Trinity — One God

Source: Trinity, Robert Morey, pp. 63ff

Trinitarians do not believe that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three separate gods. Such an idea is tritheism which is a form of polytheism. Neither do Trinitarians believe that angels or men have ever or will ever be God, or be divine, by nature.

If these Trinitarian beliefs are true then what would we expect to find in the Bible?

1. We would expect to find in the Bible where God Himself says that He alone is God and that the gods of other religions are false gods.
2. We would expect to find in the Bible where prophets, priests, kings, and apostles state that there is only one God and the gods of other religions are false gods.

When we turn to the Bible, what do we find?

Deu 32:39; Isa 43:10; 44:6,8; 45:5-6,21-22; 46:9

2Sa 7:22; 1Ki 8:60; 1Ch 17:20; Isa 37:16; 45:14; Jer 10:6,7; 1Co 8:4-6; 1Ti 2:5

The Only True God

2Ch 15:3; Jer 10:10; John 17:3; 1Th 1:9; 1Jn 5:20-21

The Only Eternal God

Gen 21:33; Deu 33:27; Isa 40:28; Jer 10:10; Rom 16:26; 1Ti 1:11

The Only Living God

Deu 5:26; Jos 3:10; 1Sa 17:26,36; 2Ki 19:4,16; Psa 42:2; 84:2; Isa 37:4; Jer 10:10, 23:36; Dan 6:26; Hos 1:10; Mat 16:16; 26:63; Acts 14:15; 2Co 3:3; 6:16; 1Th 1:9; 1Ti 3:15; 4:10; Heb 3:12; 9:14; 10:31; 12:22; Rev 7:2

The only God by Nature

Gal 4:8 — “However, at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those [gods] things which by nature are no gods.”

If the gods of the heathen are not God by nature, then what is their nature? The famous German commentator Heinrich Meyer comments:

For, in the apostle’s view, the realities which were worshipped by the heathen as gods, were not gods, but demons. In his view, therefore, their nature was not divine but at the same time not of mere mundane matter; it is demonic, a point which must have been well known to the Galatians from his oral instruction. 1 Corinthians 10:20-21 (Deuteronomy 32:17)

Behind the pagan idols were demons: Deu 32:17; 2Ki 19:18; 1Ch 16:26; 2Ch 13:9; Psa 96:5; Isa 40:8-20,25,26; 45:18; Jer 2:11; 5:7 10:8-10,14; 16:20; Hab 2:18-20; Acts 19:26; 1Co 8:4-5; 10:20; Gal 4:8.

Conclusion

What must be in order for what is to be what it is? When we opened the Bible we found that it does in fact teach the first principle of the doctrine of the Trinity: There is only one, true, eternal, living Being who is God by nature and Maker of heaven and earth. This concept is exactly what we expert to find in the Bible if the doctrine of the Trinity is true.