The Doctrines Of Man

 

 

Three in One It Doesn’t Add Up

Belief in a triune deity is timeworn, tracing back to ancient mystery worship. "Will anyone after this say that the Roman Catholic Church must still be called Christian, because it holds the doctrine of the Trinity? So did the pagan Babylonians, so did the Egyptians, so do the Hindoos at this hour, in the very sense in which Rome does" (The Two Babylons, Alexander Hislop).

A belief few ever stop to question is, why is the Trinity doctrine tightly held by most of Christendom, even used as a test doctrine, when it is entirely missing from the Bible’s pages? Jay P. Green’s Classic Bible Dictionary says about the word Trinity, "This is not itself a Biblical term, but was a term coined by Tertullian to refer to this whole concept under one word." The historian Will Durant adds this revealing explanation, "Christianity did not destroy paganism; it adopted it… From Egypt came the ideas of a divine Trinity" (The Story of Civilization, vol. III).

If the Trinity were a pure Biblical teaching and key test doctrine, why did it take so long to develop into the form we find it today? Why the centuries-long debate, squabbling, contention and infighting over the notion of a three-in-one majesty? Shouldn’t a straightforward Bible teaching be clear and concise and easy to understand as are other teachings of Yahweh are? The whole concept of a Trinity emerged only after many centuries of heated disagreement and disputing: "The doctrine developed gradually over several centuries and through many controversies…By the end of the 4th century…the doctrine of the Trinity took substantially the form it has maintained ever since" (Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Trinity").

Yahshua the Messiah maintained that he was not co-equal with the Father, but was in subjection to His Father. In saying that, He affirmed that He was not Yahweh’s peer. In fact, He was His Son! "You have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I" (John 14:28). One cannot be equal with another if the other is greater. Yahshua said that no man can come to Him unless the Father first draws him, John 6:44, revealing a supreme hierarchy that is not co-equal in authority.

The Apostle Paul clearly disputes equality among the Yahweh family in 1Timothy 6:16. Describing the Father he wrote, "Who only has immortality…" Only Yahweh the Father is innately immortal. His post-resurrection statement took into account the risen Messiah as well as the mortal, earthly Savior.

The nameless Holy Spirit is not another person but the very power of Yahweh by which He accomplishes His acts. In the Hebrew spirit is ruach, and in Greek, pneuma. Both words mean power like wind or breath. It was the inbreathing of this power that gave life to Adam and all life on the earth, Genesis 2:7. No mention is ever made to praying to or honoring the Holy Spirit.