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Is the Trinity in the Bible?

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The Watchtower Society of Jehovah's Witnesses teaches that the doctrine of the Trinity is not found in the Bible or in the teachings of the early church Fathers, that it is of pagan origin. They believe there is a single Deity, named Jehovah, and reject that there are three distinct persons revealed in Scripture, all God, making up the compound "One" of Deuteronomy 6:4.

“The central doctrine of religions of Christendom. According to the Athanasian Creed, there are three divine Persons (the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost), each said to be eternal, each said to be almighty, none greater or less than another, each said to be God, and yet together being but one God. Other statements of the dogma emphasize that these three ‘Persons’ are not separate and distinct individuals but are three modes in which the divine essence exists. Thus some Trinitarians emphasize their belief that Jesus Christ is God, or that Jesus and the Holy Ghost are Jehovah. Not a Bible teaching.” - Reasoning from the Scriptures, WBTS, 1985, p.405.

“In what position does belief in the Trinity put those who cling to it? It puts them in a very dangerous position. The evidence is indisputable that the dogma of the Trinity is not found in the Bible, nor is it in harmony with what the Bible teaches...It grossly misrepresents the true God.” - Reasoning from the Scriptures, WBTS, 1985, p.424

The Witness mind is trained to accept human logic as the measure of all things. Consequently, because they cannot understand the ‘reasoning’ behind the Trinity, it is rejected as false. Nevertheless, humans have a finite mind, human ‘logic’ has its limits, and we accept what the Bible tells is.

'The Word 'Trinity' is not Found in the Bible'

The Watchtower argues that because the word 'Trinity' does not appear in Scripture, it isn’t legitimate. However, it describes a reality found in Scripture. Their argument would mean that Society ideas such as, ‘Kingdom Hall,’ 'Millennium,' 'Theocracy' and 'Judicial Judgement' are also false because these words don’t appear in the Bible.

The Bible Tells us:

God is Spirit (John 4:24); he can’t be compared to anything or anyone (Isaiah 40:18); He fills heaven and earth (Jeremiah 23:24); His thoughts are not our thoughts, his ways not our (Isaiah 55:8,9) and it is impossible to fully understand him (Job 36:26)

To say we understand God would mean either we have become equal to God with His infinite knowledge, or we have brought God down to our level with our finite understanding. The truth is we can only understand him as he reveals himself to us.

“Because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.” - Romans 1:19

Ironically, the clearest revelation we have of the Father is Jesus (John 14:9; Hebrews 1:3)

Biblical Foundation For The Godhead

The Hebrew word for God is the plural Elohim (Genesis 1:1). When Elohim created man he said, "Let us make man in our image"; there is more than one person in the Godhead with the same image (Genesis 1:26,27; 3:5,22;11:5-7;Isaiah 6:8 ‘Who shall we send?’)

Jehovah (the Lord) is speaking through the prophet of ‘raising up for David a righteous branch,’ and his name will be ‘The Lord our righteousness (Heb. Jehovah-tsidkenu). Jehovah is sending one named Jehovah (Jeremiah 23:5,6) Peter identifies the one sent as Jesus (Acts 3:13-26) and calls him ‘the author of life’ (v15)

Jehovah declares through Isaiah that this one was sent by Jehovah and his Spirit (Isaiah 48:12-16). In chapter 59 he is identified as ‘the servant of Jehovah...a light for the nations(v6) It would certainly appear that from the very beginning of the Bible we are being prepared to accept the Godhead comprising more than one person.

Is Jesus The True Lord Jehovah?

The Society appears to have removed from their New World Translation of the Bible any reference to the 'True Lord' except where it obviously refers to Jehovah. However, they have a problem because the appendix to the 1981 edition reads under the heading "The (true) Lord,"

“This is the translation of the Hebrew expression ha Adon ...Although there are many lords or masters, this prefixing of the definite article before the title Adon limits the application of the title to Jehovah God.” - p.1450.

They then cite nine occurrences of the phrase - Exodus 23:17; 34:23; Isaiah 1:24; 3:1; 10:16,33; 19:4; Micah 4:13; Malachi.3:1.

Each reference in the NWT includes the word Jehovah except Malachi 3:1.

“Look! I am sending my messenger, and he must clear up a way before me. And suddenly there will come to His temple the (true) Lord, whom you people are seeking.” - Malachi 3:1.

When did Jehovah come to His temple? Never! But Evangelical Christians would claim this is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ coming. Here the Watchtower recognises that Jesus is referred to by a title limited exclusively to Jehovah God.

In Jeremiah 23:5,6 Jesus is called Jehovah-tsidkenu and so we should not be surprised to find Him also called "the (true) Lord Jehovah."

We have now discovered that the name Jehovah, which the Watchtower teaches is exclusively reserved for God the Father, is Scripturally applied to the Son.

Further Scriptural Proof

The Bible does not set out to confuse us, but rather to teach us openly concerning God. What it shows is that there are certain qualities that only apply to God, for instance He alone is Eternal and He alone can be present everywhere. These Divine qualities or attributes are found not only in God the Father but also in Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit. Each one can be rightly called God, for each is:

Eternal

Father - I Timothy 1:17

Son - Micah 5:2

Holy Spirit - Hebrews 9:14

Present Everywhere (Omnipresent)

Father - Ephesians 1:23

Son - Ephesians 4:10

Holy Spirit - Psalm 139:7-10

Consider the priestly blessing in Moses (Numbers 6:24-27):

‘The LORD bless you and keep you;

The LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

The LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.’

We find a strikingly similar formula in Paul:

‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.’ (2 Corinthians13:14)

All three are also mentioned in the baptism formula (Matthew 28:19)

God is spirit and outside of human logic. He can be just what He wants, how He wants, and as many as He wants and at the same time remain truly God. Thus the only truth we can come to is:

“Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty?” (Job 11:7)

The answer is obviously no! However, summarising in the simplest form we can say:

The Father is not the Son or the Holy Spirit but He is God.

The Son is not the Father or the Holy Spirit but He is God.

The Holy Spirit is not the Father or the Son but He is God.





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