Going Back to the Source: The Bible

Whenever God reveals truth, Satan and fallen man try to deny it. Or at least confuse it in some way. And we see this clearly in the relentless attack on the Doctrine of the Trinity. Throughout the history of the church, there have been many false views about the Trinity.

Some of these have been adequately dealt with by church creeds and councils. And some still persist today.  Remember the three unchangeable truths found in Scripture about God:

One, God eternally exists as three persons.

Two, each person is fully God in every aspect.

Three, there is one God.

The problem now is to try to explain these truths without elevating one at the expense of another.

What are Some False Views About the Doctrine of the Trinity?

Let’s list a few we will discuss today.

First, there is Modalism that claims God is one Person who appears to us in three different forms, or personalities, or modes (hence the name).

Then there is the Arian Controversy, named after Arius, a Bishop of Alexandria, whose views were condemned at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. Because of the problems Arius and his views caused the early church, the Nicene Creed was written which affirmed, among other things, that Christ was ‘begotten, not made.”

“We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance (ὁμοούσιον) with the Father.…”

And following these are Subordinationism, Adoptionism and Tritheism, and others.

Let’s take a look at these together and see how our enemy tried to confuse the church with false views of the Doctrine of the Trinity.