[We have heard it said . . . and here’s our answer, first posted in 2012, The Trinity has always baffled us just as it does many other Christians who accept it as “mystery” that we will never understand on this side of eternity. Just accept it as biblical truth! That is, “biblical” according ONLY to the New Testament Scriptures, certainly not the Hebrew Scriptures, wrongly and unfortunately referred to as the “Old Testament”. —Admin1]
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Q: Isn’t the Trinity ONE GOD?
A: Since the 3rd-4th centuries when the doctrine of the Trinity was debated in Church Councils, there has undoubtedly been confusion over how the ONENESS or UNITY of God—which is repeatedly emphasized throughout the Hebrew Scriptures by God Himself— could morph into a Biannity first, then on to a Trinity. Hard as you try to reconfigure how 3-in-1=1, it just doesn’t add up, least of all mathematically!
Many explanations have been offered to illustrate a triune God:
- such as one triangle with 3 sides or 3 angles;
- a “Godhead” of 3 persons;
- or H2O in solid, liquid and gaseous state, 3 manifestations of the same God.
If you still don’t ‘get it’, then relegate it to the category that men will never understand called “mystery” and shut up already.
Not a problem . . . but it’s confusing to read in the Gospels how —
- God-Son prays to God-Father,
- God-Father forsakes God-Son while dying on the cross;
- God-Spirit descends on God-Son at baptism;
- God-Father sends God-Spirit on various errands.
How can God pray to God, God abandon God, God send God . . . well, God can do anything, right? And if that’s how he chooses to function, so be it….except this just doesn’t fit the God of the Hebrew Scriptures.
So back to the question: isn’t the Trinity One God? Let’s listen to how God defines Himself in the “foundational” scriptures claimed by Christianity from which it spins off its “New Testament”:
Exodus 20:3 You shall not recognize the gods of others in My presence.
Num.23:19 God is not a man that He should be deceitful, not a son of man that He should relent, Would He say and not do, or speak and not confirm?
Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear O Israel, YHWH is our God, YHWH is the One and Only.
Deuteronomy 32:39 Know therefore, this day, and consider it in your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on earth beneath, there is none else;
1 Sam 15:29 Moreover, the Eternal One of Israel does not lie and does not relent, for He is not a human that He should relent.
1 Kings 8:27, 60 Would God truly dwell on earth? Behold, the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain You . . . all the people of the earth shall know that YHWH is God–there is no other.
Isaiah 40:25 See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no God besides Me.
Isaiah 43:10 “To whom then will you liken Me, that I will be equal?” says the Holy One.
Isaiah 44:6 Before Me, no God was formed, neither shall any be after Me
Isaiah 44:24 I am the First, and I am the Last, and besides Me there is no God.
These are only a few sample verses. If you truly seek to know the God of Israel, the Self-revealing God on Sinai better, then read the Torah.
The beginning of wisdom is the ‘fear’ of God, not just any god of men’s imagination, the God of the Hebrew Scriptures. You WILL find HIM if you seek Him with all your heart.
He is One, not a Trinity.
