The Trinity

“The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God, and yet they are not three God’s, but one God” (so says the false Athanasian Creed).

This creed was drawn up by Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, in the 4th century. The creed was acknowledged in France in 670 AD and received in Spain and Germany about the same period. It was received in Rome in 930 AD and was known in parts of Italy in 930 AD. The doctrine of a Triune God - a three part God, is nowhere supported in the pages of the Holy Bible. When we get hold of the Scriptures and consult its pages, we find nothing whatever of this mysteriousness talked about by theologians in the revelation given to us concerning the great, glorious and terrible God. There are none of these peculiar definitions, none of this church and chapel arithmetic, none of such puzzling and confounding statements which people now profess to believe but do not profess in the least to understand. There is nothing revealed concerning a Triune deity, nothing about three co-equal personalities who are not three but one; nothing concerning three co-eternal beings, one of which is said to have been ‘begotten before the worlds’ by the Father alone. The Bible is not a book of nonsense, of confusion, but of wisdom. It is not a book to confuse the intellect of man but to give light and knowledge and understanding.

... none of such puzzling and confounding statements which people now profess to believe but do not profess in the least to understand

The truth I believe is that there is but one God and that He is One (Mark 12:28-29; Isaiah 44:6,8). Here God declares that beside Him, in conjunction with Him, there is no God; none with equal glory, none with co-equal majesty (Isaiah 46:9).

God’s word, His plan, brought all things into existence animate and inanimate. By His power alone are all things sustained. He is that God of whom Paul spoke at Athens (Acts 17:24,28). We can read more of Paul’s testimony in 1Corinthians 11:3; 3:21-23; 8:4,9; 15:24; 1Timothy 2:5. One God and Father of all (Ephesians 4:4). The epistles always make a clear distinction between God and Christ.

God is the God and Father of Jesus (2Corinthians 1:2,3). Would that be correct if Jesus were an equality with Him? Yet even Jesus himself recognised his Father, as he told Mary Magdalene after his resurrection (John 20:17). He used similar language after his ascension to John in Patmos (Revelation 3:12). These passages and many more prove that there is but one God, the Father.

Bro Gordon Ochieng (Madiany, Kenya)