The trinity was invented centuries after Christianity: A conclusive rebuttal from the Old and New Testament
The aim of the below article is not to defend the doctrine of the Trinity but to show that it is a Biblical teaching, not something that was later invented by Emperor Constantine (as Mohammed Hijab has claimed) or stolen from pagan beliefs.
The claim that the trinity was invented centuries after Christianity or is reflective of a corruption of Christian doctrine can be very easily refuted in a number of ways.
The word “Trinity” is not found in scripture but the doctrine is indispensable to the Christian faith.
It is in this light, I proceed to show how the Bible unmistakably points to the fact God is triune.
First, Christianity itself would not be a possibility outside the context of the trinity. Each member of the Godhead plays a crucial role to the salvation and the gospel which lies at the heart of the Christian faith. As the writer of Hebrews notes,
“ How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
(Hebrews 9:14)
The Father sends the Son who by the spirit offered Himself up for the sins of humanity. So right off the bat, at the heart of the gospel message, we see the trinity at work.
The trinity is so crucial to salvation that a theologian once said,
“If you try to explain the trinity, you may lose your mind but if you try to explain away the trinity, you may lose your soul”
Again, it is the Spirit who testifies of the work of Christ to the heart of the believer. It is the Spirit who bears witness that the believer in Christ is a child of God, Jesus says,
“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.”
(John 16:11–14)
And again, Paul writes,
“ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God…”
(Romans 8:16)
The Spirit is essential in the everyday life of the believer hence Paul’s constant admonitions to walk in the Spirit rather than in the Flesh.
Still on this, Jesus’ great command to His disciples after His resurrection and before His ascension in Matthew’s gospel is this,
“ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.”
(Matthew 28:19–20)
His disciples are to baptise the people they disciple in the name of the triune God. Hence if there is no triune God to baptise in the name of, there would be no point to this parting command of Jesus Christ.
Now, is it not possible that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are just one person? They could be one person playing different roles. This brings us to the second point,
The gospels, which represent the most historically reliable accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ are replete with references to the trinity. For example, Mark’s account of the baptism of Jesus reads,
“It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And immediately, coming up parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. Then a voice came from heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
(Mark 1:9–11)
Mark is the earliest of the gospels and it contains a trinitarian reference where the Father, the Son and the Spirit all appear in the same sequence.
Again, Jesus prayed to the Father in the book of Mark,
“And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”
(Mark 14:36)
Pivoting to Matthew’s account, we have the following statement of Jesus,
“At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”
(Matthew 11:25–27)
Again, Jesus here is claiming to have an intimate relationship with and knowledge of the Father.
Lastly on this point, Jesus says to His disciples,
“But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.”
(Matthew 10:17–20)
Jesus refers to the Spirit of the Father speaking in the disciples. So Jesus prays to the Father, has a relationship with the Father, is baptised in the Spirit and affirmed by the Father as His Son. All in the earliest first century sources. I have purposely left out references to Luke and John’s gospels as I wanted to stick to the earliest sources to make this second point.
Thirdly, the epistles are filled with references to the trinity. The apostles who were men specially commissioned by Jesus Christ to spread the message of the gospel took the triune nature of God for granted.
Peter, in the first gospel message ever preached stated,
“This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.”
(Acts 2:31–33)
Surprise surprise, the trinity features in the first ever gospel message, which ties in nicely with the first point made. The trinity is crucial to salvation and the gospel.
Paul opens the book of Romans with a brief explanation of the gospel which reads,
“ Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead”
(Romans 1:1–4)
Again, he closes his letter to the Corinthian church thus,
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.”
(2 Corinthians 13:14)
Fourth but by no means the least important point, the concept of the trinity is very much present in the Old Testament, right from the very beginning of the Bible,
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.”
(Genesis 1:1–3)
In the beginning we see God present and we see the Spirit present. We note that God SAID something, i.e. the Word is also present. This might sound like a stretch until you see how John’s gospel starts, it starts mirroring Genesis,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
(John 1:1–3)
This Word is revealed to have become flesh in the person of Jesus Christ,
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
(John 1:14)
Paul in his own erudite way, echoes the same sentiment when he writes,
“yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things…”
(1 Corinthians 8:6)
All of this to say, the trinity was present in the very beginning and from the beginning of time. One may disagree with this but thankfully, that is not the only Old Testament testimony to the trinity. The prophet Isaiah for example writes,
“Come near to Me, hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; From the time that it was, I was there. And now the Lord God and His Spirit have sent Me.”
(Isaiah 48:16)
Well, someone might argue, this is just two out of three but read the above passage again. There is someone talking who says, “The Lord and His Spirit” have sent him. “This is the prophet Isaiah of course!” one may say, the very same chapter, a few verses before read,
“Listen to Me, O Jacob, And Israel, My called: I am He, I am the First,
I am also the Last. Indeed My hand has laid the foundation of the earth,
And My right hand has stretched out the heavens”
(Isaiah 48:12–13)
The person talking says He is the First and the Last and is the creator of the universe. Jesus calls Himself the First and the Last (Revelation 1:11) and the Beginning (i.e. the source and origin) of the creation of God (Revelation 3:14). This is the same Jesus who read from Isaiah 61 in the synagogue that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him because God had anointed and sent Him to preach the good news and open the eyes of the blind. This is the same Jesus who was sent by the Father and anointed by the Spirit. Could this be any clearer?
Yes it can..
Notice what happens in this passage where God stops Abraham from killing Isaac and makes a covenant with him,
“But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”
So he said, “Here I am.”
And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
(Genesis 22:11–12)
There is an “Angel of the Lord” who speaks for God. He talks in the first person about God.
Again, after the exodus and on the way to the promised land, God talks about an Angel to Moses,
“Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him. But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.”
(Exodus 23:20–22)
Moses is commanded to obey the voice of this Angel because God’s very name is on the Angel. The protection of God is tied to obeying the words that would come from this Angel and God Himself. Who is this Angel who speaks as God to Abraham and as the voice of God to Moses? Who is this Angel that carries the very name of God in Him?
The person of Jesus Christ! Hence Jesus could say boldly to the Jews,
“Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
(John 8:58)
Jesus here is referencing the fact He carries the divine name, “I AM” and references that He existed before Abraham.
Now with all that said, consider this portion of Isaiah,
“I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord
And the praises of the Lord,
According to all that the Lord has bestowed on us,
And the great goodness toward the house of Israel,
Which He has bestowed on them according to His mercies,
According to the multitude of His lovingkindnesses.
For He said, “Surely they are My people,
Children who will not lie.”
So He became their Savior.
In all their affliction He was afflicted,
And the Angel of His Presence saved them;
In His love and in His pity He redeemed them;
And He bore them and carried them
All the days of old.
But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit;
So He turned Himself against them as an enemy,
And He fought against them.”
(Isaiah 63:7–10)
In one breath, we have the Lord, the Angel of His presence and His Holy Spirit. All in the Old Testament, hundreds of years before Christianity was even a thing!
So what have we learnt? The trinity,
(i)is at the core of the Christian faith and indispensable to the gospel
(ii)is taught by Jesus Christ and the apostles He commissioned
(iii)is reflected in Christianity’s earliest (first century) and historically most trusted sources
(iv)is a concept present in the Old Testament which pre-existed Christianity.
I hope this serves as a final and conclusive rebuttal to the very ludicrous idea that the trinity originated as a pagan concept, is a later Christian fabrication or is a corruption of Christian doctrine.
Thank you for your time.
