This page is the notes of a sermon by Imad Awde.   He goes through 21 problems of the Trinity, point by point.     


The Trinity:

  

1. It contradicts the faith of Jesus:

Jesus was a Jew and believed about God like other Jews did. He identified God as the same Being the Jews worshiped.


For example we read:

Joh 8:54 Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: 


The Jews believed that there is only One God, the Father, of Whom the Messiah was to come. Jesus told them it is my Father that is honouring me of whom ye say that he is your God.


Jesus knew that the God of the Jews is His Father.


When talking to the woman at the well, Jesus told her:

Joh 4:22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 

Joh 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 

  

Jesus told the Samaritan woman that the Jews know who they worship. They are worshiping the true God.


We also read a discussion between a scribe and Jesus. Now the scribe was a person who wrote the scriptures. That was his job. He would have know the scriptures inside out:


Mar 12:28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? 

Mar 12:29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 

Mar 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 

Mar 12:31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. 

Mar 12:32 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: 

Mar 12:33 And to love him with all the heart, ….

Mar 12:34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. … 


The scribe did not believe that this one God is a combination of three persons. No. we just saw earlier that the 1st century Jews believed God to be One being, the Father of the Messiah.


Both Jesus and Jews confirm that.

So the trinity contradicts the faith of Jesus and the 1st century Jews as presented in the Bible.


  

2. The trinity teaches us to worship a different God than the One Jesus worshiped. 


We already saw that the 1st Century Jews, including Jesus believed God to be One Being, the Father. 


Just before His ascension Jesus told Mary:

Joh 20:17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.

While on the Cross, Jesus prayed:

Mat 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 

While in Heaven Jesus said:

Rev 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. 

  

So the trinity introduces to the followers of Jesus a different God than the One Jesus worshiped. 



3. The trinity is not explained or mentioned in the scriptures


Nowhere do you find in the bible an explanation of what the trinity is. Neither will you find the terminology used for the trinity in the bible such as “God the Son”, “God the Holy Spirit”. It is just not there.


Yes you can pull a text from here and text from there to make it appear as if it is there, but you must admit that the bible does not speak clearly about it.


However, I want you to think of this. Every bible student will admit that the 1st century Jesus did not worship a trinity. The hold to the Shema which says: “the Lord our God is one Lord”.


And no they did not understand the word Elohim to mean a combination of three and all that. the bible is clear as we saw earlier that the 1st century Jews worshiped One Being, who was the Father of Jesus.


Now let us assume that Jesus wanted to bring a clearer revelation about who God is. 


You would think that someone somewhere will object to the teaching that God is a combination of three. This would have been a new teaching which they never heard of before.

 

We read in the bible about the Jews objecting on:

1. How to keep the Sabbath (picking food on the Sabbath)

2. About eating with unwashed hands

3. Healing on the Sabbath

  

And later at the days of the apostles we read of controversies about:

1. Righteousness by works Vs by faith

2. Under the Old Covenant or New Covenant

3. Circumcision or no circumcision

4. And so forth


But never do we read of anyone objecting to the teachings of Jesus or the apostles in regards to the trinity. Why? 


If Jesus and the Apostles introduced the trinity at that time you would think we will read somewhere in the bible about a discussion, or argument or objection in regards to it. but the bible is silent on that? it is just not there?


I believe this is because neither Jesus nor the apostles taught any trinitarianisim of any sort. They all believed that the One God of the bible is the Father.


We read arguments about whether Jesus was the promised Messiah or not, but never any argument about whether God is One Being or a family of three.


  

4.  The First Person of the Trinity is Jesus' Father but the Third Person of the Trinity Fathered Jesus


I want you to think on this one. If the trinity is correct, then we have to believe that the Holy Spirit is a separate person or identity from Jesus and the Father. 


But this presents us with a problem because the bible says that it was the Holy spirit that came upon Marry and then she was found with a child:

  

Luk 1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. 

Mat 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. 


And while talking to Joseph the angel said:

Mat 1:20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. 


So the trinity doctrine presents a major problem in the birth of Jesus. If the trinity is correct, Jesus should be called the son of the Holy Spirit not the Son of the Father.



5.  The One True God is Identified in the Bible as a singular "I", "Me", "He", "Him" 


Never in the bible do we read about God referred to as they. It is always singular.


Now I know that some would be thinking that yes of course singular. We believe in one God who is made of three persons. 


But that is not what the writers of the bible believed. We saw clearly that the Jews referred to God as He and they believe this He is a singular One Being, namely the Father.


So the understanding of the trinity will create a problem in interpreting these texts that refer to God as singular. We will have to understand the bible in a different way than the writers intended it to mean in order to make it fit with our theology.


The apostles clearly understood God to be One Being just like the Jews of their time:

Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 

Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 

The God and Father of Jesus is only One Being. And in the next text the He refers to this One being, not to a family of three.

1Th 1:9 For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; 

1Th 1:10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come


Again, this living and true God is the Father and He is referred to as “His”.


To make the trinity fit in the bible we have to really do some gymnastics with the scriptures.


If you would like to watch this presentation on Youtube, the address is:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SiMP7Ty8sg


Trinity 21 Problems 6-15