The word “trinity” is a term used to denote the so-called Christian doctrine that God exists as a unity of three distinct persons or personalities: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If this is the case, then which of the three do we worship and which one do we pray to?
You will hear the answer: “Pray to the Father in the Name of the Son.” But then most denominations pray “in the name of the Father, Son, AND Holy Ghost?”
Where’s the truth in all this?
A bit of history:
The “Holy Trinity” was introduced to Christianity by Constantine, a Roman Emperor, in the year 325 AD. Constantine had the appearance of being a Christian because he stopped the mass slaughter of Christians, painted a cross on the shields of his army, and erected a cross on top of St. Sophia’s Church. In reality, he was not a Christian, but a master politician.
Just before a battle with the rival Roman, Maxentius, Constantine had a dream in which he was instructed to paint a cross on the shields of his soldiers. He was against overwhelming odds, being outnumbered two-to-one, but he followed the instructions and won the battle. He saw that there was something special about Christianity, and recognized the prayers of Christians as a powerful ally as emperor.
Constantine, a practicing pagan, hosted the first ecumenical council in Nicaea Rome, AD 325, where he brought Christian sects and pagan idolatry together. The meeting, dubbed the “Nicene Council,” worked out the differences between competing groups of Christianity, joined church and state, and gave power to a universal church. There were primarily two rival Christian factions that Constantine was bringing together. One faction considered Jesus divine. The other considered Jesus a created being, and therefore less than God. After heated arguments and a lot of political wrangling, the result was the agreement that the Son was the true God, co-eternal with the Father, and begotten from the same substance as the Father. This made Jesus “co-equal” with God. The platform was set for the “Holy Trinity” to be accepted by most sects of Christianity.
Here is the first “Nicene Creed” drafted and implemented by the Nicene Council.
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father [the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God,] Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father;
By whom all things were made [both in heaven and on earth];
Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down and was incarnate and was made man;
He suffered, and the third day he rose again, ascended into heaven;
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
And in the Holy Ghost.
[But those who say: ‘There was a time when he was not;’ and ‘He was not before he was made;’ and ‘He was made out of nothing,’ or ‘He is of another substance’ or ‘essence,’ or ‘The Son of God is created,’ or ‘changeable,’ or ‘alterable’—they are condemned by the holy catholic and apostolic Church.]
With the newly-given power, the creeds were enforced with the penalty of banishment, torture, and death. Soon, the world plunged into the Dark Ages, where more than 68 million people were killed in the titles of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (The Glorious Reformation, Schmucker, 1838).
Here is a short explanation of the Godhead from the book, “An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages,” Chapter 1.
They didn’t believe in three Gods in the beginning of the church. You can’t find that sort of belief amongst the apostles. It was after the apostolic age that this theory came in and really became an issue and a cardinal doctrine at the Nicene Council. The doctrine of Godhead caused a two way split at Nicaea. And from that split there came two extremes. One actually went into polytheism, believing in three Gods, and the others went into unitarianism. Of course that was a little while in coming about, but it did, and we have it right today. But the Revelation through John by the Spirit to the churches was, “I am the Lord Jesus Christ, and I am ALL of it. There isn’t any other God”. And He put His seal on this Revelation.
Consider this: Who was the Father of Jesus? Matthew 1:18 says, “She was found with child of the Holy Ghost”. But Jesus, Himself, claimed that God was His Father. God the Father and God the Holy Ghost, as we often express these terms, make the Father and the Spirit ONE. Indeed they are, or else Jesus had two Fathers. But notice that Jesus said that He and His Father were One–not two. That makes ONE God.
Since this is historically and Scripturally true, people wonder where the three came from. It became a foundational doctrine at the Nicene Council in 325 A.D. This trinity (an absolutely unscriptural word) was based upon the many gods of Rome. The Romans had many gods to whom they prayed. They also prayed to ancestors as mediators. It was just a step to give new names to old gods, so we have saints to make it more Biblical. Thus, instead of Jupiter, Venice, Mars, etc., we have Paul, Peter, Fatima, Christopher, etc., etc. They could not make their pagan religion work out with just one God, so they split Him up into three, and they made intercessors of the saints as they had made intercessors of their ancestors.
Ever since then people have failed to realize that there is just one God with three offices or manifestations. They know there is one God according to Scripture, but they try to make it the fantastic theory that God is like a bunch of grapes; three persons with the same Divinity shared equally by all. But it plainly says here in Revelation that Jesus is “That Which Is”, “That Which Was”, and “That Which Is to Come”. He is the “Alpha and Omega”, which means that He is the “A to Z” or THE ALL OF IT. He is everything–the Almighty. He is the Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star, the Righteous Branch, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. He is God, Almighty God. ONE GOD.
I Timothy 3:16 says, “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into Glory”. This is what the Bible says. It doesn’t say a thing about a first or second or third person here. It says God was manifest in flesh. One God. That ONE GOD was manifested in flesh. That ought to settle it. God came in a human form. That didn’t make Him ANOTHER GOD. HE WAS GOD, THE SAME GOD. It was a revelation then, and it is a revelation now. One God.
Although “The Holy Trinity” has endured through the ages by the merciless hand of the Catholic Church, it is never mentioned in the Bible and neither was this concept taught anywhere in Scripture. In fact, separating God into three different persons would have gotten you stoned in the Old Testament for breaking the first two Commandments.
Note that the Catholic Church renumbered the Ten Commandments, in essence removing the Second Commandment to line up with the doctrine of the Trinity and worshipping of saints (but that’s another study).
Obia Sunday Akam - May 14, 2021
I’m bless with this expository