The Bible Doctrine of God

The Apostle John, writing under inspiration, echoes the thoughts of God when he states: “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” (3 John 4) Those striving to please God will walk in all the truth presented to them. This is essential for “There is absolutely no safeguard against evil but truth.” (God’s Amazing Grace, p. 30) Perhaps no teaching in professed Christianity, even in Adventism, is less questioned today than the doctrine of the Trinity. Most believers have never really studied the doctrine carefully from the Scriptures nor understood its origin. This, however, has not always been the case. The doctrine of God was a major point of discussion in the early meetings of the church of Rome. Also, within Adventism, the early pioneers took a strong stand on the issue of  the Godhead. Their position was anti-Trinitarian. The Adventist Church has undergone such a change on this doctrine that George Knight, professor of church history at Andrews University, could accurately write:

Most of the founders of Seventh-day Adventism would not be able to join the church today if they had to subscribe to the denomination’s Fundamental Beliefs.

More specifically, most would not be able to agree to belief number 2, which deals with the doctrine of the Trinity. For Joseph Bates the Trinity was an unscriptural doctrine, for James White it was that “old Trinitarian absurdity,” and for M. E. Cornell it was a fruit of the great apostasy, along with such false doctrines as Sundaykeeping and the immortality of the soul. (Ministry, October 1993, p. 10)

While the study on the doctrine of God has lain dormant within the church for several years, it has begun to be agitated again. Many are being led to examine for the first time what they really believe about the doctrine for themselves. How appropriate are the following words penned to the remnant people:

There are many in the church who take it for granted that they understand what they believe; but, until controversy arises, they do not know their own weakness. When separated from those of like faith and compelled to stand singly and alone to explain their belief, they will be surprised to see how confused are their ideas of what they had accepted as truth. . .

The Lord calls upon all who believe His word to awake out of sleep. Precious light has come, appropriate for this time. It is Bible truth, showing the perils that are right upon us. This light should lead us to a diligent study of the Scriptures and a most critical examination of the positions which we hold. . . . Believers are not to rest in suppositions and ill-defined ideas of what constitutes truth. Their faith must be firmly founded upon the word of God so that when the testing time shall come and they are brought before councils to answer for their faith they may be able to give a reason for the hope that is in them, with meekness and fear. (God’s Amazing Grace, p. 30)

One of the most basic questions concerning the doctrine of God is: How many God(s) are there? Some believe that there is one God in three persons. Others believe in two Gods, the Father and Jesus Christ. Some believe in three Gods in three persons (tritheism). From recorded history the pagans have, for the great majority, been polytheists. They believe in many gods. Setting the children of Israel apart from the surrounding pagan nations was their belief in only one God. The incorporation of this monotheism into Christianity has been noted by Gary Strong:

The Jews held that there was only one God, and the Christian faith comes out of that thinking. However, as the Jewish believers went out to the Gentiles with the gospel message they had to deal with the monotheism [one God] of the Jewish-Christian belief verses [sic] the polytheism [many Gods] of the Gentiles. The problem arose when trying to explain who Christ and the Holy Spirit  are. The Trinity doctrine was the result of trying to solve this problem. (A Close Look at The Trinity, p. 84)

The Trinity doctrine was formulated in the Councils of Nicæa (325 A.D.) and Constantinople (381 A.D.). The Council of Nicæa first declared Jesus to be co-equal and co-eternal with the Father. The Council of Constantinople added the same status to the Holy Spirit. As we have noted before, the doctrine of the Trinity is the central doctrine of the papacy.

The Doctrine of the Trinity is the central doctrine of the Catholic faith. Upon it are based all the other teachings of the Church. (Handbook for Today’s Catholic, p. 11)

While God’s truth is to be discerned from the Scriptures alone (see The Great Controversy, p. 595), any teaching that is the central doctrine of the anti-christ should at least wave as a  “red flag” to warn true Christians. Not only that,but the papacy also claims the Trinity to be the basis of all her other doctrines such as eternal hell, Sunday sacredness, the mass, etc. That is not good theological company to be keeping!

The Shema of Judaism

The Shema of Judaism was, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.” (Deuteronomy 6:4) Concerning this text, the SDA Bible Commentary, a decidedly Trinitarian work, states: “Literally, ‘Jehovah our God, Jehovah [is] One.’ In striking contrast to the nations about them, who were polytheists, the Hebrews believed in one true God. This profession of faith has been the watchword of the Hebrew race for more than 3,000 years (See Mark 12:29).” (Vol. 1, p. 974) Special attention has been given by theologians to the word “one” in Deuteronomy 6:4. It is translated from the Hebrew dxa  - echad. Echad is defined as united or one. For instance, a cluster of grapes could be called one (echad), yet that cluster would contain several individual grapes. This is the sense that the Trinitarian would understand echad in Deuteronomy 6:4. An example of such usage from Scripture would be Genesis 2:24: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one (echad) flesh.”

However, echad can also be translated “one” in the sense of an individual thing, a single unit. Such usage can be found in Genesis 42:11 where Joseph’s brothers stated: “We are all one (echad) man’s sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies.” Here the meaning of echad is a single unit. One man (Jacob) was their father. Therefore we must examine other Scriptures to determine the  meaning of echad in this text.. The Jews understood echad here to be a single unit rather than a unity. This is shown in an incident from the gospels. Notice carefully:

And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?

And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question. (Mark 12:28-34)

Unlike others that questioned Christ, this scribe was a sincere seeker of truth. To his question, “Which is the first commandment of all?” Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:4, 5 and then followed that with Leviticus 19:18. The scribe responded, “Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God.” If there were a Trinity, here was a perfect time for Jesus to make it clear. However, Jesus did not say, “Excuse me brother, you misunderstood, there are two Gods,” or “three Gods.” Instead, the Scripture states that “Jesus saw that he answered discreetly.” Further, Jesus told him, “Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.”

The doctrine of the Trinity as proclaimed by the Adventist Church states: “There is one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a unity of three co-eternal Persons.” (SDA Fundamental Beliefs, 2) This parallels the Basis of the Constitution of the World Council of Churches which states: “The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to the Scriptures and therefore seek to fulfil together their common calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” Yet, neither Moses nor Jesus ever spoke of a three-person God. Christ Himself made that clear the night before the crucifixion when He prayed: “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3) Here Jesus ascribes to His Father the title of “the only true God.” He did not say, “The only true Gods,” nor did He say “the only true God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

The Trinity doctrine is called a “mystery” (see Handbook for Today’s Catholic, p. 11) because it is a doctrine of human invention, the wisdom of the world, and in fact the masterpiece of Satan! However, the truth about God, His Son, and the Spirit is spoken of so clearly in the Scriptures that it need not be a mystery. Paul, writing to the church at Corinth, said: “For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge.” (1 Corinthians 8:5-7a) The creeds of men say “one God, Father, Son,and Holy Spirit.” The Scripture says, “one God, the Father,” period! Paul also says that we have “one Lord Jesus Christ.” The Trinity doctrine states that “the Father is Lord: the Son is Lord: and the Holy Ghost Lord.” (Athanasian Creed: SDA Bible Student’s Source Book, p. 299) The Scripture states that there is “one Lord,” Jesus Christ. “One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Ephesians 4:5, 6) Here again the “One God” is declared to be “the Father.”

Paul, in writing to Timothy, stated: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:5) Here are seen two separate and distinct beings. There is “one God” who is the Father. There is also “one mediator” between the “one God” and men. That “one mediator” is “the man Christ Jesus.”

The apostle James declares that even Satan and the evil angels know that there is one true God. “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” (James 2:19) James says we do well to believe “that there is one God.”

If we support the doctrine of either Trinitarianism or tritheism, we shall be out of harmony with these texts. One of the most basic truths of the Bible is  that there is one supreme Being. Jesus taught us to address this Being as “Our Father.” Because this truth is so basic to the Scriptures and to the plan of salvation (see John 17:3), Satan has sought to counterfeit it with the Trinitarian doctrine that produces a position for himself in the counsel of God.

While the Bible teaches that there is one supreme God; it also teaches that God had “an associate–a co-worker who could appreciate his purposes, and could share his joy in giving happiness to created beings.” (PP, p. 34) Perhaps the most famous of all Bible texts, John 3:16 tells us that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” This text reveals that this associate was His only begotten Son. This Son was with the Father in the counsel of peace spoken of by Zechariah:

And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. (Zechariah 6:12, 13)

The “man whose name is The BRANCH” is acknowledged by all Trinitarians as the Son of God. Of interest is the word “both” in verse 13. It is the Hebrew plural for exactly two! Thus, the picture portrayed in Zechariah is that of two workers: God and His Son. This concept is taught by Paul and the other writers of the New Testament epistles. It is at the beginning of nearly every book of the New Testament. Notice some examples:

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia: (2 Corinthians 1:1)

Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:3)

Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1:2 )

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother, To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Colossians 1:1-2)

Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 1:1)

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. (James 1:1)

Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, (2 Peter 1:2)

Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. (2 John 3)

Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: (Jude 1)