Trinity

Q: Do Christians worship three gods?

The Muslims believe that there is one God “Allah” in the Arabic language which is the same as the Jewish God—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Also they believe in Christ who was born from the Virgin Mary and healed the sick and raised the dead and opened the eyes of the blind. They believe that He is the Word of God and He spoke as a child and has the ability to create by the permission of Allah, but they do not believe that He is the Son of God nor in His deity or His death on the cross as an atonement for the sin of the world.  

Muslims believe that the Christian Trinity is a form of polytheism, and they say that God has neither partner nor equal to Him as we read in the Quran: “They do blaspheme who say God is the Christ the son of Mary. But said: O children of Israel. Worship God, my Lord and your Lord. Whoever joins other god with God? God will forbid him the Garden, and the fire will be his abode. There will be no one to help. They do blaspheme who say God is one of three in a trinity; for there is no god except One God. If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy) verily a grievous penalty will befall the blasphemers among them” (5:75). And they are surprised to know that all Christians believe that God has no partner but He Himself is a triune or (TRI-Unity) and neither has a partner.

Q: What Kind of Monotheism do Christians Believe in?

The Christians believe in the TRI-UNITY of God, which means that God is one in three and three in one. For example in Genesis chapter one we read: “Then God said let us make man in our image, according to our likeness … So God created man in His own image; in the image of God created He him”(Gen. 1:26-27) Also in (Gen. 1:26) we read: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” Here we find the word God (Elohim in the plural form) and the word said (Amar in the singular form) and the phrase  (Let us make man in the plural form). 

It is not difficult for us to understand the Trinity when we see it in nature. For God has created so many things three in one and one in three for example: Every person is a triune for he has body, soul and spirit, yet he is one person. His spirit is not his body they could not exist apart from each others and yet they are one. Another example is the atom which is considered to be the smallest particle is made up of electron, neutron and proton, yet it is one atom. Also the smallest living element, which is the cell, is made up of the cell wall, the cytoplasm and the nucleus and these three are one cell. Can you explain to me why 1+1+1= 3 while 1x1x1 =1 The prophet Isaiah declare the fact about the triune God by saying: “Come ye near unto Me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord God, and His Spirit has sent Me” (Isaiah 48:16), and in the New Testament the apostle Paul explain this by declaring that: “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself” (2Cor. 5:19) 

Christians do not believe that man became God, but God became man. He is “Immanuel” God with us. Every Muslim believes in God and the Spirit of God, which the Christians call the Holy Spirit, so we have God and the Spirit of God. Do we then say that God has a partner? Of course not. Let me add one more thing. I am sure that every Muslim believes in God, the Spirit of God and the Word of God. That is exactly what the Christians believe.  They believe in God , the Spirit of God and the Word of God who became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).

You see God wants to reveal Himself to us, so we can get to know Him better, so He chooses to reveal Himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ. So Christ became God’s revelation to us. That is why He was called the Word of God, for the word expresses and explains and interprets and reveals what God is like. So God, the Spirit of God and the Word of God are three in one.

Every Christian in the whole wide world can give witness that there is no god beside Allah (which is God in Arabic). Even the Christian Creed, which was written in the year of 325 AD states the following: “Truly we believe in One God, Creator of heaven and earth, visible and invisible etc.”

The Old and the New Testaments testify that God is One.

The Oneness of God in the Old Testament

“The Lord Himself is God; there is none other beside Him”(Deut 5:35)

“The Lord Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other”(Deut 4:39)

“Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one” (Deut 6:4)

“So the Lord alone led him, and there was no foreign god with Him”(Deut 32:12)

“The Lord is God; there is no other” (1King 8:60)

“You are the Lord God, You alone” (11King 19:19)

“O Lord there is none like you, nor is there any God besides You” (1 Chron. 17:20)

“You alone are the Lord; You have made heaven” (Neh.9:6)

“For You are great, and do wondrous things; You alone are God” (Ps 86:10)

” (Is. 44:6)

“I am the Lord, that is My name, and My glory I will not give to another. Nor My praise to carved images” (Is. 42:8)

“I am He. Before Me there was no god formed, nor there shall be after Me”(Is. 43:10)

“I am the first and I am the last. Beside Me there is no God am the Lord, and there is no other; there is no god beside Me” (Is. 45:5)

“I am the Lord and there is no other” (Is. 44:6)

“For I am God, and there is none like Me” (Is. 46:9)

“Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us” (Mal. 2:10)

The Oneness of God in the New Testament 

“We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one” (1Cor 8:4)

 “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only you shall serve” (Matt. 4:10)

“The first of all commandments is: Hear O Israel the Lord our God, the Lord is One” (Mark 12:29)

“For there is One God, and there is no other but He” (Mark 12:32)

“How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?” (John 5:44)

“That they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3)

“Since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith” (Rom 3:30)

 “God is one” (Gal. 3:20)

“One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all ” (Eph. 4:6)

“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” (1 Tim. 1:17)

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and Men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5)

“You believe that there is one God. You do well” (James 2:19)

In the first verse in the Bible in the Old Testament which is Genesis 1:1 we read “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” we find the followings:

1. The Word God (Elohim) is in the plural, form, but the verb created (bara) is in the singular form. In the Hebrew language the verb must follow the noun. If the noun is plural then the verb should be in the plural form; but in Genesis 1:1 the verb is in the singular while the noun is in the plural

2. In Genesis 1:26 “Then God said let us make man in Our image; according to our likeness.” The word said came in the singular form while the word God came in the plural form.

3. In Genesis 3:22 “Then the Lord God said: Behold the man has become like one of Us. To know good from evil.” The word said is in the singular form while the word God came in the plural form (Elohim).

4. In Genesis 11: 7 “Come, Let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying: whom shall I send and who will go for Us.” (plural) (Isaiah 6:8). Come near to Me, hear this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, I was there. And now the Lord God and His Spirit have sent Me.” (Isaiah 48:16). Notice here that the senders are: God and the Spirit of God and the Messenger who was from the beginning, from that time, it was He who was there with God.

5. In Daniel 7:13-14 we read: “I was watching in the night visions, and behold One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion, and glory, and kingdom, that all peoples, nations; and languages should serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom  which shall not be destroyed.”

6. In Matthew 28:19 Jesus said to His disciples: “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” notice the word “in the Name and not names of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

7. In the gospel of Luke 1:35 The angel said to Mary when he gave her the news of  her conception. “ The Holy Spirit will come upon You, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you, therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God”(Luke 1:35). Here we see the triune God in: The Holy Spirit, the Power of the Highest and the Holy One.

8. When Jesus was being baptized by John the Baptist, when He came up from the water and behold, “The heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying: This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:16-17). Here we can see the Trinity in the voice of the Father; the Son is coming out of the water, and the Holy Spirit like a dove.