The apostles who walked with Jesus during his ministry, and led the Church in the first decades of the Christian era, knew Jesus as Messiah, the anointed of God. He was “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). He had
existed from the beginning of God’s creation. Later he was made flesh, born a human being, walked among men, taught his disciples, and gave his life a ransom for all (John 1:14, 1 John 1:1-3, Matthew 9:6, 20:28).
However, as the apostles passed away, confusion entered respecting the nature of Jesus. His followers debated who he was and his relationship to the Heavenly Father. Perhaps this was because there never was another person like Jesus,
and he sometimes spoke cryptically about who he was. Remarkably, the matter is murky in the minds of many Christian even today.
.
HISTORICAL SETTING: THE ROMAN EMPIRE
In 325 AD, the Roman Emperor Constantine called a great church council to debate and decide the matter. Why would
Constantine do this? Why did he care whether there was agreement about who Christ is and his relationship to
God, our Heavenly Father?
Continue in the Nov 2010 Beauties of the Truth article
Read more here: The Real Story Behind the Council of Nicaea
it’s mind boggling how intelligent individuals could be deceived by trinitarian doctrine, ignoring how deep offensive is to our supreme Creator to have its image and supreme importance as an equal with his son and his active power.
Hi Mihai, thank you for sharing your perspective. You have touched upon a sentiment that many Bible Students share—that the **Trinity doctrine “disrespects God”** by blurring the clear distinction between the Almighty Creator and His Son.
### **The Historical “Mystery”**
You are correct that equating the Father with the Son and the Holy Spirit was not part of the original Christian faith. For the first three hundred years, the Church remained devoid of such beliefs. It wasn’t until the **Council of Nicea (325 A.D.)** and the **Council of Constantinople (381 A.D.)** that these concepts were formally adopted into orthodoxy, often under the guise of being a “mystery” that the human intellect should not even attempt to understand.
### **Equation vs. Subordination**
Jesus is the **”firstborn of every creature”** (Colossians 1:15), the only being directly created by Jehovah. As he himself stated, **”My Father is greater than I”** (John 14:28). equatting them not only ignores these clear scriptural statements but also ignores the Father’s role as the “Life-giver” and the Son’s role as the “offspring”.
### **The “Active Power” of God**
Regarding your point on God’s “active power,” Bible Students reject the idea of the Holy Spirit as a third person. Instead, it is understood as the **”influence or power”** of Jehovah and His Son—a divine influence that operates upon the hearts of those consecrated to Him.
### **The Pagan Influence**
It is indeed “mind-boggling” to see how these theories took hold. Much of the terminology used in the Trinity (like “co-equal” and “of one substance”) was actually **borrowed from ancient pagan mythologies**, specifically Egyptian solar trinities, and then “baptized” by an increasingly apostate church.
You are welcome to explore the section on our site titled **”Why the Trinity Doctrine Disrespects God”** for a more in-depth look at the scriptural and historical evidence.
***
Trinitarians sometimes accuse unitarians of assuming a unitary monotheistic view of God. But it is Trinitarians who assume the Trinity and then read it into the text of Scripture.
The unitarian proposition is that the Father of Jesus is “the only person who is true God.” These are the precise words of Jesus himself in John 17:3! “You Father are the only one who is true God.”
Jesus affirmed the same non-Trinitarian creed of Israel in Mk 12:29: “The Lord our God, the Lord is one Person.”
Trinitarians try to derail and obscure this easy information with John 17:5. This text says that Jesus asked for the glory which he “had with the Father before the founding of the world.”
What Trinitarians do not know is that in the same chapter, vv. 22, 24, the same glory had already been given to saints not yet born. The point is a simple one, the glory which Jesus “had with the Father” was glory promised to him in the plan of God, Jesus asked to receive this for the first time, on completion of his ministry. He did not say “restore the glory to me.”
http://www.restorationfellowship.org
Dr. John A T Robinson on John 17:3
“In the first place it should be noted that John is as undeviating a witness as any in the NT to the fundamental tenet of Judaism, of unitary monotheism (Rom. 3:30; James 2:19. There is one true and only God (John 5:44; 17:3) Everything else is idols; I John 5:21. In fact nowhere is the Jewishness of John, which has emerged in all recent study, more clear.by Sir Anthony Buzzard -www.restorationfellowship.org
Would that have been “When Jesus Became God” by Richard Rubenstein? That is an excellent book for those wanting to know how the trinity doctrine developed historically.
I just saw the link and it isn’t.
But the one I mentioned is worth the asking price.
Dupin – That is an excellent book as well.
One of you recommended a book on the Trinity that I began reading today. Wow! It has a wealth of information to disprove the Trinity. It is called “They never told me this in Church!” You can read the book free on the Internet by clicking here: