by M.J. Webb

Created on: March 26, 2010   Last Updated: March 29, 2010

Articles have been written on this subject claiming that the origin of the Trinity concept is pagan.

Question: if the concept of a spherical Earth had pagan origins, would you reject it also? Despite this, history shows that it is not, the Trinitarian concept is Christian in origin. First used of a theological concept by Tertullian, the Christian scholar, and later, the Council of Nicea met to define exactly what was meant by the Trinity, how it was expressed in the Bible, and how it should best be defined on the basis of Biblical evidence in order to guard against error.

The Bible doesn't use the word, but there again, most theological terms that are used to sum up Biblical teaching are not found in the Bible. The teaching on the face of it is quite simple: There is one God. Within this oneness and unity, God is revealed in three separate and equal persons: Father, Son, Spirit.

The big issue is whether Jesus Christ is equal with God the Father, whether Jesus = God. Few dispute that the Father is God and few mainstream Christians dispute that there is one God, but asserting the Son as fully God, equal with the Father is the real stumbling block. Looking at the narrative of Jesus' life it is difficult to assert whether or not he is indeed God, for his life's mission was not to advertise his own deity, but to become the saviour.

Many of the Old Testament titles of God are given to reveal particular roles exclusive to God alone. In taking these titles upon himself, Christ is identifying his own divine consciousness as one exclusive to God, one he shared with his Father and held in his own right as God. The exclusivity of these titles as being expressly God-related, demonstrates that Christ lost none of his deity while on earth, especially as the fulfillment of something expressly divine is witnessed during Christ’s humanity. Therefore, if something exclusively attributed to God finds its climax in a human body, then it would be hard to doubt the absolute presence of the divine consciousness at this point of divine fulfillment.

Many of the Old Testament titles attributed to God (YHWH), and indisputably so, are also attributed to Jesus. One such example is that of God and Christ as the only Saviour. Here are a few of many examples used in scripture. Hosea13 v4 says ‘you shall acknowledge no God but me, no Saviour except me.’ Similar words are found throughout Isaiah and notable in chapter 45 v21, which says, ‘there is no God apart

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