember that very few have a good idea of what the
Trinity is in the first place – hence, accuracy in definition will be
very important. The doctrine of the Trinity is simply that there is one
eternal being of God – indivisible, infinite. This one being of God is
shared by three co-equal, co-eternal persons, the Father, the Son, and
the Spirit.
4. It is necessary here to distinguish between the
terms “being” and “person.” It would be a contradiction, obviously, to
say that there are three beings within one being, or three persons
within one person. So what is the difference? We clearly recognize the
difference between being and person every day. We recognize what
something is, yet we also recognize individuals within a classification.
For example, we speak of the “being” of man—human being. A rock has
“being”—the being of a rock, as does a cat, a dog, etc. Yet, we also
know that there are personal attributes as well. That is, we recognize
both “what” and “who” when we talk about a person.
5. The
Bible tells us there are three classifications of personal beings—God,
man, and angels. What is personality? The ability to have emotion, will,
to express oneself. Rocks cannot speak. Cats cannot think of themselves
over against others, and, say, work for the common good of “catkind.”
Hence, we are saying that there is one eternal, infinite being of God,
shared fully and completely by three persons, Father, Son and Spirit.
One what, three whos.
6. NOTE: We are not saying that the
Father is the Son, or the Son the Spirit, or the Spirit the Father. It
is very common for people to misunderstand the doctrine as to mean that
we are saying Jesus is the Father. The doctrine of the Trinity does not
in any way say this.
7. The three Biblical doctrines that flow directly into the river that is the Trinity are as follows:
1) There is one and only one God, eternal, immutable.
2) There are three eternal Persons described in Scripture – the Father,
the Son, and the Spirit.
These Persons are never identified with one another – that is, they are carefully differentiated as Persons.
3) The Father, the Son, and the Spirit, are identified as being fully
deity—that is, the Bible teaches the Deity of Christ and the Deity of
the Holy Spirit.
One could possibly represent this as follows:
8.
The three sides of the triangle represent the three Biblical doctrines,
as labeled. When one denies any of these three teachings, the other two
sides point to the result. Hence, if one denies that there are Three
Persons, one is left with the two sides of Full Equality and One God,
resulting in the “Oneness” teaching of the United Pentecostal Church and
others. If one denies Fully Equality, one is left with Three Persons
and One God, resulting in “subordinationism” as seen in Jehovah’s
Witnesses, the Way International, etc. (though to be perfectly accurate
the Witnesses deny all three of the sides in some way—they deny Full
Equality (i.e., Jesus is Michael the Archangel), Three Persons (the Holy
Spirit is an impersonal, active “force” like electricity) and One God
(they say Jesus is “a god”—a lesser divinity than Yahweh; hence they are
in reality not monotheists but henotheists). And, if one denies One
God, one is left with polytheism, the belief in many gods, as seen
clearly in the Mormon Church, the most polytheistic religion I have
encountered.
Hopefully these brief thoughts will be of help to you as you “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Our Comments on The Article
The first illogical, false and deceptive thing this writer tries to
do is to distort the meaning of the word, “being”. He says in paragraph 3
that there is one “being of God” shared by three persons. Here He means
a classification of being, or a kind of being. However, He tries to
make the word “being”, which clearly refers to an individual, refer to
more than one. To every individual of a certain kind. In paragraph 4 he
continues to build on this false definition. He says, “we speak of the
‘being’ of man—human being. A rock has ‘being’—the being of a rock, as
does a cat, a dog, etc.” When we refer to human being, are we referring
to all humanity? The “being” of all mankind? Or are we referring to an
individual? Is the word “being” a collective noun, meaning a group of
persons, or does it mean a single entity? Of course it means one! If we
referred to more than one, we would say, “human beings! Because a being
is an individual. More than one individual are beings. Now this man
tries to give the word, being, a different meaning, but it does not fit.
If we accept this man’s definition them when we say human being, we
would be referring to all humans! However, if “human being” means one
individual, then, “divine being” must also refer to one individual.
This is clearly the way the word “God” is used in Scripture. Not as a
collective noun, referring to a classification of being, but rather as
the personal name of an individual Being who, over and over is referred
to as “He.” A single person. Not a group, a committee or an agency.
In paragraph 5 he again tries to pull the wool over our eyes when he
says, ” the Bible tells us there are three classifications of personal
beings …. God, man and angels. This is deliberate deception. If we are
speaking of classifications, we must, to be consistent say, “godkind (or
divinity), mankind (or humanity) and angelkind. If we are speaking of
several, then we must say, “gods, men and angels.” If we say “God, man
and angel (not angels)” then we are clearly referring to individuals.
Sometimes we do use the word man in a generic way, to refer to mankind.
However, it is clearly understood that this is not the common usage of
the word, and that when it is used in this way, it actually means
mankind. The same thing applies to the words God and angel. They can
also be used in the generic sense, but this is not the common usage of
the words and it certainly is not the way the word God is used in the
Scriptures except in one or two instances (John 1:1). In the vast
majority of cases the word God clearly and unarguably refers to a single
individual who is referred to as He, rather than them.
By
this definition, when we say there is only one God, what we mean is that
there is only one kind of being who may be called God. Not that there
is one individual. The problem is that every false, polytheistic
religion could agree with that, because even the heathen believe in gods
who are of a different nature than men. They believe that their gods
are beings who are of a different kind than men. This does not mean that
they believe in only one god, even though they may believe in one kind
of god. The fact that they believe in several individuals within their
concept of godkind, makes them polytheists and sets them in opposition
to the clear biblical truth, “the Lord thy God is one Lord.” The same
applies to this teaching. One kind of being called God, but several
persons with the title is polytheism, even if we give it the title of
Christian.
The logical conclusion of this warped reasoning is
found in the last sentence of paragraph 5 where he refers to God as a
“what,” while the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are “whos.” It hardly
needs to be said that this kind of garbage is far removed from the
simple Biblical truth that God is an individual person, our Father. A
He, not a what.
In paragraph 7 under subsection 2, again we
have a glaring untruth to catch and deceive the unwary. It says, “These
Persons are never identified with one another – that is, they are
carefully differentiated as Persons.” Is this true? It is true where the
Father and His Son are concerned. They are never identified with each
other. They are very clearly two distinct and separate persons with one
being God, and the other His Son. But what about the Holy spirit? What
do the following quotes mean?
(Eph 4:4) There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
(2 Cor 3:17) Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
(John 14:16-18) And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you
another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever …. I will not
leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
(John 17:23) I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one…
Finally, the diagram: By using one untruth and one half-truth, the
author has come up with a convenient, but very false picture which is
only a clever device for illustrating a falsehood. The three sides are
supposed to represent three “biblical truths. However, the Bible does
not teach “three persons,” as one side indicates. Furthermore, the other
side which reads, “equality of persons,” needs a modification. The
Father and Son are equal in nature and character as the Scriptures
clearly teach. However, they are not equal in authority as the
Scriptures also clearly teach. Hence, subordinationism (if this means
the Son is subject to the Father) is true. Also, since the Father comes
to us in the form, or the “mode” of the Holy Spirit, then this is also
true as far as the identity of the Holy Spirit is concerned.
“All who love not the light must hate him who is continually labouring to pour it upon them.” –Wesley
