At John 17:3, Jesus said, "This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God,
and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ." (NWT) Other Bibles read this passage as Jesus saying that it means "eternal life" to "know" who God is. (John 17:3)
Yet among those who believe that Jesus is God or in the Trinity, many cannot even agree on their own Doctrine and often provide different and conflicting explanations. And often, when Trinitarians get to the point of complete exasperation in the attempt to accurately define the Doctrine that they so fervently believe in, the usual answer is provided: "It's a mystery."
A Dictionary of Religious Knowledge agrees:
"Precisely what that doctrine is, or rather precisely how it is to be explained, Trinitarians are not agreed among themselves."
The Encyclopedia Americana notes that the doctrine of the Trinity is considered to be "beyond the grasp of human reason."
Many who accept the Trinity view it that same way:
"The most sublime mystery of the Christian faith is this: 'God is absolutely one in nature and essence, and relatively three in Persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) who are really distinct from each other." - p. 584, The Catholic Encyclopedia, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers, 1976.
"The doctrine of Three Gods in One, each separate and distinct, yet each totally God, is claimed by Christians to be a mystery and is accepted on faith." - pp. 79-80, Celebrations - The Complete Book of American Holidays, Robert J. Myers, Doubleday & Co., 1972.
Pope John Paul II even regarded it as "the inscrutable mystery of God the Trinity."
"The Trinity is a mystery . . . in the strict sense . . . , which could not be known without revelation, and even after revelation cannot become wholly intelligible." (By Catholic scholars Karl Rahner and Herbert Vorgrimler in Theological Dictionary)
"God is not a God of confusion"
However, contending that the Trinity is such a 'confusing mystery' and that it also must have come from divine revelation creates a major problem. Why? Because divine revelation itself does not allow for such a view of God: "God is not a God of confusion." - 1 Corinthians 14:33 (RSV)
With that Scripture in mind, would God really be responsible for a doctrine about Himself that is so confusing that even Hebrew, Greek, and Latin scholars cannot really explain it? And yet the disciples of Jesus were the humble common people, not the religious leaders. His faithful disciples were, instead, humble farmers, fishermen, tax collectors, housewives. Those common people were so certain of what Jesus taught about God that they could teach it to others and were even willing to die for their belief. (See Matthew 15:1-9; 21:23-32, 43; 23:13-36; John 7:45-49; Acts 4:13)
And if the nature of God truly is a "mystery", then Scriptures like John 17:3 become very confusing: "And this is the way to have eternal life...to know you, the only true God," (NLT)
God is not so cruel as to tell us that we need to know Him in order to gain eternal life but then not be able to receive it because His very nature is a "mystery"!
Where the True Confusion Lies
The real confusion stems from the fact that the Trinity is simply unscriptural and
"... was of gradual and comparatively late formation; that it had its origin in a source entirely foreign from that of the Jewish and Christian scriptures; that it grew up, and was ingrafted on Christianity, through the hands of the Platonizing Fathers."– p. 34, The Church of the First Three Centuries, Alvan Lamson, D.D.
This is because
"Neither the word Trinity, nor the explicit doctrine as such, appears in the New Testament, nor... in the Old Testament." - The New Encyclopedia Britannica, 1985, Micropedia, vol. 11, p. 928.
(An honest, clear statement of the Trinity Doctrine isn't a difficult statement for anyone to write, let alone an inspired Bible writer. But you will never see it (not even once) in the inspired Scriptures.)
Trinitarians themselves admit that "The Trinity...is an INFERRED doctrine, gathered ECLECTICALLY from the entire Canon". - page 630 of the highly trinitarian publication, Today's Dictionary of the Bible, Bethany House Publishers, 1982.
So Trinitarians are forced to rely on a certain type of 'reasoning'. "Proof” offered by Trinitarians is always specious, vague, and/or ambiguous.
Instead of using the entire Bible as context, many who believe that Jesus is God or in the Trinity rely on a few selected, so-called 'proof-texts' which, when properly examined are not proof of the Trinity in any way.
So actually, the real mystery is why the Trinity Doctrine is still such an accepted teaching despite the relative ease to demonstrate it's pagan and unscriptural history.
Recommended Related Articles:
God Is a Mystery—Is It True? (w11 10/1 p. 4; Watchtower Online Library)
The History of the Development of the Trinity Doctrine (Defend Jehovah's Witnesses)
Trinity And Pagan Influence (Defend Jehovah's Witnesses)
Exposing the False Reasoning Behind Trinity Proof Texts (Defend Jehovah's Witnesses)
Exposing the False Reasoning Behind Holy Spirit 'Proof-Texts' (Defend Jehovah's Witnesses)
Questions For Those Who Believe in the Trinity (Defend Jehovah's Witnesses)
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and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ." (NWT) Other Bibles read this passage as Jesus saying that it means "eternal life" to "know" who God is. (John 17:3)
Yet among those who believe that Jesus is God or in the Trinity, many cannot even agree on their own Doctrine and often provide different and conflicting explanations. And often, when Trinitarians get to the point of complete exasperation in the attempt to accurately define the Doctrine that they so fervently believe in, the usual answer is provided: "It's a mystery."
A Dictionary of Religious Knowledge agrees:
"Precisely what that doctrine is, or rather precisely how it is to be explained, Trinitarians are not agreed among themselves."
The Encyclopedia Americana notes that the doctrine of the Trinity is considered to be "beyond the grasp of human reason."
Many who accept the Trinity view it that same way:
"The most sublime mystery of the Christian faith is this: 'God is absolutely one in nature and essence, and relatively three in Persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) who are really distinct from each other." - p. 584, The Catholic Encyclopedia, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers, 1976.
"The doctrine of Three Gods in One, each separate and distinct, yet each totally God, is claimed by Christians to be a mystery and is accepted on faith." - pp. 79-80, Celebrations - The Complete Book of American Holidays, Robert J. Myers, Doubleday & Co., 1972.
Pope John Paul II even regarded it as "the inscrutable mystery of God the Trinity."
"The Trinity is a mystery . . . in the strict sense . . . , which could not be known without revelation, and even after revelation cannot become wholly intelligible." (By Catholic scholars Karl Rahner and Herbert Vorgrimler in Theological Dictionary)
"God is not a God of confusion"
However, contending that the Trinity is such a 'confusing mystery' and that it also must have come from divine revelation creates a major problem. Why? Because divine revelation itself does not allow for such a view of God: "God is not a God of confusion." - 1 Corinthians 14:33 (RSV)
With that Scripture in mind, would God really be responsible for a doctrine about Himself that is so confusing that even Hebrew, Greek, and Latin scholars cannot really explain it? And yet the disciples of Jesus were the humble common people, not the religious leaders. His faithful disciples were, instead, humble farmers, fishermen, tax collectors, housewives. Those common people were so certain of what Jesus taught about God that they could teach it to others and were even willing to die for their belief. (See Matthew 15:1-9; 21:23-32, 43; 23:13-36; John 7:45-49; Acts 4:13)
And if the nature of God truly is a "mystery", then Scriptures like John 17:3 become very confusing: "And this is the way to have eternal life...to know you, the only true God," (NLT)
God is not so cruel as to tell us that we need to know Him in order to gain eternal life but then not be able to receive it because His very nature is a "mystery"!
Where the True Confusion Lies
The real confusion stems from the fact that the Trinity is simply unscriptural and
"... was of gradual and comparatively late formation; that it had its origin in a source entirely foreign from that of the Jewish and Christian scriptures; that it grew up, and was ingrafted on Christianity, through the hands of the Platonizing Fathers."– p. 34, The Church of the First Three Centuries, Alvan Lamson, D.D.
This is because
"Neither the word Trinity, nor the explicit doctrine as such, appears in the New Testament, nor... in the Old Testament." - The New Encyclopedia Britannica, 1985, Micropedia, vol. 11, p. 928.
(An honest, clear statement of the Trinity Doctrine isn't a difficult statement for anyone to write, let alone an inspired Bible writer. But you will never see it (not even once) in the inspired Scriptures.)
Trinitarians themselves admit that "The Trinity...is an INFERRED doctrine, gathered ECLECTICALLY from the entire Canon". - page 630 of the highly trinitarian publication, Today's Dictionary of the Bible, Bethany House Publishers, 1982.
So Trinitarians are forced to rely on a certain type of 'reasoning'. "Proof” offered by Trinitarians is always specious, vague, and/or ambiguous.
Instead of using the entire Bible as context, many who believe that Jesus is God or in the Trinity rely on a few selected, so-called 'proof-texts' which, when properly examined are not proof of the Trinity in any way.
So actually, the real mystery is why the Trinity Doctrine is still such an accepted teaching despite the relative ease to demonstrate it's pagan and unscriptural history.
Recommended Related Articles:
God Is a Mystery—Is It True? (w11 10/1 p. 4; Watchtower Online Library)
The History of the Development of the Trinity Doctrine (Defend Jehovah's Witnesses)
Trinity And Pagan Influence (Defend Jehovah's Witnesses)
Exposing the False Reasoning Behind Trinity Proof Texts (Defend Jehovah's Witnesses)
Exposing the False Reasoning Behind Holy Spirit 'Proof-Texts' (Defend Jehovah's Witnesses)
Questions For Those Who Believe in the Trinity (Defend Jehovah's Witnesses)