Can you deny the Trinity and still be a Christian?

 

Can you deny the Trinity and still be a Christian?

Posted by Clark Bates

March 10. 2016

This question often gets posed in various forms, but in its most ambiguous rendering, it revolves around the question of what is fundamentally necessary for someone to experience salvation through justification, and what then becomes the foundation of doctrinal beliefs upon which a believer stands and matures.  Primarily, it begins with what you believe about Jesus. Jesus claimed to be God and to believe that He is God is to believe, either, that He is alone God or that there is some form of plurality in God.  Believing in the deity of Jesus is essential to salvation, therefore, to at least some extent, a comprehension of divine plurality parallels this.

If you deny the Trinity, then you have to answer the question, “Who was Jesus?” Oftentimes those who deny the Trinity diminish the deity of Christ (i.e. Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses. . .) or make Jesus the one, true God within strict monotheistic terms (i.e. Oneness Pentecostalism).  The divinity of Jesus is clearly taught in Scripture and affirmed throughout the early church, as is the doctrine of the Trinity, so let's examine first the biblical foundations of trinitarian belief and the apostles concept of the Trinity.  In so doing, we might come to a clearer picture of what is fundamentally necessary, verses what is a matter of spiritual maturity.

Does the Bible teach Trinitarianism?

To begin, the biblical passages in which monotheism (the belief in only one God, in contrast to a belief in a pantheon of gods) is illustrated are replete.   This was clearly the position of early Judaism, in spite of the polytheistic practices of Egypt and outlying nations, as expressed in the “Shema” of Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel, The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” And also seen later, pre-exilic Hebrew thought ,as observed in Isaiah 43:10, “You are my witnesses declares the LORD. . . before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.”   Even 1^st century Christianity asserts monotheism in passages such as James 2:19, “You believe that there is one God. Good! . .”, and the writings of Paul in 1 Cor. 8:4b, “We know that 'an idol is nothing at all in the world' and that 'There is no God but one.'”

However, at the first advent of Christ, the strict monotheism of Judaism was amended.  As Jesus walked on this earth He prayed exclusively to Yahweh, the Hebrew God, often referring to Him affectionately as “Father”.¹  In addition, He spoke of himself in divine terms and received worship reserved exclusively in the Hebrew faith for Yahweh alone.²  He also spoke of a third member, the Paraklete (Counselor) or Holy Spirit, that would come after His death.³  This third person was also spoken of in divine terms, broadening the monotheistic bedrock of Judaism into a trinitarian monotheism that became characteristic of first century Christianity.⁴  While the textual support for a triune God is far greater than the brief synopsis provided here, even in light of only the minimal facts, a denial of the Trinity on biblical grounds becomes problematic.

Did the apostles understand the Trinity?

Given that the earliest followers of Christ were the ones to hear this teaching directly, and subsequently the first “Christians” to receive salvation, it behooves us to ask whether or not they themselves understood or accepted the doctrine of the Trinity as part of their saving faith. It's fairly clear that the apostles were not able to receive every teaching of their Lord.  We read in Matthew 8:25-27 that in the face of Jesus' ability to calm a storm, they puzzled about what sort of man He was.  Again in Matthew 16:1-8 they misunderstand His teaching about the “leaven” of the Sadducees.  Once more, in Mark 8: 27-33 we find no less than the apostle Peter confessing the divinity of Jesus but within moments failing to completely grasp the totality of what it meant.

 

It was not until the later writings of the Apostle Paul that the implications of this trinitarian theology were expounded and creedal formulas were committed to the dogma of the church universal.⁵  The end result of this maturation of faith and understanding were recorded within the Apostles Creed and those that followed, stating belief in the divinity of Jesus, the Son, God the Father, and God, the Holy Spirit.   Prior to this, we read the words of Justin Martyr clearly speaking of the Christian God as triune(100-165), “The most true God is the Father of righteousness. . . . We worship and adore Him, the Son . . . and the prophetic Spirit.”⁶  Martyr was  followed shortly after by Irenaeus, student of Polycarp, student of John the Apostle,

 

"The church, though dispersed throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit."⁷

Conclusion

In light of the progressively revalatory nature of the Trinity, what can we know? If the apostles did not understand the doctrine of the Trintty, need we?  In response, it must be stated that a lack of full understanding is not equivalent to denial.  It is not enough to say that the apostles did not fully understand the doctrine of the Trinity at the time of Jesus' teachings, or prior to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  While this remains true, it cannot be asserted as a reason for a prospective believer to deny the doctrine's truth. W hile the disciples may not have understood the Trinity in it's fullest sense at the time of their belief in Christ, they had accepted His divinity most certainly after the resurrection, and it was upon this foundation that the building blocks for greater understanding of trinitarian doctrine were laid.

 

As was stated at the beginning, for one to receive justification and redemption (i.e. salvation), they must answer the question, “Who was Jesus?”  According to Paul, one must declare that Jesus Christ is Lord (i.e. God) and believe that he rose again (i.e. died for your sins) to be saved.  On this basis, it cannot be argued that a person must have a fully formed, theologically defined, concept of the Trinity, but that they must accept that Jesus was God, and yet still prayed to God while speaking of another being (the Holy Spirit) as God. 

 

After this point of justification, if one proceeds in their faith and still denies the tri-une nature of God, they are in sin.  This does not make them unsaved, but it does place them outside the realm of orthodox, biblical Christian belief, and if at any point in a believer's life they find themselves living in such a manner, or professing a fundamental, theological position outside biblical Christianity, they need to re-examine their worldview in light of biblical teaching and consider where they may have erred.  While there will always exist nuances to this question and various forms of re-phrasing, it should be acknowledged that a denial of the Triune God is a denial of the teachings of Jesus Christ, but a lack of clear understanding in the matter is neither a barrier to one's salvation nor uncommon among many believers.

 

1Matt. 5:45-48; 11:25-27; Mk. 14:36; Lk. 22:29; 23:46; Jn. 5:17; 6:37.

2Jn. 5:18; Jn. 8:58; Matt. 23:63-65; Matt. 2:11; 28:9, 17.

3Jn. 14:15-21; 25-27; 15:26-27; 16:7-11.

4Acts 5:3-4; 2 Cor. 3:17.

5Rom. 8:2; 15:30; Eph. 4:30; 1 Cor. 2:11; 3:16; 6:19; 12:4-6; Gal. 3:2-5.

6Justin Martyr, Dialogue of Justin Martyr in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, Ed. Rev. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1885), 652.

7Irenaeus, Against Heresies in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, ed.. Rev. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1885), x, 1.