BIBLICAL REFUTATION

I love one of the thirty nine “Articles Of Religion” of the Anglican Communion. A part of it reads “Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.”

By this article, the Anglican Communion have stated their belief in the sufficiency of the holy Scriptures for our salvation. This means that a Christian should not place faith on any idea, topic or theory which is not in the Scriptures or which cannot be proved from them. This is a theological maxim that ought to be accepted by all who know that the Bible contains God’s own revelation to humanity.

When issues of the Christian faith are concerned, the important thing is not who believes in it or the number of people who accept it. The important thing should be the determination of its agreement with the Scriptures. If a topic or teaching is found to be consistent with the whole of the Scriptures then it needs to be accepted as a true teaching. But any idea or theory which fails to agree with the inspired word ought to be thrashed as an unbiblical doctrine. It is the sacred duty of all Christians to test what is taught to them and ensure they are not inconsistent with biblical truth.

Having regard to this article of religion, I want to make my readers see the glaring differences between the Trinitarian doctrine and the explicit teachings of the Bible.

For the benefit of my fellow Christians who have been unable to see the falsehood in Trinity, I have listed below a few points of clear difference between the Trinitarian dogma and biblical truth.

 1. Athanasian Creed  

This pseudonymous creed has forty four verses known as lines. A few of the lines of the Athanasian Creed are given below for ease of reference.

1. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit.
2. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal.
3. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit.
4. The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated.
5. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible.
6. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal.
7. And yet they are not three eternals but one eternal.
8. As also there are not three uncreated nor three incomprehensible, but one uncreated and one incomprehensible.
9. So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty.
10. And yet they are not three almighties, but one almighty.
11. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God;
12. And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.
13. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord;
14. And yet they are not three Lords but one Lord.
15. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord;
16. So are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say; There are three Gods or three Lords.
17. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten.
18. The Son is of the Father alone; not made nor created, but begotten.
19. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.
20. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits.
21. And in this trinity none is afore or after another; none is greater or less than another.
22. But the whole three persons are coeternal, and coequal.
23. So that in all things, as aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.

             Each of the three persons – the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit – is called God, Lord, Almighty. Line 25 says that in this Trinity none of the three persons is before or after another, none is greater or less than another. This is the definition of the words “coequal” and “coeternal” written in line 26. What does this suggest? Clearly, this creed has created one God who is made up of three self-existed, coequal and coeternal Gods. The creed created TRITHEISM. The repeated use of the phrase “yet they are not three…but one…” is only a clever attempt to escape the biblical evidence that can be brought against this fallacy. The phrase does not in any way obliterate, eclipse or annul the Tritheism created by the creed. The effect of the repeated use of the phrase is no more than what a man makes of himself when he tries to hide his face with one finger. And there is no logic or magic that can make the three absolute Gods created in the creed one God. More importantly, it is totally incongruous with what the Bible teaches about the one God. The one God revealed in the Bible is a SINGULAR Spirit Being. He is not composed of three self-existed, coequal and coeternal Gods. The one God is the Father (1 Cor. 8:6). Our Lord Jesus Christ called Him the only true God (John 17:3). He is called “the Father” because He is the one who gave life to all beings. He is the only self-existed Being. There is none else.

         Lines 21 and 22 say “the Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone; not made or created, but begotten.” It shows that only the Father self-existed. The Son is not; He was begotten by the Father. He derived His life or existence from the Father. This fact totally refutes the coequality of the Son with the Father. The one who is begotten cannot be coequal with the self-existed begetter. But the Bible clearly reveals that both of them existed before the beginning when all things were created by the Father through the Son.

        Line 23 says “the Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.” Good. But how can the Holy Spirit, as portrayed here – neither made, nor created, nor begotten – be a person talk less of being a “third God”? The Scriptures have NOT portrayed the Holy Spirit either as a person or God. The Holy Spirit has been shown as the divine and invisible breath of God which He uses to do all His works in His creation. That is why the Holy Spirit has been figuratively called “the power of God” (Luke 24:49), “the hand of the LORD” (1 Sam. 18:46; 2 King 3:15; Ezra 7:6, 28; Ezek. 8:1; 33:22; etc.), “the finger of God” (Luke 11:20; compare Matt. 12:28), “anointing” (1 John 2:27), et alia. The Bible has not called the divine breath of God a person or God. 

2. Nicaean Creed

The Holy Ghost [Spirit] is “Lord and giver of life who proceedeth from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified …”

Refutation

The Father and His only begotten Son are the two givers of life (Gen. 2:7; John 5:25-26; 1 Cor. 15:45; John 1:1-3; Col. 1:15-16; Heb. 1:2). Nowhere has the Bible referred to God’s holy spirit or breath as another God who gives life. The Trinitarians might have misunderstood two scriptures, namely, Job 33:4 and 2 Cor.3:6. Briefly, I explain the two passages.

Job 33:4 says, “the Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life” (NASB).

Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon #7307 defines the word “Spirit” (Heb. ruakh) as wind, breath, exhalation, life, anger, unsubstantiality, a region of the sky, spirit.

The word “breath” (Heb. neshamah) as defined in Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon #5397 means a puff, wind, angry, vital breath, divine inspiration, intellect, an animal.

It should be seen that the two words are similar in meaning. We all know that the Book of Job is a book where Hebrew parallelisms are so much used as a form of poetry – that is, where synonymous words are repeated to achieve rhetorical emphasis. For example, the words “God” and “Almighty” are used as parallelisms 31 times in Job. Here in Job 33:4, the words “spirit” and “breath” are used as parallelism in reference to the breath of God which gave life to mankind in Gen. 2:7. Compare Job 27: 3 in the KJV where Job said, “as long as the Spirit of God is in my nostrils”. Obviously, it is the breath of God that is always flowing through our nostrils. Here in Job 27:3, it is called “the spirit of God”.

The words “Spirit of God” in Job 33:4 cannot be correctly interpreted by anyone to mean the Trinitarian “third person” or their so-called “God the Holy Spirit”. It simply means the breath of God, that invisible oxygen- carrying air which God puts in man to animate him. We are alive as long as this God-given air or breath is flowing through our nostrils. The breath of God is what Job called the Spirit of God in Job 33:4.

In 2 Corinthians 3:6, Paul wrote inter alia, “for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (NASB). In verse 17, Paul wrote, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (NASB).

Here, Paul wrote in verse 17 that the one he referred to as “the Spirit” in verse 6 is the Lord, and wherever His spirit [that is the holy Spirit] is [see Rom. 8:9] there is liberty. Evidently, the one referred to as “the Spirit” in 2 Cor. 3:6 is the Lord Jesus Christ. (In the New Testament, the word “Lord” is assumed to refer to Jesus Christ unless there is strong reason to believe it refers to God.) In John 3:6, Jesus said, “that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” That phrase primarily refers to God [John 4:24] and His only begotten Son. Apostle Paul wrote, “The first man, Adam, became a living person. But the last Adam – that is, Christ – is a life-giving Spirit” (1 Cor. 15:45, NLT).  We see therefore that Christ, in His prehuman existence, was a Spirit Being like God.

There is nowhere in the Bible the holy spirit of God is called a giver of life. Rather, the Holy Spirit is the life and power of God that the Almighty put into His children to empower, sanctify, vivify, and guide them divinely. The Bible has not portrayed the holy spirit of God as a literal and distinct person from God and Christ. The separate personality and Godhood ascribed to the holy spirit of God was borne out of complete lack of insight into the Scriptures by the religious philosophers of the third to fifth centuries AD. 

The Holy Spirit is called the power from on high (Luke 24:49), the hand of God (1 King 18:46; 2 King 3:15; Ps. 139:7-10; Ezra 7:6, 28; Ezek. 1:3; 3:14, 22; 8:1; 33:22; etc), the finger of God (Luke 11:20; compare Matt. 12:28), a seal or mark or stamp ( 2 Cor. 2:22) of God on those who are His; an anointing (Acts 10:38; 2 Cor. 1:21; 1 John 2:27), eyes of God (2 Chron. 16:9), the sentient part of God’s essence (Isa. 63:10; 1 Cor. 2:11), the breath of God (Job 27:3; 33:4; John 20:22). It is symbolically called oil of gladness (Ps. 45:7), living water (John 7:37-39), a deposit or pledge or commitment by God that He will fulfil His promises to all His faithful ones (2 Cor.1:22), etc. 

God made this invisible breath of His visible twice. It was in the form or shape of a dove (Matt. 3:16) and tongues of fire (Acts 2:3). It is important to note that if the Holy Spirit were another person in the Godhead, it will not be made visible in this form. It will appear in the form or shape of a human being because humankind was created in the likeness of God (Gen. 1:26, 27; Acts 17:28, 29; James 3:9; Dan. 7:9; Rev. 1:12-17; 19:11-16). Both God and His Son have the human shape because they created us to have their likeness.

The Holy Spirit has not been thanked or worshipped by anyone in the Bible because it is not a literal person. It is the invisible breath of God which the Almighty uses as His invisible hand to do all His works just as we use our physical hands to do all our works. No doubt, the hand or finger of God cannot be another God, separate and distinct from God. It has a mighty force or power because it emanates from the Omnipotent God.

3. Athanasian Creed

The Holy Ghost [Spirit] is God.

Refutation

The Godhood of God’s Spirit is not seen in the Holy Bible. But some people say that the

Holy Spirit is called God in Acts 5:3,4. Their conclusion is however erroneous. If anyone says the Holy Spirit is called God in Acts 5:3-4, such a one should be ready to accept that Moses and Aaron called themselves God in Exod. 16:1-8. They did not call themselves God, but as the servants of God, any grumbling against them amounted to grumbling against God who called them to represent Him before the Israelites. In the same sense the lie that Ananias and Sapphira told to Peter was a lie to the Spirit of God which alerted Peter. And since the Spirit of God is a part of God (1 Cor. 2:11), it was a lie to God Himself. Acts 5:3-4 has not made the holy spirit God.

No one can refute the fact that the holy spirit of God is a part of God. Therefore, it cannot be another person from God or another God. A man’s spirit is not another person from the man (Job 32:18; 1 Cor. 2:11).

In the Bible, especially in the book of the Acts of the Apostles, whenever God does or says anything by means of His spirit which He imparts into man, that action or declaration is often ascribed to the holy spirit of God. This does not mean that the Holy Spirit is a literal and distinct being from God or Christ.

Some logical questions will drive home the point that the Holy Spirit is not God:

• Why is the Holy Spirit not, at least once, worshipped in the Bible? Why did God not order His angels to worship “him”? See Heb. 1:6 where God ordered His angels to worship the Son. See also Rev. 4:8-11; 5:8-14; 7:9-12 where the Father and the Son are worshipped.
• Why is the Holy Spirit not part of the owners and rulers of the Kingdom of God (Eph. 5:5; Rev. 3:12; 11:15; 21:22-22:5)?
• Why did Jesus Christ not mention the Holy Spirit as one of the beings in heaven? See Mark 13:32; Luke 9:26.
• Why is the Holy Spirit not seen in all the visions of God’s throne room in heaven? See Dan. 7:9-13; Acts 7:55,56; Rev. 21:22-22:5.

4. Athanasian Creed

The Father [is] incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible.

 Refutation

“And He [Jesus] answered them [His disciples], to you it has been given to know the secrets [KJV, mysteries] of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given” (Matt.13:11, ESV). Parallel verses are Mark 4:11 and Luke 8:10.

“This is eternal life, that they [Christ’s true disciples] know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3, ESV).

“And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him [God] who is true, and we are in Him who is true, [and] in His Son Jesus Christ. This [one who is true] is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20, NASB). Words in square brackets added by me.

A subject, person or thing, is incomprehensible if the subject cannot be understood or comprehended.

The charge that God is incomprehensible is akin to the charge that the Jews brought against God – that the Holy God is unjust in His dealings with mankind. God made them know that they were the ones who were unjust (Ezek. 18:25-32).

No one can deny the fact that God is a mysterious Being. But He has revealed Himself to mankind so much that we can know Him and worship Him aright. God has never allowed mankind to be in darkness as regards His attributes; His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly revealed and seen, being understood through what has been created (Rom. 1:20) and taught by the patriarchs, prophets, Jesus Christ and His apostles.

It is false to say that God is incomprehensible after His only begotten Son has come and has given us perfect understanding about God, Himself and the eternal kingdom of God.

It seems that the fourth century church fathers who invented the Trinitarian dogma lacked much insight into the scriptures due, perhaps, to the fact that they were more influenced by the fallacious ideas of Plato and other Greek philosophers than the teachings of the Bible. Hence, they misunderstood the word “mystery” (Greek: musterion) as used in the New Testament. The biblical meaning of “mystery” is “secret” – something which was hitherto hidden but is made known in a manner and at a time appointed by God. Once revealed, it can be understood. Biblical “mystery” is quite different from their incomprehensibility. 

If, according to the inventors of the Trinity doctrine, God is incomprehensible, how did they come about their creeds about Him? Why did they make creeds about God whom they did not understand? Men don’t teach what they don’t know (Isa. 29:11-12) but Trinitarians have taught the world about God whom they did not understand. This is the main reason they produced a theology which is grossly repugnant to biblical truth.

The postulators of the Trinitarian dogma have succeeded in hiding their heresy because they were able to fool Christians not to use their God-given brains in testing the teaching to find out whether it is from God or not. But we are commanded, “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.” (Mark 12:30 NLT). The teacher of the law who had a discussion with Christ in this place put it the way he understood it. He said, “And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbour as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law” (Mark 12:33 NLT). All bold emphases are mine). He understood perfectly that we must employ all our endowments or faculties in knowing God and in rendering acceptable worship to Him. Many sincere Christians have imbibed glaring fantasies and falsehoods, including Trinity, because they have been deceived not to use their God-endowed brains in testing whatever is taught by comparing them with the Scriptures. They’ve been fooled into practicing blind faith. This is one of the main reasons false doctrines have taken a stranglehold on many churches for  such a long time. Christians who ignorantly believe we shouldn’t use our brains to judge doctrines will remain deceived until Christ returns.

5. Athanasian Creed

“But the whole three persons are coeternal, and coequal. So that in all things, as aforesaid, the unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in unity is to be worshipped”.

Rebuttal

“In the year of king Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him … And one called out to another and said, Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isa.6:1-3, NASB)

“But when He [God] again brings the first born [Jesus Christ] into the world, He says: Let the angels of God worship Him” (Heb. 1:6, NKJV).

Records of the worship of God and His only begotten Son abound in the scriptures. The worship of the Father and the Son is seen in a rapid succession in the Book of Revelation. See, for example, Rev. 4:8-11; 5:8-14; 7:9-12; 11:15-18; 15:1-4; 16:3-6. Heaven and earth were heard in glorious worship of God, the Almighty and His Son, Jesus Christ.

Please note this. There is no single record found in the Bible where the Holy Spirit is worshipped. The reason for this is because the Holy Spirit is not another literal being like God and Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is the invisible breath of God which He imparts into His creation in order to carry out His divine work in them. The fact that it is not a literal being is why it has been figuratively called the hand or finger of God. This is why it is also called anointing (Acts 10:38; 1 John 2:27).

Like the inventors of the Trinitarian dogma, many Christians today do not know that God Himself has, at times been called the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ was called child of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:18) and in verse 20, Joseph was told that the child who has been conceived in Miryam is from the Holy Spirit. The “Holy Spirit” as used here is not the “third person of the Trinity”. Compare John 4:24 where God is properly identified as Spirit, or a Spirit Being, and Leviticus 11:44 (19:2) where God Himself said we should be holy because He is holy. He is therefore a holy God, a holy Spirit Being.

Jesus Christ has also been referred to as Holy Spirit in some places, especially in the Book of Acts. Typical examples are seen in Acts 13:2 and Acts 20:28. In these two places, among others, Jesus Christ is the one Luke referred to as the Holy Spirit. He is called the Holy Spirit in Acts 13:2 because He made the declaration – to set aside Barnabas and Saul for apostolic work – through His Spirit which used the mouth(s) of prophet(s).

In Acts 20:17-38, Paul gave a valedictory exhortation to the elders of the Church of Ephesus. In verse 28, he said, “Therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He [the HolySpirit] purchased with His own blood” (NKJV).

The one called the Holy Spirit in verse 28 cannot be God or God’s Spirit which is also known as the Holy Spirit. This is because neither God nor His Spirit has blood. Blood is found only in physical flesh (Lev. 17:10-14; Luke 24:39). God made His Son to become flesh [human being] so that He could offer His blood as atonement for our sins (John 1:14; Heb. 2:14-17; 10:5; 13:12).

We know also that Jesus Christ, like His Father who gave birth to Him, is Himself a Spirit Being who became flesh (John 3:6; 1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:6,17). He is also the one called “the holy one from God” (Mark 1:24 (Luke 4:34); Acts 2:27; 3:14; 13:35). He is a holy Son of God, a holy Spirit. He is the one called “Holy Spirit” in Acts 20:28.

Conclusively, we have seen that the words “Holy Spirit” has, at times been used in the scriptures as a metonymy for God or Jesus Christ. A metonymy is a figure of speech in which one thing is replaced with a word closely associated with it. An example is referring to a king as “the Crown”.

Let the Christian know that in the few places where the “Holy Spirit” is said to carry out some activities as seen in Acts 13:2 and Acts 20:28 above or restraining the apostles from preaching in Asia (Acts 16:6), the “Holy Spirit” refers to Jesus Christ making the declarations, using the tongues of prophets among God’s people. The real person in these places is Jesus Christ, not the so-called “third person of the Trinity.”

6. Athanasian Creed

He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity.

Refutation

“This is eternal life that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3) – 2 persons, not trinity.

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me” (John 14:1) – 2 persons, not trinity. 

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6) – 2 persons, not trinity.

“This is His [God’s] commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another” (1 John 3:23) – 2 persons, not trinity.

“For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave the Son also to have life in Himself” (John 5:26) – 2 persons, not trinity.

“So that all will honour the Son even as they honour the Father. He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent Him” (John 5:23) – 2 persons, not trinity.

“Indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3) – 2 persons, not trinity.

“the kingdom of Christ and of God” (Eph. 5:5) – 2 persons, not trinity.

“He who overcome, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name” (Rev. 3:12) – 2 persons, not trinity.

“I saw no temple in it [the new Jerusalem], for the Lord God, the Almighty and the Lamb [of God, Jesus Christ] are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it and its lamp is the Lamb” (Rev. 21:22-23) – 2 persons, not trinity.

“Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying: The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord [God] and of His Christ and He will reign for ever and ever” (Rev. 11:15) – 2 persons, not trinity.

“Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we live, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we live” (1 Cor. 8:6) – 2 persons, not trinity.

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:3; 2 Cor. 1:2; Gal. 1:3; Eph. 1:2; Phil. 1:2; Col. 1:2; etc) –2 persons, not trinity.

The clear message of the Bible is that there are only two God Beings – the Father whose name is Yahweh and whose title is God and His only begotten Son whose name is Yeshua and who is called the Son of God.

The Bible does not teach the false doctrine of Trinity. Therefore, for anyone to believe in Trinity is to believe in falsehood. That doctrine was instigated by Satan to cause confusion in Christendom and lead undiscerning Christians into false worship. God decided to leave it unremoved (Matt. 13:30,37-42) and I strongly believe the only wise God is using it to prove the truthfulness or otherwise of those who claim to belong to Him through believing in His dear Son.

Conclusion

There are far more than these few points of refutation of the manmade doctrine of Trinity. The points given in this article are meant to show you that the Trinitarian doctrine is simply false. The fourth century church fathers merely snapped some scriptures and mixed them up with the pagan triune religions of ancient Egypt and Neoplatonic Greek philosophies that were prevailing in their time. It is against such manmade philosophies, tainted with human conjectures, that Apostle Paul warned believers in Colossians 2:8.  There is no way an honest and sincere Christian who has not been indoctrinated and deluded with the Trinitarian hoax will not see these glaring differences between the Bible and the Trinity dogma. The test this doctrine poses to all Christians is that a true Christian will take side with the inspired word of God and not the manmade, false doctrine of Trinity.