Vain Deceit

Colossians 2:8 (ESV)

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

It is assumed, and taught, by many Trinitarians that a group of theologians got together in the 3rd century and solved the riddle. That is, how could Jesus be a man and yet say and do things that only God could; and more importantly, how can we maintain monotheism and still believe in the Godhood of both Jesus and the Father? But does anyone else find it odd that the formulation of this doctrine came three centuries after the death and resurrection of Christ? And further, isn’t it rather suspect that we can find no Biblical illustrations attempting to explain the Trinity such as those which are used today?

Man’s Thoughts

Probably the most well-known illustration used to prove how there could be three distinct persons in One God-Essence is that of water, steam, and ice. The argument is that they are of one substance, but different forms. There are however, numerous problems with this comparison. First, the Trinity doctrine states explicitly that each person of the Trinity is not only distinct from each other, but each are God in themselves, yet forming only One God, not three separate gods; so there is unity in trinity. The water, ice, steam illustration falls short in that water must be altered to form ice or steam. Even though ice and steam retain properties of water, they cannot be called water - they have been altered. In addition, in the Trinity, each Person exists simultaneously, each being fully God, whereas, water can only be in one form at a time - either it is water, steam, or ice - not all three! This may be a good illustration for Modalism, but not the Trinity.

There are other illustrations that have been tried as well. It has been pointed out that each beam of light is made up of three separate rays, the actinic which is invisible, the luminiferous which is visible, and the calorific which gives heat and can be felt but not seen. On the surface, this sounds like an excellent example of the Father who is invisible, the Son who is visible, and the Spirit whose presence can be felt. But again, take notice that all three rays must be present simultaneously in order for it to be light. The actinic ray alone, is not light. All three rays must be present together to make light. In the Trinity, Jesus is fully God, as are the other Persons.

There are more, such as the three leafed clover, the triangle, the egg, or even time - past, present, future - but these are also useless in describing the indescribable Trinity! But what is even more striking to me is that none of these attempts to explain or describe the idea that God is Triune, can be found in the pages of Scripture. In virtually every instance, Scriptures referenced to support the Trinity must be interpreted from a preconceived notion that God is Triune. In other words, you must already believe it is so, then you can infer it from certain Scriptures and construct all sorts of mental sketches to support the veracity of the idea. Every commentary, dictionary, or other resource book I have researched, agree that the doctrine of the Trinity is not found explicitly in Scripture. The assertion is that it is a revealed doctrine, but in reality it is a fabricated doctrine; high sounding words with no substance; an opinion, and nothing more.

So again, we are expected to believe that 3rd century theologians, called together by the Emperor Constantine, put in writing what was already believed and taught by the Christian majority. Nevermind that there are no explicit Scriptures that tell us God is three,while there are 1000’s that clearly describe Him as One, and that He alone is the creator. Nevermind that Jesus did not claim Deity or equality with God in any way, but always affirmed that God was greater than himself, that his authority and power were given to him by God, and that God was not only his Father, but his God. And nevermind that the Holy Spirit does not have a name, and seems to be curiously missing in many of the Scriptures where one would expect him to be if he were an equal member of the Trinity. The council of Nicea, in 325 AD, dealt primarily with advancing the idea of the Deity of Christ. Concerning the 3rd Person of the Trinity, it says only “and we believe in the Holy Spirit”. It took another 100+ years to formulate the Trinity that we know today stating that each Person - Father, Son, and Spirit - are equally God.

God’s Thoughts

The Bible tells a very different story and uses entirely different ideas to illustrate the relationship between the Father and the Son. In John 15, Jesus calls himself the Vine. He refers to the Father as the Gardener, and the disciples are the branches. Notice the figures in this teaching of Jesus. They show exactly the relationship between God, Jesus, and believers. Clearly, the Father and the Son are not of the same nature, or essence. God, the Gardener, planted the vine and cares for it, pruning its branches and so forth. The Vine, Jesus, has his roots in the soil and is of the same substance as the branches. The branches must be “in” the vine in order to bear fruit and be useful. The Vine gives life to the branches but nothing in this illustration attempts to describe a Triune God or that Jesus is himself God, for if that were the case, then every true believer would also be god because we are “in” Christ. John tells us how Jesus could have life in Himself, he says, “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.” -John 5:26 (ESV)

Also, consider 2Cor 4:4. Here, Paul says that Christ is the “image” of God. Image is eikon (icon) in the Greek. An icon is an image, a representation of something. We speak of certain persons as being “iconic figures”. The meaning is that these people are representative of something bigger than themselves - a movement, a corporation, etc. Bill Gates, for example, is an iconic figure as the founder of the massive, worldwide Microsoft corporation. When I look at my computer desktop I see icons. Each icon represents a different file or program. Whichever file or program I want to work with, I simply click on the appropriate icon and it takes me there. That’s what Paul meant when he said that Jesus is the image of God; He represents God - He is our way to God. It is this principle precisely that Jesus revealed when he said “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man comes to the Father but by (or through) me.” An icon is NOT the thing it represents, it gets you to the thing it represents!

Paul also speaks of Jesus as having “the fulness of the Godhead (God-essence, or Deity)” dwelling in him (Col 2:9; 1:19). If Paul believed Jesus was God, the 2nd Person of the Trinity, he would not have to say that the fulness of Deity dwelt in him. This would be already evident. Note that in Col 1:19 that God was pleased to have His fullness dwell in Christ. Paul understands Jesus as one in whom God’s fullness was expressed, and it was God’s plan that it should be that way. This is very different from being God. These are clear and unequivocal statements of Christ's nature. Not "God the Son", the 2nd Person of a Triune God, or any such metaphysical theory, but a man begotten by God, in whose character, actions, and words, we see the invisible God.

The Bible does not contain illustrations used to describe God’s nature as being “three in one”; because it never states that God is Triune in nature. But Paul warned us against falling prey to “philosophy and empty deception according to the traditions of men” (Col 2:8). The KJV uses the phrase “vain deceit”. Beginning in Paul’s day, and taking root in the creeds of the 3rd and 4th centuries, the Church has been led astray by deceitful vanities which have no ground in Scripture.

Brothers and sisters, truth matters! It’s time to take a serious look at the doctrines we have so blindly accepted and see the truth we’ve been missing!