The Truth about the Trinity
Because it has been taught and
believed as “gospel” for centuries, unearthing the actual roots of the Trinity
doctrine can be unsettling for many. Yet, unless beliefs are examined and at
times challenged, we may find ourselves in a lifetime of error and never know
it. Here are the facts about an ancient doctrine that long predates the New
Testament – about a doctrine that was borrowed from mystery religion with no
foundation in the sacred Scriptures!
___________________________________________
A fundamental teaching and “test” doctrine
of both Catholic and Protestant groups [or,
“Churchianity”] is the Trinity. The Trinity tenet is probably best expressed by
the Trinitarian Bible Society of London, England as “...the belief in the Godhead
of the Father and the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Three co-equal and co-eternal
Persons in One Living and True God ... in unity of this Godhead there be Three
Persons, of one substance, power and eternity the Father, the Son and the Holy
Ghost.”
“Spirit” is misconstrued as the
superstitious “ghost” in 1611 King James wording. The term “ghost” is an
erroneous translation of the Greek pneuma, which is better translated as “spirit.” There is no word in the Greek language
for “ghost.” The closest Greek word, phantasma, occurs
twice (Matt.
Churchianity teaches that this special
Power, this Spirit that emanates from the Father and is shared by the Son, is a
person called the Holy Spirit, which together with the Father and Son makes up
a Trinity.
Trinity Missing from the New Testament
Under the subject of Trinity, the Encyclopaedia Britannica (15th edition, 1974,
vol. 10, p. 126, Micropedia) makes this eye-opening statement, “Neither the
word Trinity nor the explicit doctrine appears in the New Testament, nor did
[Yahshua*] and His followers intend to contradict the
Shema of the Old Testament: ‘Hear, O Israel: [Yahweh*] our [Elohim] is One.’”
(Deut. 6:4).
The International Standard Bible
Encyclopaedia gives this surprising
admission: “The term ‘Trinity’ is not a Biblical term, and we are not using
Biblical language when we define what is expressed by it...In point of fact,
the doctrine of the Trinity is purely a revealed doctrine. That is to say, it
embodies a truth which has never been discovered, and is indiscoverable, by
natural reason.” (Trinity,
vol.5, p. 3012).
The Britannica adds: “The doctrine developed gradually over several centuries and through many
controversies... . The Council of Nicaea, in 325,
stated the crucial formula for that doctrine in its confession that the ‘Son is
of the same substance...as the Father,’ even though it said very little about
the Holy Spirit...By the end of the 4th century...the doctrine of the Trinity
took substantially the form it has maintained ever since.”
The New
Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967,
vol. 14, p. 299, acknowledges: “The formulation ‘one G-d in three Persons’ was
not solidly established, certainly not fully assimilated into Christian life
and its profession of faith, prior to the end of the 4th century....Among the
Apostolic Fathers, there had been nothing even remotely approaching such a
mentality or perspective.”
The issue came to a flash point at the
general church Council of Nicaea in
325 C.E., called by
Eusebius, the father of ecclesiastical
history, early in the conference offered a compromise resolution that described
the relationship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Supporters of Athanasius
realized that the compromise would destroy the doctrine of the Trinity, and was
essentially a vote for Arius, who maintained that the Father was superior in
some ways. Emperor Constantine stepped in, rejecting the compromise of
Eusebius. But the Trinity idea did not become doctrine until the year 379 when
Roman Emperor Theodosius established Christianity as the state religion. Hence,
the Roman Catholic Church, and its doctrine of a Triune deity, was born.
Trinity Discounted Early On
In the early years following the
resurrection of the Messiah, the Trinity doctrine was not accepted by a number
of educated, sincere Bible-believers. One source informs us about a Michael
Servetus, a Spanish physician, who “...was unable to accept traditional
formulas defining G-d as ‘Father, Son and Holy [Spirit]’ - one G-d expressed through
three personalities. He put his doubts into print and stirred up a furor of
indignation. The New Testament nowhere conveys the doctrinal formula as such;
it was shaped by church councils of the fourth and fifth centuries...agents of
Protestant leaders took Servetus to Champel the next
day and burned him at the stake until his body was totally reduced to ashes.”
p. 65, Strange Facts About the Bible, Webb Garrison.
Erasmus is noted for his editing of the Greek New Testament, a work of exemplary
scholarship. “In preparing the first edition of his Greek New Testament in
1516, the Dutch scholar used the best and oldest manuscripts available to him.
For purposes of scholarship he compared Latin and Greek versions by printing
them in parallel columns. Ancient copies did not include at 1John 5:7 a
reference to the Trinity, standard in medieval copies of the Latin Vulgate.
Guided by the principle that the oldest copies of a work are likely to be
closer to the original than later copies, Erasmus omitted from the Greek side
of His New Testament the allusion familiar to readers of the Latin Bible. The
use of parallel columns made the omission immediately obvious,” p. 258, Strange Facts about the Bible.
A Babylonian Survival
As these authorities have revealed, the
Trinity doctrine is not based upon the clear teachings of the Bible, but is
fashioned piecemeal from selected verses that are said to allude to a Trinity.
The simple fact is the doctrine of a
Trinity was not initially taught by the early church. The teaching was
contrived to replicate the trinitarian beliefs of incoming pagan converts.
Abundantly common in pagan religions is the concept of a trinity. Early
converts from paganism generally had worshiped a triad of deities. (see pp. 10-11)
In his book, The Two Babylons, Alexander Hislop traces the origin of the Trinity idea to the
mother of all pagan concepts,
From the Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics (Trinity, p. 458) we
read, “Although the notion of a divine Triad or Trinity is characteristic of
the Christian religion, it is by no means peculiar to it. In Indian religion we
meet with the trinitarian group of Brahma, Siva, and Vishnu; and in Egyptian
religion with the trinitarian group of Osiris, Isis, and Horus, constituting a
divine family, like the Father, Mother and Son in mediaeval Christian
pictures."
The Trinity doctrine incorporated a pagan
concept embraced long before Christianity by ancient heathens of foreign lands.
On page 595 of The Story of Civilization (vol. III), noted historian Will Durant provides these revelations,
"Christianity did not destroy paganism; it adopted it... The Greek
language, having reigned for centuries over philosophy, became the vehicle of
Christian literature and ritual; the Greek mysteries passed down into the
impressive mystery of the
The pagan emperor Constantine favored
Christianity because of his mother’s influence. To avert a developing schism
among Christians in his realm, he called for a council to unite all Christendom
into one religion.
To forestall the growing acceptance of Arianism, the “Nicene Creed” was developed which is even
today a part of the liturgy of Catholic, Lutheran and other churches. The first
Nicene Creed did not establish or affirm a Trinity. Only later revisions added
the concept of a Trinity.
“Oneness” Concept Influential
Another teaching that was gaining ground
about that time was “Monarchianism,” in which all
three (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) constitute only one essence as well as one
person. We know this teaching today under the term “Oneness,” which is taught
by various Pentecostal churches.
The Oneness teaching goes back at least to
the third century where its chief exponent, Sabellius,
proposed that the Father was the Creator, who became the Son at
This teaching would have us believe that
the Messiah Yahshua prayed to Himself when on earth, and that Yahshua raised
Himself from the dead. But the Bible says the Father raised (Greek = anistemi)
Him up. (see Acts 2:24;
Sabellianism teaches that all three are one in person, successively assuming the role of
Father, Son and presently acting as the Holy Spirit. This doctrine no doubt
influenced the Trinity concept as disseminated today.
Bible Reinterpreted for the Sake of Trinitarianism
The doctrine of the Trinity began as part
of the Nicene Creed of 325, which was altered and amended over the years. To
accommodate the pagan converts who worshiped a Trinity, the teachings of the
Scriptures were reinterpreted to harmonize with established pagan beliefs.
Hislop’s Two Babylon’s explains these: “In the
unity of that only G-d of the Babylonians, there were three persons and to symbolize
that doctrine of the Trinity, they employed, as the discoveries of Layard
prove, the equilateral triangle, just as it is well known the Romish Church
does at this day.” A footnote points out that the Egyptians also used the
triangle as a symbol of their triform divinity. (p. 16)
The Trinitarian concept gained acceptance
as the Jewish converts were overwhelmed by the growing number of heathen who
were taken into the church, bringing with them pagan doctrines nowhere found in
the Bible. Pagan converts could more easily identify with Christianity and
become a part of it by simply changing the names of their deities. Those who
worshiped a Trinity could find one in Christianity.
Israel was notably different from virtually
all other religions in that they worshiped one Mighty One. The Babylonians,
Egyptians, Canaanites, Zorastrians, Hindus and others
worshiped a triad of major deities in a worship Yahweh expressly abhorred. In
the very first of the Ten Commandments
He thundered that we are to have no other deities before Him.
Christianity began to accept many pagan
doctrines, only the names were changed to appear “Christian” (for example, the
pagan Roman Saturnalia became Christmas; Assyrian fertility worship of the
goddess Ishtar was brought over to create the Easter {“Ishtar”} celebration;
Semiramis, the “Queen of Heaven” worshiped by the Babylonians, was transformed
into the Madonna worshiped by many today {“Madonna” means “my lord” from Latin mea + domina}; pagan sun worship became
manifest in the Christian halo, etc.).”
The Roman Catholic church states: “The
Trinity is the term employed to signify the central doctrine of the Christian
religion...Thus, in the words of the Athanasian Creed: ‘the Father is G-d, the Son is G-d, and the Holy Spirit is G-d, and yet
there are not three G-ds but one G-d.’ In this
Trinity...the Persons are co-eternal and co-equal: all alike are uncreated and
omnipotent.”
The Catholic Encyclopedia.
The Trinity is considered to be “one G-d in
three persons” with each believed to be without beginning, having existed for
eternity and are all equal, each being not lesser or greater than the others.
Members of the National Council of Churches all espouse a belief in the
Trinity.
Scripture clearly shows that Yahweh is the
supreme Mighty One in the heavens. There is no one equal to Him.
Paul wrote: “But I would have you know,
that the head of every man is Messiah; and the head of the woman is the man;
and the head of the Messiah is Yahweh,” 1Corinthians 11:3.
He said in Ephesians that there is one “Father
of all, who is above all,” 4:6. The Savior Himself said, “My Father is greater
than I,” John
“Elohim” Means Plural - More Than One-
Not “Three”
Many recognize that the Trinity teaching is
confusing and in the words of the Encyclopedia
Americana is “beyond the grasp of human reason.”
The Bible clearly teaches a plurality in
the Old Testament, for the Book of Genesis begins with “In the beginning G-d
[Hebrew Elohim] created...” The word Elohim is from the Hebrew Eloah with the “im” suffix denoting the plural. Elohim is a Hebrew
collective noun, masculine in gender. It has the same plural concept as words
like family, group, school, board, and council. Each of these collective nouns
takes a singular verb. We say the family is home. The group is small. The school is on vacation. These collective nouns
are all composed of at least two individuals or perhaps more. But the
collective noun usually takes a singular verb. We are not told the exact number
making up a family, group, or school. So it is with the Hebrew word Elohim.
Genesis 1:2 reads: “And the earth was without form, and void; and
darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of Elohim moved upon
the face of the waters.” (Gen. 1:2)
Trinitarians seize upon the word Elohim, then finding that it means a
plurality - more than one - they immediately conclude it must mean three, a
Trinity!
Spirit Is a Force
Spirit is translated from the Hebrew ruach and occurs 389 times in the Old
Testament. It is rendered spirit 237
times in the King James Version. The Companion Bible says that the basic idea
running through all the passages is "invisible force." In whatever
sense the word ruach is used, it
means an unseen force except by its manifestations. It can be compared to a
physical force like magnetism, gravity, and in our modern age, electricity and
radioactivity. The Bible likens spirit to wind.
In the New Testament Greek text spirit is pneuma and carries the same meaning—in Greek it means to breathe.
("Pneumatic" tires are
filled with air; "pneumonia"
affects the lungs—the air-exchanging organs.) Both words have as their basic
meaning, "breath," but the sense extends beyond that primary meaning. Spirit is from the Latin spirare (translation of the Hebrew ruach, which means to breathe). Spirare is found in the word "respiration," which is the process of
breathing.
Is it any wonder that following His
resurrection, Yahshua gave the Holy Spirit to His disciples when "he
breathed on them," John 20:22? Heavenly power came from His nostrils, not
a person!
Both ruach and pneuma mean "wind." They can also mean the invisible,
vital force in living creatures, or a dominant feeling, attitude or
disposition. Spirit can refer to the
invisible world, including Yahweh and His angelic creatures as well as the
evil, satanic realm. It can also refer to Yahweh’s holy, active, or life-giving
force or power.
All of these meanings have the sense of an
active vitality that is invisible to human eyes. We cannot see spirit just as
we cannot "see" wind, gravity, radio waves, electricity, or
magnetism. But we can see what it does, the results of its activity. We can
often see the effects of the special power of Yahweh’s Holy Spirit, too.
Early Fathers Knew the Essence of the
Holy Spirit
Many of the early "fathers,"
including Justin Martyr of the second century, taught that the Holy Spirit was
an "influence or mode of operation of the Deity." Hippolytus ascribed no personality to the Holy Spirit. In the creation, the Spirit of
Yahweh, or Yahweh’s Power, went forth from Him and accomplished His will.
The Holy Spirit was the power, the force,
the vitality emanating from Elohim that moved and acted upon the face of the
waters. The Spirit was not a separate person moving on the waters.
"Proof" Texts to Support Trinity
An attempt to "prove" a Trinity
is 1John 5:7. However, newer Bible translations have corrected this spurious
verse. The Catholic Jerusalem Bible says in a footnote to 1John 5:7, "Not in any of the early Greek
manuscripts, or any of the early translations, or in the best manuscripts of
the Vulgate itself." This bogus text reads: "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the
Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one."
The Companion Bible states
that this verse was not found in any Greek manuscripts before the 16th century
but was first seen in the margins of some of the Latin copies; from there it
crept into the text. Modern translations do not include this verse in the main
body of their text but may have a footnote stating that this verse is spurious.
It is plainly a forgery inserted by some Trinitarian zealot during the Dark
Ages.
Matthew 28:19 is often used to promote the
false Trinity, which reads as follows:
"Go therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy [Spirit]:" (Matt. 28:19). Abundant evidence exists that this
verse was also not in the original texts (Jerusalem
Bible is one such source). For more information write us.
There are four Scriptures in the Old
Testament where plural personal pronouns are used in referring to Elohim. The
Trinitarians say these prove a Trinity, although the word Trinity itself does not appear in any of these verses:
"And Elohim said, Let US make man in OUR image,
after OUR likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and
over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over
every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." (Gen. 1:26)
"And the Yahweh Elohim said, Behold,
the man is become as one of US, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put
forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for
ever:" (Gen. 3:22)
"Go
to, let US go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand
one another’s speech." (Gen. 11:7)
"Also I heard the voice of Yahweh, saying, Whom shall I send, and
who will go for US? Then said I, Here [am] I; send me." (Isa. 6:8)
There is nothing in these verses that would
lead us to accept the doctrine of a Trinity. The use of these plural pronouns
(us, we, our) in referring to deity only shows plural Mighty Ones.
Yahshua told Phillip, "He that has
seen Me has seen the Father," John 14:9. Other verses demonstrate that
Yahshua is the very image of the Heavenly Father, that He is the express image
of His person (Heb.1:3, Col. 1:15, 2Cor. 4:4). He is the other half of this
plural majesty in the heavens.
The appearance of the Holy Spirit is
likened to a dove, Matthew 3:16. Genesis
Grammatical Gender Mistaken for the
Literal
Another so-called "proof" often
presented to show that the Holy Spirit is a sentient being is that the personal
pronouns He, Him or His often refer to the Spirit in the English Scriptures.
John
The use of the personal pronoun WHOM in
this text is unwarranted, reflecting simply the translator’s prejudice. Which better renders the Greek neuter
form. The Greek pronoun is auto, and
refers back to Comforter (Greek = Parakletos), which is a noun of masculine gender, and
apparently the reason translators provided the "Him" and
"He" pronouns.
Understand that nouns in most European
languages have gender. To English-speaking peoples this is a rather peculiar
characteristic of their languages. For example, in German "plate" is
masculine. In French "knife" is masculine and "fork" feminine.
It would be as logical to insist that "plate" and "knife"
are persons—because of masculine usage in German and French—as it would be to
claim that the comforter is a person because Parakletos (comforter) is
masculine in Greek. Pronouns must agree in number, case, and gender. English is
not nearly so sophisticated in its grammar.
The Greek word for spirit (pneuma) is neuter in gender and properly
should be translated it. Some
translations do not follow the the King James in
referring to the Spirit as He but
more properly as it. These Bibles are
the Diaglott (a literal translation from the
Greek),
In contrast to the Greek, Hebrew nouns have
no neuter gender. In Hebrew, nouns are either masculine or feminine. Therefore,
while ruach (spirit) is masculine in
gender, according to rules of Hebrew grammar, the religion of Judaism does NOT
look upon ruach as a person, but as a
POWER or FORCE.
Personification Doesn't Make a Person
It is not uncommon for the Bible to
personify objects or events by giving human characteristics or living
attributes to them. Paul says in Romans 5:14, "Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses..." Death
metaphorically sits upon a throne, ruling as a king.
Paul gives sin the attributes of a person
in writing, "For sin, taking
occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. (Romans 7:11)
Are we to understand that sin deceived and slew Paul? Hardly! Paul did the
sinning. He broke Yahweh’s law and was then condemned to death. Paul is using a
figure of speech, giving sin a personality.
Similarly, Paul personifies the Greek word agape (translated charity, love), giving
it physical attributes as well:
"Charity suffers long, [and] is kind; charity envies not; charity
vaunts not itself, is not puffed up, Does not behave itself unseemly, seeks not
her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil; Rejoices not in iniquity, but
rejoices in the truth; Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
endures all things. Charity never fails: but whether [there be] prophecies,
they shall fail; whether [there be] tongues, they shall cease; whether [there
be] knowledge, it shall vanish away." (1 Cor. 13:4-8)
Paul knows that love is not a person, but
by giving agape love personality he is able to show the great power and
influence love can exert in our lives. The animation of a thing in the Bible
does not make it a person.
The Bible is rich in figures of speech,
metaphors, and similes. Note the following examples of personification in the
Bible where inanimate objects are given living attributes:
"Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have
kissed [each other]” (Ps. 85:10)
"Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look
down from heaven” (Ps. 85:11)
"Let the floods clap [their] hands: let the hills be joyful
together” Ps. 98:8)
"Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when
Yahweh of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his
ancients gloriously.” (Isa. 24:23)
"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and
the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.” (Isa. 35:1)
"Sing, O you heavens; for Yahweh has done [it]: shout, you lower
parts of the earth: break forth into singing, you mountains, O forest, and
every tree therein: for Yahweh has redeemed Jacob, and glorified Himself in
Israel.” (Isa. 44:23)
"For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the
mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the
trees of the field shall clap [their] hands.” (Isa. 55:12)
"And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth
went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance [was] as the sun shineth in
HIS strength.” (Rev. 1:16) Does using
the pronoun "his" make the sun a person?
"You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost HIS savour, wherewith shall it be salted...” (Mat. 5:13) Is salt a man?
The Holy Spirit's Nonperson, Inanimate
Attributes
The invisible power or force which flows
from Yahweh is unseen, and is often treated as a material substance. The Spirit
is POURED out, Isaiah 32:15, 44:3, Acts
Is it
possible for a person to be "poured out" on other people? If the
Spirit is properly recognized as a force or energy, then the correct sense of
the Spirit’s empowering the people to abide by Yahweh’s law is understood,
especially if they are filled with that Spirit poured out on them.
We read that Yahweh anointed Yahshua of
Nazareth with the Holy Spirit in Acts 10:38. This act is incomprehensible if we
accept the pagan teaching that the Holy Spirit is a person equal to the Father
and the Son. Why and how could this co-equal, in-power person be poured upon
the Son who was equal in power?
If we properly understand the Spirit to be
force or energy, (power) poured upon the Son, saturating Him as with oil, then
we truly grasp the Biblical meaning of "spirit" and see why Yahshua
is called the Messiah, Yahweh’s "anointed" (anointed means to rub
with oil).
“Trinity” and Pagan Baal Worship
Proving that a doctrine is not from the
Bible is more difficult when it has been taught as truth for centuries. The
liturgies and creeds as well as repetitious songs (like "Holy, Holy, Holy,
L-rd G-d Almighty"), heard and sung since childhood, have engrained the
Trinity concept in minds and hearts. False concepts become accepted as bedrock
truth if never analyzed or challenged. But brought before the piercing light of
Scripture, the truth becomes crystal clear to the open-minded and sincere Bible
student.
The concept of trinity does appear in the
Old Testament and it should be noted that it involves the worship of the pagan
deity Baal:
"And there came a man from Baalshalisha,
and brought the man of Elohim bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of
barley, and full ears of corn in the husk thereof. And he said, Give unto the people
that they may eat.” (2 Kings 4:42)
The Hebrew shalishsa, meaning “three”, is connected with the trinitarian Baal! Baal was
influential in agriculture, where the trinity of earth, sun, and water were
worshiped.
Holy Spirit Symbolizes Yahweh's
Attributes
The Holy Spirit is an invisible, holy,
flowing energy coming from the Heavenly Father and shared by His Son, Yahshua.
This Spirit, force or power accomplishes their will.
At times Yahweh refers to His Spirit as a
power, an attitude, a pervading force, a powerful vitality, a dynamic influence
that comes from Him. His Spirit, emanating from Himself, helps us reach a
standard of righteousness and so influences behavior that at times it is seen
as almost a living vitality, as evident from the following verses:
"And Yahweh said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for
that he also [is] flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” (Gen. 6:3)
"But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to
the Holy Spirit, and to keep back [part] of the price of the land?” (Acts 5:3)
"The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the
children of Elohim.” (Rom.
Those who don't understand this metaphoric
usage, as simply an extension of Yahweh Himself, leap to the conclusion that He
is talking of another Being.
The New Schaff-Herzog Religious Encyclopedia explains that although Scripture uses terms like
grieved in reference to the Holy Spirit, the terminology should not be taken
for a separate Person. "A similar concept underlies the Johannine terms teaching, reproving, and declaring, as applied to the personal Paraclete.
Nevertheless, to interpret these passages as implying a person distinct from
G-d and Chr-st, whose Spirit he is called, is not
warranted.” (Trinity, Doctrine of, p.
19)
Scriptural Synopsis of Holy Spirit Facts
Not all the following statements have been
explained fully within this brief booklet, yet are important to consider in
regard to a Trinity doctrine supposedly supported by the Scriptures:
* The Greek philosopher Plato and the Alexandrine
Platonists are the source of the modern trinity doctrine.
Author Alvan Lamson elaborates on the doctrine of the Trinity and sums
up what history shows about the Trinity on page 34 of The Church of the First Three Centuries: “... we must look, not to
the Jewish Scriptures, nor to the teachings of [Yahshua] and his apostles, but
to Philo [the Jewish philosopher of the first century C.E.] and the Alexandrine
Platonists. In consistency with this view, we maintain that the doctrine of the
Trinity was of gradual and comparatively late formation; that it had its origin
in a source entirely foreign from that of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures;
that it grew up, and was in grafted on Christianity, through the hands of the
Platonizing Fathers...”
* The apostate church about the fourth century accepted
the Trinity, which was then passed on to her daughters. Acceptance of a Triune
deity was influenced by the polytheistic (“having many deities”) worship
everywhere extant among heathen peoples.
* Neither the term Trinity nor its doctrine is found in
either the Old or New Testaments.
* The Holy Spirit (erroneous “Ghost”) is not a person.
* Ruach (Hebrew) and pneuma (Greek) are the Hebrew and Greek from which we get Holy Spirit in our
Bibles. They have as their root meaning “wind or breath” in both the Hebrew and
Greek.
* The Holy Spirit is that invisible force or energy
flowing from the Father and Son. It might be likened to the rays of the sun
that give us light and heat. The rays are not the sun, but are the power from
the sun.
* Personal pronouns referring to the Holy Spirit do not
make it a person any more than Yahshua’s telling Peter to put the sword back
into “HIS” place makes the sword a male person (Mat. 26:52).
* The Spirit can be “shed” (Acts 2:33), “poured” (Acts
2:17), “breathed” (John 20:22), “stirred up” (2Tim. 1:6), “quenched” (1Thes.
* The Father and Son converse with each other, but do
not talk to the Spirit.
* Nowhere is the Spirit prayed to. If the Holy Spirit
were a person, then the Holy Spirit would be Yahshua’s father and not Yahweh.
Notice
how Yahshua was conceived in the flesh: "But
while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Yahweh appeared unto
him in a dream, saying, Joseph, you son of David, fear not to take unto you
Mary your wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit" (Matt.
* Scripture never calls the Holy Spirit the "third
person."
* Salutations found in the first verse or two of the
Epistles by Paul, Peter, and John mention Father and Son, but not Spirit.
In his Epistles Paul greets the brethren in
the name of Yahweh and Yahshua. Never in the opening of his letters does Paul
ever greet anyone "in the Name of the Holy Spirit." Not a person, the
Holy Spirit has no name as do Yahweh and Yahshua. For example, Ephesians 1:2
reads, "Grace [be] to you, and peace, from Yahweh our Father, and from the
Savior Yahshua the Messiah.
* The Biblical meaning of being "one" means
being in accord, harmony, of like mind, united in goals. Not being one
personage.
* Elohim, used for the Heavenly Majesty, is a collective
noun, and does not specifically mean "three." It simply means more
than one, a plurality.
* Examples given in the Bible show the Father on a
throne: Ezekiel 1:26; Daniel 7:9; Acts 7:55-56; Rev. 4:2; 5:1,7; 20:11, etc.
The Holy Spirit is not given a throne (but indwells us, as it did Stephen, Acts
Let His Spirit Power Transform Your Life
As sincere believers in Yahweh, it is up to
us to be in harmony with His will and allow the supernal power of His Spirit to
motivate our actions, permeate our thoughts and elevate our desires for good.
As we mature in the Messiah, we overcome our selfish, carnal, worldly desires and
strive to walk in that higher, heavenly realm, allowing His Spirit to guide us.
"According as His Divine Power has given unto us all things that
[pertain] unto life and righteousness, through the knowledge of Him that has
called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and
precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." (2 Pet. 1:3-4)
May you find the peace that passes all understanding
as you submit to Almighty Yahweh and begin living for Him.
© 2007 Yahweh’s Assembly in Yahshua
2963 County Road 233, Kingdom City, Missouri 65262
View us online at: www.YAIY.org
Call Toll Free:
Main Line:
|
|
|