The Trinity
God is one in essence and three in persons.
This doctrine defines Christian orthodoxy. Denial places one outside the historic faith.
What the traditions say
Central dogma. The filioque clause ("and the Son") added to the Creed in the West, affirming the Spirit proceeds from Father and Son.
Augsburg Confession I: "There is one divine essence...yet there are three persons." Lutheranism stands squarely within Nicene orthodoxy.
Affirms the Trinity but rejects the filioque. The Spirit proceeds from the Father alone (through the Son, in some formulations). This is the central dogmatic disagreement with Rome.
Developed through the Arian controversy and defined at Constantinople (381). The Cappadocian Fathers gave the definitive formulation: one ousia, three hypostases.
Westminster Confession II.3: three persons "of one substance, power, and eternity." Reformed theology often emphasizes the economic Trinity — the ordered work of Father, Son, and Spirit in salvation.
Critical scholarship traces Trinitarian theology from NT "binitarianism" through 2nd-century development to Nicene formulation. Viewed as theological evolution, not divine revelation.
The Shema (Deut 6:4) declares God is one. Trinitarian theology is seen as a departure from biblical monotheism.
Who binds this (creedal)
Every affiliated congregation inherits its denomination's position. Follow a chip to see the confession's language.
Key scriptures
- 1John 5:7 — For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
- 2Cor 13:14 — The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.
- Deut 6:4 — Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
- Gal 4:6 — And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
- Gen 1:26 — And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
- Isa 6:3 — And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
- John 1:1 — In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
- John 1:14 — And the Word 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.
- John 10:30 — I and my Father are one.
- John 14:16 — And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
- John 14:26 — But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
- John 15:26 — But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
- John 17:21 — 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.
- Matt 28:19 — Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
- Matt 3:16 — And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
What the confessions say
Articles of the historic confessions that address this doctrine.
- Reformed Belgic Confession Art8 — The Trinity
- Reformed Westminster Larger Catechism Q9 — How many persons are there in the Godhead?
- Reformed Heidelberg Catechism Q25 — Since there is only one God, why do you speak of three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?
- Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion Article 1 — Of Faith in the Holy Trinity
- Lutheran Augsburg Confession Article 1 — Of God
- Ecumenical Athanasian Creed text — Athanasian Creed
The Church Fathers
The earliest Fathers who commented on the Scriptures above.
And concerning baptism, thus baptize ye: Having first said all these things, baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in living water. But if thou have not living water, baptize into other water; and if thou canst not in cold, in warm. But if thou have not either, pour out water thrice upon the head…
John, the disciple of the Lord, preaches this faith, and seeks, by the proclamation of the Gospel, to remove that error which by Cerinthus had been disseminated among men, and a long time previously by those termed Nicolaitans, who are an offset of that "knowledge" falsely so called, that he might confound them, and persuade them that…
But that God is good, all willingly admit; and that the same God is just, I require not many more words to prove, after adducing the evangelical utterance of the Lord; He speaks of Him as one, "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 also may believe that Thou…
If the number of the Trinity also offends you, as if it were not connected in the simple Unity, I ask you how it is possible for a Being who is merely and absolutely One and Singular, to speak in plural phrase, saying, "Let us make man in our own image, and after our own likeness;" Genesis 1:26 whereas He ought to have said, "Let me…
Acting then in these (prophets), the Word spoke of Himself. For already He became His own herald, and showed that the Word would be manifested among men. And for this reason He cried thus: "I am made manifest to them that sought me not; I am found of them that asked not for me." And who is He that is made manifest but the Word of the…
(tom. i. in Joan. c. 16. et sq.) There are many significations of this word beginning. For there is a beginning of a journey, and beginning of a length, according to Proverbs, The beginning of the right path is to do justice. (Prov. 16. Vulg. Job. 40:19) There is a beginning too of a creation, according to Job, He is the beginning of…