My proof that God is not a trinity.

Around 300 years after Jesus was crucified, The Council of Nicaea convened by Emperor Constantine declared that Jesus was of the same substance as His Father and so Jesus should be thought of as equal to God.  A unified church was seen as essential by Constantine for the stability of his Roman Empire.  Constantine himself had active participation in and influence over the council.  He was the first emperor to convert to Christianity and had an interest in the religious strength and unity that such a decision might bring.  He wanted to give the church more authority which would also give him more political power.  The primary decision makers on the council were bishops.  With this decision, they would be able to increase their authority and resolve theological disputes within their territories.

But if everything is equal between Jesus and His Father then this prayer made by Jesus doesn’t make sense.  In fact, why would he even pray in the first place?  As equals they would simply notify each other of what they each wanted if even that.  And would His Father pray to Jesus?

Matthew 26:39:

“Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’”

Mark 14:36:

“‘Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’”

To begin, I’d like to bring up some of the main statements in the 4 gospels that people currently use to justify their believe in a trinity.

John 10:29-30 (NIV):

29. “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.

30. I and the Father are one.”

Jesus states that “My Father is greater than all”.  In the next verse Jesus states that “I and my father are one”.  Given the verse before it, this statement could imply a deep connection between God and Jesus.  For example,

Mark 10:7-9 (NIV)

7. “…‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,

8. and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh.

9.  Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Mark 10:17-18 (NIV)

As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.”

Luke 18:18-19 (NIV)

A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.”

Immediately after quoting this good teacher scripture on TikTok, someone will tend to claim that Jesus called himself the good shepherd.

John 10:11-14: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

John 10:12: “He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.”

John 10:13: “He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.”

John 10:14: “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me.”

Jesus goes on to describe the good shepherd as being willing to lay down his life for his sheep so I don’t think this is justified as a strong enough argument.

They will also say that God has been referred to in the plural form so this is proof of the trinity.  But God is referred to in the plural form only 0.017% of the time.

The following two verses from the very beginning of John do not appear in any of the other gospels.  It isn’t even explained if the writer had learned about this from a vision, dream, or prophet that would have inspired such a large claim to be made in his introduction.

John 1:1 (NIV)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14 (NIV)

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

A king is not equal to a prince in any regard.  In the following instance, for them to state that it sounded like Jesus asserted that he was equal to God through simply calling God his father doesn’t imply equality.  In fact, there is nowhere in the entire bible where Jesus has ever claimed to be equal to God.  This would have been important information.

John 5:17-18 (NIV)

17. In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”

18. For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

It doesn’t make sense for their to be a trinity because if every one of them is equal and distinct in their own ways then, in the event of a difference in viewpoints, no one of them would be able to rule over the others.

Some of the supporters of a trinity consider the three of them as being the same being but existing in three different states like water being liquid, ice, and steam.  Being the greatest being, God would never deserve to endure being a human and it would be a complete waste of His time.

%98 of countries worldwide have a single leadership position at the top.

For thousands of years the jewish population was never told by God that He was a triune God.  God wanted the previous statement listed.

Deuteronomy 6:4

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”

Exodus 20:2-3

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”

Numbers 23:19

“God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?”

1 Samuel 15:29

“He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.”

Hosea 11:9

“I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I devastate Ephraim again. For I am God, and not a man—the Holy One among you. I will not come against their cities.”

Deuteronomy 4:35

“You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God; besides him there is no other.”

Deuteronomy 4:39

“Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.”

Isaiah 45:21-22

“Declare what is to be, present it—let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me. Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.”

Isaiah 46:9

“Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.”

Exodus 20:2-3

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”

Isaiah 44:24

“This is what the LORD says—your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, the Maker of all things, who stretches out the heavens, who spreads out the earth by myself.”

Malachi 2:10

“Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another?”

Psalm 86:10

“For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.”