The New Testament speaks against the "Trinity" doctrine

Submitted by Michael S. (United States), Sep 22, 2014 at 19:57

Shalom Tovey. You quoted the Bible (NT) as saying,

(Matthew 28:19) Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20) teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

This would more properly be translated,

Having gone, then, disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatever I commanded you.

The words most conspicuous to me have been "having gone", rather than the imperative, "Go". Jesus did not command his followers to go on dedicated missionary forays, but rather to preach and teach as a part of their ordinary living. This would have relevance to Jews, who may feel (often rightly so) that the Christians and Messianics are intentionally targeting them.

This translation also uses the expression "INTO the name of" rather than "IN the name of". A Trinitarian commentary says,

The "into" shows the end and aim of the consecration of baptism. The "Name" of God is that by which he is known to us - that which connotes his being and his attributes, that by which there exists a conscious connection between God and ourselves (comp. Matthew 18:20). So being baptized into the Name of God implies being placed in subjection to and communion with God himself, admitted into covenant with him.

I am definitely NOT Trinitarian in my beliefs; but what the commentary says in this paragraph is true: being baptized "in the name of" three people ("Father", "Son" and "Holy Ghost") implies that all three have the same name (since the passage does not say "names"). The "Jesus Only" Pentecostals have a field day with that one. Rather, the initiate is baptized INTO not those three persons (more correctly, "entities"), but their common "name" or "character". The result is that the initiate becomes "one" with all three. This implies neither a Trinity nor, if one were to pursue "Trinitarian" logic, a "Quaternity" or "Multiternity" including God (the Father), Jesus, the holy spirit, the initiate and all other baptized believers. The unity of Jesus with God implied here, AND of the holy spirit's unity with both, AND our unity with all three, is described in Jesus' prayer in John 17:

John 17
[18] As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
[19] And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
[20] Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
[21] That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
[22] And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
[23] I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

Trinitarians (which comprise nearly every Christian church) have concocted a "mystery" of a cosmic unity which is to be the object of our worship. What Jesus actually preached, though, was one holy, unique God, who is our Father, who alone is to be worshipped -- very much in accord with Jewish teaching. Jesus also taught the keeping of Torah not through rote performance, but through receiving and obeying the ruach hakodesh, or "holy spirit" -- the practice of which produces in Jesus, in us, and in whosoever will so receive and obey it, the character of God. This is not heresy nor blasphemy, from a Jewish point of view; but worshipping a Trinity of three persons is; and as Jesus said,

John 4:
[22] Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

In all this, I have merely sought to be as consistent as possible and as straitforward as possible. Others have put forth alternative understandings, but they tend towards "mysteries" and esoteric understanding.

In all this, I hope you and others can see the kinship I feel with the Jewish people -- a kinship born not from rejecting the NT, but by accepting it.

Shalom shalom.

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