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How do I explain the Trinity to my Mormon friend?The historical and Biblical doctrine of the Trinity is probably the least understood doctrine of Christianity, even within Christian circles. In light of this I have decided to be quite thorough in explaining what Trinity is and what it is not. First we will examine the definition of the Trinity and then we will show how the Bible supports such a definition. In his book The Forgotten Trinity (Known as TFT for the remainder of this article) James White gives an excellent definition of what the Trinity is. "Within the one Being that is God, there exists eternally three coequal persons, namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." (TFT, p. 26) White goes on to explain that this definition relies on three essential foundations.
If we were going to put it in a simple logical format it would look like this:
This form of logic is called a syllogism. It consists of two premises and a conclusion. As long as the two premises are true then the conclusion is also true. In this case our first premise is that only one true God exists. So lets turn to our Bibles and see if this first premise is taught. There is Only One God
The Old Testament Perhaps the oldest declaration of monotheism, or the belief and worship of one God, is found in Deuteronomy 6:4. "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD." (Unless otherwise noted all Biblical verses are from the King James translation including italics) The faithful Jews of Israel recited this prayer every morning. It is called the Shema, which is the Hebrew word for hear. It is the foundational belief of Jews and Christians. One God, period. Some Latter-day Saints have argued that Deuteronomy 6:4 allows for the worship of one god while not excluding the existence of multiple gods (this is known as henotheism). However, "As C.J. Labuschagne points out, the Hebrew word for "one" (echad) in Deuteronomy 6:4 refers to "somebody who has no family, and, applied to Yahweh, this means that He does not belong to any family of gods." (As cited by Paul Owen in The New Mormon Challenge, p. 274; C.J. Labuchagne, The Incomparability of Yahweh in the Old Testament, p. 137) There are also many verses throughout Deuteronomy that boldly declare there is no other God beside the God of Israel (Deuteronomy 4:35, 39; 32:39). By the time the prophet Isaiah had come on the scene Israel had fallen back into idol worship. Rather than bowing the knee to the God who brought them out of bondage, Israel had decided to be like their pagan neighbors and worship false gods. In Isaiah 40-48 we see God putting these false gods on trial. This trial is designed to prove to Israel that there is only on true God. Let's see what He says. "Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me." (Isaiah 43:10) No God formed before or after the God of Israel. This verse crushes the Mormon concept of eternal progression1. It is important that your LDS friend reads this verse and realizes that he/she will never become a god as LDS theology teaches. It is also a great verse for showing that God was never a man as Joseph Smith taught (D&C 130:22). God continues to make His case to Israel. "Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God." (Isaiah 44:6) Is it Possible there are other gods? Not according to the Lord. "Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any…. I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me." (Isaiah 44:8; 45:5) If any other god exists the God of Israel asks them to stand and be heard. "Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together." (Isaiah 41:21-23) Since no other gods exist beside the one true God of the Bible, there is no response given. The inability for these false gods to respond is what leads God to proclaim: "Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you." (Isaiah 41:24) White summarizes that "So basic is the realization that there is only one true God that centuries later Paul can refer to idols as those that "by nature are no gods" (Galatians 4:8). A god other than Yahweh is by nature, a "no-god."" (TFT, p. 38) These and a multitude of other Old Testament verses clearly teach the existence of one God (1 Chronicles 17:20; Isaiah 45:14, 21-22; 46:9; 37:20; 2 Samuel 7:22; Psalm 86:10).
The New Testament Just like the Old Testament, the New Testament repeatedly affirms the existence of one true God. With their nation under the thumb of the Roman Empire, the Jewish people were bombarded on all sides by a pantheon of false gods. Perhaps my favorite section of the New Testament which declares the truth of monotheism, or the belief in one God, is in Mark 12:28-34. When asked by a Jewish teacher of the law about which commandment is the most important, the Lord replies: "And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord." (Mark 12:29) Jesus continues to answer by saying that we should love God with all our heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. The teacher then commends Jesus, saying" "And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he." (Mark 12:32) Mark then writes: "And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God." (Mark 12:34) It is important for the reader to understand that Jesus is confirming the existence of one true God. If the polytheistic trinity of Mormonism were true (see The Polytheistic Trinity of Mormonism), it would be supported by the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ. Clearly this is not the case. When Jesus prayed for Himself He clearly states: "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3) Jesus' teaching of one true God is also clearly seen in the epistles of His apostles. Paul mentioned this several times (Romans 3:29-30; 16:27; 1 Corinthians 8:4; Galatians 3:20; Ephesians 4:6; 1 Thessalonians 1:9; 1 Timothy 1:17; 2:5). John also stressed this as well (1 John 5:20-21), along with James (James 2:19) and Jude (Jude 25). Clearly Jesus, His disciples and the faithful Jews of their day believed and taught that only one true God exists. Three Equally Divine Distinct and Eternal Persons Called God With ample Biblical evidence to show that the Bible proclaims the existence of one true God, we must move on to the next step of our study. Does the Bible teach that there are three equally divine Persons called God? Before we see what Scripture has to say we must quickly clarify a few things. First, when we use the word Persons we are not talking about separate beings or individuals. There is only one Being, namely God. Within that being are three Persons. Nor does the word Persons necessitate that they must have physicality, or a body. "When we speak of the Trinity we are talking about one what [God] and three who's [Father, Son and Spirit]." (TFT, p. 27, inserts added) "So God is unity of essence with a plurality of persons. Each person is different, yet they share a common nature (Norman L. Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, p. 732)." Second, each of the Persons within the Being that is God are fully divine. "Each fully shares the one Being that is God. The Father is not 1/3 of God, the Son 1/3 of God, the Spirit 1/3 of God. Each is fully God, coequal with the others, and that eternally." (TFT, p. 27) Thirdly, the being that is God does not change back and forth from Father to Son, Son to Spirit, etc. The Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Spirit. This is known as modalism and is not a Biblical teaching. Finally, while there are areas of Scripture that refer to each Person as God, it is important to understand that if it can be shown that all three Persons possess the attributes of deity, this is the same as being referred to as deity.
Equally Divine, Distinct and Eternal The Persons of the Trinity are equal in nature. While each Person has a different function or role in the Godhead, this does not necessitate any inferiority in nature. As each is fully God, each possesses the attributes of God. Consider the following:
"That the three members of the Trinity are distinct persons is clear in that each is mentioned in distinction from the others. The Son prayed to the Father (cf. John 17). The Father from heaven about the Son at his baptism (Matt. 3:15-17). Indeed, the Holy Spirit was present at the same time, revealing that they coexist. Further, the fact that they have separate titles (Father, Son, and Spirit) indicate that they are not one person. Also, each member of the Trinity has special functions that help us to identify them. For example, the Father planned salvation (John 3:16; Eph. 1:4); the Son accomplished it on the cross (John 17:4; 19:30; Heb. 1:1-2) and at the resurrection (Rom. 4:25; 1 Cor. 15:1-6), and the Holy Spirit applies it to the lives of the believers (John 3:5; Eph. 4:30; Titus 3:5-7). The Son [sic] submits to the Father (1 Cor. 11:3; 15:28), and the Holy Spirit glorifies the Son (John 16:14)." (Norman L. Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, p. 731-732) Also worth noting is that there are times when one member of the Godhead speaks to another (Psalm 110:1).
Three Persons Called God Along with sharing all the attributes of God deity, each Person of the Trinity is specifically called God. The Father is called God in the Old Testament (Isaiah 9:6; 63:16; 64:8) and the New Testament (Romans 1:7; 8:15; James 3:9; 2 Peter 1:17). Jesus is called God by the Father in Hebrews 1:8. After seeing the resurrected Christ Thomas referred to Jesus as his Lord and God (John 20:28). In Acts 5:3-4 it is shown that lying to the Holy Spirit is that same as lying to God. Peter said, "Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost…. thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God." Objections to the Trinity The Word Trinity is found nowhere in the Bible. If the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are one, then why did Jesus pray to Himself in the Garden of Gethsemane? "The errors that result from denying, or misunderstanding, any one of the foundational truths presented above can be graphically [sic] illustrated through the use of the following triangle diagram.
Each of the three sides represents a foundational truth. When any one of these truths is denied, the other two sides form an arrow that point to the resultant error. For example, if one denies monotheism, the other two sides of the triangle point to "polytheism." And if one denies the existence of three persons, the result is "modalism." (TFT, p.29-30) While we cannot comprehend a God that is one Being existing coequally and coeternally as three Persons, we can apprehend it by what Scripture reveals to us. The Trinity does not make sense. One Father, one Son and one Holy Spirit add up to three gods Jesus said that the Father was greater than Him (John 14:28), implying that Jesus is inferior in nature to the Father. Conclusion While more can be said regarding the Trinity and the nature of the Godhead, we hope that this outline has laid a good, fundamental foundation for which to explain that which is ultimately unexplainable. "To whom will ye liken me?" asks God (Isaiah 40:18, 25; 44:7; 46:5). If God is an exalted man as Mormonism claims, then Israel could have easily answered this question. The rhetorical question is not answered because it cannot be answered. God is 100% unique! His is most clearly seen in the doctrine of the Trinity. If you have any further questions please feel free to call us or send us an email.
1. Mormonism teaches that God was once a man on another earth. By abiding by certain laws and regulations he was able to attain exaltation or godhood. Faithful Mormons are taught that if they do the same they to can become gods one day. For more information please see the following link: http://www.concernedchristians.org/nocomparison_god3.php Back to No Comparison or The Trinity |
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