Part 1: Biblical-Theological Evidence for the Trinitarian Understanding of God
Though there is no explicit mention of the trinitarian doctrine in the Bible, trinitarians interpret and infer from different Biblical texts how the evidence of the working of the trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Bates, 2015). In the Old Testament, for instance, Yahweh comes to Abraham and appears to him as 3 men (Genesis 18). However, the passage is commonly read as if the three men spoke in one voice as a single divine being. Other interpretations claim that Yahweh is one of the men who remains while the other two head towards Sodom (Genesis 19). Additionally, other Bible passages record Yahweh referring to Himself in plural. Trinitarians, therefore, use these passages as evidence of the appearance of the three persons that make up God’s nature. Non-trinitarians, on the other hand dispute the claims, especially the plural references as common speech patterns found in many languages and cultures, especially those with a feudal history ( Sutcliffe, 2016) . Trinitarians, however, push back by claiming that these are evidence of conversations between the persons that make up the Trinity.
Furthermore, there are different mentions of the Son of God preincarnate. When he appears to do the work of His Father, He is referred to as the “angel of the lord.” In the books of Jude, Daniel, and Revelation, the preincarnate Son of God is likened to Michael, the angel in charge of protecting Israel (Hannah, 1999). In general, trinitarians encourage Christians to read the Old Testament from the perspective of the New Testament. Therefore, when the Old Testament speaks of God working by His “wisdom” of “spirit”, it can be interpreted as a reference to Jesus Christ as He is the wisdom of God using passages in the New Testament. Additionally, when Jesus talks about sending the Holy Spirit as a helper and comforter, trinitarians interpret it as evidence of the Trinity, where the two: Son and Holy Spirit, are agents through with the Father works.
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However, not all Christians who believe in the Trinity use passages of the Bible to make deductions and inferences. Some of the other theological arguments they use, according to Tuggy (2013) do not rely on the Biblical inferences alone as there is not enough evidence. The Christians believe in the trinitarian doctrine because of the pronouncements of the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox preach it as so. While these beliefs are common among the specific denominations, they are less popular among other denominations.
Part 2: Historical Context for the Word Trinity
Different individuals have contributed to the evolving concept of Trinity throughout history. Furthermore, the Trinity doctrine has not always held the same meaning in different historical times. For instance, Philo of Alexandria, a Jewish theologian and philosopher, read the Jewish Bible and concluded that conceived of the Trinity both as the products of His creative power and as intelligent agent separate from Himself (Dillon, 1996). Therefore, the Trinity manifests both in the physical and metaphysical means, as if separate from the world. Numenius is another Neopythagorean Middle Platonist who influenced the Trinitarian doctrine by claim that the Father existed as a triad and he called them “Father, creator and creature, fore-father, offspring and descendant, and Father, maker and Made” (Dillon, 1996, p.367). Furthermore, Stead (1985) traces back the concept of divinity as a triad to the earlier teachings of Moderatus.
On the other hand, Justin Martyr describes the origin of logos, Jesus before He was born as a human, is as “light from the sun, fire from fire, and speaker and his speech” (Gaston, 2008, p.53). These descriptions of the Trinity are remarkably similar to the conceptions of Philo and Numenius. The existence of the Trinity influenced Justin and 2 nd century Christians as is evident from the following excerpt:
No one with even the slightest intelligence would dare to assert that the Creator of all thins left his super-celestial realms to make himself visible in a little spot on earth (Saint Martyr, 2012, p.92).
As a result, the biblical cases of theophany and the labor of creation are interpreted not as the work of the Father (highest God), but by one of His other personalities, logos, who is also the angel of the Lord.
However, it was only after the Arian controversy was settled that the trinitarian doctrine and its modern interpretation spread. The controversy started with Arian’s teachings that “The Son of God was a creature, made by God from nothing a finite time ago” (Tuggy, 2013, p.326). These teachings were opposed by Alexander of Alexandria, who subsequently excommunicated Arian. However, the subordinationist views of the Son attracted attention and fellowship to the point that the resulting dispute almost split the church. Numerous councils were formed who alternately vindicated and excommunicated Arian and his followers as well as the opponents.
Why is a Trinitarian Understanding Important?
First, the trinity is important because the Gospel matters. A wrong misconception is that thinking and discussing the Trinity is only to be left for theologians and other philosophers. However, the Trinity is present even in the simplest and easily understandable passages in the Bible. Take John 3:16 as an example: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. This verse is the most common and popular, yet makes different references to the Trinity. First, it explicitly mentions the Gather and His only Son (two out of three). The Father gave His only Son, informing that the two are different persons. Thirdly, we are all God’s children. Yet the verse refers to Jesus as the only Son, implying a special relationship and a unique aspect about the sonship. However, the most important point (relative to this argument), is that it is only through God giving away His son that we get saved and get eternal life. Therefore, salvation is trinitarian, implying that a trinitarian understanding is as important as the Gospel.
Secondly, a trinitarian understanding is important because God is important. God is, has been, and will always be the same, with or without us all. The question, therefore, is not about whether the Trinity exists. Instead, it is about our desire to know God. It is not about being pragmatic. Instead, knowing God is knowing Him in His three persons: The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, understanding the Trinity gets us to know God better. After all, He did not create us because he lacked a family or did not have anyone to pour His love to. He already had an eternal Son whom he loved. Yet, it is through the overflowing love for His son that we exist.
References
Bates, M. W. (2015). The birth of the Trinity: Jesus, God, and Spirit in New Testament and early Christian interpretations of the Old Testament . OUP Oxford.
Dillon, J. M. (1996). The middle Platonists, 80 BC to AD 220 . Cornell University Press.
Gaston, T. E. (2008). Proto-Trinity: the development of the doctrine of the Trinity in the first and second Christian centuries (Doctoral dissertation, University of Birmingham).
Hannah, D. D. (1999). Michael and Christ: Michael traditions and angel Christology in early Christianity (No. 109-110). Mohr Siebeck.
Saint Martyr, J., Slusser, M., Falls, T. B., & Halton, T. P. (2012). Dialogue with Trypho (Selections from the Fathers of the Church, Volume 3) . The Catholic University of America Press.
Stead, G. C. (1985) The Origins of the Doctrine of the Trinity 2 in his Substance and Illusion in the Christian Fathers , London: Variorum Reprints
Sutcliffe, R. (2016). The Trinity Hurdle: Engaging Christadelphians, Arians, and Unitarians with the Gospel of the Triune God . Wipf and Stock Publishers.
Tuggy, D. (2013). Trinity . Lulu. com.
