Three Myths About the Doctrine of the Trinity

Sound doctrine is under attack once again and it's time to speak truth

I’ve witnessed an interesting phenomenon over the last year or so. Christians are turning away from the historic Christian doctrines of the faith. One doctrine that is getting trampled under the feet of men is the Trinity.

So today, I’m starting a three-part series on this critical teaching in the Christian church. This first post will explore three myths that are causing people to reject a doctrine that is as old as time. The second post will dig into the Bible to see what it has to say on the topic. And finally, we will conclude with why the doctrine of the Trinity matters to the church.

Three False Arguments Against The Trinity

Before exploring the evidence for the Trinity in the Bible, I’d like to identify some common mistakes I’ve heard people make when arguing against the doctrine.

Let’s dive into the first myth.

Myth # 1: Rome teaches the Trinity so it must be false.

Yes. The Roman Catholic Church upholds the concept of the Trinity. They also call Mary a co-redeemer and co-mediator with Christ. So without a doubt, Rome has some false ideas about God and the Bible.

But the question isn’t about whether the Trinity is a Roman Catholic teaching or not. Instead, there is only one question that matters: Is the doctrine of the Trinity found in the Bible?

It’s easy to discount the idea of Mary as a co-mediator with Christ (i.e. — should we pray to Mary?). The answer is a resounding NO.

The Bible teaches there is only ONE mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ (I Timothy 2:5).

And the Bible also teaches that there is only ONE savior or redeemer. “I, even, I, am the LORD (YHWH), And besides Me there is no savior” (Isaiah 43:11).

Mary cannot mediate, nor can she save. It is God alone who does this through His Beloved Son.

On the doctrine of Mary, we must reject Rome’s teaching.

However, Rome also teaches that Jesus is God.

Should we reject that teaching just because Rome embraces it? Of course not. Rome is not the authority: God’s Word is the authority.

And the Bible clearly teaches that Jesus Christ is God incarnate.

“In the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God; and the Word was God; And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14).

Christians should not accept or reject a doctrine based on whether or not the Roman Catholic Church teaches it. Instead, we must defend and prove all doctrines by the standard of the Word of God alone: the Bible.

We cannot look to the Roman Catholic Church to decide if the doctrine of the Trinity is true or false. They have no authority over truth.

Again, only one question matters: Does the Bible teach the doctrine of the Trinity?

The only way to answer that question is to dive into the Bible itself.

But before we do, let’s consider another myth about the Trinity.

Myth # 2: We must reject the Trinity because it has its roots in pagan culture.

Some “Christians” deny the doctrine of the Trinity because they believe it has its roots in pagan culture.

For example, in The Two Babylons, Alexander Hislop writes, “The trinity got its start in Ancient Babylon with Nimrod - Tammuz - and Semiramis. Semiramis demanded worship for both her husband and her son as well as herself. She claimed that her son, was both the father and the son. Yes, he was ‘god the father’ and ‘god the son’ - The first divine incomprehensible trinity.”¹

TrinityTruth.org explains that this false trinity of gods took many forms, “So in Egypt, their trinity became Osiris, Horus and Isis. In Greece it was Zeus, Apollo and Athena. And in India there was Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva… Rome…had Jupiter, Mars and Venus.”²

According to TrinityTruth.org, the heathen trinity always consists of three beings, one the father, one the mother, and one the son. The son is also the husband of the mother and the son is the father incarnate.³

While there may be “echoes” here of the Christian concept of the Trinity, one could hardly argue that they are identical. One might even make a connection with the veneration of Mary as co-redeemer and co-mediator with Christ — but not with the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity as taught by the Christian church.

For certain, one could argue that these pagan trinitarian teachings are echoes of a biblical trinity that has been grossly skewed — kind of how pagan cultures throughout history have echoed and skewed the creation account, the flood narrative, and the concept of blood covenants.

If we were to argue and say that the Bible’s account of creation is borrowed from or had its roots in pagan culture, we would be in grave error — especially if we denied it based on that premise. The same would be true of the historical accounts of the deluge. Which came first, Noah’s Flood or the pagan accounts of a worldwide deluge? The Christian would answer that the historical account of the worldwide flood became part of the folklore of many nations. And we would say that the accounts echo the true historical narrative. The non-biblical accounts may have even been written down before Moses recorded the biblical event — but the first to write something down doesn’t make them the champion of truth. Rather, the Word of God trumps the pagan narratives.

God didn’t borrow from pagan culture when he asked Moses to record the Flood in Genesis 6-9. Rather, God had Moses record the true events that other cultures may have written into their own literature as stories were passed down from generation to generation.

Therefore, if we see echoes of the Trinity in pagan cultures, we should not throw out the doctrine based on that reasoning alone. We must go to the Bible to see if it is true. Scripture interprets Scripture, so we should expect to see the doctrine of the Trinity in the Old Testament as well as the New— and I believe that’s exactly what we will see when we dig into the Scriptures.

Before we do that — there is one more myth I’d like to bust.

Myth # 3: The word Trinity is not in the Bible so we must reject it.

Some people claim that the Trinity is a man-made concept because the word Trinity is not found anywhere in the Bible.

Search for yourself, and you will see that it’s true.

The word Trinity doesn’t appear anywhere in the Bible.

Does that prove the idea is false?

Some people who discount the teaching of the Trinity also believe in the doctrine of the rapture. Yet, does that word appear in the Scripture? The answer is no. We are not going to delve into the topic of the rapture today.

Whether you believe in the rapture or not — you must agree that the word does not appear in the Bible. But that fact alone does not prove or disprove the idea that is taught by or meant by the word rapture. We’d have to study the Bible to see if the doctrine is true.

Another word that does not appear in the Scripture is the word Bible. Does that mean the Bible is a false doctrine? Of course not.

Here’s another group of several words you’ll not find in the Bible (for the record, I’m solely using NKJV in my search): Reformed; Presbyterian; Methodist; Denomination; Seventh Day Adventist; Cult; Occult; Heresy; Globe; Mass; Catholic; Incarnation; Legalism; Phariseeism; Antinomianism; and Protestantism.

Are there more? No doubt.

However, the lack of usage of these words in the Bible doesn’t decide if these ideas are right or wrong. We use language every day to explain things. The only way to know and understand what the Bible teaches on a given subject is to study the Bible. And there is nothing wrong with using new language to explain and simplify ideas.

That’s why the word “Bible" can be used to describe the Old and New Testaments from Genesis to Revelation — even though the word does not appear in the text.

Using a word that’s not found in the Bible to explain a teaching that is found in the Bible — does not make that word or teaching false.

In the Institutes, John Calvin implies that the church should not adopt new terms like “Trinity” lightly, nonetheless, they should neither be dismissed lightly when it is necessary to define a doctrine of God that is clearly taught in the Scriptures. The name could be abandoned entirely if all would believe that the Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Holy Spirit — another false teaching on the nature of God — and that each person in the Godhead has a separate subsistence yet is still unified in essence (or substance) as God.

So the real question remains: does the Bible teach the concept of three persons in the Godhead?

And that’s what we will look at in part two of this post.

1. The Two Babylons, Alexander Hislop, p. 51

2. https://www.trinitytruth.org/paganoriginsofthetrinity.html

3. https://www.trinitytruth.org/paganoriginsofthetrinity.html