Understanding The Trinity

 

INTRODUCTION

 

This treatise is a learning and educational resource.  Because of the nature of trinity doctrine, and the scope of influence in Christian thought, a concise yet thorough resource is needed.  If a study tool is too technical and wordy, it becomes hard to understand, and leaves a person more confused and overwhelmed than when they started.

 

The nature of God and of His son Jesus the Christ, is perhaps the single most important subject in the Bible; it is united together with His great love for us, and our love for Him.  It is getting to “know” Him; we wouldn’t marry someone without knowing them, and marriage symbolizes the relationship of Christ to his church (See Ephesians 5:22-33).

 

It is best to read the material in this document while being logged onto the Internet; in so doing, you’ll have online access to links imbedded throughout. Below is an apologetics link to various issues regarding the trinity; topics include the origin of the trinity, the official Roman Catholic “Creed” that demands faith in the trinity for salvation (absurd).  It is formatted as an apologetic expose on the multiple contradictions between the doctrine of the trinity and the scriptures.

 

 1 Timothy 2:5 The Man Christ Jesus (Comparing the Athanasian and Nicean Creeds to the Scriptures),

 

The most logical starting point is to briefly summarize the triune concept; the word “trinity” is not found anywhere in scripture.  An ancient theologian named Tertullian is generally credited as being the first one to use it in Catholic theology.  The history of the trinity is very complex; to simplify its definition, trinity is a non-biblical attempt to explain the nature of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. 

 

The so-called “Christian trinity” is a replication of earlier trinities worshipped by idolaters, dating back to the beginning of man’s history.  One of the first and most prominent of ancient trinities worshipped was in Egypt. 

 

Egyptian priests had literally hundreds of false deities to whom they prayed and sacrificed, but none were esteemed by them greater than the blessed three-in-one deities, “Ra” (the sun god), “Isis” (the moon goddess) and “Horus” (falcon headed son of Ra & Isis).  There is only one true God, so the worship of any other deity is servitude to an evil spirit, otherwise known as a demon.

 

Look in your purse or wallet, and pull out a one-dollar bill.  Etched on the one-dollar bill is an Egyptian pyramid, and atop it the symbol of the ‘all-seeing eye’; the glowing “eye” represents the illumination manifested by the Egyptian sun god “Ra,” who is said to emanate his power vicariously through wealth (i.e. – money). 

 

According to Egyptian mythology, Ra reveals himself thru the “eye of Horus.”  And a person can find this information in any good encyclopedia.  Later in this paper, you will see the Christian trinity concepts originated from the same ideas used by Egyptians nearly 5000 years ago.  How these symbols of a pyramid, all-seeing eye, and the Egyptian Phoenix (symbolic of the head of Horus) found their way into the United States Treasury Department, then onto our U.S. currency is a lengthy story of ‘powers that be’ in high places; they are powers with a very definite agenda.

 

Polytheism is the worship of more than one deity or god at a given time.  Polytheism is the devil’s design to divide and conquer; it is a state of disorder, and the exact opposite of the nature of God of scripture, who is a God of order (1 Corinthians 14:33).  From the beginning, God commanded His people to have NO OTHER GODS except Him.

 

·          Exodus 20:3-6 "You shall have no other gods before Me.  4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.  5 You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”   NAS

 

When spiritual leaders, such as a pastor, teach others to believe the one God of the Bible is mysteriously divided or subdivided into three equal parts, it is tantamount to making an IDOL of His “likeness in heaven” and is expressly forbidden by commandments in scripture. 

 

God’s commandment to His covenant people in Exodus 20:3-6 is very important, because the Hebrews were surrounded by nations that worshipped and served multiple deities (polytheism).  Polytheism among nearly all known ancient ethnic peoples included tritheism.

Tritheism is a Greek word to describe the worship of three (tri) gods or deities (theos or theotes).  Graven images were almost always used as a means of identifying particular gods, and in the tritheistic hypostasis (joining of two or more into one essence), a lone symbol could be representative of all three gods as one “being” without losing the individual identity of each person in these pagan godheads.

 

One notable example of early trinity icons are the great pyramids in Egypt; the shape of a triangle, with three points, seen as three from any angle, makes pyramids the universal graven image for the trinity.  So important was their theology and belief in a trinity of Ra, Isis, and Horus, that Egyptian rulers years constructing, unimaginable expense and they arbitrarily wasted countless human souls building these worthless edifices to their pagan deities. 

 

This should be ample proof that the devil is 100% behind the establishing and continuance of a triune God in Christianity.  Consider this popular Christian icon; it can be found printed on Bible book covers, church literature, gospel tracts, bumper stickers, CD jackets, Christian T-shirts; just about anywhere Christians go, this pagan icon follows them.

 

The late Walter Martin, who authored the book, ‘Kingdom of the Cults,’ once said on his nationwide radio broadcast, that when he got to heaven, he was certain was going to be three thrones; one for the Father, one for the Son, and one for the Holy Spirit.  Walter passed away and most likely made heaven his eternal abode, but can you imagine the surprise on his face when he got there?

 

·          Revelation 4:2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and ONE sat on the throne.  KJV

 

There are numerous others trinities beside the Egyptian trinity; the Chaldeans also had a triad of deities named Bel, Oromasdes, and Ahriman; the Phoenicians had a trinity of Ulomos, Chusoros and the Egg out of which the universe proceeded; the Etruscans’ trinity was Tina, Talna and Minerva; the Brahmins (now India) had a trinity of Parabrahma, Brahm and Pratma.  The list goes on and on.

 

Jesus likened false doctrine to leaven, which is expressly forbidden in the making of bread by the Hebrews, ESPECIALLY the bread at the Passover meal (Exodus 12:15, 19-20).  Leaven also represents wickedness, malice, pride, arrogance and immorality (1 Corinthians 5:1-10), legalism and misuse of scripture (Galatians 5:6-9) and hypocrisy (Luke 12:1). 

 

Passover is when Jesus was crucified and offered His own body as an unblemished sacrifice, untainted by the leaven of sin.  Passover is symbolic of entry into a new and better covenant than the old one; it is the time when the Lamb of God is sacrificed, which leads to his resurrection, ascension and his return to help his disciples as the “life-giving spirit” (1 Corinthians 15:45), and the Comforter (John chapters 14, 15, & 16).  With this background in mind, consider the parable below:

 

·          Luke 13:20-21 And again Jesus said, “To what shall I liken the kingdom of God?   It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of wheat flour or meal until it was all leavened (fermented and spoiled).  AMP

 

Jesus never explains this parable like he does with other parables.  Why?  No doubt he was aware of Hellenistic influences on Jewish religion and saw the development of Philonic theology taking hold in various sects of Jews, thus influencing religious thought. Whatever his reasons, Jesus left unexplained the interpretation of the woman that hid leaven in “three” measures of flour until it was ALL fermented (i.e. – spoiled). 

 

Throughout scripture in both Old and New Testaments, flour represents bread, and bread represents the word of God.  Leaven represents false doctrine (John 6:32-51).  Jesus knew the devil would deceive the church by means of false teaching; Satan knows scripture, and distorting its interpretation is his specialty. 

 

Jesus also knew that his teaching on the “holy spirit” (the Greek words for ‘holy spirit’ are ‘hagios pneuma’ which means, ‘morally blameless life’).  It is entirely possible Jesus realized the potential Satan had in using the terms, “Father, son, and holy spirit.”   It was not difficult to figure out that, sooner or later, the devil would pollute the truth concerning God’s nature and generate some form of polytheism in the doctrines of the church.

 

In his parable, Jesus likens the kingdom of heaven to this woman who hid leaven where it did not belong; hiding is what dishonest people do; true disciples of Jesus walk in the light, but deceivers work under cover of darkness.  Those who have nothing to hide, hide nothing.

 The Greek word for “hid” used in Luke 13:21 is, “enékrupsen” and it means, “to conceal in, i.e. incorporate with.”  This word is very interesting in light of the trinity doctrine.  Interestingly, enékrupsen is used in only TWO scripture verses in the entire New Testament, and both places are the parable of the woman that hid leaven in three measures of flour (Luke 13:21 & Matthew 13:33).

 

The Greek word enékrupsen is a compound word, from two primary sources = ené + krupsen; these terms are defined below:

 

1.      ené = Strong’s #1722; a primary preposition that denotes, “instrumentality and relationship.”

 

·          Ené shows a person or thing acting as a subordinate agency of any thing and doing so as means to an end. It is that which is subservient to the execution of a plan or purpose, or to the production of any effect; means used or contributing to an effect; applicable to persons or things. 

 

·          For example, “Bad men are often instruments of ruin to others.”  The distribution of the scriptures may be the instrument of a vastly extensive reformation in morals and religion.  On the other hand, if a person who acts for another, or is employed by another for a special purpose, and if the purpose is dishonorable, the term implies degradation or meanness.  This fits with the devil using the Roman Catholic Church to conceal tritheism by incorporating it into the misinterpretation of scriptures.

 

2.      Krupsen = Strong’s #2928; a primary verb; it means, “to conceal by covering.”

 

The woman HID (i.e. – concealed by incorporating it into to degrade), the LEAVEN (false doctrine & sin) in “THREE MEASURES OF FLOUR” (scripture and Jesus’ teaching about the Father, son, and holy spirit). 

 

Jesus was fully aware the devil’s activity in pagan religions, knowing the enemy had worked to introduce a tritheism (i.e. – belief in three united deities) since the very foundation of the world, beginning in the Garden of Eden.  The reason Satan tried to distort the nature of God from the beginning is to divide, create disunity, confuse, weaken, and then conquer the faith of God’s chosen people.

 

·          Luke 11:17-18 "Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against itself falls. 18 "And if Satan also is divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand?”  NAS

 

Many ancient religions hold that Eve was the very first “goddess” because she ate of the tree and became “wise like God.”  Then Adam became a “god” when he ate, according to some ancient pagan traditions, and nearly every one of the ancient mystery religions held the serpent to be one of the greatest of all their pantheon of deities.  Of course these pagans did not use the names “Eve” and Adam” but their oral traditions passed on from generation to generation described them, as the first humans become gods.

 

Many of the ancient mystery religions had modified forms of triune deities, comprised of ‘mother-earth’ (goddess), a serpent god, and the offspring of goddess and serpent, a “god” son.  The “god-son” deity was generally held to be lesser in power than his female goddess mother, and his serpent-god father.  These are the earliest beginnings and foundation for the development of the Christian trinity.  Most Christians are clueless about what they believe and can’t imagine the trinity is deeply rooted in pagan history and belief.

 

The parable shows how the leaven (false teaching) fermented (spoiled, tainted) all three measures of flour; the trinity doctrine, as you will see, IS leaven (i.e. – false teaching) that has distorted the nature of God, of Jesus Christ, and of the “Holy Spirit” for nearly 2000 years!

 

Jesus knew of the Greco-Roman trinities, and historically he knew of Babylon and Egypt’s trinities, and he was warning his disciples that attempts to “hide” false doctrine in his gospel teachings WOULD be made, thus perverting God’s nature.

 

·          Matthew 16:5-9, 11-12 When the disciples reached the other side of the sea, they found that they had forgotten to bring any bread.  6 Jesus said to them, “Be careful and on your guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”  7 And they reasoned among themselves about it, saying, “It is because we did not bring any bread.”  8 But Jesus, aware of this, asked, “Why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread?  O you men, of little faith!  9 Do you not yet discern, perceive and understand? 11 How is it that you fail to understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But beware of the leaven (ferment) of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”  12 Then they discerned that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. AMP

 

In Matthew 13 Jesus uses the woman with leaven, and the number “three” to refer back in time, to Israel’s rebellion, AFTER God delivered them from Egypt.  Israel stopped worshipping Yahweh, and turned back to their familiarity with the Egyptian idolatry, and its trinity of deities, including Ra, Isis, and Horus, (see parallel passages below).

 

·          Matthew 13:33-35 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven (sour dough) which a woman took and covered over in three measures of meal or flour till all of it was leavened. 34 These things all taken together Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, without a parable He said nothing to them.  35 This was in fulfillment of what was spoken by the prophet: ‘I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things that have been hidden since the foundation of the world.’” [Psalms 78:2]  AMP

 

·          Psalms 78:1-3, 50-52, 56-58 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.  2 I will open my mouth in a parable in instruction by numerous examples; I will utter dark sayings of old that hide important truth-- 3 which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us… 50 He leveled and made a straight path for His anger to give it free course; He did not spare the Egyptian families from death but gave their beasts over to the pestilence and the life of their eldest over to the plague.  51 He smote all the firstborn in Egypt, the chief of their strength in the tents of the land of the sons of Ham.  52 But God led His own people forth like sheep and guided them with a shepherd's care like a flock in the wilderness.  56 Yet they tempted and provoked and rebelled against the Most High God and kept not His testimonies.  57 But they turned back and dealt unfaithfully and treacherously like their fathers; they were twisted like a warped and deceitful bow that will not respond to the archer's aim.  58 For they provoked Him to righteous anger with their high places for idol worship and moved Him to jealousy with their graven images.  AMP

 

When we tie the OT and NT accounts together, enough facts emerge to draw a conclusion about the woman that hid leaven in three measures of meal; here are a few obvious clues:

 

1.      Jesus spoke about the woman hiding leaven in a “parable”; according to Psalms 78:1-2 his “parable” is teaching.

 

2.      This “teaching” (Psalm 78:1) pertains to, “dark sayings of old that hide important truth” (Psalm 78:2); dark sayings are generally associated with sin & deception.

 

3.      The CONTEXT of Psalms chapter 78 is a stinging rebuke to Israel during the time they were in the wilderness; a time AFTER God delivered them from EGYPT (Psalms 78:51).  In spite of their deliverance from Egypt, when the going got tough, Israel turned to the “idol worship” and “graven images” (Psalms 58:58) of deities formerly worshipped while living in Egypt.  Since Egypt’s deities were numerous, it is most likely Israelites turned to the most prominent Egyptian gods for help (i.e. – Ra, Isis, & Horus).

 

4.      When Jesus mentions a woman hiding leaven in the flour, he is making a comparison.  The comparison is of the nation of Israel and the church.  In Egypt on the first Passover, if any Israelite failed to clean out ALL of the leaven inside their house, the result was certain death of the first-born male child.  Speaking in a “parable” about the woman hiding leaven in the 3 measures of flour, Jesus makes a comparison OF THE CHURCH to the idolatry of Israel, when they worshipped Egyptian idols after being delivered by God.  Like an unfaithful woman in Israel who HID LEAVEN during Passover, Jesus is warns his disciples in a parable, telling them to be on guard for the SAME kind of idolatry IN THE CHURCH.

 

5.       In the church, if ALL THREE MEASURES OF FLOUR are not purged of ALL LEAVEN (meaning sin & false teaching) the result is spiritual death to the first-born male.  Perhaps there is an application to crucifying Jesus again and again by willing disobedience, to further one’s own agenda (See Hebrews 6:4-6).

 

6.      The woman (church) is HIDING LEAVEN in three measures of flour for bread; this represents INTENTIONAL deception by means of false teaching; it is HIDING false doctrine, using “flour” (i.e. – word of God in scriptures) to camouflage (conceal) it.

 

7.      In Jesus’ parable the woman represents the church as the “kingdom of heaven”; instead of purging her house of sin and false doctrine, she HIDES her sin and false doctrine by incorporating it into the teaching found in God’s word.  

 

8.      Jesus’ parable (Matthew 13:34-35 with Psalms 78:2) is a dark saying that represents an important truth; it is our responsibility to search the matter out; I believe a primary application involves how the Roman Catholic “Church” (i.e. – the woman) used its influence and power to HIDE pagan beliefs (leaven) in the interpretation of God’s word (flour), and doing so by twisting the scripture.  Specifically, hiding the leaven in “three measures” of God’s word, or three different aspects, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  The same application can be made to Christian churches that follow Rome’s lead.

 

9.      I conclude the parable of the woman hiding leaven in three measures of flour is the Roman Catholic Church and subsequently most Christian churches, hiding polytheistic tritheism in Jesus’ teaching about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Neo-Platonism & the Trinity

 

The trinity in Christianity is a blending of neo-Platonism with theology; the Jewish philosopher and theologian Philo is credited as being the one that merged Plato’s concepts of the “Demiurge” with biblical concepts of “God.”  In this section, I have over-simplified Platonism and Neo-Platonism so that the reader won’t get bogged down in the ridiculous rhetoric of Greek philosophy.

 

Plato, an ancient Greek philosopher, didn’t espouse faith in any particular deity, but he said all created things came from the “demiurge.”  According to his bizarre and secular explanation of the origin of earth, Plato (a known pedophile) said this mysterious force called “Demiurge” acted as a sort of subordinate workman employed in the creation of the world.  In Plato's dialogue Timaeus, the Demiurge was the creator of the world, the builder of the material universe. In later Neo-Platonic and Gnostic philosophies, the Demiurge was still considered the architect of the world, but an entity distinct from and inferior to the supreme God.

 

Exactly WHOM the Demiurge was subordinate to, Plato failed to give reasonable explanation.  He was like many ministers that teach the trinity; if questioned as to its veracity, they say it can only be “apprehended” but it cannot be “comprehended.”  Go figure.  New Age religions today are very much aligned with Platonic dogma because they depersonalize God as a “force” within (weird huh?).

 

Plato lived at a time when Greece was at its zenith as a ruling power, and even after its eventual decline as a world government, its cultural influence continued in the Roman Empire, including Greek language and philosophy.  Alexandria Egypt was home to most major universities of the day, and in secular and Jewish schools alike, Plato’s philosophy was extensively taught, and often blended into the theology of various Jewish sects by so-called learned men, (aka ‘sages’ and ‘luminaries’), posing as theologians.

 

Neo-Platonism refers to the philosophical and religious doctrines of a diverse school of speculative thinkers who sought to develop and amalgamate the metaphysical ideas of Plato. Such synthesis occurred especially in Alexandria and included Hellenistic Judaism, as exemplified by the Jewish-Hellenistic philosopher Philo Judaeus (aka ‘Philo’) of Alexandria, as well as other outlooks. The doctrine kept its essentially Greek character, however.

 

Hebrew teachers, such as the revered Gamaliel and others, all incorporated at least some form of Neo-Platonic philosophy in their theological rhetoric.  The result was the widespread misuse by application of Plato’s description of “logos” (reasoning), “sophia” (wisdom), “gnosis” (knowledge), “morphe” (form or substance), and “intelligence” (nous).

 

Plato said that matter was unimportant in life; the only thing of value was reason, intellect, knowledge and wisdom.  Reasoning (logos) was the creative use of knowledge (gnosis), and said it was generated from wisdom (sophia).  He also taught that things on earth were merely reflections or copies of things in the heavens; however, it must be understood, Plato did not view “heaven” as the realm where God exists.

 

Neo-Platonism is a form of impractical monism in which the ultimate reality of the universe is held to be an infinite, unknowable, perfect One. From this One emanates nous (pure intelligence), whence in turn is derived the world soul, the creative activity of which engenders the lesser souls of human beings. The world soul is conceived as an image of the nous, even as the nous is an image of the One; both the nous and the world soul, despite their differentiation, are thus consubstantial with the One.  This stuff is so nonsensical and confusing, it makes my head hurt just thinking about it, yet it was the philosophical building block for the doctrine of the trinity, and the doctrine of the Pre-Incarnate Christ.

 

Plato claimed to be strictly secular, and elevated human “reason” (Greek word = logos) above any so-called Greek deity.  While his claims to secularism are historical record, there is something diabolically spiritual about his philosophy. 

 

Gaining momentum among Greece’s intellectuals, Plato was viewed as a threat to the well being of the Greek pantheon.  His words were his downfall, and along with his insatiable lust for sex with young boys, Plato spawned enough resentment among Greek citizens to warrant his eventual execution.  His mortal life ended in a cocktail of wine and deadly hemlock poison; unfortunately, his philosophical ideas live on. 

 

During the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D., theologians decided the Old Testament God (Elohim) was the same as Plato’s “One” or “Demiurge.”  Because Platonism downplays the importance of matter, which includes human flesh, in building their theology, these wicked men said that Jesus’ “flesh” was the only part of him that was “created” by Elohim. 

 

Philo, who was actually a contemporary of Christ, but not a disciple of Jesus, incorporated Neo-Platonism into Jewish religious tradition and his own interpretation of the Pentateuch.  He taught that Elohim (the Hebrew word in the OT for God) was a “lesser” deity, subordinate to Yahweh (or YHWH, the Tetragrammaton).  This is ridiculous of course, because Yahweh IS Elohim’s name!  Philo was trying to make the Pentateuch (first 5 books of the Bible) fit together with his Neo-Platonic philosophy.

 

Philo said Elohim was a subordinate workman employed in the creation of the world. This theology paved the way for God being divided into three equal parts, unified into what the ancients called the hypostasis.  For more in-depth information refer to my study titled, Greek Philosophy and the Trinity

 

A hypostatic union is simply defined as the merging of three persons (including their substance) into and constituting one distinct personal substance. 

 

Fast forward to the 2nd century A.D.; all the apostles are dead, but their writings have been loosely compiled into a canon (collection of books or writings) known as the New Testament.  During the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D. all the true Christians are hiding in underground churches to avoid the barbaric persecution of Roman rulers. 

 

Meanwhile, the compromising and the politically correct Christian theologians (aka “the church fathers”) are tolerated by Rome and avoid persecution because they are not true disciples of Jesus Christ.  Among the early so-called Christian theologians Tertullian is one name stands out because his writings incorporate the non-biblical use of the Latin word Trinity.  

 

Trinity is a transliteration of the Latin trinitas; from “tres” (three) and “unus,” or “unitas,” (one, unity).  In theology, Trinity is the union of three persons in one Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  

 

Tertullian’s theology is a blend of pagan tritheism and Biblical theology.  In the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries A.D., non-Christian men pose as church theologians, distancing their theology further and further away from the simplicity of the scriptures.  They use a perverse mixture of Greek philosophy and contemporary thought, and as a result, many prolific debates heat up concerning two principal ideas:

 

1.      Who is Christ; is he “God” or is he “man?”

2.      Is Christ a created being, or has he always existed?

 

Instead of using the scriptures to answer these questions, theologians and philosophers wrangled with words, and eventually came up with an eclectic blend of neo-Platonism, Philonic theology, pagan tritheism and the Bible.  The apostles Paul, Peter and John saw this influence upon the church, and included warnings about it in their letters to the churches:

 

·          Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one carries you off as spoil or makes you yourselves captive by his so-called philosophy and intellectualism and vain deceit (idle fancies and plain nonsense), following human tradition (men's ideas of the material rather than the spiritual world), just crude notions following the rudimentary and elemental teachings of the universe and disregarding the teachings of Christ the Messiah.   AMP

 

·          2 Peter 3:15-17 And consider that the long-suffering of our Lord His slowness in avenging wrongs and judging the world is salvation, that which is conducive to the soul's safety, even as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the spiritual insight given him, 16 Speaking of this as he does in all of his letters.  There are some things in those epistles of Paul that are difficult to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist and misconstrue to their own utter destruction, just as they distort and misinterpret the rest of the Scriptures.  17 Let me warn you therefore, beloved, that knowing these things beforehand, you should be on your guard, lest you be carried away by the error of lawless and wicked persons and fall from your own present firm condition your own steadfastness of mind. AMP

 

·          1 Timothy 6:20-21 O Timothy, guard and keep the deposit entrusted to you!  Turn away from the irreverent babble and godless chatter, with the vain and empty and worldly phrases, and the subtleties and the contradictions in what is falsely called knowledge and spiritual illumination.  21 For by making such profession some have erred & missed the mark as regards the faith.   AMP

 

·          2 Timothy 2:14-18 Remind the people of these facts and solemnly charge them in the presence of the Lord to avoid petty controversy over words, which does no good but upsets and undermines the faith of the hearers.  15 Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved; tested by trial, a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing; rightly handling and skillfully teaching the Word of Truth.  16 But avoid all empty, vain, useless, idle talk, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness.  17 And their teaching will devour; it will eat its way like cancer or spread like gangrene.  So it is with Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 who have missed the mark and swerved from the truth by arguing that the resurrection has already taken place.  They are undermining the faith of some.  AMP

 

·          2 Timothy 3:13-17 But wicked men and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and leading astray others and being deceived and led astray themselves.  14 But as for you, continue to hold to the things that you have learned and of which you are convinced, knowing from whom you learned them, 15 and how from your childhood you have had a knowledge of and been acquainted with the sacred Writings, which are able to instruct you and give you the understanding for salvation which comes through faith in Christ Jesus.  16 Every Scripture is God-breathed; given by His inspiration and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, and for training in righteousness; in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose, and action, 17 so that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.  AMP

 

Additional scriptures regarding the influences of Greek philosophy on the teachings of Christ are found in: 1 Corinthians 1:19-23; 3:18-19; 2 Corinthians 10:5-6; Acts 20:28-30; Matthew 10:16-17; 15:2-9; Mark 7:3-13; Galatians 1:13-14; 4:3; Colossians 1:22; 2:18-19; Philippians 3:1-2; Romans 16:17-20; Ephesians 5:5-7; Hebrews 13:8-9

 

In gross violation of the scriptures, philosophic theologians no longer accepted Jesus as being a man; they decided he was also a god.  Jesus would soon be added to their pantheon of Greek deities, and would achieve status as part of the Roman Catholic triune Godhead.

 

At first, they debated whether Jesus was a lower god than the OT God (Elohim), or if he was equal to Him.  Their decision to elevate Jesus as a deity complicated their interpretation of the gospel accounts of his conception and birth.  Consequently they denied he was “created” in the womb of Mary and they even went so far as to deny that his birth any beginning point.

 

Plato taught the pre-existence of mankind as undeveloped intelligence (Greek = nous).  Denying the reality and importance of matter, Plato acknowledged incarnation (becoming human with a body of flesh) was only necessary to develop one’s intelligence (nous) into wisdom (sophia) by means of knowledge (gnosis).  Plato and later Philo taught that human beings, in their individual existence before being born into a body of matter (flesh), were pre-existent nous (intelligence) or one with the pre-incarnate logos (reasoning or word) of the Demiurge.

 

Wholly embracing Platonism by merging it with Philo’s interpretation of the Hebrew Old Testament, theologians made the Demiurge out to be Elohim.  Once this transition was made, it paved the way for an explanation of the conception and birth of Jesus as the Christ.

 

They believed Elohim, acting as Demiurge, a workman subservient to Yahweh, used his reason (Greek = logos) to generate (i.e. – conceive) Christ.  The process of generation or conception was divided into two categories; one was eternal and the other was temporal and constrained by the boundaries of time.

 

According to Neo-Platonic thought, if the Demiurge (Elohim) used his logos (reason) to conceive (generate) offspring, that offspring was then automatically considered a part of him.  As such, the logos offspring of Elohim’s eternal reasoning (logos) had no beginning. 

 

In simple terms, Christ was said to exist as an eternal thought (logos) in the mind of God (Elohim or Demiurge); as such, Christ existed as the pre-incarnate logos of God. This is the precursor to what later would be called, “the doctrine of the Pre-Incarnate Christ.”

 

Once theologians felt they had resolved the quagmire of confusion by making Jesus out to be the Pre-Incarnate Logos, dealing with his human body of flesh would prove much less of a challenge… so they thought.  In Neo-Platonic philosophy, a body of flesh was considered of little or no value, depending on whether you modified it with Aristotle’s ideas.  Aristotle was also a Greek philosopher after Plato, later in time, and he embraced Platonism, but also emphasized the importance of matter in the expression of reasoning, intelligence, and wisdom.

 

The offering of Jesus’ physical body (flesh or matter) for atonement was central to Christian thought, and theologians could not ignore it.  These deceived and terribly misguided men readily adapted their new Christology to the interpretation of as many NT Greek scripture passages as possible.  By doing this, they hoped to add weight of credibility to their ideas. 

 

Trinity gives birth to the god-man

 

First and foremost on the agenda was the interpretation of John 1:1.  Because this scripture uses logos in relation to God’s thoughts in the beginning of creation, it was decided (erroneously) to personalize the active verb form of logos in John 1:1 by translating it as “the Word.”  In so doing, they were able to reveal Jesus was the Preincarnate Word of God:

 

·          John 1:1-2 In the beginning was the Word (logos), and the Word (logos) was with God, and the Word (logos) was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God.  KJV

 

This spurious translation error was done purposely and with intent to validate the Trinity doctrine, and establish Christ as a member of a triune godhead.  Christ is now part of the Demiurge, making him equal to and the same as the God (Elohim) of the Old Testament. 

 

Capitalizing on misuse of scripture, John 1:14 was given a similar application in this quagmire of quasi-neo-Platonism, theology, Christology and rhetoric.

 

·          John 1:14 And the Word (logos) was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.  KJV

 

This verse and a few others were interpreted in light of the new theology, and when these beguiled ministers of the devil quoted John 1:14, they meant it to say, “And the reasoning of the Demiurge, actuated by Sophia, goddess of wisdom, generated and conceived the Pre-Incarnate Word of God, expressing its intelligence (nous) in human form (morphe) of flesh…” 

 

Thus it remains to this very day, and although most Christians cannot articulate it as thoroughly as I have done in this treatise, they will readily quote John 1:1 & 1:14 in defense of the Trinitarian Christology.  If pressed to describe WHY they believe this view, most are left with eyes wide shut, and chock it up to another of God’s “ineffable mysteries.” 

 

That’s how it is with the Trinity; anything that doesn’t make sense can be conveniently ignored and justified as one of those mysteries we’ll never be able to understand.

 

By the end of the 2nd century, a revised Christology emerged, known as dualism.  Dualism is an ancient Greek term that predates Jesus Christ by centuries.  Plato first developed it and Neo-Platonism made it into doctrine. In philosophy dualism is the theory of two opposing concepts: a philosophical theory based on the idea of opposing concepts, especially the theory that human beings are made up of two independent constituents, the body and the mind or soul.

 

Dualism developed into a doctrine of the religious idea that people are inherently dual in nature, both spiritual and physical.  The word “dual” expresses the number two in Greek.  The dualistic system of Anaxagoras and Plato taught that there are two principles in nature, one active, and the other passive.  Theologians readily incorporated this thinking into their Christology saying that Christ was active deity and also passive humanity.

 

A passive verb, in grammar, is a verb, which expresses passion, or the effect of an action of some agent.  Passiveness is the quality of receiving impressions from external agents or causes; as the passiveness of matter.  For example, passibility is the capacity of suffering.  To the Greeks passive also represented unresisting submission.

 

Neo-Platonism influenced theologians, who viewed Jesus’ humanity (body of flesh or matter) as being created, and subject to external influences, such as suffering.  They maintained Christ’s “logos” existence was eternal and uncreated.  Therefore the “logos” part of Christ evolved in theology as his “deity” and Jesus’ material body of flesh as his humanity.

 

The problem with creating a doctrine like this is that more and more explanation is necessary to determine the relationship and distinctions between the so-called “human” and “divine” parts of Jesus.  This line of thinking parallels the behavior of a pathological liar.  Once you’ve lied, and then covered one lie with another, the blatant unwillingness to admit and confess the truth forces you to think up more lies to cover the other ones.

 

The devil is the father of lies, and he uses religion to subvert and pervert the truth.  Embracing dualism was convenient for religious men had no relationship with God or Christ.  Philosophy was familiar to them, so the enemy (Satan) appealed to their intellect, giving it greater weight of importance than scripture.  Driven by their unencumbered ego, complexity was the order of the day for these so-called “learned” men.  Professing to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the truth of God for a lie.

 

Dualism was nothing new; a Greek actor often portrayed more than one character in Classical Greek plays by using various masks.  These masked identities came to be known as, persona.  Greek persona is a definite precursor to the doctrine of the Trinity. 

 

The idea of one supreme deity, revealing himself in three distinct different “forms” (morphe), or as three distinct and separate identities (persona) eventually developed into the Catholic Trinity: one persona of God the Father, one persona of God the Son, and one persona of God the Holy Spirit (persona).  There it is… one God, three masks.

 

Ancient Greek deities were also portrayed in human form, sculpted in ornate and idolatrous Greco-Roman statuary, much of which still exists in museums today.  Zeus, Diana, Hermes and countless other pagan deities were sculpted as figurines then sold by merchants to adherents of religious cults and sects.  Many of these were known as “mystery religions” and rooted in Babylonish paganism. 

 

When deity and humanity merged in a way that humans could see or experience with their senses, it was called anthropomorphism, from anthropos (human) and morphe (form).  The Greek idea of anthropos was more than simply matter; it identified a real human being, with a living soul and spirit.  Theologians would be forced to utilize this idea in building their Christology.

 

The Greek word for human (anthropos) was incorporated into the Christology of 2nd century theologians.  Building on a foundation of Neo-Platonism, they concluded Jesus was part human, and part divine.  The “human” part of Christ (now including anthropos), they said, had a beginning in the womb of Mary. 

 

Since anthropos identified the whole person, this completed the theological loop; Jesus now had a human body of flesh (matter), and a living soul (anthropos). 

 

The eternal “deity” part of Christ always existed as eternal logos, so now all that was needed was to weave this deception into the interpretation of scripture.  To rationalize and bolster support for this non-biblical concept of Jesus, theologians referred to OT scripture passages in which Elohim was manifested in human form. 

 

These OT anthropomorphisms were purported appearances of “Christ” (as deity) in human form.  Such appearances are now known as Christophanies (like an epiphany but using “christ” instead of “epi”).

 

When Constantine became emperor of Rome and issued the Edict of Toleration, he declared Christianity as a legal religion, and used it to unify his crumbling and fragmented empire.  As emperor, he had the power to declare the entire kingdom a Christian empire, but in so doing, he was forced to intertwine the religious beliefs of Rome’s many principle deities, including Sophia, goddess of all wisdom. 

 

Constantine called his new political church, The Roman Catholic Church.  Catholic is a Greek word meaning, “universal,” and was used because the Roman Empire was considered to be a world government.  To settle all religious disputes regarding the nature of God and Christ, the Council of Nicea 323-325 A.D. was convened.  The Council determined Christ to be “God” but not God alone; the Father was also God.  Because Jesus was now characterized as, “God,” his mother Mary was elevated and also given status as a deity; her new title was, “The Mother of God.”

 

Mary’s new status as a female deity conciliated many of the Roman pagan worshippers, especially followers of Sophia, goddess of wisdom.  Pagans who had formerly resisted Christian principle could now embrace Mary; to them, she became the name by which they worshipped the goddess Sophia.  In fact, it is a matter of record that the first official Trinity of the Roman Catholic Church consisted of God the Father, God the Son (Christ), and Mary The Mother of God.

 

 Theological resistance heated up because Mary was inculcated into the Godhead of the Trinity, so she was given honorary status as the Mother of God, and was even bestowed the venerable title as, “The Queen of Heaven.”  Officially Mary was not included in the hypostatic union of Father and Son, but she maintained her an elevated status above Jesus Christ, because he originated from her.  In fact, the Cultis De Maria, or Cult Of Mary, a radical group of Mary-worshippers still exists today, and venerates her high above and form of god.

 

Because the scriptures emphasize monotheism, and the Trinity is polytheistic by nature (i.e. – espouses more than one God), a formal decree was issued to settle all disputes and be honored as the official “doctrine” of the Roman Catholic Church.  Before the creed could be written, arguments were made with regard to the nature of the “Holy Spirit” in the New Testament.  The question of Christ’s dualistic components (i.e. – human and divine) had to be clarified as well.

 

By constituting Christ as “God” the fumbling fathers of the faith gave the Roman Catholic Church a doctrinal black eye.  God is eternal, and eternal means without beginning or end.  Christ was BORN and his birth now had to somehow be reconciled with his eternality.  Unable to deny either his birth or newfound eternal nature, the Council of Nicea determined that God the father used His reasoning (logos) to “generate” (conceive) Christ “eternally.”  This is ridiculous, but remains church dogma to this very day.

 

The Council of Nicea further elaborated this doctrine by explaining the union (hypostasis) of Christ’s humanity (anthropos) with his divinity (logos) became one divine essence (ousia); they gave this hypostatic union of God and man the venerable title, “One Christ.”  One note should be made for clarification; Roman Catholic doctrine defines “Christ” as the “God” nature, and defines “Jesus” as the human or “Man” nature.  Go figure.

 

By now, you have a theological nightmare, yet Christians still buy into the basic teaching of the trinity.  Taught in nearly every church in America, in John 1:1, Jesus is referred to by the ancient Neo-Platonic title, the Pre-Incarnate Word (logos) of God.

 

Is the Trinity a harmless doctrine?

 

There are Christians that see the Trinity as an innocent belief, and not harmful to them.  Little do they realize that organizations like the Blue Lodge Freemasons, which is rooted and steeped Platonic philosophy and ancient Egyptian religious thought, affirms the concept of the Pre-Incarnate Logos.   In the Scottish Rite Masonic book, ‘Morals and Dogma,’ by Albert Pike, in Chapter 26, ‘Prince of Mercy Or Scottish Trinitarian’ it says:

 

“While you were veiled in darkness, you heard repeated by the Voice of the Great Past its most ancient doctrines.  None has the right to object, if the Christian Mason sees foreshadowed in Chrishna, and Sociosch, in Mithras and Osiris, the Divine WORD that, as he believes, became a Man and died upon the to redeem the fallen race. Nor can he object if others see reproduced, in the WORD of the beloved Disciple, that was in the beginning with God, and that was God, and by Whom everything was made, only the LOGOS of Plato, and the WORD or Uttered THOUGHT or FIRST Emanation of LIGHT, or the Perfect REASON of the Great, Silent, Supreme, Uncreated Deity, believed in and adored by all.”   

 

Obviously this Masonic dogma is nothing less than utter blasphemy.  But I quote it to illustrate a point: If the devil’s disciples underscore the value of, “the Divine WORD that became a Man, and by Whom everything was made, only the LOGOS of Plato,” and the scriptures underscore the value of God existing as ONE, then a tremendous battle must being raging in the spirit realm! 

 

During the age of papal tyranny, refusal to acknowledge faith in the Roman Catholic Trinity resulted in church anathema (condemning) of its parishioners.  Many who refused to bow the knee to the Catholic Trinity were officially declared eternally damned, and during the Dark Ages, hundreds of thousands, of people were imprisoned, tortured and executed. 

 

The first formal creed detailing the doctrine of the Trinity was drafted after the Council of Nicea in 323-325 AD; here is a brief excerpt from the Athanasian Creed:

 

The Athanasian Creed:

 

“Whosoever will be saved: before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith: which Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled: without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.  And the Catholic faith is this: that we worship one God in a Trinity, and Trinity in unity, neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance.  For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost.  But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is all One: the glory equal, the Majesty coeternal.  Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost.  The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Ghost uncreated.  The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible.  The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal.  And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal.  As also there are not three uncreated, nor three incomprehensibles, but one uncreated and one incomprehensible.  So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty.  And yet they are not three Almighties, but one Almighty.  So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God, and yet they are not three Gods, but One God.  So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord and the Holy Ghost Lord.  And yet not three Lords, but one Lord.  For like as we are compelled by Christian verity to acknowledge every person by Himself to be God and Lord, so are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion to say, there are three Gods or three Lords.  The Father is made of none: neither created, nor begotten.  The Son is of the Father alone: not made, nor created, but begotten.  The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son: neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.  So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.  And in this Trinity none is before or after another; none is greater or less than another.  But the whole three persons are coeternal together and coequal.  So that in all things, as aforementioned: