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WHY WE DON'T BELIEVE IN THE TRINITY

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Introduction

This bible study explains why God cannot be a trinity of three persons, because the Word is Spirit. My first eight years after becoming a believer in Jesus was spent in a church which believed in the trinity. Although I sometimes asked about it, I could not understand how God was three persons. I eventually went to a church that believed in the oneness of God, who considered that Jesus was the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit: called Jesus only. Not being fully convinced of their explanation either, I eventually found an explanation why God is not three persons from my own personal study of scripture, and in this study I will reveal what I found. God bless you as you read.

#1.1 DEFINITIONS OF THE TRINITY

Here are some definitions of the Trinity that can be searched online.

Definition from the Catholic Encyclopaedia.
The Trinity is the term employed to signify the central doctrine of the Christian religion — the truth that in the unity of the Godhead there are Three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, these Three Persons being truly distinct one from another.
Thus, in the words of the Athanasian Creed: "the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet there are not three Gods but one God." In this Trinity of Persons the Son is begotten of the Father by an eternal generation, and the Holy Spirit proceeds by an eternal procession from the Father and the Son. Yet, notwithstanding this difference as to origin, the Persons are co-eternal and co-equal: all alike are uncreated and omnipotent.

Definition from Wikipedia.
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (Latin: Trinitas, lit. 'triad', from Latin: trinus "threefold") holds that God is one God, but three coeternal consubstantial persons or hypostases—the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit—as "one God in three Divine persons". The three persons are distinct, yet are one "substance, essence or nature".

Definition from Mirriam-Webster website
The unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead.

The main part of these definitions, which they all agree to, is that God is three persons, and this bible study is going to refute that.

#1.2 PROBLEMS WITH THE DEFINITION OF THE TRINITY

There are several problems with believing in the Trinity as defined above.

1. Word Trinity is not in the Bible.
2. God is never said to be three persons.

These two statements are against one basic rule of interpretation when rightly dividing the word of God: do not add to his words.

(Deuteronomy 4:2) "You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you."
(Deuteronomy 12:32) "Every word which I command you, observe to do it: you shall not add to it, nor take away from it."
(Proverbs 30:5) "Every word of God is refined: he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
30:6 Do not add to his words, lest he reproves you, and you are found a liar.
(Revelation 22:18) "For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall put to these words, God shall put on him the plagues that are written in this book:

3 .The persons are co-equal and omnipotent.

The father and the son are never said to be co-equal, and is questioned by the fact that the Son often prays to the Father, but never the does the Father pray to the son. Jesus only spoke what is Father told him to say.

(John 8:28) "Then Jesus said to them, When you have lifted up the Son of man, then shall you know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father has taught me, I speak these things.
(John 12:50) "And I know that his commandment is eternal life: therefore, whatever I speak, even as the Father said to me, so I speak.
(John 14:10) "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak of myself: but the Father who dwells in me, he does the works.

The fact that they are said to be onipotent, that is all powerful, can be questioned by several statement of Jesus himself when on earth.

(John 5:19) "Then Jesus answered and said to them, Amen, amen, I say to you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father do: for whatever things he does, these also does the Son likewise.
(John 5:30) "I can of my own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the Father who has sent me.
(John 8:28) "Then Jesus said to them, When you have lifted up the Son of man, then shall you know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father has taught me, I speak these things.

These scriptures explain that the Son was totally submitted to the Father, and was certainly not all powerful by himself. So the Son and the Father were not co-equal, they worked together.

#1.3 THE WORD IS SPIRIT - NOT TWO DISTINCT PERSONS

The following scriptures will compare the Word and the Spirit to try to reveal the relationship between them.

(1 John 5:5) "Who is he who overcomes the world, except he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
5:6 This is he who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.
(John 17:17) "Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth."

These two scriptures indicate that in some way, the Spirit and the Word are the same. Jesus said,

(John 6:63) "It is the spirit that makes alive; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life."
And he only spoke God’s words.
(John 3:34) "For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God: for God does not give the Spirit by measure to him."
(John 8:28) "Then Jesus said to them, When you have lifted up the Son of man, then shall you know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father has taught me, I speak these things."
(John 8:38) "I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and you do that which you have seen with your father."
(John 12:50) "And I know that his commandment is eternal life: whatever I speak therefore, even as the Father said to me, so I speak."
(John 14:10) "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? but the Father who dwells in me, he does the works."

That confirms that the Word of God is the Spirit of God doesn’t it?

When Jesus returns, he will destroy the wicked with "the spirit of his mouth,"
(2 Thessalonians 2:8) "And then the lawless one shall be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall annul with the brightness of his coming:"
Which is "a sharp sword,"
(Revelation 19:15) "And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should strike the nations: and he shall shepherd them with a rod of iron: and he treads the winepress of the wrath and the anger of Almighty God."
Which is the "sword of the Spirit".
(Ephesians 6:17) "And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:"
(Hebrews 4:12) "For the word of God is living, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of both soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

When Jesus cast out devils, he did it "with his word".

(Matthew 8:16) "And when evening had come, they brought to him many who were possessed with demons: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all who were sick:"
And "by the Spirit of God".
(Matthew 12:28) "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you. Again confirming that the Word of God is the Spirit of God."

Also the Spirit makes alive.
(John 6:63) "It is the spirit that makes alive; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life.2
And the Word gives life.
(Psalm 119:50) "This is my comfort in my affliction: for your word has given me life."
(Proverbs 4:20) "My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.
4:21 Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart.
4:22 For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh."

The Spirit leads us.
(Romans 8:14) "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."
(Galatians 5:18) "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law."
And the word of God leads us.
(Psalm 17:4) "Concerning the works of men, by the word of your lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer."
(Psalm 119:105) "Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path."

The truth leads us.
(Psalm 43:3) "O send out your light and your truth: let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill, and to your tabernacles."
(1 John 5:6) "This is he who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that bears witness, because the Spirit is truth."
(John 17:17) "Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth."

All effectively indicating that "the Word, and the Holy Spirit: ... are one." (1 John 5:7). One what? "one spirit." (Eph 4:4). As the word for "one" (Gr. ἑν Gtr. hen) is neuter gender in the Greek, so the word for spirit is neuter. So we can conclude that Word of God is the Spirit of God. In the same way.

(John 1:1) "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
Which means that "the Word is God",
(John 4:24) "God is a Spirit: and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

As God creates everything by his Word.
(Psa 148:5) "Let them praise the name of Yahweh: for he commanded, and they were created." (John 1:1) "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
1:2 This Word was in the beginning with God.
1:3 All things came into being through him; and without him not one thing came into being that came into being.

So he creates everything by his spirit.
(Psa 104:30) "You send forth your spirit, they are created: and you renew the face of the earth."

He sends his word to do his will.
(Psalm 107:20) "He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions."
(Isaiah 55:10) "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and does not return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
55:11 So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."
(Acts 10:36) "The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)"

So he also sends his spirit, Psalm 104:30 above.
(John 14:26) "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I said to you."
(Galatians 4:6) "And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
(1 Peter 1:12) "To whom it was revealed, that not to themselves, but to us they were ministering those things which now have been told to you, by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

We can see how words are spirit from the writing of the apostle Paul:

(2 Corinthians 3:3) "Manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, not written with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not on tablets of stone, but on fleshy tablets of the heart."

When we write words with ink, the ink is the substance of the words, and the words are the form of the ink. If we rub out the words, the ink disappears, and if we rub out the ink, the words disappear. Why? Because ink and words are two ways of looking at the same thing, one describing its form (words)and the other describing its substance (ink). So it is when God writes his words in our heart, his word is the form, and his spirit is the substance, which is equivalent to the ink. Let me give another example.

Wooden table.

If two people were asked to describe this table, one might say, "It is a wooden table." The other might say, "It is an oblong table with a flat top and four legs, one at each corner." Who is right? Both of them, but they looked at it from a different point of view, one according to the substance from which it was made, and the other from the shape or form of it. This being so, the Word and the Spirit are not two distinct persons, but two different ways of describing what comes out of God.

(John 8:42) "Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, you would love me: for I came out and came out of God; nor did I come of myself, but he sent me."
(Revelation 11:11) And after three days and a half, the Spirit of life out of God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon those watching them.

Therefore, God is Word in form, but Spirit in substance.

Psalm 45:6 Your throne, O God (Hebrew "Elohim"), is for ever and ever: the sceptre of your kingdom is a right sceptre.
Hebrews 1:8 But to the Son he says, Your throne, O God (Greek "ho theos"), is for the age of the ages: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of your kingdom.

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