There is only one, true God, a 'Unitarian' Father in New Testament; not a Trinity

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Uploaded: 30 Dec 2018 (8 years ago) · Shared: 01 Jan 2019

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This is an enjoyable interview with Dr. Dale Tuggy Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the State University of New York at Fredonia. J. Dan talks with Dr. Tuggy about his work, his own faith

journey, difficulties with the traditional doctrines of the Trinity, and the matter of how to best approach the Scriptures for right understanding.

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Overview & Key Concepts

What is New Testament?

The New Testament is the second part of the Christian biblical canon. The first part being the Old Testament, based on the Hebrew Bible. The New

Testament discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christianity. Christians regard both the Old and New Testaments together as sacred scripture. The New Testament (in whole or in part) has frequently accompanied the spread of Christianity around the world. It reflects and serves as a source for Christian theology and morality.

Who is Dale Tuggy?

Dale Tuggy (PhD, Brown University) is Professor of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Fredonia. He has authored about two dozen

peer-reviewed articles and book chapters relating to the Trinity and other topics in analytic theology and philosophy of religion. Tuggy takes an interest in World Religions, Philosophy of Religion courses, the history of Philosophy, Eastern philosophies and religions, and Introduction to Philosophy.

What is Unitarian?

Unitarianism can be viewed as a form of Nontrinitarianism which is a form of Christianity that rejects the mainstream Christian doctrine of the

Trinity. The teaching that God is three distinct hypostases or persons who are coeternal, coequal, and indivisibly united in one being, or essence (from the Greek ousia). Certain religious groups that emerged during the Protestant Reformation have historically been known as antitrinitarian, but are not considered Protestant in popular discourse due to their nontrinitarian nature. According to churches that consider the decisions of ecumenical councils final, Trinitarianism was definitively declared to be Christian doctrine at the 4th-century ecumenical councils, that of the First Council of Nicaea (325 AD), which declared the full divinity of the Son, and the First Council of Constantinople (381 AD), which declared the divinity of the Holy Spirit. In terms of number of adherents, nontrinitarian denominations comprise a minority of modern Christianity. The largest nontrinitarian Christian denominations are The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ("Mormons") and Jehovah's Witnesses.

What is Trinity?

The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (Latin: trinus "threefold") holds that God is one God, but three coeternal consubstantial persons or

hypostases. These being the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit - as "one God in three Divine Persons". The three Persons are distinct, yet are one "substance, essence or nature" (homoousios).

Who is GOD?

In monotheism and henotheism, God is conceived as the Supreme Being and principal object of faith. The concept of God as described by theologians

commonly includes the attributes of omniscience (infinite knowledge), omnipotence (unlimited power), omnipresence (present everywhere), omnibenevolence (perfect goodness), divine simplicity, and eternal and necessary existence.
<ul>
<li>In theism, God is the creator and sustainer of the universe</li>
<li>In deism, God is the creator, but not the sustainer, of the universe</li>
<li>Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one God or in the oneness of God</li>
<li>In pantheism, God is the universe itself</li>
<li>In atheism, God is purported not to exist, while deemed unknown or unknowable within the context of agnosticism. </li>
</ul>

Frequently Asked Questions

1.How were the Triadic or 'Trinity-like' Pagan Gods presented?

Ancient triadic deities in the Roman Empire were depicted in art and monuments as a single, unified figure featuring three distinct faces or heads to illustrate their triune nature.

2.Does the Christian Trinity come from pagan Triadic dieties?

Yes, the core teachings of modern Trinitarian Christian churches do not come from Jesus, but were pagan three-in-one concepts that existed long before his arrival and were later adopted by Christians to make their doctrine highly appealing to idol-worshipping masses.

3.Why is the Trinity so difficult to understand?

The Trinity is a complex theological doctrine because it describes God as existing as three distinct Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who are co-equal and co-eternal, yet remain one single, unified divine Being. It requires balancing the concepts of strict monotheism with the distinct actions and relationships of the three divine Persons as revealed across the New Testament text.

4.How did the Christian Trinity come about?

The New Testament gospels show Jesus selecting twelve apostles to lead his immediate followers, but he did not lay down a detailed blueprint for a complex institutional priesthood or administrative hierarchy. The elaborate structures, clerical offices, and distinct liturgical traditions seen in modern churches developed gradually over centuries as the movement adapted to Roman institutional frameworks.

The concept of a dual human and divine nature in the person of Jesus is known as the Hypostatic Union, an essential component of modern Trinitarianism.

Yet it was not until the Council of Chalcedon that we see the emergence of an official doctrine of the Trinity in a form that is recognisable with what Christian Trinitarians believe in today. This took place in the fifth century, over 400 years after Jesus!

The evangelical theologian and Professor Wayne A. Grudem sums this up as follows: "A precise understanding of how full deity and full humanity" argues Grudem, "could be combined together in one person was formulated only gradually in the church and did not reach the final form until the Chalcedonian Definition in 451 AD.

5.Does the Bible support the Trinity (3-in-1) God concept?

Mainstream biblical scholars and historians state that the doctrine of the Trinity is never explicitly laid out as a formal dogma anywhere in the text of the Old or New Testaments. While the New Testament contains early triadic formulas (such as the baptismal command in Matthew 28:19 and apostolic blessings in 2 Corinthians 13:14), the actual systemic theology of a three-in-one God was developed later by early church fathers over centuries. Christian theologians argue that the doctrine is implicitly woven throughout the scriptures, while critics and Islamic scholars point to the lack of clear, direct scriptural definitions to argue it was a later modification of strict biblical monotheism.

6.Does the Old Testament teach the Christian Trinity?

Mainstream biblical scholars and historians agree that the Old Testament does not explicitly teach the doctrine of the Trinity, nor did ancient Jewish communities possess a concept of a triune Godhead. There is no historical evidence in pre-Christian Jewish literature including the Hebrew text, the Dead Sea Scrolls, or ancient commentaries of a belief in a plurality of divine Persons. While Christian theologians retrospectively interpret certain plural expressions (such as "Let us make man" in Genesis 1:26) as hints of the Trinity, ancient Judaism strictly maintained a unitarian monotheistic understanding of God.

7.What is the Christian Trinity?

Orthodox Christian theologians define the doctrine of the Trinity as the belief that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, existing eternally as three distinct Persons within one single, undivided divine Being. These three Persons are considered entirely co-equal in power and co-eternal in time, with the Son being understood as "eternally begotten" of the Father and existing simultaneously as 100% God and 100% man. The platform notes that many modern Christians mistakenly believe they are practicing Trinitarianism simply by acknowledging the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, without understanding the complex historical and philosophical mechanics required by the formal church dogma.

8.What do Christian 'Trinity' scholars say about the Old Testament?

Many theologians, including this analysis of Trinity dogma, note that the Old Testament does not explicitly contain the Trinity, which they believe was only fully revealed later.

The distinguished Trinitarian scholar Bertrand de Margerie in his book The Christian Trinity in History writes:

"Contemporary exegetes [Bible teachers] affirm unanimously that the Old Testament did not bring to the Jewish people a clear and distinct Revelation of the existence of a plurality of persons in God. In this they agree with the clear and frequent affirmation of Fathers such as Irenaeus, Hilary, and Gregory of Nazianzus: that the doctrine of the Trinity is revealed only in the New Testament."

So any person who lived before Jesus' ministry did not have to believe in the Trinity to be saved because the Trinity is not mentioned in the Old Testament.

9.What do Christian scholars say about the Trinity?

Mainstream scholars acknowledge that the Trinity is not explicitly defined in the New Testament but was formulated later by combining various verses and theological concepts.

Scholars freely admit that the Trinity is never presented as a complete doctrine in the New Testament, but rather is built from scattered Bible verses.

In the New Testament there is no explicit statement of the doctrine
Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (p. 1112)

It is not a Biblical doctrine in the sense that any formulation of it can be found in the Bible
New Bible Dictionary (p.1221)

The New Testament does not present a systematic presentation of the Trinity. The scattered segments from various writers that appear throughout the New Testament reflect a seemingly accepted understanding that exists without a full-length discussion.
Holman Bible Dictionary (p.1372)

Theologians admit the New Testament does not define the Trinity. Furthermore, there is no clear teaching that salvation depends on the belief in the Trinity.

10.What is the King James Version (KJV) of the New Testament?

The King James Version (KJV) of the New Testament was completed in 1611 by 8 members of the Church of England.

There were (and still are) no original texts to translate. The oldest manuscripts we have were written down hundreds of years after the last Apostle died. There are over 8000 of these old manuscripts, with no two alike.

The King James translators chose to use none of the texts. Instead, they edited previous translations to create the New Testament their king and parliament would approve.

So today, 21st century Christians believe the "Word of God" is a book edited in the 17th century from 16th century translations of 8000 contradictory copies of 4th century scrolls that claim to copies of lost letters written in the 1st century by unknown authors.

11.Is the New Testament historically authentic?

Textual critics note that the original autographs of the New Testament books no longer exist, leaving thousands of handwritten Greek manuscripts that contain thousands of minor variants, mostly consisting of spelling or word order differences. Despite these historical copy changes, scholars emphasize that modern textual reconstruction methods allow historians to confidently identify the original 1st-century text, ensuring no essential historical narrative or Christian doctrine is left in doubt.

12.What is the oldest manuscript of the Bible New Testament?

It is of enormous importance in establishing the biblical text. There are three earliest manuscripts of the Bible New Testament:

1. Codex Alexandrinus is one of the earliest and most important manuscripts of the entire Bible in Greek

2. Codex Sinaiticus is one of the most important books in the world and is kept in the British Library. Handwritten well over 1600 years ago, the manuscript contains the Christian Bible in Greek, including the oldest complete copy of the New Testament.

3. Codex Vaticanus in Rome

13.What language is the earliest New Testament in?

The earliest New Testament manuscripts are in Koine Greek. But there are Aramaic phrases in the Gospels. Therefore, Scholars believe an Aramaic layer lies beneath the written Greek of the New Testament, one which may never have been written down.

If true, the Greek text is itself a translation, and English text would be a translation of a translation, which raises textual inerrancy and corruption issue.

Since every translation is a personal judgement of which word to best use, made at the translators discretion.

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