It is often alleged that the doctrine of the Trinity is not a biblical doctrine. While the word Trinity is not in the Bible, the substance of the doctrine is definitely biblical. The doctrine is simply a formal way of systematizing the following six propositions, which may be viewed as premises of the doctrine:
1. There is one God (i.e., one proper object of religious devotion).
2. This one God is a single divine being, called Jehovah or Yahweh in the Old Testament (the LORD).
3. The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is God, the LORD.
4. The Son, Jesus Christ, is God, the LORD.
5. The Holy Spirit is God, the LORD.
6. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each someone distinct from the other two.
Anyone who affirms all six of these propositions is
affirming what is essential to the doctrine of the Trinity,
since this is just what the doctrine of the Trinity says. In
order to dispute the doctrine of the Trinity, then, one must
take issue with one or more of the propositions stated
above. Anything else is tangential to the issue. Objections
based on the special theological vocabulary used in
Trinitarian creeds, the conceptual difficulty of the
doctrine, the political dimensions of ecclesiastical
controversies involving the doctrine, the questionable
conduct of some of those who adhere to the doctrine, and the
like, fail to engage the biblical basis of the doctrine of
the Trinity.
Ironically, anti-Trinitarians who profess faith in the Bible
can be found who affirm all of these propositions, though
they disagree among themselves as to which ones are
biblical. All anti-Trinitarians affirm proposition #3.
Anti-Trinitarians who affirm something akin to the ancient
heresy of monarchianism or modalism generally affirm all but
proposition #6 (though they actually have difficulty
affirming #3 in a consistent manner). Anti-Trinitarians who
affirm something akin to the ancient heresy of Arianism
agree that Yahweh or Jehovah is a single divine being (cf.
proposition #2) and affirm proposition #3; they also agree
that the Father and Son are personally distinct but take a
somewhat different view of the Holy Spirit (cf. proposition
#6). There are still other variations. Each of these
anti-Trinitarian groups considers its position obviously
biblical. Thus, there is no need to appeal to extra-biblical
considerations to settle the question, as all of the
essential elements of the doctrine are addressed one way or
another in the Bible.
The following outline study presents an overview of the
biblical basis of the above six propositions, and therefore
of the doctrine of the Trinity. Comments on the texts have
been kept to a bare minimum; the emphasis is on the many
biblical texts themselves. Roughly 1,000 references drawn
from well over 300 different chapters of the Bible are
listed, including references from all 27 books of the New
Testament. The study makes no direct references to any
specific non-Trinitarian religious groups but focuses solely
on presenting the positive biblical evidence for the Trinity
and responding succinctly to common objections to this
evidence. No secondary sources are cited in the outline
itself, though of course I have consulted numerous such
sources.
Brief expositions of many of the texts discussed here can be
found in the author’s book Why You Should Believe in the
Trinity (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989).
Unfortunately, that book is out of print, but you can order
a copy
here. The material on the deity of Christ (point VI of
the outline) is discussed in even greater depth in my more
recent book
Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ,
co-authored with J. Ed Komoszewski (Kregel, 2007).
Additional resources on the subject are listed following the
outline.
A proper evaluation of the biblical evidence for the
doctrine of the Trinity will depend on the faithful
application of sound principles of biblical interpretation.
Here I will mention just two principles which, if followed,
would prevent almost all interpretive errors on this
subject.
The first is to interpret the implicit in light of the
explicit. That is, texts that explicitly state that
such-and-such is true are to govern our understanding of
passages that do not address the issue directly. For
example, many passages of the Bible state explicitly that
God is omniscient, that is, that he knows all things,
including the thoughts of men and all future events (1 Sam.
16:7; 1 Chron. 28:9, 17; Job 37:16; Ps. 139:1-4; Is.
41:22-23; 42:9; 44:7; Jer. 17:10a). These texts must govern
our understanding of passages which might seem to imply, but
which do not assert, that God did not know something (e.g.,
Gen. 3:9-13; 4:9; 18:9, 20-21).
The other principle is that we interpret logically but not
rationalistically. Using the same illustration, if God knows
everything ahead of time, then logically He must have known
that Adam and Eve would fall into sin. However, to argue
that if God knew Adam and Eve would sin then they would not
be responsible for their choosing to sin is not “logical,”
it is rationalistic. It may be difficult to understand how
persons could be responsible for their sinful actions if God
knew ahead of time that they would sin, but it is not
illogical (not self-contradictory) to say so.
It should be kept in mind that a fruitful study of the
Trinity depends to a considerable extent on a proper
understanding of the nature of God. This outline touches on
God’s attributes in various places but does not attempt to
survey all of the relevant biblical material on the subject.
Note: This outline study has been a work in progress of mine
since the late 1970s. A version that was several pages
shorter than the current version was one of the most widely
disseminated standard resources sent out by the Christian
Research Institute (CRI) in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
An electronic media version was created without my knowledge
in 1994. Since that time it has appeared on various web
sites in various editions (including some with unauthorized
revisions), sometimes with permission and sometimes not. The
version here, created for publication on the web site of the
Institute for
Religious Research, is the most recent version and
includes the most significant revisions and additions in two
decades (including some 300 new biblical references). In
order to ensure the accuracy and integrity of this free
resource, I am asserting my copyright to the work as its
sole author. Anyone is welcome to print out and copy the
outline study as much as they want as long as it is
reproduced without change in its entirety (including this
introduction and note). Permission must be obtained for
posting this resource on another site.
