.:YES, YOU SHOULD BELIEVE IN THE
TRINITY!!!
—A Page-by-Page Response To The Watchtower
Society’s Brochure: “Should
You Believe in the Trinity?”
**Click HERE
to view the Yes, You Should Believe in the Trinity Book
Table of Contents**
CHAPTER 1: DEFINING THE TRINITY
WHAT IS THE TRINITY?
The Trinity is the view that the 3 Persons mentioned in the Bible: Father, Son (Jesus) and Holy Spirit are one God, equal in nature and eternal and uncreated in substance. They co-exist, co-create and co-rule this present world and are distinct in their personhood, yet they share their eternal nature as the one and only True God. Jehovah's Witnesses deny the Trinity doctrine and argue against the Deity of Jesus Christ based on a misconception of what the Trinity Doctrine is and what it stands for. Below we will examine their arguments in-depth as we discuss their 1989 publication, Should You Believe in the Trinity?
WATCHTOWER
ARGUMENT:
“Here Jesus shows that he and the Father, that
is, Almighty God, must be two distinct entities, for how
else could there truly be two witnesses? …Was
God saying that he was his own son, that he approved
himself, that he sent himself? No.…To whom
was he praying? To a part of himself? No....To
whom was Jesus crying out? To himself or to part of himself?
…If you appear in someone else’s presence,
how can you be that person? You cannot.
You must be different and separate.…Someone
who is ‘with’ another person cannot also be
that other person.” —Should You
Believe in the Trinity?, pp. 17-19, 27
|
The Athanasian Creed which most clearly defines
the historical view of the Trinity states:
“...we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity
in Unity; Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing
the Substance. For there is one Person of the
Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost.
But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost
is all one: the glory equal, the majesty coeternal.
Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy
Ghost. The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost
uncreate. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible,
and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the
Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal. And yet they are not
three Eternals, but one Eternal. As there are not three Uncreated
nor three Incomprehensibles, but one Uncreated and one Incomprehensible.
So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the
Holy Ghost almighty. And yet they are not three Almighties,
but one Almighty. So the Father is God, the Son is God,
and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not three Gods,
but one God….And in this Trinity none is before or after
other; none is greater or less than another; But the
whole three Persons are coeternal together, and coequal: so
that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and
the Trinity in Unity is to be worshiped. He,
therefore, that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity.
Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he
also believe faithfully the incarnation of our Lord
Jesus Christ. For the right faith is, that we believe
and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
is God and Man. God of the Substance of the Father,
begotten before the worlds; and Man of the substance of His
mother, born in the world; Perfect God and perfect Man,
of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting. Equal
to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father
as touching His manhood; Who, although He be God and Man, yet
He is not two, but one Christ: One, not by conversion
of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking the manhood into God;
One altogether; not by confusion of Substance, but by
unity of Person. For as the reasonable soul and flesh
is one man, so God and Man is one Christ; Who suffered for our
salvation; descended into hell, rose again the third day from
the dead….”—The Creed of Athanasius, Written
Against the Arians1.
3 DEFINING PRINCIPLES OF THE DOCTINE OF
THE TRINITY:
1. THE TRINITY IS NOT MODALISM: THE VIEW
THAT THE FATHER, SON, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT ARE ONE PERSON
“Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing
the Substance….”
—Athanasian Creed
Since Trinitarians do not believe that the Father
and the Son are the same person, the Watchtower argument that
the Trinity is unreasonable because Jesus wasn’t praying
to “a part of himself” has no basis in reality. This
Watchtower argument serves to confuse the issue by misstating
what Trinitarians believe. Such is also the case with the Society’s
frequent statement of “not a part of a
Trinity” in reference to the Holy Spirit.2.
Trinitarians maintain that while each person of the Trinity is
“distinct” in His personhood, each person is undiminished
Deity, and thus each is considered individually in His person
full God—not 1/3 God. Rather than being divided into three
parts, God is revealed as a composite being who is “one,”3.
and who refers to Himself in singular terms such as “I”
and “Myself.” Walter Martin founder of the Christian
Research Institute described the mathematics of the Trinity as
not being 1+1+1=3, but rather, 1X1X1=1.4.
2. THE TRINITY IS NOT TRITHEISM: THE
VIEW THAT THE FATHER, SON, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT ARE THREE “GODS”
“So the Father is God, the Son is God, and
the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are
not three Gods, but one God.”—Athanasian Creed
The phrase “persons of the Trinity”
is not used to refer to separate existence as
individuals—as is the case when one refers to a father,
son, and grandson. On the contrary, when speaking of the Trinity,
the term “person” is employed to designate the relationship
between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each has a mind, will,
and emotions and each are keenly aware of the others, speak of
the others, and honor the others. Hence, it is in this sense that
the Triune God is described as being three separate and distinct
“persons.”
3. IN THE TRINITY “NONE IS BEFORE
OR AFTER OTHER; NONE IS GREATER OR LESS THAN ANOTHER”:
“Equal to the Father as touching
His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching
His manhood; Who, although He be God and Man, yet He
is not two, but one Christ.…One altogether; not
by confusion of Substance, but by unity of Person.”
— Athanasian Creed
Prior to the incarnation, Jesus was one in person
and one in nature. Although retaining His full Deity as God, at
the incarnation, Jesus took on an additional nature—the
nature of man—and henceforth became two in nature while
yet remaining one in person.5.
Even though attributes of His Divine and human natures are attributed
to His one person, His natures are not mixed; neither is He half
man and half God, but is “one altogether; not by confusion
of Substance, but by unity of Person.” In His Divine nature,
Jesus is “equal” to the Father, but in His humanity,
He is “inferior to the Father” and is therefore in
complete subjection to the will of the Father. Operating under
the limitations of His humanity, Jesus was able to experience
the trials and temptations common to man, live a perfect, sinless
life, and offer His life as an atoning sacrifice for sin.6.
As the God-man, He offers His free gift of eternal
life7. to all
who receive Him on the basis of faith alone.8.
“BEYOND
THE GRASP OF HUMAN REASON”
“Many sincere believers have
found it to be confusing, contrary to normal reason, unlike
anything in their experience. How, they ask, could the Father
be God, Jesus be God, and the holy spirit be God, yet there
be not three Gods but only one God? …THIS confusion
is widespread. The Encyclopedia Americana
notes that the doctrine of the Trinity is considered to
be ‘beyond the grasp of human reason.’
Many who accept the Trinity view it that same way.…Jesuit
Joseph Bracken…says: ‘The Trinity is a matter
of formal belief, but it has little or no [effect]
in day-to-day Christian life and worship.’
…divine revelation itself does not allow for such
a view of God: ‘God is not a God of confusion.’—1
Corinthians 14:33, Revised Standard Version (RS).
In view of that statement, would God be responsible for
a doctrine about himself that is so confusing…?”—Should
You Believe in the Trinity?, pp. 4-5 |
The Watchtower Society argues that
God cannot be the author of the doctrine of the Trinity because
it is confusing and 1 Corinthians 14:33 states that “God
is not a God of confusion.” Is this a valid argument? A
look at the context of 1 Corinthians 14 reveals that this passage
is dealing with unity among the believers in
the church at Corinth. The fact that finite human beings cannot
fully comprehend the infinite God and may experience confusion
when endeavoring to understand Him does not change the fact that
“God is not a God of confusion but of peace,
as in all the churches of the saints.” While many
Catholic and even some Protestant Trinitarians admit that the
doctrine of the Trinity can be confusing and hard to comprehend,
is this a valid reason for rejecting it? The Society’s book
Reasoning from the Scriptures states:
“Did God have a beginning?
Ps. 90:2: ‘Before the mountains themselves were born...even
from time indefinite to time indefinite you are God.’
Is that reasonable? Our minds cannot fully
comprehend it. But that is not a sound reason for rejecting
it. Consider examples: (1) Time.
…We do not reject the idea of time because there are aspects
of it that we do not fully comprehend.…The same
principle applies to the existence of God.…Should we really
expect to understand everything about a Person who
is so great that he could bring into existence the universe,
with all its intricate design and stupendous size?”—Reasoning
from the Scriptures, 1989, pp. 148-149
How can the finite fully comprehend the infinite?
Just as the Watchtower Society admits, there are aspects of God
that we cannot fully comprehend. Therefore, one should not reject
a quality of God simply on the basis that the concept may be “beyond
the grasp of human reason.”
“For now we see in a
mirror dimly, but then face to face;
now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just
as I also have been fully known.…as also in all his
letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some
things hard to understand....”—I Corinthians
13:12; 2 Peter 3:16
Although the Trinity cannot be totally comprehended
by the human mind, it can be apprehended and
seen illustrated in the world of nature. Take, for example, an
illustration involving three candles. Even after each candle is
lit, the flames are separate and distinct. However, when one combines
each of the three flames together, they become one flame. Since
we know from Scripture that God is spirit (John 4:24), is it inconceivable
to fathom the three persons of the Trinity (who are of Divine
essence) being united as one composite Being who is Jehovah God?
Just as three separate flames can unite into one flame, it is
in this way that one can apprehend how each member
of the Trinity is separate and distinct—yet one God. The
Encyclopedia Americana made the following statement regarding
this principle:
“It is held that although the doctrine
is beyond the grasp of human reason, it is, like many
of the formulations of physical science, not contrary
to reason, and may be apprehended (though it may not be comprehended)
by the human mind.”—The Encyclopedia
Americana, vol. 27, p. 116
Concerning the practical significance of the
Trinity, Robert M. Bowman comments:
“One of the complaints expressed by the
JW booklet, through quotations from the New Catholic Encyclopedia
and from Catholic theologian Joseph Bracken, is that the doctrine
of the Trinity seems impractical and irrelevant, even to many
people who believe in the Trinity (p. 4). It is true that in
many churches today, appreciation for the Trinity is very low,
even where it is formally acknowledged as true. But generally
these same churches show little appreciation for the relevance
of the Bible to their lives despite their church’s official
recognition of the Bible as God’s Word. This is especially
true in many Roman Catholic congregations (though not quite
in all). Thus, their failure to appreciate the Trinity
is no more a disproof of the truth of that doctrine than their
failure to appreciate the Bible is a disproof of its truth as
God’s Word. The fact is that where the Trinity
is not simply given lip service, but, as the Athanasian Creed
puts it, where the people ‘worship one God in
Trinity,’ the doctrine has tremendous significance and
relevance. Trinitarians have the assurance that the one who
saved them, Jesus Christ, was no less than God himself. They
also rejoice to know that it is God himself, in the person of
the Holy Spirit, who dwells in their hearts.”—Why
You Should Believe in the Trinity, 1989, pp. 18-19
The doctrine of the Trinity bears even more significance
when one recognizes that Jesus claimed that one must go directly
to Him in order to obtain the free gift of eternal life.
“If you ask Me anything
in My name, I will do it. ‘…wash
away your sins, calling on His [Jesus’] name.’ …You
search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have
eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me;
and you are unwilling to come to Me, that you
may have life.… Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread
of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger,
and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.…All that
the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the
one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast
out.…No one can come to Me, unless the
Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the
last day.…Everyone who has heard and learned from the
Father, comes to Me.”—John 14:14;
Acts 22:16; John 5:39-40; 6:35, 37, 44-45
Since Jehovah is the only true God, He is the
only one we should worship. Since prayer is a form of worship,
the only way prayer can rightfully be rendered to Christ is if
He is indeed Jehovah God.
“IS
IT CLEARLY A BIBLE TEACHING?”
“First-century believers
accepted the Scriptures as the authentic revelation of God.
It was the basis for their beliefs, the final authority.…Since
the Bible can ‘set things straight,’ it should
clearly reveal information about a matter as fundamental
as the Trinity is claimed to be. But do theologians
and historians themselves say that it is clearly a Bible
teaching? …A PROTESTANT publication states:
‘The word Trinity is not found in the Bible...It
did not find a place formally in the theology of the church
till the 4th century.’ (The Illustrated
Bible Dictionary) And a Catholic authority says that
the Trinity ‘is not…directly and immediately
[the] word of God.’—New Catholic
Encyclopedia.”—Should You Believe in
the Trinity?, p. 5 |
Endeavoring to appeal to the scholarly
community for credibility, the Watchtower Society quotes statements
from Catholic, Protestant, and secular authorities throughout
their brochure. While they frequently state the title of the books
being quoted, one will search this brochure in vain to find the
volumes and page numbers from which these quotes are derived.
Furthermore, upon examination of the original sources of these
quotes, it is evident that the Society has misrepresented these
scholars in an attempt to solicit scholarly support for their
position. Let’s take a moment and examine some of the Society’s
quotes in context. (Note that throughout this book, the underlined
sections of quoted text highlight the portions of text that the
Watchtower Society quoted out of context.)
“The word Trinity is not found in
the Bible, and though used by Tertullian in the
last decade of the 2nd century, it did not find
a place formally in the theology of the church
till the 4th century. …Though it is not a biblical
doctrine in the sense that any formulation
of it can be found in the Bible, it can be seen to underlie
the revelation of God, implicit in the OT and
explicit in the NT.”—The Illustrated
Bible Dictionary, part 3, p. 1597
“The 4th-century articulation of the
triadic mystery is at least implicitly the word of God,
hence part of the Christian credo. On the other hand, it is
not, as already seen, directly and immediately word of
God.”—The New Catholic Encyclopedia,
vol. 14, p. 304
The key words in these quotations are “formulation,”
“implicit,” and “explicit.” What these
and many other scholars are saying is that while one cannot find
a formula for the doctrine of the Trinity explicitly
stated in the Bible, the concepts which provide the basis
for the doctrine are clearly manifest. Thus, “the triadic
mystery is at least implicitly the word of God.”
TESTIMONY
OF THE HEBREW AND GREEK SCRIPTURES
“WHILE the word, ‘Trinity’
is not found in the Bible, is at least the idea
of the Trinity taught clearly in it? For instance, what
do the Hebrew Scriptures (‘Old Testament’) reveal?”—Should
You Believe in the Trinity?, p. 6 |
While it is true that the word “Trinity”
is not in the Bible, this does not mean that it is not a Biblical
concept. The word “omniscient” is not in the Bible;
yet, one would not deny the fact that God is omniscient (all-knowing)
simply because the word is not in the Bible. Indeed, the concept
of God’s omniscience can be found throughout the Old and
New Testaments, and the same can be said about the doctrine of
the Trinity.
At this point, the Society continues to misrepresent
scholars endeavoring to make it appear that the scholarly community
supports their assertion that the doctrine of the Trinity is not
found in either the Old or New Testaments. We will now examine
these quotes in their proper contexts:
THE
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION
While The Encyclopedia of Religion
states that “theologians today are in agreement that
the Hebrew Bible does not contain a doctrine of the Trinity”
and “theologians agree that the New Testament also does
not contain an explicit doctrine of the Trinity,”
it goes on to discuss “binitarian texts” and the
fact that many passages convey the concept of the Trinity as
“God takes on flesh in Christ” and that the doctrine
of the Trinity’s “origins may legitimately
be sought in the Bible. …What the scriptures narrate
as the activity of God…is the wellspring of later
trinitarian doctrine.”—The Encyclopedia
of Religion, vol. 15, p. 54
NEW
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA
While the New Catholic Encyclopedia
claims that “The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is not taught
in the OT,” it goes on to state:
“In the NT the oldest evidence
is in the Pauline epistles, especially 2 Cor 13.13,
and 1 Cor 12.4-6. In the Gospels evidence of the Trinity
is found explicitly only in the baptismal formula of
Mt 28.19.…In many places of the OT, however,
expressions are used in which some of the Fathers of the Church
saw references or foreshadowings of the Trinity.…the
minds of God’s people were being prepared for the concepts
that would be involved in the forthcoming revelation of the
doctrine of the Trinity.” —New Catholic
Encyclopedia, vol. 14, p. 306
THE
TRIUNE GOD, by Jesuit
Edmund Fortman
Although Fortman states that “the Old
Testament…tells us nothing explicitly or
by necessary implication of a Triune God who is Father, Son and
Holy Spirit.…There is no evidence that any sacred writer
even suspected the existence of a divine paternity and filiation
within the Godhead.…Even to see in them suggestions or foreshadowings
or ‘veiled signs’ of the trinity of persons, is to
go beyond the words and intent of the sacred writers,”9.
he qualifies his statements with:
“Perhaps it can be said that some
of these writings about word and wisdom and spirit
did provide a climate in which plurality within the
Godhead was conceivable to the Jews. However, these writers
definitely do give us the words that the New Testament uses
to express the trinity of persons, Father, Son, Word,
Wisdom, Spirit.”
—The Triune God, 1972, p. 9
Concerning the New Testament, the Society quoted
part of Jesuit Fortman’s statements, but
notice the following section which they left out of their quote:
“If we take the New Testament writers
together they tell us there is only one God,
the creator and lord of the universe.…They call Jesus
the Son of God, Messiah, Lord, Savior, Word, Wisdom. They assign
Him the divine functions of creation, salvation,
judgment. Sometimes they call Him God explicitly.…They
give us in their writings a triadic ground plan and triadic
formulas....They give us no formal
or formulated doctrine of the Trinity, no explicit
teaching that in one God there are three co-equal divine persons.
But they do give us an elemental trinitarianism, the
data from which such a formal doctrine of the Triune God may
formulated.”—Triune God, pp. xv-xvi
THE
NEW ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA
The New Encyclopaedia Britannica
correctly admits that “Neither the word Trinity nor the
explicit doctrine appears in the New Testament.…”,
but it goes on to prove that even though the “explicit
doctrine” is not stated, it is implied in the pages f
Scripture. “Thus, the New Testament established
the basis for the doctrine of the Trinity.”—The
New Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 11, p. 928
“PROTESTANT
THEOLOGIAN KARL BARTH”
According to the New International
Dictionary of the Christian Church, Karl Barth (1886-1968)
was a “Swiss theologian” who studied “under
some of the great liberal scholars of the day.”10.
Since liberal theologians tend to deny fundamental doctrines
of Christianity, it is not unusual that one would find a liberal
scholar making the statement that: “The Bible lacks the
express declaration that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
are of equal essence.”11.
In spite of this, however, Barth still admitted, “The
basis of theology is thus the living
Trinity Itself. The Word of God is not a thing or an
object, but God Himself speaking.”12.
The point Barth made in his book is that while the Bible lacks
the “express declaration” of the Trinity, “the
NT does contain the fixed, three-part formula
of 2 Cor. 13:13 (EVV 14) in which God, the Lord Jesus Christ
and the Spirit are mentioned together (cf. 1 Cor. 12:4 ff.).
The Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit occurs
only in the baptismal formula in Matt. 28:19.”13.
Is it any wonder that in the Watchtower Society’s
brochure, they do not list any of the page numbers from which
their quotes are derived? As is readily seen, when one examines
these quotes in their original context, these scholars are not
saying that the Trinity doctrine is foreign to Scripture, but
rather, that Scripture provides the “basis” from which
the Trinity doctrine is “formulated.” Although the
doctrine of the Trinity is not explicitly stated,
it is most certainly implied within the pages
of Scripture.
 NEXT CHAPTER
============
1.
Quoted in Christianity In Crisis, by Hank Hanegraaf, 1993,
(Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR),
pp. 376-377
2. See pages
16-20 of Should You Believe in the Trinity?
3. See Deuteronomy
6:4
4. “God
is not triplex (1+1+1) —He is triune (1X1X1), and he has
revealed Himself fully in the Person of our Lord, Jesus Christ
(Col. 2:9, John 14:9).” —CRI tract: Jehovah’s
Witnesses and the Trinity
5. See Philippians
2:6-7
6. Hebrews 4:15
c.f. James 1:13; Philippians 2:5-6; Romans 5:8; Colossians 2:13-15
7. Romans 6:23;
1 John 5:11-13; 1 John 1:9
8. Romans 3:28;
4:4-8; 11:6; Galatians 5:4; Philippians 3:9; Colossians 3:3
9. The Triune
God, by Edmund J. Fortman, 1972, (Baker Book House, Grand
Rapids, MI), pp. xv, 8-9
10. New
International Dictionary of the Christian Church, 1978 (J.D.
Douglas, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI) p. 107
11. The
New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, 1976,
vol. 2, (Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI) p. 84
12. New
International Dictionary of the Christian Church, 1978 (J.D.
Douglas, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI) p. 107
13. The
New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, vol.
2, p. 84 |
