The word "trinity" is a term used to denote the so-called Christian doctrine that God exists as a unity of three distinct persons or personalities: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If this is the case, then which of the three do we worship and which one do we pray to?
You will hear the answer: “Pray to the Father in the Name of the Son.” But then most denominations pray “in the name of the Father, Son, AND Holy Ghost?”
Where’s the truth in all this?
A bit of history:
The “Holy Trinity” was introduced to Christianity by Constantine, a Roman Emperor, in the year 325 AD. Constantine had the appearance of being a Christian because he stopped the mass slaughter of Christians, painted a cross on the shields of his army, and erected a cross on top of St. Sophia’s Church. In reality, he was not a Christian, but a master politician.
Just before a battle with the rival Roman, Maxentius, Constantine had a dream in which he was instructed to paint a cross on the shields of his soldiers. He was against overwhelming odds, being outnumbered two-to-one, but he followed the instructions and won the battle. He saw that there was something special about Christianity, and recognized the prayers of Christians as a powerful ally as emperor.
Constantine, a practicing pagan, hosted the first ecumenical council in Nicaea Rome, AD 325, where he brought Christian sects and pagan idolatry together. The meeting, dubbed the “Nicene Council,” worked out the differences between competing groups of Christianity, joined church and state, and gave power to a universal church. There were primarily two rival Christian factions that Constantine was bringing together. One faction considered Jesus divine. The other considered Jesus a created being, and therefore less than God. After heated arguments and a lot of political wrangling, the result was the agreement that the Son was the true God, co-eternal with the Father, and begotten from the same substance as the Father. This made Jesus “co-equal” with God. The platform was set for the “Holy Trinity” to be accepted by most sects of Christianity.
Here is the first “Nicene Creed” drafted and implemented by the Nicene Council.
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 with the Father;
By whom all things were made [both in heaven and on earth];
Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down and was incarnate and was made man;
He suffered, and the third day he rose again, ascended into heaven;
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
And in the Holy Ghost.
[But those who say: ‘There was a time when he was not;’ and ‘He was not before he was made;’ and ‘He was made out of nothing,’ or ‘He is of another substance’ or ‘essence,’ or ‘The Son of God is created,’ or ‘changeable,’ or ‘alterable’—they are condemned by the holy catholic and apostolic Church.]
With the newly-given power, the creeds were enforced with the penalty of banishment, torture, and death. Soon, the world plunged into the Dark Ages, where more than 68 million people were killed in the titles of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (The Glorious Reformation, Schmucker, 1838).
Here is a short explanation of the Godhead from the book, “An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages,” Chapter 1.
They didn't believe in three Gods in the beginning of the church. You can't find that sort of belief amongst the apostles. It was after the apostolic age that this theory came in and really became an issue and a cardinal doctrine at the Nicene Council. The doctrine of Godhead caused a two way split at Nicaea. And from that split there came two extremes. One actually went into polytheism, believing in three Gods, and the others went into unitarianism. Of course that was a little while in coming about, but it did, and we have it right today. But the Revelation through John by the Spirit to the churches was, "I am the Lord Jesus Christ, and I am ALL of it. There isn't any other God". And He put His seal on this Revelation.
Consider this: Who was the Father of Jesus? Matthew 1:18 says, "She was found with child of the Holy Ghost". But Jesus, Himself, claimed that God was His Father. God the Father and God the Holy Ghost, as we often express these terms, make the Father and the Spirit ONE. Indeed they are, or else Jesus had two Fathers. But notice that Jesus said that He and His Father were One--not two. That makes ONE God.
Since this is historically and Scripturally true, people wonder where the three came from. It became a foundational doctrine at the Nicene Council in 325 A.D. This trinity (an absolutely unscriptural word) was based upon the many gods of Rome. The Romans had many gods to whom they prayed. They also prayed to ancestors as mediators. It was just a step to give new names to old gods, so we have saints to make it more Biblical. Thus, instead of Jupiter, Venice, Mars, etc., we have Paul, Peter, Fatima, Christopher, etc., etc. They could not make their pagan religion work out with just one God, so they split Him up into three, and they made intercessors of the saints as they had made intercessors of their ancestors.
Ever since then people have failed to realize that there is just one God with three offices or manifestations. They know there is one God according to Scripture, but they try to make it the fantastic theory that God is like a bunch of grapes; three persons with the same Divinity shared equally by all. But it plainly says here in Revelation that Jesus is "That Which Is", "That Which Was", and "That Which Is to Come". He is the "Alpha and Omega", which means that He is the "A to Z" or THE ALL OF IT. He is everything--the Almighty. He is the Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star, the Righteous Branch, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. He is God, Almighty God. ONE GOD.
I Timothy 3:16 says, "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into Glory". This is what the Bible says. It doesn't say a thing about a first or second or third person here. It says God was manifest in flesh. One God. That ONE GOD was manifested in flesh. That ought to settle it. God came in a human form. That didn't make Him ANOTHER GOD. HE WAS GOD, THE SAME GOD. It was a revelation then, and it is a revelation now. One God.
Although “The Holy Trinity” has endured through the ages by the merciless hand of the Catholic Church, it is never mentioned in the Bible and neither was this concept taught anywhere in Scripture. In fact, separating God into three different persons would have gotten you stoned in the Old Testament for breaking the first two Commandments.
Note that the Catholic Church renumbered the Ten Commandments, in essence removing the Second Commandment to line up with the doctrine of the Trinity and worshipping of saints (but that’s another study).
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image , or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God , visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him .
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD'S thy God , the earth also, with all that therein is.
[Hebrews 1:2 says: Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things , by whom also he made the worlds;]
Wherefore thou art great, O LORD God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
That all the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God, and that there is none else .
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel .
[“Immanuel” means “God with us.”]
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given : and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father , The Prince of Peace.
O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone , of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth .
[Hebrews 1:2 says: Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son , whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds ;]
10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour .
[Luke 2:11 says: For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord . AND John 4:42 says: and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world .]
Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me.
And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one .
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
[What is the Father’s name? Son’s Name? Holy Ghost’s Name?]
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...
14...And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
I am come in my Father's name , and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.
[If He comes in His Father’s Name, then what is His Name?]
And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.
8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father ; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God .
[Thomas was speaking to Jesus]
Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood .
[Were we saved by the blood of the Holy Ghost or the blood of Jesus?]
One Lord , one faith, one baptism,
12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
14 In whom we have redemption through his blood , even the forgiveness of sins:
15 Who is the image of the invisible God , the firstborn of every creature:
16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him :
17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell ;
20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily .
10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh , justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person , and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one .