By: Dr. Jerry Bergman
Montpelier, Ohio
Belief in The Trinity Doctrine — God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, not three Gods but one God — is required by Catholicism, the Orthodox Church, and the major Protestant branches (Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Evangelical).
The reasoning is that God’s Son must be a god just as a human’s son must also be a human. John 1:1 introduces Jesus as the eternal “Word” (Logos), stating, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
The Greek word for God is Theos (Greek θεός), which means God or god. At least ten major translations translate θεός as “a god.” Greek does not have a definite article (in English, the definite article is “the” and the indefinite article is “a”).
Consequently, the translator must make a decision based on the context. The problem is that “a god” rendering emphasizes Jesus’s divine qualities but not His singular identity as God, while “God” affirms His full deity. Translating θεός as a god is also too close to polytheism.
Consequently, some major translations, including Moffatt and Goodspeed, use the word “divine” for theos. The best explanation of the relationship of God the Father to His Son is outlined in the Apostles’ Creed, which the early Church wrote to produce a concise summary of the core Christian beliefs and define essential doctrines.
This includes God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Church, salvation, resurrection, and eternal life by articulating fundamental truths derived from the apostles’ teachings:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and Earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, was buried, and then descended to hell. On the third day, He rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there, He will come to judge the living and the dead.
The word “Trinity” never appears in the Bible, and early Christians held different views about who Jesus was. Some believed He was fully divine. Others believed He was subordinate to God. Paul, nor any other apostle, ever mentioned the Trinity.
How could the earliest Christians overlook the very nature of God? The debate lasted for three centuries. The final version was crafted through councils and theological disputes.
It was an attempt to make sense of what appeared to be conflicting Bible texts — not a teaching directly handed down by Jesus or the disciples.
No ancient Christian group from the Middle East — the birthplace of Christianity — independently developed the Trinity doctrine. Only the branches shaped by the Roman Church insist that the Trinity was a foundational belief.
Many secularists claim that religion has historically persecuted scientists. Actually, the only claim to support this charge was Galileo and Giordano Bruno (1548-1600).
At the age of 17, Bruno entered the Dominican Order at the monastery of San Domenico Maggiore in Naples and was ordained as a priest in 1572 at the age of 24. His heresy trial was not a response to his scientific views, but rather for his denial of several core Catholic doctrines, including the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the virginity of Mary, eternal damnation, and transubstantiation. Bruno was burned at the stake on February 15, 1660, for similar reasons.
The second well-known case was Michael Servetus (c.1506-1553), who was also not executed for his science, but denounced primarily for his denial of the Trinity and his opposition to infant baptism.
Challenging fundamental Catholic and Protestant beliefs led to his condemnation by both Catholic and Calvinist authorities. He escaped imprisonment by the Inquisition in France, but was convicted for rejection of the Trinity by the Swiss Protestants. He was executed by being burned at the stake.
Other examples exist. Edward Wightman was the last person executed by burning for heresy (1612), specifically for his nontrinitarian views. While exact numbers are elusive, over a thousand persons were burned for heresy, including denial of the Trinity (unitarianism), often during the Inquisition and Reformation.
Anabaptists (whose beliefs are centered on a radical commitment to the life and teachings of Jesus) and other groups denying the Trinity faced severe persecution, many executed by burning. The authorities saw their views as blasphemous and a threat to religious orthodoxy.
Professor Ronald Hutton, in his book published by Oxford University Press in 1999, concluded that from 1400 to 1775, about 100,000 people were prosecuted for heresy and witchcraft, and between 40,000 and 60,000 were executed, almost all in Europe.
A new denomination called the Unitarians began as a result of the large number of persons who rejected the Trinity. Unitarians affirm the unitary nature of God as the singular and unique creator of the universe and believe that Jesus Christ was inspired by God in his moral teachings.
He is the savior of mankind, but not equal to God. The over 1,000 Unitarian Universalist congregations in North America serve 1,081 communities, representing roughly 215,000 members. Unfortunately, the Unitarians have slowly slid down the slippery slope to rejecting many central Christian doctrines, a trend not unique to them and also a problem in other denominations.
In contrast to my field, science, much of theology, including the Trinity, must be accepted on faith. We do not know many details of God’s nature, only that the origin of life, matter, the Solar System, and the entire universe required the intelligent creator we call God.
———————–
Dr. Bergman is a multi-award-winning professor and author. Has 9 degrees and has taught at both the graduate and undergraduate level for over 40 years. His over 2,100 publications are in both scholarly and popular journals. Dr. Bergman’s work has been translated into 15 languages. He has spoken over 2,000 times to college, university and church groups in America, Canada, Europe, the South Sea Islands, and Africa. He lives in Montpelier and is available to present in churches and schools. Jerry can be reached at JerryBergman30@yahoo.com