What does the trinity mean to you?

Question

Please, do the research and give a thoughtful response. I am speaking on the revelation of The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit. This will start seven days of questions. Anyone who answers please add me as a Contact.

Answer 1

God is revealed in the Scriptures as a family— comprising the Father and the Son in heaven, with many potential members of the same divine family now on earth. The Bible speaks of "the whole family in heaven and earth" (Ephesians 3:15).

Two divine members of that family, the Father and the Son, reside in heaven, but the human children of God on earth even now help make up this family (Romans 8:14; 1 John 3:1-2).

Many millions believe that God consists of three distinct persons or entities—the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit—in one being. How do we choose between explanations regarding the nature of God? Simply stated, only the Scriptures can give us the true answer. The fact that the word Trinity appears nowhere in the Bible also gives us reason to reflect. We must not cling to long-held religious traditions if they contradict the Scriptures. Our beliefs must rest solidly on the teachings of the Holy Bible. Jesus said, "[God's] word is truth" (John 17:17).

New Testament evidence

The truth is that the Bible does not teach the Trinity. The Oxford Companion to the Bible's opening words under the article "Trinity" enlightening: "Because the Trinity is such an important part of later Christian doctrine, it is striking that the term does not appear in the New Testament. Likewise, the developed concept of three coequal partners in the Godhead found in later creedal formulations cannot be clearly detected within the confines of the [New Testament] canon" (Bruce Metzger and Michael Coogan, editors, 1993, p. 782, emphasis added throughout these quotations).

The term later is a vital key in understanding why general Christian belief has been burdened with the Trinity doctrine. Post-firstcentury theologians originally conceived the doctrine, and others added to and elaborated on it down through the centuries.

Notice this admission in the New Bible Dictionary: "The term 'Trinity' is not itself found in the Bible. It was first used by Tertullian at the close of the 2nd century, but received wide currency and formal elucidation only in the 4th and 5th centuries" (1996, "Trinity").

The same dictionary explains that "the formal doctrine of the Trinity was the result of several inadequate attempts to explain who and what the Christian God really is . . . To deal with these problems the Church Fathers met in 325 at the Council of Nicaea to set out an orthodox biblical definition concerning the divine identity." However, it wasn't until 381, "at the Council of Constantinople, [that] the divinity of the Spirit was affirmed . . ."

Another theological source admits that there was "an impression of binitarianism [that is, two in unity, the Father and Son] given by much second- and third-century thought . . . Pluralist thinkers . . . maintained the full co-presence of the two (later three) distinct entities within the Godhead . . ." (Alan Richardson, editor, A Dictionary of Christian Theology, 1969, p. 345, emphasis added).

We see, then, that the doctrine of the Trinity wasn't formalized until long after the Bible was completed and the apostles were long dead in their graves. It took later theologians several centuries to sort out what they believed concerning the Holy Spirit. Regrettably, the Trinity doctrine has been a major barrier to clear comprehension of the biblical truth that God is a divine family.

Continuing with the account in The Oxford Companion to the Bible: "While the New Testament writers say a great deal about God, Jesus, and the Spirit of each, no New Testament writer expounds on the relationship among the three in the detail that later Christian writers do" (p. 782). These scholars are, of course, somewhat understat- ing what is obvious to those who comprehend the biblical explanation of God.

Spurious addition in 1 John 5:7-8

Some Bible translators of past ages were so zealous to find support for their belief in the Trinity in the Scriptures that they literally added it. A case in point is 1 John 5:7-8. It now reads in the King James Version (KJV), also known as the Authorized Version (AV): "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one." The words in italics are simply not a part of the accepted New Testament manuscripts. Regrettably, in this particular passage the New King James Version (NKJV) reads essentially the same.

Most Bible commentaries tell us this is a spurious addition to the biblical text. Consider the words of The New Bible Commentary: Revised: "Notice that AV includes additional material at this point. But the words are clearly a gloss and are rightly excluded by RSV [Revised Standard Version] even from its margins" (1970, p. 1269).

In the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), 1 John 5:7-8 correctly reads, "There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree." John personifies these three elements as providing testimony, just as Solomon personified wisdom in the book of Proverbs.

"The textual evidence is all against 1 John 5:7," explains Neil Lightfoot. "Of all the Greek manuscripts, there are only two which contain it. These two manuscripts are of very late dates, one from the fourteenth or fifteenth century and the other from the sixteenth century. Both clearly show this verse to be translated from the Latin" (How We Got the Bible, 1963, pp. 56-57).

The Expositor's Bible Commentary also dismisses the KJV and NKJV versions of 1 John 5:7 as "obviously a late gloss with no merit" (Glenn Barker, Vol. 12, 1981, p. 353). Peake's Commentary on the Bible is very incisive in its comments as well: "The famous inter- polation after 'three witnesses' is not printed in RSV and rightly [so] . . . No respectable Greek [manuscript] contains it. Appearing first in a late 4th century Latin text, it entered the Vulgate and finally NT of Erasmus" (p. 1038).

Again, Trinity did not come into common use as a religious term until after the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325, several centuries after the last books of the New Testament were complete. It is not a biblical concept.

Why sometimes called 'He' and 'Him'

Many people assume that the Holy Spirit is a personal entity, based on references to the Spirit as "he," "him" and "himself" in the New Testament. This confusion arises from two factors—the use of gender-inflected pronouns in the Greek language and bias on the part of some translators.

Greek, as do the Romance languages (Spanish, French, Italian, etc.), invokes a specific gender for every noun. Every object, animate or inanimate, is designated as either masculine, feminine or neuter. The gender is often unrelated to whether the item is indeed masculine or feminine. For example, in French the word livre, meaning "book," is of the masculine gender and is referred to by a pronoun equivalent to the English "he." And in Spanish, mesa, or "table," is in the feminine. Clearly, although these nouns have gender, their gender does not refer to actually being male or female.

In the English language, in contrast, most nouns that do not refer to objects that are male or female are referred to in the neuter sense, with the pronoun "it."

In Greek, both masculine and neuter words are used to refer to the Holy Spirit. The Greek word translated "Helper," "Comforter" and "Advocate" in John 14-16 is parakletos, a masculine word in Greek and thus referred to in these chapters by Greek pronouns equivalent to the English "he," "him," "his," "himself," "who" and "whom."

Because of the masculine gender of parakletos, these pronouns are grammatically correct in Greek. But to translate these into English as "he," "him," etc., is grammatically incorrect.

By the same token, you would never translate a particular French sentence as "I'm looking for my book so I can read her." While this grammatical construction makes sense in the French language, it is wrong in English. Thus the supposition that the Holy Spirit is a person to be referred to as "he" or "him" is incorrect.

Neuter in nature, not personal

There is absolutely no justification for referring to the term "Holy Spirit" with masculine pronouns, even in Greek. The Greek word pneuma, usually translated "spirit" but also translated "wind" and "breath," is a grammatically neuter word. So, in the Greek language, pronouns equivalent to the English "it," "its," "itself," "which" or "that" are properly used in referring to this word for "spirit."

Yet, when the King James or Authorized Version was produced (early in the 1600s), the doctrine of the Trinity had already been accepted for more than 1,000 years. So naturally the translators of that version usually chose personal rather than neutral pronouns when referring to the Holy Spirit in English (see, for example, John 16:13-14; Romans 8:26).

Notice, however, that in some passages in the KJV the translators properly used neuter pronouns. Romans 8:16, for example, says: "The Spirit itself [not himself] beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." Matthew 10:20 and 1 Peter 1:11 are other places in the KJV where the proper neuter pronouns are employed.

Regrettably, later English translators of the Bible have gone even further than the King James translators in referring to the Holy Spirit as masculine rather than neuter. Thus the Holy Spirit is almost always referred to as "he" or "him" in the more-modern versions. This reflects not linguistic accuracy, but the doctrinal bias or incorrect assumptions of Bible translators.

Answer 2

Ok, What the Trinity means to me is That God is a trinity of persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is not the same person as the Son; the Son is not the same person as the Holy Spirit; and the Holy Spirit is not the same person as Father. They are not three gods and not three beings. They are three distinct persons; yet, they are all the one God. Each has a will, can speak, can love, etc., and these are demonstrations of personhood. They are in absolute perfect harmony consisting of one substance. They are coeternal, coequal, and copowerful. If any one of the three were removed, there would be no God.

Answer 3

The word trinity is not in the Bible, but the Triune character of God is throughout the Bible. In the beginning the Trinity was introduced in slow process so that people would not mistake one God to a three god combination.

One true God is God of Abraham, He was here before time, He created everything so He is Creator, He sent the Word ( Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully human )here, Jesus conquered the death and took His God powers back, Holy Spirit of God dwells among us as our comforter and counselor. Father, Son and Holy Spirit is the one true God.

Answer 4

The trinity doctrine was unheard of before the great apostasy in the first century.
Its concept was not upheld by those faithful apostles of Christ and is nowhere found in the holy scriptures.

In fact belief in it undermines the whole basis of Christs ransom sacrifice.

If Jesus was the same person as God , then that means he did not die at his crucifiction. (if he was dead he could raise himself up could he?)

This would mean the ransom sacrifice was NOT made.,,and that means there is NO HOPE FOR MANKIND.

Now , make you choice, Do you belive in the unGodly pagan trinity doctrine which leads to your destreuction or do you follow what the Bible really teaches.

For more Bible based info please feel free to email me.

Answer 5

It means that a group of men were sick of the fighting and arguing between the christians so they go together and took a vote and decided it was a trinity going against much of the Bible, esp the writings of Paul that cant make it any more clear that Jesus is the son of God and not God himself.
They wanted a unified gospel to strengthen their church. Since these men claim there is no more additional revelation or prophetic teachings after the apostles in the Bible, I dont see how they had any authority to claim the trinity was correct.

Answer 6

The Father/Creator(God),Son(Jesus),Holy Spirit AKA Spirit of Truth and Error, Holy Ghost(Sent to Live within us after we accept Jesus Christ) 3 beings of 1 mind thus the trinity

Answer 7

The Trinity
1 John 5:6-8
“This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one.”




It means there is one God:
Who eternally exists in 3 distinct Persons:
Father, Son & Holy Spirit. The 3 are never inferior to one another in nature.

I love the ice example:
Ice can be water in one form.....
Steam in another......
and solid in yet another.....

But yet all 3 are still H 2 O

Answer 8

The trinity is a man-made concept from people that didn't know who Jesus Christ really was.
Jesus Christ is the product of Divine Spirit (Father) mingling with flesh to produce the Son (Our Savior). God sent the Holy Ghost after the ascension of the Savior to lead us in all Truth and to help us to overcome sinful temptations. The Holy Ghost is the power of God, not a person.

Answer 9

The nature of man is expressed as mind, body and spirit, analogous to, and in the image of, the triune nature of God. It's interesting to note that Genesis relates man being made by "us" in "our" image when referring to God, indicating the plurality in His nature.
Life on Earth
Life on Earth inhabits three domains, the sea, the land and the air.
Holy Trinity
Following the three-in-one nature that is found throughout creation, we find the three-in-one nature of the One God manifested in the Holy Trinity, with each Being revealing a different aspect of our God and Creator to us:
The Father, the part of God that is transcendent, infinite and beyond our understanding,
The Son, Jesus Christ, the part of God that is immanent and appeared to us in the way that we could best know Him, in human form. He was both "Son of God," an expression of God as contained in human form, and at the same time "Son of Man," the ultimate expression of who we can be in our most divine form.
The Holy Spirit, the part of God that lives in the heart and soul of each of us, acting as our Counselor for those who believe and listen to His voice within us.

Answer 10

The Holy Trinity is the only true one God
1John 5:8
Mt 28:19
Jams 2:19

Answer 11

Three Lies Rolled Into One Enigma.