The doctrine of the Trinity (one God in three persons) is one of historic Christianity’s most distinctive teachings. This view of God’s nature separates the Christian faith from the two other popular Middle Eastern monotheistic religions of Judaism and Islam. Traditional Jews and Muslims deny the Trinity and affirm a unitarian view of God (a single God who is one in being and one in person).
A significant part of my theological and devotional interest in and attraction to the triune nature of historic Christianity’s God involves the idea that God’s distinctive unity of nature and diversity of personhood means that “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16) within himself (or themselves). This means that the triune God is analogous to a loving human family. Thus, God is a maximally perfect being who grounds love within himself and therefore does not need to find love in his creation, like alternative unitarian views of God appear to affirm. For further discussion of this provocative topic of God and love, see my article Who Did Allah Love in Eternity?
My ongoing theological reflection and research on trinitarianism led me to write an article some time back entitled My Three Favorite Books on the Trinity. A Muslim read my article and raised an objection to the Trinity doctrine. I’ve included our exchange here (paraphrased) and hope you’ll find it helpful.
The Objection Respondent: Jesus was a Jew. Not a Christian. Therefore, he never believed in nor affirmed the Trinity. The Trinity doctrine was invented by the apostle Paul. So the emergence of the Trinity had nothing to do with Jesus himself.
Trinitarian theology is the collaboration of Paul and the Christian church. Paul laid the foundation stones on which the Christian church erected the house of modern Christianity. So the Trinity has nothing to do with Jesus and his original teachings.
My Response Greetings, friend. You are a Muslim and therefore deny the triune nature of God. But please read and consider the biblical basis for the Trinity provided here. You’ll see that I list the key theological claims of the Trinity and scriptural support (both Old and New Testament) without references to the apostle Paul’s writings.
Six simple statements show how the Trinity doctrine is indeed derived from Scripture:
5. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct persons and can be distinguished from one another (the Father is not the Son; the Father is not the Holy Spirit; and the Son is not the Holy Spirit—Matthew 28:19; Luke 3:22).
6. The three persons (Father or God; and Son or Christ or Lord; and Holy Spirit or Spirit) are frequently listed together in a triadic pattern of unity and equality (John 14:26; 15:26).
So the Trinity can be derived from the Bible even without referencing the apostle Paul’s writings. Your claim that the Trinity doctrine has nothing to do with Jesus but was erected by the apostle Paul and assisted by the church is contradicted by the very words of Jesus in the Gospels.
For example, Jesus himself speaks of the members of the Trinity in the Gospel of Matthew: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). In other words, disciples are baptized in the name of the triune God.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus also speaks about the persons of the Trinity by expressing an apparent unity of nature and an equality of personhood within the Godhead: “When the Advocate [3rd person] comes, whom I [2nd person] will send to you from the Father [1st person]—the Spirit [3rd person] of truth who goes out from the Father [1st person]—he [3rd person] will testify about me [2nd person] (John 15:26, emphasis added).
Furthermore, your claim that Christianity is the sole product of those who followed after Jesus comes from the claims of the Islamic religion that historically appears almost 600 years after the time of Christ. Islam claims to build upon the truth of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures but at the same time insists that the Bible is corrupted. This seems logically contradictory.
As a Christian, I trust the claims made by Jesus himself and the testimony of his apostles who were witnesses of his life, death, and resurrection.
Thanks for reading and considering my response to your objection. May peace be upon you.
Reflections: Your Turn How significant is it for Christians and Muslims to discuss their religious agreements and disagreements in a civil and respectful manner?
Resources
For further study, my friend and colleague Robert M. Bowman Jr. provides over 1,000 biblical references for the doctrine of the Trinity in his article The Biblical Basis of the Doctrine of the Trinity.
For a respectful and fruitful dialogue I had with a Muslim imam concerning the question of God being love, see Is Allah a Loving God?
Christians should use their reasoning to further reflect upon God’s revealed truths. The ancient church father Augustine called this process “faith seeking understanding.”
