The term “the Trinity” does not appear anywhere in the Bible. The concept of the Trinity is also not explicitly taught in the Bible. To this day, some Christians reject this doctrine which is part of the fundamental beliefs of most Christian churches today. So, what is the Trinity, how did the doctrine develop, and what does it mean in practical terms? These questions need careful consideration and require a brief look at the historical and textual evidence that supports them.
What is the Trinity?
The term Trinity in Christianity refers to the unity in one Godhead of three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Though these three persons are distinct, having different roles and functions, they share the same divine nature and, therefore, have the same essence and substance. They are co-equal and co-eternal. They are each fully God in their own right.
The idea of the three persons each being God may seem to contradict the Shema which states: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” (Deuteronomy 6:4). It is imperative to note that the word translated as “one” is אֶחָד (‘echâd), a Hebrew term also used in Genesis 2:24 when it says: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” Clearly, the reference is to the unity that exists within the plurality of persons. It is more than one thing, functioning with such unity in character and purpose that there is essentially no difference.
The Old Testament alludes to the plurality within the godhead from its first verse. When it says “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” the word God in Hebrew is in the plural form (Elohim) and is one of many such references.
The New Testament made a much more definitive identification between the persons in the Godhead than the Old Testament did. Consider the following verses:
Matthew 28:19
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
2 Corinthians 13:14
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
Christianity, however, remained distinctly monotheistic, since the God they worship is the same as that of the Jewish religion. Several verses in the New Testament support the principle of absolute unity among the persons identified in the Godhead. This unity finds expression in several ways in the New Testament.
John 1:1
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John 10:30
“I and the Father are one.”
John 14:9
“… Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. …”
It was necessary to clarify and explain the plurality of persons within the Godhead while remaining true to monotheism. The Church Fathers clarified the Christian system of belief in this regard in various councils of the early church.
A Brief Review of Trinitarian Doctrine
The doctrine of the Trinity developed over several centuries, to some extent due to controversies within the church and to refute heresies. Different approaches to interpreting the three persons arose in early Christianity. One was to consider the Father as God with the Son and the Holy Spirit as subordinate beings. This approach, subordinationism, would recognize the distinctiveness of the persons, but it would come at the cost of equality which eventually impacts unity.
Another approach, modalism, suggests that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are indeed one, but represent three modes by which God reveals himself. This approach retains the unity but sacrifices distinctiveness. In the early 4th century, Arius promoted the idea that the Son and the Holy Spirit did not have the same essence as the Father. Arianism was a source of great controversy in Christian circles and highlighted the need for clear doctrine on the matter.
Tertullian, a prominent Church Father from the 3rd century, coined the term Trinity to express his views. Though he admitted that most believers from his day did not share his view, he defined the Trinity as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Later councils such as the First Council of Nicaea (325 CE) affirmed that the Son and the Father had the same substance (homoousios). This council, however, had very little to say about the Holy Spirit because the focus was the relation between the Father and the Son. The Nicaean Creed reads in part:
“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; … And [we believe] in the Holy Ghost. …”
Later that same century, the First Council of Constantinople (381) expanded on the Nicaean Creed to essentially state that the Holy Spirit shares the same substance as the Father and Son and deserves worship and glory like them. The Cappadocian Fathers (Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nazianzus) were instrumental in establishing the doctrine of the Trinity within Christianity and their view is essentially the unchanged understanding of the Godhead to this day.
Perichoresis
Gregory of Nazianzus used the verb perichoreo in relation to the Trinity. The noun of perichoreo is perichoresis, from the Greek words peri (around) and chorein (to make space), and it means “to dance around.” The Latin equivalent is circumincession and it describes the interrelation of the persons within the Godhead.
It is an expression of the harmony and intertwinedness of the Trinity. Theologian Kevin Deyoung opposes the analogy of dance and gives the best description of what it means when he states:
“How can three persons simultaneously share the same undivided essence? The answer is not that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit waltz in step with each other, but that they coinhere in such a way that the persons are always and forever with and in one another, yet without merging, blending, or confusion. Only by affirming the mutual indwelling of each in each other, can we worship our triune God as truly three and truly one.” (Deyoung, Theological Primer Perichoresis, [online])
Such unity would be impossible if the three persons were not co-equal, co-eternal, and in essence the same. Many churches depict the unity of the Trinity by incorporating a triskelion or triquetra or both in their construction of glass-stained windows.
Anti-Trinitarianism
Since before the Council of Nicaea, some people have rejected the Trinitarian understanding of the Godhead. Anti-trinitarianism takes many forms, with some rejecting the Holy Spirit as a person, believing it to be an emanating spirit of the Father and the Son. Others reject the divinity of Jesus, believing he was a created being subordinate to God. Others blend elements of these views.
Anti-trinitarians reject Trinitarianism on the grounds that the Bible does not expressly support the view, and there has never been a consensus among Christians throughout history on the issue. These differences have been the source of conflict within Christendom since its infancy. During the Middle Ages, authorities executed people for their anti-trinitarian views. One notable example is Michael Servetus.
Servetus rejected Trinitarian dogma and engaged with John Calvin on the matter. He also opposed other views Calvin held, and the interactions between the two became so contentious that Calvin noted in a letter to a friend that he would “never permit him to depart alive” (Durant, Story of Civilization) if he ever visited Geneva, where Calvin resided.
In 1553, Servetus was arrested and imprisoned in Vienne, France, for his views but escaped shortly afterward. Authorities tried him, found him guilty, and sentenced him to death by burning in absentia. He fled to Italy but stopped over in Geneva for inexplicable reasons. He was arrested and condemned for adhering to the Modalism stream of Anti-trinitarianism and for opposing infant baptism (anti-paedobaptism), which many Calvinists practice to this day. Calvin requested that Severetus die by beheading, but the presiding officer sentenced him to burn at the stake. They executed him on a pyre of his own books, among which were some explaining his anti-trinitarian views.
Though debates on the Godhead still rage among adherents of Trinitarian and Anti-trinitarian views, they thankfully do not result in the extreme punishment dealt to Servetus. The main grounds of contention boil down to how the two camps interpret the Bible and what verses they regard as authoritative.
Some readers of scripture may be unaware that verses such as 1 John 5:7-8, which may seem to settle the argument, are controversial and unreliable. The phrase “in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth” is an interpolation that appears in some Bibles, like the King James Version, but not in the others, like the ESV and ISV. The difference is due to the manuscripts used to translate from.
