The Bible teaches that there are three powers in heaven: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But it did not say that together, they are the one true God, or that they are co-equal. The concept of God as a Trinity has been prevalent in pagan religions and cultures but entirely absent from the religion of ancient Israel, the apostolic religion and even the religion of Seventh-day Adventist pioneers such as James White, Joseph Bates, J. N. Andrews, J. N. Loughborough, J. H. Waggoner, and others. It is a well-established fact of history that the concept of God being a Trinity was first formulated within Christianity after the Council of Nicea (325 AD) and was gradually refined and adopted by the Council of Constantinople (381 AD).

The Seventh-day Adventist church now requires that persons wishing to become members make a vow to believe in “one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a unity of three coeternal Persons.” whereas the Bible does not explicitly teach that. The previous vow that persons took prior to 1980 was belief in “God the Father, in His Son Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit”, which the Bible clearly teaches. The church has not allowed views like those of the pioneers to be expressed in the church and has disfellowshipped or sidelined those who hold similar beliefs as the pioneers on this matter.  The church then accuses those very persons whom they forced out of the church and who then operate outside of the church, of causing division or calling people out of the church.  Is that fair? Or is it a repeat of Ahab’s accusation against Elijah?

A few of the popular arguments for the Trinity are now addressed below.

1. Assertion: SDA pioneers only objected to the Catholic version of the Trinity.

Response: The pioneers of Seventh-day Adventism fully understood the doctrine of the Trinity and rejected it as error.  Later, some persons such as John Harvey Kellogg and S. N. Haskel spoke favourably of the Trinity but earlier pioneers who Ellen White described as laying the foundations of our faith consistently objected to the Trinity. There is a common definition of the Trinity that is shared by all Trinitarians, whether Catholic or otherwise, even though explained differently by various bodies.  This definition as given in the dictionary is that the one God of scripture is three co-equal persons. The SDA Church expresses its trinitarian belief that “There is one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a unity of three coeternal Persons.” (SDA Fundamental Beliefs number 2).  The definition of who is Catholic, as given in the Edict of Thessalonica expresses the same idea as follows: “let us believe in the one deity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, in equal majesty and in a holy Trinity. We authorize the followers of this law to assume the title of Catholic Christians; but as for the others, since, in our judgment they are foolish madmen, we decree that they shall be branded with the ignominious name of heretics” (Edict of Thessalonica issued 380 AD).  This definition of who is Catholic and who is heretic was used as the basis for persecuting God’s people during the dark ages and continues to define what is considered Christian orthodoxy by the World Council of Churches (WCC).  The Basis of the WCC speaks of “one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” (Basis of the WCC, adopted by the Third Assembly (New Delhi 1961).  The Bible teaches otherwise, as Jesus, in praying, stated that the one true God is His Father – “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3).

• Assertion: The Hebrew word for “one” that describes God really means “united”.

Response: The Bible says that God is one (echad).  The word echad is the first counting number in Hebrew, as with the numeral one.  In other places of the Bible God is described using similar words such as “only” (quoted above in Jesus’s prayer), “none else”, “no other”, “He”, “none like me”.  The Jews themselves, in whose language the word echad is used to describe God, understood it to mean one individual.  The one God (one supreme Being) of the Bible is Jesus’s Father – “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named” (Eph. 3:14, 15).  The Father has no co-equals. He is “the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see” (1 Tim. 6:15, 16). There aren’t three supreme beings, only One. All other beings are subject to Him. Another word that Trinitarians appeal to is Elohim, where God (Elohim) said “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Gen. 1:26).  They assume that God (Elohim) is three persons.  The Bible does not say that.  Ellen White explains, “I saw that when God said to his SON, Let us make man in our image, Satan was jealous of JESUS.” (Ellen G. White, Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 1, pp. 17, 18).  God (the Father of Christ) was speaking to His Son only.  His Son is “the express image of His person” (Heb. 1:3).  Ellen White speaks again explicitly in the following words: “The Sovereign of the universe was not alone in His work of beneficence. He had an associate – a co-worker who could appreciate His purposes”. “Christ, the Word, the only begotten of God, was one with the eternal Father – one in nature, in character, in purpose – the only being that could enter into all the counsels and purposes of God.” (E. G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 34).

• Assertion: Jesus is co-equal with the Father.

Response: Jesus never claimed full equality with God, His Father, at any point in His existence – neither before He came to earth, during his time on earth, nor after.  Before He came to earth, His Father anointed and appointed Him – “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” (Heb. 1:9). See also verse 2 – “His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things” (Heb.1:2). While He was on earth, He said “my Father is greater than I” (John 14:28). After sin is finished, He will still be subject to His Father – “And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.” (1 Cor. 15:28).

• Assertion: The Holy Spirit is co-equal with the Father.

Response: The Bible does not speak anywhere of a third God-Being who has the image or likeness of God or “the similitude of God.” (James 3:9).  There is no denying that the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, sent at Pentecost is a person – only not a God-being to be worshipped. Like the Angel of Revelation 18, the Comforter carries out a work of worldwide extent and is aided by other heavenly beings.  Ellen G. White describing the latter rain speaks of a mighty angel from heaven being sent to do this work and further said, “Angels were sent to aid the mighty angel from heaven” (Ellen. G. White, Story of Redemption, p. 399).  The language of John 14-16 speaks of someone whom Jesus would ask the Father to send.  That Person would not speak of himself but would speak only what He hears and would bring back to the minds of the disciples the things that Jesus would have told them – “he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak” (John 16:13).  The three powers of heaven are God, Christ, and holy spirits (angels).  There are many such references; for example: “I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things” (1 Tim. 5:21).  These are the same ones who were present at the creation – “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? …. When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4-7).  Again, “Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; And from Jesus Christ” (Rev.1:4, 5). These seven spirits are later described as “seven lamps of fire” (Rev. 4:5) and as “the seven angels which stood before God” (Rev. 8:2).  This is consistent with the Hebrew word ruach and the Greek word pneuma that are translated in the Bible as spirit. These words are also translated spirits, thus indicating that the Holy Spirit need not be seen as one individual being who is omnipresent but many spirit beings representing God everywhere.

• Assertion: Ellen White led the church into a Trinitarian understanding of God. 

Response: Ellen White never used the term Trinity to describe God.  She spoke of three persons of the godhead, which is consistent with the view expressed here that the Holy Spirit is a person, just not someone co-equal with God or to be worshipped.  Regarding Ellen White’s statement that “In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived” (Desire of Ages, p. 530), the full statement shows that it is not Jesus Himself that is being described, but rather, life – which Jesus has and is able to impart.  Here is the full statement as it was originally published in Signs of the Times: “In Him was life, original, unborrowed, underived.  This life is not inherent in man.  He can possess it only through Christ.”  (The Signs of the Times, April 8, 1897; also Selected Messages, vol. 1, pp. 296, 297).  Being described is the nature and quality of this life and not the origin of it.   Original – not a pattern or copy, but something genuine, authentic.  Unborrowed – does not have to be returned.  Underived – not being drawn from a source; He has it in Himself.   How He came in possession of it?  It was given to Him by His Father. Jesus said: “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself” (John 5:26).

The Trinity denies the most fundamental truth of the gospel that God loved us to the point of giving His only begotten Son to die for us (John 3:16).  It was not an eternal God who cannot die, but the literal Son of God who did die and was raised from the dead by His Father (Gal.1:1).

“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matt. 11:15).

For further information, please visit Patience of the Saints at http://thecommandmentsofgodandthefaithofjesus.com/

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