2. The Trinity

2. The Trinity
There is one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a unity of three co-eternal Persons. God is immortal, all-powerful, all-knowing, above all, and ever present. He is infinite and beyond human comprehension, yet known through His self-revelation. He is forever worthy of worship, adoration, and service by the whole creation. (Deut. 6:4; Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 4:4-6; 1Peter 1:2; 1 Tim. 1:17; Rev. 14:7.)

Commentary -
Various Trinitarian concepts exist. But generally, the Trinity teaching is that in the trinity Godhead, there are three persons. The Father, The Son and The Holy Ghost; yet, together they are not three but one, God. The doctrine says that the three are co-equal, almighty and uncreated, having existed eternally in the Godhead.

When referencing Jesus, simple questions to ask If Jesus was God:
1. Who did Jesus pray to when he said, “Our father in the heavens, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done . . .”
2. Why did Jesus say, “The Son cannot do anything of his own initiative, but only what he beholds the Father doing?” John 5:19
3. Why did Jesus say, “I have come down from heaven to do, not my will, but the will of Him that sent me.” John 6:38. 4. Why did Jesus say, “What I teach is not mine, but belongs to him that sent me.” John 7:16.
5. Why did Gods voice from heaven say: “This is my Son, the beloved, whom I have approved?” Matthew 3:16-17. Was God saying that he was his own son? and that he approved of himself?
6. Why did Jesus say, “Jehovah’s spirit is upon me, because he anointed me to declare good news to the poor.” Luke 4:18
7. Why did Jesus say, “As for seats at my right hand and my left, these are not mine to grant; they belong to those to whom they have been allotted by my Father,” Matthew 20:23 Does not Matthew 20:23 rather show that the Son is not equal to the Father, that the Father has reserved some prerogatives for himself?
8. When on the torture stake about to die, why did his prayer say in part, “ . . . let not my will but yours take place?” Luke 22:42
9. At Mark 15:34 Why did Jesus cry out, “My God, My God, why have you deserted me?”
10. Why did Jesus also say: “Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit?” Luke 23:46.
11. At Hebrews 5:8 that Jesus “learned obedience from the things he suffered.” Can we imagine that God had to learn anything?
12. If Jesus is equal to God, why does it say at Col. 1:15-16 that “He [Jesus Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation?
13. Rev. 1:1; 3:14, says: “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him . . . Did God give himself something? or did God give Jesus, his son something? and why even mention that God gave Jesus something if Jesus is God?
14. Mark 13:32, says: “Of that day or that hour no ones knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” Why doesn't Jesus know something that only the Father knows? And if, as some suggest, the Son was limited by his human nature from knowing, the question remains, Why did the Holy Spirit not know?
15. Why at John 14:28, does Jesus say “If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I?”
16. 1 Cor. 11:3, “I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.” (Clearly, then, Christ is not God, and God is of superior rank to Christ. It should be noted that this was written about 55 C.E., some 22 years after Jesus returned to heaven. So the truth here stated applies to the relationship between God and Christ in heaven.)
17. 1 Cor. 15:27, 28 “‘God has put all things in subjection under his [Jesus’] feet.’ But when it says, ‘All things are put in subjection under him,’ it is plain that he is excepted who put all things under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things under him, that God may be everything to every one.”

When referencing the Holy Spirit:
1. The Bible teaches that the holy spirit is God’s active force, not part of a Trinity. (Gen. 1:2)
2. At Pentecost 33 C.E., some 120 disciples were “filled with holy spirit” obviously not with a person. (Acts 1:5, 8; 2:4, 33)
3. Gen 1:2 says, "God’s active force was moving about over the surface of the waters." The Hebrew word here translated “active force” is also translated “spirit.” It is the invisible active force by means of which God accomplishes his purpose and expresses his will.
4. How could Jehovah give a person to one asking it of him? “If you, although being wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more so will the Father in heaven give holy spirit to those asking him!” Luke 11:13
5. Acts 7:55, 56 reports that Stephen was given a vision of heaven in which he saw “Jesus standing at God’s right hand.” But he made no mention of seeing the holy spirit. (See also Revelation 7:10; 22:1, 3.)
6. Trinitarians often say that “first-born” here means prime, most excellent, most distinguished; thus Christ would be understood to be, not part of creation, but the most distinguished in relation to those who were created. If that is so, and if the Trinity doctrine is true, why are the Father and the holy spirit not also said to be the firstborn of all creation?
7. Matt. 12:31, 32, RS: “Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” (If the Holy Spirit were a person and were God, this text would flatly contradict the Trinity doctrine, because it would mean that in some way the Holy Spirit was greater than the Son. Instead, what Jesus said shows that the Father, to whom the “Spirit” belonged, is greater than Jesus, the Son of man.)

This list goes on and on. But for the purposes of this response, this should be sufficient. Much more can be found in a publication called Reasoning on the Scriptures p. 405-p. 426 published by Jehovah's Witnesses.

I have created a blog at http://trinitybychristendom.blogspot.com/ wherein I discuss in more detail the various beliefs of how some have created their understanding of a Trinity doctrine. But after considering all this information, it simply must be concluded that the trinity is a manmade doctrine and not a scriptural one.